The Great Thaw!

At last the snow is melting! The temperature has been above zero degrees C the last few days and Abi and Matthew and I were able to get out exploring in the garden and meeting the neighbours cats! The presenters on the weather channel are talking like winter is now over, perhaps not yet for Ohio, but we are really enjoying being able to get outdoors at the moment. Last Monday I began antibiotics for a sinus infection and am feeling so much better as a result of that and prayers. Yesterday ( Monday) I ended up with a visit to the eye doctor with as I had a throbbing red eye since Friday. Turns out the white of my eye is inflamed for no apparent reason and was prescribed some Antibiotic/steroid eye drops. You have no idea just how amazing the NHS system is in Britain till you go to the pharmacy here and they charge you $74 for the smallest bottle you have ever seen! The eye drops cost almost as much as the doctor's appointment! We are SO thankful that MAF cover our medical expenses or I think we would have returned home by now bankrupt! LOL! My spirits are high however, and I am hoping that my body has now adjusted to America and I don't need to see another doctor for at least a year! : 0)

Last week we were able to have our visitors as planned. Jessica and Olivia and baby Jonathon were able to come over on Wednesday and were pretty much here all day! We had a lovely time and are off to their house tomorrow morning so the kids can play together again.

On Thursday I took the children to the church where we had fun cleaning the nursery toys with some other ladies. It was great to meet some more people. On Sunday we even managed to get out the door and to the church by 9.30 am! This is when they have all age Sunday School. The adults can choose from several classes and the children have their age appropriate Sunday school classes also. Abi and Matthew have been able to be in the same 3-4yrs room all the time even though Matthew is not 3 till April and this is really helping them settle in and enjoy themselves with the security of having each other close. The Sunday service begins at 10.45am after the Sunday school. We usually bring Abi and Matthew into the service for a while and they go back through and play while we listen to the sermon. At present we are looking at discipleship and what it means to be a disciple. If you want to listen to the sermons they are on the web www.coshnaz.org/main.html

This weekend we got our pictures up on the walls and the last bed was assembled. Originally bunk beds, we now have them side by side. We thought Grandma would appreciate not having to climb up to the top bunk every night for a month! :0) As you can see we had some excited helpers, one helping with the bed, the other about to take her pram to bits!

Andy's work is going well. Each week he works along side a different person, and at the end of the week his mentor will give him feedback on his progress. Yesterday he was taking the wings off an aeroplane but I will get him to tell you more about his work soon. He has been trying out our old digital camera to take some pictures for the blog at the hanger but they did not work out so well - so more pics to follow at a later date. Andy has started the new rota and is in charge of opening up the hanger for three months. Then he will be in charge of closing up and will be the last to leave for the following three months. He is leaving the house at 6.40am at the moment. We have borrowed a car at present but we really need to purchase a second car and would value your prayers as we try to find the right car very soon. We almost bought a pick up truck the other week but it had an oil leak and was very old and a "little" rusty. Normally Andy would be quite happy to work away on an old car maintaining it but with his work schedule and studying and family life he does not have the time (nor the finances) to maintain a car that needs a lot of work. So we are still searching and praying.

Debbie Baisley ( Mi-mi) arrives from North Carolina tomorrow for a week! We are so looking forward to having her visit! On Friday night I am hosting a Jewelry party at our house (like the pampered chef parties etc) and am glad she will be here to help make the tablet and chocolate fondue! Yum! We may just have to have a dummy run before Friday! : 0)

Time to wake the kids up and get in car for Abi's dancing class. Then later tonight, I get to go out to an MMS ladies meeting a few houses up the road. It is a real blessing to arrive in a new country and have things already in place to go to and meet other people and grow as a christian. Very important for one's sanity when you have been with pre-schoolers all day everyday! : 0)

Snow Snow Snow!

Good afternoon/evening depending on what country you are in!

Last week in Coshocton it was quite snowy so the schools were cancelled for at least three days last week. Needless to say all of our activities were cancelled also. This suited me just fine as I have still been feeling really unwell. Called the doctor yesterday morning and the next appointment they could give me was in March! I was at the hairdressers yesterday and normally this is a nice relaxing experience but it became more a test of endurance with severe sinus pain and I ended up going to the Urgent care centre and saw a doctor and am now on antibiotics for a sinus infection so hopefully I will feel better soon. This is a picture I took out of the window this morning to let you see what we are looking at.

