Monday, May 18, 2009

Abigail enjoyed her first trip overseas!!

Abigail was a little Angel for our trip to the States ... we had been a bit nervous at the prospect of flying out there with her ... with transfers, time differences etc ... but she travelled like a dream was her usual happy smiley self ... with a little bit of teething thrown in while we were there ... which had cleared up by the time we needed to fly home!!!
She enjoyed Karen's little rocking chair!! ...
... practised an American pose with a baseball cap!! ...
... enjoyed sleeping in her bassinet on the flight (who are we kidding ... that's just a glorified duffle bag dumped on the floor!! ... great service United Airlines!!!) ...
... and seems to happy sitting in mummy's seat on the plane wondering why she couldn't have one of her own!!!!

Time for fun in Ohio too!!

We had some time for exploring a bit too while we were in Coschoction! Our friends Keith and Karen took us on a little tour of the town!! Abigail was enjoying the ride ... definitely travels in style!!
Here is the County Sheriffs Office in the centre of the town ... a very beautiful building!!!
We also spent a day driving up into Amish Country ... not all that far from Coshocton ... 15/20 minutes and you're already there ... and yet such a different lifestyle!!!
The Amish mode of transport ... very cute ... but on a cold day ... there's no way to turn up the in transport heating!!!
A different kind of 'car park' ... or should I say 'parking lot'!!!
We also visited a random shed in someones front yard which is a gorgeous little Polish pottery shop ... we'll definitely be visiting there again to make a few purchases once we've moved!!

Being Evaluated at MMS!

Although we'd been through a long application process with MAF UK with all kinds of interviews and assessments ... there was still an evaluation at MMS while we were there! Mark spent three and a half days on the hangar floor, getting stuck in on the aircraft ... while being assessed at the same time! He really enjoyed the hands on work, having always been the person designing aircraft from a desk before!!
There was also a written part to his evaluation ... (with Bob looking on to make sure there was no cheating!!!) ... which Mark sailed through with flying colours!
Here's Mark and Abigail with Keith (Administrator ... and friend!! at MMS) and Andy ... a fellow Brit who moved out to Ohio at the beginning of this year to start his training too! We'd met both Keith (and his wife, Karen) and Andy at weeks training we did with MAF in July 2008 ... so it was great to catch up with them again!

MMS in March

Well ... so much has happened in the last couple of years ... but the culmination of all of it is that we applied and were accepted to work with MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship!) for long term mission service overseas!
As Mark is an aircraft design engineer by trade ... he needs a little bit more training to become a maintenance engineer ... and MAF UK have a unique partnership with a mission called MMS Aviation in Coshocton, Ohio ... who can train Mark while he works on mission aircraft!
MMS's slogan is 'Preparing People and Planes for Worldwide Mission' and we had the opportunity to visit them in March this year ... to see if it would be the right place for us to live and serve and for them to check us out a bit too ... we're pleased to say it was a positive experience all round!
We stayed with a lovely family ... Mike and Isobel Dunkley ... and Isobel's mum Joan was visiting from Zimbabwe too! They had a gorgeous log cabin which they designed and built themselves ... and we stayed in their basement flat (a space bigger than our little cottage in Dorset!!) ... it was great to have our own space ... but also to be welcomed as part of their family for the time we stayed with them!! They made us feel very much at home from the moment we arrived!