In the engine shop...

I had planned to give you an update from the hangar before we went on our Christmas break, but since that plan didn’t work out, I will start off our 2013 blog posts by filling you in on the end of 2012!

We made our usual trip down to North Carolina to spend our last American Christmas with our good friends down there. Unfortunately the plan didn’t work out, and a nasty flu bug took it’s toll on all of us at different times of our holiday week. We are all more or less back to normal again, and glad to be heading back towards a bit more of a healthy routine!

Since we got back from our trip to Scotland, I have been working with Josh in the engine shop. Most of the work I have been involved in since I started here in Ohio has been on aircraft airframes, but the A&P licence exams that I will be sitting at the end of the summer cover both Airframe and Powerplant systems, so it is important that the experience I get here covers all areas of aircraft maintenance.

Over the last few months we have had two aircraft arrive in the hangar that have engine overhauls on their lists of jobs for us to do. One plane is used by an organisation called “Heartland Embrace” serving across north America, and the other is used in northern Canada by http://www.lampministry.org/ . By the time I came back from Scotland, both engines had been stripped down and the various components that we aren’t able to work on ‘in-house’ were sent out to specialists to be inspected and overhauled. As well as the steel parts which we send out for inspection, there is a big list of parts that are ‘mandatory replacement at overhaul’ parts. These were all ordered up, and by the time I got back to work in the hangar, everything was on it’s way back to Ohio for us to put back together. 

Inspecting new pistons ready for re-assembly

Every engine relies on all the right components being put together, with the right clearances in all the right places, and the all the nuts, bolts and screws being tightened to the right torque. When you are relying on that engine as the only thing keeping you moving through the air in a small aircraft, then the need to make sure all your i’s are dotted and your t’s crossed is even more obvious. Aircraft engine manufacturers provide a manual with lists of all the allowable clearances, dimensions and torques for every bushing, bearing, nut and bolt in the engine. A large part of the time taken assembling an engine is spent measuring every component, ensuring that everything is within the dimensions allowed for it, and that everything is written down to be included in the records for that engine.

Measuring parts before reassembly

Since we started back in the hangar on Wednesday, we have been doing our annual inventory check, so tomorrow will be our first day back into the engine shop, and working on this engine. We managed to get the cylinders installed before the Christmas break, but we still have a bit to do before it is run-able.

Partially assembled engine...

Once we have the engine fully rebuilt we will put it on the engine test bed and run it in, making sure everything is functioning as it should. I will hopefully get another blog posted soon with an update on the engine run!

Thanks for checking in with us!!

Hello's and Goodbye's......What a week!

Eilidh meeting her cousin Hannah.

My brother Kenny wiith Eilidh.

Abi and Auntie Hayley

Last Monday my brother Kenny, his wiife Hayley and their daughter Hannah, were able to come to Ohio for a flying visit! I have not seen them for two years so it was lovely to catch up with them.  They used to live in North Carolina and for the last few years they have been living in Isreal.  Eilidh has now met all her Uncles,  Aunts and Cousins! It felt very wierd saying goodbye when we have no idea when we will see each other again.  






The Beckwith's and the Linkletter's and Abi and Matthew

After they left mid morning,  it was time to get ready for a special MAF dinner party! Mark and Jenny Beckwith and their two daughters Abigail and Naomi are also with MAF UK and have now completed their training and are due to return to the UK on the 18th of December.  They will spend a few months in the UK before going to serve in a MAF programme in Tanzania.   Geoff and Celia Linkletter and their daughter Miriam are from Newcastle and are also with MAF UK, training at MMS.  Andy will be finished next year and Geoff will be finished in two years so it was wonderful to all be together for a meal before the Beckwith's start the next chapter in their MAF adventure!  We had cottage pie,  and rice pudding for desert.  It is not every day three Brittish families can all get together in the middle of small town America - Abi had the strongest American accent in the house that night :0)  The most humourous part when Jenny and I get together is when we come across words where I have to ask her to repeat what she is saying as I can't understand her accent! I don't struggle with the American accent here in Ohio,  only the English ones ;0)

We have enjoyed living in the country here in Coshocton and being close to Abigail's school is always a bonus.  We are blessed with wonderful land-lords also. This year they are trying to sell their house and wish to move back into the house we are living in at some point.  We were no longer in any contract and it was a little unsettling to know that we may have to move out some time in the year before Andy is finished his exams.  Even after his exams are over we will have lots to sort out in preperation for the next big move.  We felt we needed to look for another house to rent for our last year so we could guarantee we would be settled through this important year. On Wednesday we went to look at three properties and were about to sign a lease for one of them yesterday.  After telling our land-lords about it they have decided to offer us another years contract so we do not have to move after all.   With so many other big things happening in this next year we are so thankful we do not have to think about yet another move during this year.  