I managed to get out on Saturday to an MMS baby shower for Jessica and baby Jonathan. He was born at the start of January. It was a great chance to get to know the other MMS ladies better and celebrate the new baby. I took along some Scottish tablet for them to sample which seemed to go down well, others thought it too sweet. Jessica has two daughters also and one is the same age as Abi. We have arranged for a play date twice and had to cancel due to the weather. We have rescheduled this week for tomorrow so lets hope the snow stops long enough for them to meet. Abi is really looking forward to it.

Abi and Matthew are doing really well. I guess winter in Ohio is going to mean a lot of time indoors. In Scotland there was always lots of soft-play centres you could take kids too. Here in Coshocton there is really just McDonalds. We are very blessed to have a house that the kids can run about in and burn off their energy! Matthew is enjoying pretending to be a racing car everywhere he goes at the moment. Today we had fun painting.

Andy is getting on well at the hanger. One of his highlights last week was driving an aeroplane around the runway to listen to the engine and complete come checks along with another MMS apprentice Paul Jones. His tool box has now arrived - the colour was his choice! He was in the hanger on Saturday also marking up his tools so they don't get mixed up with the others. This will be his tool box which he will take wherever we go in the world and serve with MAF after the three years training in Ohio. Last time we visited the hanger they had a doughnut delivery. I believe the men are having ice-cream and cake this Friday afternoon also! Andy is settling in very well shall we say! : 0)

Time to go and make some lunch.

Hope you are all surviving the winter! Thanks for your prayers and support.

Heatherx

Hello February!

January got off to a great start with Andy starting his work and our shipment arriving. The house is looking like home now and we are settling into a routine. January has come with it's challenges and I have been recovering from a virus. Thankfully the rash I have had for four weeks is now fading - just in-time for the flu to arrive! I am through the worst of that and am not too bothered about being forced indoors by the weather at the moment. I managed to get out to the shops with the kids on Monday to just stock up on some essentials as we were preparing for possible home confinement and power cuts. There is a big winter storm hitting parts of America and Coshocton County has issued a Level 2 Emergency. ( Level 3 you are not allowed to go out on the roads or you will get arrested) Andy went out to Walmart on Monday evening to get a kerosene heater (just in case) and was shocked to find there were only two left on the shelf! Very glad we managed to get one! I am not sure how much snow is forecast for our area but I think the biggest problem at the moment is the layer of ice over EVERYTHING!You can see from the picture just how treacherous the ice is making everything. This morning I was watching the bin man hanging on to the sides of the bin lorry trying to get the neighbours bags into the back and then himself back into the drivers seat on the ice! Torvil and Dean eat your heart out! He was a professional! : 0) Andy left for work at 7.10am to walk across the road to get a lift and struggled crossing the road on foot. No one was going to drive their car on our hill however, and MMS later sent a pick up truck with studded tyres to pick him and another MMS worker up.

Abi and Matthew are doing well and we had a successful trip to the hairdressers recently. Thankfully none of them have had a cold or anything at the moment. Abi is very keen on her school work and is disappointed that I am not putting the same effort into teaching her at the weekends! During the week we usually begin around 9am and start with her little reading book. She is sounding out words and beginning to see the connection between them. Then we do some writing work and she is working through the alphabet. I think we just have X Y and Z to do. The home school pack is from England and I am really enjoying going through it with her. Then we do something like art work, science or cooking together, or music time. Last week we looked at dissolving and today we explored melting. Matthew joins in when he wants to. The snow outside was a gift and they had fun poking and tasting it. Then we put some near a heater and some in a colder room and they had great fun checking to see which pile of snow was going to melt first. Then came the chocolate! Matthew was melting his over hot water. Abi had her hairdryer and, not to waste the American version of a cadburies chocolate bar, we enjoyed dipping marshmallows and tinned mandarins into the melted mass. Then comes some math number work. Abi can now write 1-20 and is beginning to add up. This usually takes us to around 11.30 and then mum has a tea break! : 0) Due to the flu I have been trying to take a rest in the afternoon when the kids sleep. This works most days but I have learned not to depend on this nap, then I am not too disappointment when it doesn't work out. Some days by the time I have got Matthew to settle and myself into bed, the sleeping princess begins to awake and my head has barely touched the pillow! Mothers will all know that feeling! : 0) I hope this post gives you a little taster or what my days are like. I believe my first UK visitors have booked their flights! My parents are coming at the end of March and then my niece and friend are coming in June. Last Tuesday I went to the MMS apprentice wives meeting. We are currently going through the book of Acts together as a group. There were six of us there. I tasted my first "earthquake" cake! very nice - I shall be attempting to make it myself this week. We missed church on Sunday as Andy was also sneezing all weekend and we were both taking it in turns when to sleep and when to keep an eye on the kids. We are really enjoying the Hillsongs church services on the TV and I have them on record now. If anyone has never heard Brian Houston preach then have a go at downloading his sermons or find out when he is on TV- (God channel UK) ( WSFJ cable channel in Ohio). Andy and I are both so blessed and encouraged and challenged when we listen to what God is saying through him. We are looking forward to getting to our own church again this Sunday. Thanks for supporting us. I hope you all have a great week . God Bless. Heather

Asas Amphibious 206 Engine Run and Taxi Test

Just a quick post tonight! Tuesday night's are Heather's night out, when she meets up with some of the other MMS wives. (Coincidently that also means that all across Coshocton there are MMS men with their feet up watching programmes involving petrol / cars / garage experiments / police chases!!)

