Christmas 2010

We have just celebrated our second Christmas in America and are enjoying all the differences and similarities that that brings culture-wise!!! Mark's sister, has been able to join us here in Coshocton again and has been having lots of fun with Abigail especially!

Gingerbread men and houses are a part of an American Christmas ... so a couple of days before Christmas ... Abigail and Amy had a fun couple of hours making and decorating their own!!

There were major structural difficulties during the process ... however we're pleased to report that after some dedicated repair work but her Auntie Amy ... Abigail was able to finish decorating her little house (which is still standing as I write this!!!) Below is the finished masterpiece!

On Christmas Day ... we were treated to a lie-in by Abigail ... who hasn't yet worked out that most little people wake up in the early hours of the morning on December 25th to open presents ... and then had a very lazy morning having fun opening presents together! As you can see there was lots of silliness going on ... and Abigail did very well with her pile of goodies!

Later on in the afternoon we were joined by the lovely Gettle family (another MMS apprentice family and good friends of ours) for a yummy Christmas dinner and some more silliness together!!! One of the things we haven't managed to get out here are Christmas crackers ... so we compensated with head-boppers instead of the usual paper hats!!

We were so stuffed that we never did get round to starting our alternative Christmas cake ... something that is becoming a bit of a family tradition for us ... instead of the usual Christmas fruit cake ... we made another giant chocolate cupcake decorated as a Christmas tree again this year (by Amy) ... we started eating it the day after instead ... delicious!!

On Boxing Day (December 26th for our US buddies!!) we went to church ... as they don't do church on Christmas Day here. Pastor Dan had asked Jenny to share a little of the differences between Christmas in the UK and in the States ... so we had to do a little research before hand to find out why we do certain things in the UK ... and also identified lots of differences between how two supposedly similar cultures celebrate the same holiday.

Look out ... there's a Bubble about! ;o)

As many of you know ... or may not know ... there is a second little Beckwith due to enter the world around Easter time in 2011!! Yet another 'Big Adventure' for us to embark on!! We found out late summer that Number 2 was on the way ... and having named Number 1 'Monkey' before she born and given a 'real' name ... we were quick to be creative in naming the next one!! So, we'd like to formally introduce 'Bubble' to the world! ;o).

Jenny had a rough month in September as her body got used to growing another little person ... something she hadn't experienced when pregnant with Abigail ... but from the day we set off for the UK has felt much more herself again!! We had our first scan before we left for our trip at the beginning of October (see above) and then the second (20 week) scan last week (see below). Abigail came with us for the second one and the minute the image came up on the screen pointed and said 'Bubble'!! After that her interest waned a little and she thought it was much more exciting that Mummy's tummy was blue from the gel they were using than what was going on on the screen!! We (aka Mummy and Daddy!) on the other hand got to enjoy a much longer look at Bubble and all the different body parts than we had during the 20 week scan in the UK the first time around ... one of the many subtle differences of having babies in different countries/cultures!!

As you can see there are definitely bubble-like aspects in both scans ... which made us laugh a lot ... although I'm sure all you medical-types will correctly identify them as something else! We had the chance to find out whether Bubble was a girl or a boy last week ... but to many people's surprise in Coshocton we have chosen to wait until he/she arrives in the world!! Our doctor told us only 5% of his patients now wait to find out on the birth-day here ... so we're the odd English family going against the grain (in more ways than one I'm sure!)!!!

Bubble seems to be fit and well ... and has been wriggling around a lot from about 15 weeks on ... according to the doctors, he/she weighs 12oz already ... we're only just over halfway there ... the real adventure will begin in about 19 weeks time ... give or take! ;o)

Back into the swing of things!

We're now back into the swing of life in Coshocton again ... having returned to the land where when you step off the plane you automatically drop a dress size, there are adverts on the BBC channel and someone else bag's your groceries!!!

Jenny and Abigail have had lots of fun in the kitchen baking flapjack (the English type ... out here it's a kind of pancake!!) ... and this years batch of mince pies! Last year we experimented with a recipe for mince pies as they're not a Christmas staple out here ... and it was so yummy and popular that we multiplied the ingredients by four ... and are going for mass production! Last year Jenny made them all ... this year she has a very willing helper who enjoys making a spectacular mess as well!

Holiday festivities began early in small town America! The Christmas parade was in mid-November ... marching bands, giant gingerbread men, Santa riding a fire engine ... the whole shebang!! We walked down to Main Street and met up with several MMS families to enjoy the parade ... we also bumped into other friends as we walked along ... very different from last year when we had only recently arrived and didn't know anyone!