Thinking we may have had a possible move in the next few weeks we knew we would need to pursue a second car more urgently.  Andy's jeep is away to the scrap yard and he has been surviving on lifts part of the week and I have been home bound when he has the car the other days. Thursday and Friday evening we were looking at cars! Thankfully we were not due to pay for one un-till Monday.  Now that we are not moving it is not so urgent.  At least now he will still be able to get lifts from our neighbour but we are hoping to have another car for him to drive in January some time.   The lack of public transport makes it impossible to go anywhere without a car and the roads are not geared up for walkers.  There are no wide grass verges to move over to if a car is coming,  you would have to jump into the ditches at either side of the road!  There are no pavements (side-walks) expect those in the town - if we had a field with the house then a horse and cart would be an attractive alternative. lol!
Also this week on Friday evening we had the MMS Christmas get together. There was around 80 people there.  About six families are leaving soon to go to new mission organisations,  return back to their mission in Brazil and other places.   This was the third MMS Christmas get together we have been to and the biggest yet! There must have been about 13 children under the age of 6! Hats off to Dale and Deborah Coats for hosting 80 people at their house!


Some face painting fun on Saturday.

 On Saturday,  Andy took Abi and Matthew to an Amish store in Kidron,  about half an hours drive. The kids had great fun decorating biscuits and getting their face painted (all for free!). 






Today the children led the service at Church.   Kaylee, Abi's friend,  comes to church with us every Sunday morning and her Mum and little sister also came for the first time to hear them play the hand bells.   On a Sunday afternoon we try and rest and after such a hectic week which included three migranes for me and Andy still battling with a cough, as well as all of the above, we enjoyed a much needed nap!



Home Sweet Home!

Our three weeks in Scotland flew past so quickly.  It was great to see so many people and we are so thankful to God for the safe travels and good health he has given us throughout the whole time!  Thanks to those who made the effort to meet with us at the open day and other meetings,  and to all those who have hosted us either for meals, or accommodation or both! Thank you especially for your prayers! Although exhausting traveling with three children, we had a wonderful trip.  There were so many supporters and relatives that we would have loved to have visited but we just couldn't fit it all in. 

Playing in the leaves!

Meeting Granda for the first time!

Great-Auntie Christine traveled up to Pitlochry for a visit.

