Closing chapter

This week finds us drawing things to a bit of a close here in Scotland. As I write this, Heather is rounding off her last day as a piano teacher in Perth & Kinross, and Abi and Matthew have just had their last session at The Honeypot Nursery.

Abi and Matthew say goodbye to some of the staff at Honeypot.

Our flights are booked for the 12th November; two weeks tomorrow! Although nursery and work are drawing to a close this week, we have a busy fortnight ahead as we get ready for the off!

This weekend we are heading over to Dunoon. It will be good to spend a bit of time with my family over the weekend before we leave for Ohio.
Heather has also been given the opportunity to play and sing at www.seasonsdunoon.com on Friday night, so she has been busy excercising her vocal cords for the past wee while, getting herself ready for that. On Sunday we will be spending some time with friends at Dunoon Baptist (the church where Heather and I met), before heading back up to Glasgow for a couple of days. Next week we will be spending a bit of time in Pitlochry. The removal company are coming for two days at the end of the week to pack all our stuff into a van for the first leg of it's transatlantic journey, then we have a few things planned to catch up with some friends up there. If you are free on Sunday morning (7th Nov) we will be taking part in the service at Pitlochry Baptist, then having a lunch afterwards for anyone who wants to stay.
In the afternoon / evening we'll be heading north to see some relatives in Gardenstown, before heading back to Glasgow to get ready for flying out on the Friday of that week!!

We had hoped we would be able to catch up with all our friends and family again before we head off, but time is just disappearing in front of us! The next fortnight is jam packed with trips around Scotland, but it would just be impossible to meet up with everyone, so if we don't see you before we go, thank you so much for your interest in what we are doing! Thanks for the many ways you have been supporting us, and please keep in touch as we head over to Ohio!

This is my command - be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1v9

US Visa's!

Just a quick update for everyone!

Yesterday we spent the day in London visiting the US embassy for our visa interview; all went well, and we have now been given our M1 / M2 visa's for the next 12 months in America! Our next step is to arrange our flights over to Ohio where we can start our training with www.mmsaviation.org !! Hopefully we will be in Ohio by mid-November!

It has been fantastic to see how God is a part of all the little details as we have gone through the process of starting work with MAF, and it is exciting to see everything come together with yesterday being another step closer to flying out!

More family time!

Last post I shared a bit about our time with friends and family in Peebles, Pitlochry and on my birthday day-out to Amazonia.

This week we are down in Dumfries and Galloway. Heather's sister Rosey became Mrs McFarlane on Sunday when she married Kirk, and the family stayed on for a few days together at the lodge that was hired for the ceremony. They had a beautiful ceremony on Sunday afternoon overlooking the Solway Firth, with just close friends and family there. They are planning a big celebration and blessing service back up in Stirling early next year, which we won't be able to attend, so it was great that we were able to share in their special day before we head for Ohio.

Abi featured as a flower girl, Heather played piano and sang, and Matthew and I concentrated on looking as Scottish as possible!! It was a great day and good to be able to share special times with everyone there.

Monday brought Abi's 4th birthday, and it was good to take advantage of having so many people together in one place for the wedding - Abi had no shortage of helpers when it came to opening presents, and enough people at her party to play a proper round of musical chairs and have a treasure hunt!

The rest of the week has seen another birthday celebration - Hannah, our neice, hit her teenage years - and lots of opportunity for relaxing and recharging in the grounds here and along this bit of the Scottish coast.

Next week our focus will be back onto US visa's; our interviews with the Embassy have been set for Tuesday 19th October, so this time next week we will know for certain the sort of time line we are looking at for moving West. Watch this space for the update!!

Thank you so much for the interest you have shown in our work with MAF; thanks for the encouragement from so many of you, the prayers, the practical ways you have helped - it is all very much appreciated!

Another week!

Well it has been another busy week with the Swanson's!

Last weekend we spent over in the Peebles area, sharing a bit of what we are up to with Heather's extended family and some family friends - a really encouraging evening and probably the last time we will over-night with Great Grandma and Auntie Christine for quite a while! We had a relaxing Sunday morning (the first for a long time!!) then headed down to Peebles where we spent the afternoon and evening with a fantastic group of friends! Thanks to Emma and Graham for hosting, and thanks to everyone else who came along to hear about what we are up to and what MAF do! It was a great weekend, and we drove home last Sunday night tired, but grateful for so many good friends and family who are so interested in what we are doing.