The week just gone has been one of settling into a routine; I have settled into my routine for getting out to work in the morning, and home again in the afternoon, Abi and Matthew are settling onto their routine of doing a bit of home-school-work in the mornings, and Heather is settling into her routine of coordinating the rest of us!!

Our furniture from Scotland is now all in it's new positions and the boxes have been unpacked - the house here is well and truly feeling like our home.

My work at the hanger is going really well. I am enjoying the hands on work, learning new skills and refreshing my memory on some things I haven't done since my days at the Nautical college in Glasgow! The last few work days have been working at the welding bench, brushing up on basic skills with the gas welding gear, finishing up today with a tube cluster (one piece of pipe, with 3 other pipes joining it at 45, 90, and 135 degrees). Unfortunately I didn't have my camera at work today, so you will just have to take my word that I passed that exercise, and have now finished my basic training! As of tomorrow morning I will be in the "Primary" phase of training, working on aeroplanes under the supervision of one of the MMS staff. The primary phase will probably last for the next 12 - 18 months, and after that I will move into "Production training" where I will be given more responsibility, whilst still learning under supervisors.

While I am in the Primary phase I will be carrying on with my study at home; tonight's job (much as I am tempted with the full reign of the tv whilst Heather is out!) is to finish reading up on the Maths chapter ready for a test later in the week. Long division took a wee while to get my head back around, but it has all clicked back into place now! That said, I have no intentions of selling my calculator just yet!!

Thanks for your interest, and if you want to see a short video of the Asas de Socorro plane I mentioned last week, doing some taxi trials and engine run yesterday, follow the link below!

A

Started at MMS!

The last couple of weeks of weeks have seen my pace of life change a little bit! I have gone from very flexible working hours based at home, to a 7:30 start at the hanger, with a regimented routine to each day. The getting-out-of-bed-on-time bit has taken a little while to re-adjust to, but I am loving being back in a more traditional work routine for the first time since last summer!


As you will know if you have been following our story so far, last summer saw me leave my job in Scotland to start work with www.maf-uk.org . Although I came from a technical background, I had never worked on aircraft before, so I needed to retrain and qualify as an aircraft engineer before MAF could have me serving in one of their field programmes.


Enter www.mmsaviation.org who partner with MAF-UK to provide training for prospective aircraft engineers. We moved to Coshocton last November, spent the last few months of 2010 settling into our new home and lifestyle on the other side of the Atlantic, and then on 3rd January I started work at the hanger! (You may have seen the “new school uniform” picture a couple of posts back!) It was very exciting to be finally starting in the role that we have focused so much of our thoughts on for the last few years! I was even able to maintain that excitement right through a day of counting nuts and bolts, as the first day back after the Christmas break is traditionally the stock check and inventory day. It was actually a really good opportunity to find my way around the store system, work out where everything was kept and try to get my head around some of the part numbers…

Counting nuts...

Since then my time has been spent with Chuck working through a “Basic training” phase where I am reviewing basic shop skills, hand tool techniques etc. Understandably no-one is too keen on giving me a rivet gun, showing me to someone else’s shiny aeroplane and leaving me to it, so the start of my training at MMS involves a bit of time making sure the basics are right. I have really enjoyed this last couple of weeks, learning lots of new skills as I have never really been involved in any sheet metal work before. I also realise that some things are like riding a bike, and are just the same as they were when I was at college in Glasgow! (Spanners are still spanners, even if they call them wrenches over here!) The last 4 years of my career have been based in an office, so it has been good to spend the beginning of 2011 “getting my eye in” again.

Measure twice, cut once...

There are very few things on an aircraft that you would want to have drop off after you leave the ground. Over the years the industry and Aviation Authorities have developed all sorts of standards, regulations and best practice to ensure that this doesn’t happen, so another significant spell of time during basic training is spent looking at these standards, where they are found, and some practical exercises on securing fasteners, safety wiring, and how to do it all correctly.