Our time in London was a little bit different this year.  Not only did we renew the visa, but we visited the staff at the MAF office in Folkestone, Kent.  We were also able to give a little presentation about life at MMS in Ohio.  It was exciting to begin talks about what is going to be happening over the next year and beyond.  I can hardly believe we only have one year left in the states, then after a few months in Scotland, we will be heading off to a MAF programme somewhere in the world! In about six months time we will start serious talks about where we will be placed.  So from here on,  there will be many 'lasts' as we enter in to a transition phase again.
We couldn't have arrived back at a better time!
Andy just had a few days back at work before MMS closed for 2 days for Thanksgiving.  These few days of rest were just what we needed to catch up on the jet lag and to 're-charge the batteries!'  We opted for a more quiet thanksgiving this year and had a lovely meal with our pastor and family.  Our pastor was raised in Haiti and it was lovely hearing their stories of growing up as missionary kids in Haiti.   We enjoyed some shopping in the sales,  and we were able to get Eilidh a booster high chair and a very long stair gate in preparation for things to come!
Abi missed her American friends a lot and was keen to get back to school.  This meant that she was up at five thirty in the morning ready on her first day back - the joys of jet lag! She is over that now and is back to her usual 6am rise ;0).   I have enjoyed going in to Abi's school to read the "Gruffalo" and the "Gruffalo's Child" to her class.  The school are looking for more involvement from parents and I am thinking and praying about volunteering to teach music in the school for a few hours each week.   At present the music education at the most elementary schools is purely vocal and the children don't get to touch an instrument until they are much older.   The school actually has a good supply of percussion instruments but they share a music teacher with many schools and he does not have time to do instruments with the classes.  I will let you know how things progress.  
Matthew is back at preschool and loving it.  He is able to read five books at home now in the "Biff and  Kipper" series,  and has been given his first reading book at pre-school which he is so excited about!  He adores Eilidh and is continually keeping her happy with cars and airplanes flying over her head.  Matthew has always loved rubbing his face against anything soft and his favourite soft place at the moment is the top of Eilidh's head! Her hair sticks up with about 2 inches of fluff at the moment and you will often find Matthew with his cheek buried in her hair - very sweet!
Eilidh is doing great and just had her 4 month doctor check.  Apparently she is very long (hence we are filling out 6-9 month clothes!)  She is doing great though and two teeth are not far away!  It was great introducing her to everyone in Scotland.  
Mother and Toddler's is going well and is was lovely to see the regular ladies there on Wednesday.  I was able to do some music and puppets with the tiny tots: 0)
Andy is back at work although he is feeling a little under the weather with a cold and sore throat at the moment.  He is persevering on with it, but would appreciate your prayers (and that the rest of the family don't get it!).
He has moved off the MAF 206 project that he has been working on for the last few months, and is now in the engine shop rebuilding 2 engines for 2 different mission planes. It is a very different kind of work from what he has been doing for the last few months, but a great way to learn ahead of his exams!

Back on familiar soil!

Just a quick update from the British side of the Atlantic!!
All our travels went to plan last Friday and we arrived in one piece (or should that be 5 pieces?!?)
We have had a good weekend catching up with family and spending a bit of time at Kirkintilloch Baptist church yesterday.
Today heather, Eilidh and I head south for our visa appointment in London.
We managed to get ourselves sorted out with a mobile phone this weekend, so if you need to get ahold of us, you can give us a call on 07833 691 659.

October's blog!

Once again a whole month has gone by and we haven’t managed to post a blog… sorry!

Things have been pretty crazy here. Since Eilidh arrived it seems like we have been playing catch up continually! This time of the year is always busy anyway, as we prepare to go back to the UK to renew our visa’s. As well as our interview at the US embassy, we are trying to catch up with as many of our friends, family and supporters as we can while we are home. We are all really looking forward to our trip back home, but there is a lot of work to be done before we head off. We had a newsletter to go out telling people of our plans, visa interview applications to complete for everyone, garden’s and small-holding’s to look after for friends who have been on vacation and on Rapid Response trips, and as a result the blog posts have taken a bit of a back seat!!

Things at the hangar have been busy; I had a two week break from the 206 project while GCI’s King Air was in for its phase inspection. That was good experience of the kind of routine maintenance that will be more normal when I join an MAF programme. Working through the phase inspection checklist, changing time limited parts and inspecting ll the many systems is very different from the work I have been involved in on the 206, and although I enjoy the more in depth restoration type work that the 206 brings, it was nice to have a couple of weeks of something different!

Shooting paint...

The last two weeks have seen me back on the 206, this time in the paint booth with Josh. It has been great experience working on a big paint job rather than just little bits here and there. Painting is definitely 30% science and 70% art, and the best way to learn is just to do it! For the most part everything went to plan with just a couple of “learning opportunities” to make sure I didn’t get too cocky!

Freshly painted and ready for fitting out!

Next week is going to be a bit different; Monday I will be in the hangar finishing off a few of the little things I have been working on with the 206. Tuesday and Wednesday are going to be spent working at http://www.preferredairparts.com/ about an hour from here. One of http://www.missionaryflights.org/ DC-3’s is flying into Ohio this weekend, and one of the jobs it is having done is to have it’s 2 turbine engines removed and packaged for shipping out to a specialist for overhaul. I am scheduled to go up with 3 others from MMS to help with that job. Again, this is all great experience working on different aircraft, with different staff and in a different work environment from the norm. That job should keep us busy for Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving just Thursday to gather our thoughts (and pack our bags!!) for our trip east on Friday morning.