Thursday had me and Matthew driving up to Pitlochry to collect our washing machine from storage. We felt it was sensible for us to keep a foot on the property ladder when we head overseas, so after selling our home earlier in the summer, we invested in a small flat in Stirling to let out while we are away. It has been exciting for us to get the keys for the new flat on Friday, but a bit strange because we have no intention of ever living in it! It has been a real blessing, getting a flat that has no need of redecorating or upgrading - hopefully the first tennant will have moved in before we leave in November!

Saturday was another good day! I turned 21 (and a bit...), so we all had a great day out with my mum, dad, brother, sister and brother-in-law. It was good to spend some time with them all before we leave Scotland for a while; we went to the Amazonia exhibition at Strathclyde country park. Could this be a taster for what lies ahead?!? Matthew loved seeing the monkeys, and Abi is quite fearless when it comes to tarantulas!!

The day was rounded off with a nice meal out, at a restaurant that had a few other birthday parties in last night! I felt a wee bit old when I realised that the combined birthday ages of the tables on either side of ours was still less than my grand total!!

Today we headed north to be with our friends in Pitlochry for church this morning. It was good to see friends who we hadn't seen for a few weeks, and we were able to spend a bit of time with Eric and Jenny over lunch before heading home again late afternoon. We might make it back up again for a weekend later in October, but it looks like the next weekend we are in Pitlochry will be our last one there for a while!

Thanks so much for your interest in our lives with MAF! It has been really quite humbling seeing how many people have taken an interest in the work of MAF, and our involvement with them.

Last night we had a great evening at the coffee shop in Wesley Owen, Glasgow, where we were able to share our story, and a little bit about what we are doing over the next few years! It was great to see so many friends there with us; some we have known for longer than we can remember, some we have only known for a relatively short time, but it was great to have a group of people there with us who were all so interested in what we're up to.

Today has seen our minds on the next steps we need to make towards our move to USA. We are now at the start of the process of applying for our visa's. It will involve a bit of recommendation (and assosciated forms!!) from MMS, an online application, a trip to London for an interview, and then (hopefully!!) ending with a little piece of very American paper glued into my passport!!!

We are looking at a training start date of 1st Dec, which will mean we will be able to enter the States anytime from the beginning of November (the visa allows entry up to 30days before the training starts). At the moment we are planning our last Sunday in Pitlochry as 7th November - if you are in the Pitlochry area you are more than welcome! (11am, Pitlochry Baptist... and you might even get some lunch!)

Moved out!!

We have now left Tummel Bridge!!

We've had a busy weekend moving all our boxes and furniture out of the house! Thank you very much to our friends who have temporarily donated their garage as a store-room!!

I have had a few days of driving a transit round Scotland dropping stuff off at all four corners of the land, and Heather has cleaned and hoovered our wee house for the last time; now we have moved out! The McDonald's will be getting the keys on Tuesday - I am sure they will have a great time in their new home!

We also had some encouraging news today - we are at 86% of our minimum support target, so everything is looking good for moving to Ohio before the year is out! God willing, we will be heading to Coshocton by the middle of November!

Thank you so much to everyone who has pledged support already - it is very much appreciated! If you haven't completed our supporter form yet, but want to, there is still time! If you don't have one, drop me a line and I will get one sent over to you!

Well, I am sitting here on a deckchair, in the middle of the living room where both my kids were born, surrounded by cardboard boxes and parcel tape. This will be our last night as a family in Tummel Bridge.
We have both had a crazy week; we have done presentations in coffee shops, village halls, took part in this morning's service at Pitlochry Baptist, met with Kirkie Baptist through the week; on top of this we have had a mother in law in hospital, a wife full of the cold (not just normal cold... this was full blown man-flu!) and 2 bambino's who are running on duracell extra...
It's a bit of a roller coaster just now - sad to leave, excited to go; tired but energetic.
There is no doubt at all that we are doing the right thing; this chapter is closing and the next one is about to start.

"My Grace is enough; it's all you need.

My strength comes into its own in your weakness.""