Safety wire

I also have some nice thick text books to be working my way through in the evenings. I am scheduled for an end of chapter test every 10 days or so, which should see me finishing all the theory training about midway through my apprenticeship (1 test down, 45 to go!) This is obviously an important part of the training, and balances the very practical training I will be doing during the day.

The Books!

Within “mission aviation” we have to work within all the regulations laid out by various authorities, but we are also conscious of our responsibilities as stewards of all that God has given us. This gives an added incentive to do everything we do “with all our heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters”. This is visibly obvious when you look at the Cessna 206 which MMS have been working on for some time now. It will soon be completed and sent off to work on the Amazon with www.asasdesocorro.org.br , and it is looking great! This is the view from my basic training bench this week, right under this plane’s tail, and it is a real incentive for me to do a good job when I see what I am working towards.

Asas de Socorro Cessna 206

Thursday night saw our shipment from the UK arrive, so we had a great day on Friday rebuilding flat packs (and improvising our way around some missing bolts!) and unpacking all our stuff from Scotland. The kids had Christmas number 2 as they opened boxes of their toys, and Heather and I can relax safe in the knowledge that we once again have enough teaspoons! Our new home is really feeling like home again now… I am sure Heather will be updating you all on that soon!

Thank you all for your interest in what we are doing, and for the many ways you are supporting us while we are over here.

A

Abi and Matthew's hospital update.

Matthew had a check up on his heart murmur at Akron Children's hospital. One reading came back a little abnormal (but in a small percentage of kids that's expected) and the doctor thought he could hear a second murmur also, so he suggested an ultrasound. Everything came back all clear and his heart murmur is a normal one. Matthew was very good and lay still for 20 minutes while they did the ultra-sound! I know that was the power of prayer!

The ENT specialist looked at Abi and she has very enlarged tonsils. Although they are not infected they are restricting her airways causing her to snore and be a mouth breather. The doctor would like to take them out so we are going to schedule the operation for March some time when the snow is more unlikely! It is a 45 minute operation and she gets home the same day. She is very excited about the prospect of lots of ice-cream and lollies! I had my tonsils out when I was 13 and can still remember the pain. I pray her enthusiasm will continue till March!

Thanks for the prayers. It was a long and quite stressful day travelling to an unknown place. I was very grateful to Esther who came along with me and helped to navigate and look after one of the children while I saw the doctor with the other.

Off To Work!

Well the day finally arrived for Andy to start in the MMS hanger! Usually Abi wakes us early every morning but as Andy has to be out of the house by 7.15am we need something a little more predictable. Andy has really enjoyed being in the hanger. His new uniform even has his name sewn on all of his shirts!

We returned from North Carolina last week to a little pile of mail. Thank you for the lovely Christmas cards and encouraging notes. It was great to hear some Pitlochry voices on the phone (Fergus and Christine!) on Monday and today we have had three skype calls from Scotland. My apologies to all those who are more interested in the goings on in the MMS hanger than my little "cook-a-thons" at home. :0) Andy will write the next blog post and you can hear of his news first hand.

I have been adjusting to my new life of home alone with the children all day again. It is wonderful to have time to play with the kids, do a little home schooling each day and keep the house tidy. I am really enjoying trying out new recipes and have so far made Chicken Korma, chilli, lasagna, among others without a jar in sight! Today we made fresh bread (the most successful yet - thanks Jenny), chocolate chip cookies, and pizza from scratch. The clean up takes a lot longer with two little helpers but it was worth it to see them eating their creations!

We know our shipment has arrived in America but according to the Internet it hasn't cleared customs yet. I was at a friends Lia Sophia Jewelery party on Monday night and am going to host one in my house on the 18th of Feb. I thought it would be a good opportunity to invite the new people I am meeting to our house - a house warming party with a little more sparkle! I just hope our shipment has arrived or they may be bringing a chair each!

We were back at church on Sunday and enjoyed a Southern Gospel Quartet who were visiting Coshocton. The southern accent is more difficult to understand and there were a few moments where the people around us erupted laughing, and Andy and I had knew we had missed the joke! Never mind, we enjoyed the music!

On friday Abi and Matthew both have appointments at the Children's hospital in Akron. Esther, another MMS apprentice wife is going to come with me for the day to help with the navigation and childminding along the way! Abi's appointment is at 10am and Matthew's appointment is at 12.30pm. (We are five hours behind the UK) I believe Akron is over an hour's drive away from our house. There is snow forecast tomorrow evening so I am praying the roads will be clear and safe to allow us to make the appointments. We will keep you posted on the outcome.

Happy New Year to all

love from the Swanson's x