We have quite a long layover in New York on the way home. Thankfully there is a shopping mall just a few minutes from the airport, and if we have time to kill while passing through, we usually end up there! Hopefully the mall will be able to keep all 5 of us sane for the 9 or 10 hours we have there!! There are decent kids play areas, and a Starbucks with wi-fi, so it is actually a really good place to escape from the airport to!! (It is actually my favourite shopping mall to take Heather to, as baggage limits ensure that window shopping means window shopping!! J )

We would appreciate your prayers as we finish things up here in Ohio this week coming, and prepare for Eilidh’s first big journey. For the most part Eilidh is a contented wee girl, but the thought of travelling as a family of five is a bit intimidating for me and Heather!!! Looking forward to seeing some of you when we are home. In case you don’t get our newsletter, here are thing things we have scheduled while we are back in the uk.

We leave Columbus, Ohio, early on the morning of Friday 26th October and have a nine hour layover in Newark, New Jersey before our flight to Scotland. We arrive in Glasgow on the morning of 27thOct. Andy, Heather & Eilidh will travel to London on Monday 29th for our appointment at the American Embassy, then travel on to Folkestone to visit the MAF office. We return to Scotland on Thursday 1st November. On Saturday the 3rd we will travel to Dunoon to spend time with family, then catch up with friends at Dunoon Baptist Church on Sunday 4th November. We will return to Glasgow on Tuesday 6th Nov.

On Wednesday 7th November we are having an open house in Moodiesburn from 2pm – 8pm. We will be at the Moodiesburn Coffee House from 2pm until 4pm – feel free to stop by for a chat. From 4pm until 8pm we will be at Heather’s parent’s house at 2 Harwood Gardens, Moodiesburn. If you are able to pop in we would love to catch up with you. (If you are planning on stopping at the house, please could you call or email us and let us know just in case everyone arrives at once! Tel: 01236 879 637 or email andyswansonmaf@gmail.com)  

We are hoping to have a wee break from all the travelling and plan to spend five nights in Pitlochry from 8th to 13^th November. Andy will be speaking at a MAF conference in Perth on the Saturday, then we will all be visiting Pitlochry Baptist Church on the Sunday. We plan to travel up to Aberdeenshire on the 13th to visit family and friends before we return to Glasgow on the 14th. That will give us a day to pack before we fly back to Ohio on the 16th Nov. It would be great to catch up with you while we are home; we look forward to seeing you somewhere around the country!

Farewell Summer of 2012!

Greetings! The school year has started! After a three month summer break it is time to get back to work.  Abigail is really glad to be in first grade and is enjoying her new class.  The two kindergarten classes last  have been mixed up for first grade so she is getting to know her new classmates better and can play with her old friends at play time.  

Miriam, Matthew and Abigail

Matthew is back at pre-school.  There are only four children in his class from last year and the rest of the children are all new.  His best friend Miriam is now in kindergarten so he is having to make new friends. He is really enjoying it and I haven’t had any tears when it’s time to go.  His new pre-school bag has hand prints all over it, so he likes to call it his “hand-bag”.  Thankfully a hand-bag is more commonly referred to as a “purse” in America so it only makes Andy and I cringe! Lol!

Parent and toddlers started again last week and it was great to catch up with the mum’s and grandma’s after three months.  Yesterday we had a new mum with her five week old boy and 2 year old girl.  It’s is always exciting each week to see who is going to walk through the door.

Sam and Sommer with 20 month old Savannah
 

We enjoyed our friends from Florida last week for three days.  Sam is a pilot so he gets to fly for free.  They flew to Ohio last Tuesday and stayed till Friday.  I knew Sommer when she was just six years old when her family lived in Dunoon.  Her father was in the navy.  We have kept in touch since and it was so nice to see them and meet Savannah for the first time.  Sam is Puerto Rican so we had three different accents going on - fun!

Eilidh 10 weeks old.

Eilidh is growing fast and is starting to giggle which has all of us laughing as we listen to her.   She is in 3-6 month clothes a month early!   I am just up once through the night usually for an hour or so with her.   It is still like being pregnant in some ways with the disturbed sleep and trying to take naps in the afternoon to make up it.  It is certainly a challenge getting three children out the door for 8.45am and punctuality has gone from my vocabulary! House work is in the distance and there is a bag of paperwork needing urgent attention.  If I manage to get the washing done and the meals and dishes done then it has been a very successful day.:0) I’m blogging with one hand while putting Eilidh to sleep in the other arm – mum’s you will understand completely!:0)

 

Andy is busy as always in the hanger and preparing a few presentations for our return to the UK.   His jeep died a few weeks ago.  The breaks have been dangerously worn and the floor has rusted out so much that the front passenger chair has come loose from its bolts.  He could no longer take anyone for lifts or put any of the children in it as he only had one seat belt working.   A few weeks ago it broke down a few miles from home.  We only have one mobile which I had so he had to walk two miles home after a day’s work, part of which was in a thunderstorm.  Some of our MMS friends helped tow it back to our house where it is awaiting a further adventure to the scrap yard!  I am home bound for part of the week and Andy is relying on lifts for the other half when I have to take Matthew to preschool .  We have a loan of a car for a month during September while Jeff (another MAF apprentice) is away to Zambia.  He is going with our neighbour (who has been giving Andy the lifts) for the month on a rapid response trip.  We are so thankful Andy will have transport while our neighbour is away.

We're still here!!!

As I flick through some of our old blogs, there are more than a few that start something like “Sorry it has been such a long time since our last post…” This time we can literally say that it has been a lifetime since our last post!!

When we last blogged, Eilidh was less than 24hrs old, and we were down in North Carolina after her adventurous arrival into the world! (See our last newsletter for the whole story; if you want to receive it but don’t yet, drop me a line and we can add you to the list!) Now she is a happy healthy 6 week old bundle of joy!

We're getting used to having another tiny little person around the house again!

It is fair to say that much of what we’ve been up to for the last month and a half has revolved around Eilidh. The day after we got back to Ohio, I took Abi and Matthew through to Columbus to collect Heather’s mum and dad from the airport. It was good to have them with us as we all adjusted to life as a family of five. My paternity leave lasted until the end of that week, so having another couple of pairs of hands to help with housework and looking after Abi and Matthew was a huge blessing. They enjoyed spending time with Abi and Matthew, and the rest of us, as well as getting to know Eilidh, and hopefully having a bit of a break as well!!

After Eilidh's dedication service.

One highlight of their time here was having Eilidh dedicated at our church here in Coshocton. It was good to be able to have that service here with our church family, and to have a connection with Scotland through having Heather’s parents join us. I put a little slide show together from the dedication...

Through the summer Abi and Matthew have been able to get involved in some different activities that have been running around the area. Most of the local churches run week long Vacation Bible School’s during the holidays, and Abi and Matthew have both been able to attend a few of these. Some of their friends have joined them at our church’s VBS, and they have gone to VBS at some friend’s churches. These have been a really good time for the kids, as well as giving mum a little bit of quiet time in the house to deal with Eilidh! It has also introduced a whole new repertoire of sing-along songs for our car journeys!!

They have also been to a couple of “camps” this summer as well. Abi attended an art camp at a local theatre, where they were involved in designing and decorating the set for a youth production of Jungle Book, and Matthew spent a week at soccer camp becoming a better footballer than his dad (not too tough a challenge!!)

Our little footballer!

Back at the hangar I have mostly been carrying on with work on the MAF Cessna 206. We are making good progress and now we have started building things back up, having spent the first part of the project dismantling the plane and dealing with corrosion and other issues. While I was off on paternity leave Phil and Jake had removed a damaged skin from the tail-cone and fabricated a new skin ready for installation. My first job back was to help Phil with riveting the new skin in place; we have also been busy rebuilding the landing gear box, reinstalling the main landing gear legs, installing new windows, reinstalling the cargo doors, finishing off some paint stripping detail work, and rebuilding the nose gear strut ready to be installed next week. After the nose gear goes on, we should be ready to wheel the fuselage to the paint booth, and move on to working on the wings!

Re-assembling the fuselage, ready for painting.

Thanks for your patience with our lack of posts, and for your thoughts and prayers as we serve with MAF here in Ohio.