Thanksgiving weekend was at the end of November ... a four day holiday weekend ... a chance to be thankful ... something we don't get as much of an opportunity to reflect on in the UK! We spent the Thursday with 9 other families ... 40 of us in total ... and a huge feast of food, different dishes provided by all of us ... we were spread out across 3 large tables at the Hengst's house (see below)!

It was also nice to have a few days to have fun together and discover some new places too! We went to Canton (about 1hr 10mins drive away) an alternative place to shop in the Thanksgiving weekend sales ... with a better selection of stores than our usual 45 min drive to Zanesville ... which is the closest place to shop from Coschocton!

Abigail's been getting up to her usual mischief ... 'colour-ling' is her favourite thing ... she would be drawing for several hours a day if we didn't have anything else to do. In mid-November she decided that she wanted to start writing too ... her first attempt to follow the lines is below ... believe us, it's a lot more accurate now!

Abigail's also taken to 'swimming like a fish', as she calls it, in the bath ... she loves to lay flat on her back and just float around for ages ... and then pops up with a big grin on her face shouting 'I did it'!! As you can see she's having a 'whale' of a time surrounded by bubbles!! She's always wanting to read and re-read her books too ... she usually has about 10 different books out of the library at any given time and loves going to get more ... the problem is getting her out of the library and into the car at the end of the visit!!

The Swanson family arrived safely a few weeks ago too ... you may remember we mentioned them earlier on in the year. They are another MAF UK family ... this time from near Glasgow and have arrived for Andy to begin his apprenticeship in the New Year. They seem to be settling in well, having already found a house and car and have been out and about exploring the local area as you can see from the photo below!! Our Abigail is enjoying having two new playmates in their two children another Abigail and Matthew ... and we're trying to answer any questions Andy and Heather have as they settle in, as are the rest of the MMSers!

These are just a few highlights of what we've been up to ... more to come soon!

Cessna 172 Engine Removal & Tear Down

The latest job that I'm working on in the hangar is the removal of an engine to inspect it. The aircraft is a 1961 Cessna 172B that has only 900 hours on it ... which in general aviation is an amazingly low number for an aircraft so old. Below is a video showing us removing the engine so it can be stripped down and inspected.

The engine from the aircraft is a Teledyne Continental o-300D (for those who wish to know). Once the engine is on the stand Andy, Ian and myself could start to strip down all the accessories, electrical cables, ducts, exhausts and baffles.

We then had to remove the cylinders. To do this you have to remove the rocker covers, rockers and push rods. After that the cylinder can be removed, which reveals the cylinder head that can then be removed.

Once all the cylinders have been removed, we had to split the crankcase open. First the accessory case is removed (with a bit of persuasion as you can see below), and the oil sump. Once these have been removed the crankcase can finally be split, the camshaft and crankshaft can be removed along with the tappets.

Now that everything has been disassembled, the parts can be cleaned up and inspected for cracks, abrasions, corrosion and measure all the shafts and bearings to see if they are within operational tolerances.

Once all this has been done, and all the parts that need replacing have been purchased, the reassembly will begin. I'll keep you up to date when this happens.

A Hop, Skip & Jump across the Pond!!

In October we spent roughly three weeks back in the UK, having been in the States for our first year! Our main focus was to renew our US visas and update as many people as we could in a short space of time! It certainly was a crazy whirlwind ... but we had loads of fun in the process!

We travelled via Toronto both ways ... driving the first leg (approx 7 hours!) and then flying direct to London Heathrow! One of Jenny's best friends lives in Toronto with her husband, so it was a great chance to catch up with them at each end of our trip!

As everything was fast and furious while we were home, we weren't as on the ball with our camera as much as we usually are ... so there are many people and places we saw which we don't have any photos of ... huge apologies ... here are a selection of some of the friends and family we managed to catch up with!

We were also able to see Lucy & Andrew Amukowa, who are like family to us, from the RUSH project in Kenya. They were in the UK for Andrew to have some life saving surgery which was more that 100% successful ... for more information about RUSH and Andrews amazing recovery check out www.rushuk.org.uk.

Our visa renewal was really straight forward and we spent the rest of that day in London enjoying the sounds, sights and shops that we'd been missing! While we were home we able to update three of our supporting churches on what we've been doing this last year, Purley Baptist Church (www.purleybaptist.org), Emmanuel Church Weymouth (www.radipoleparish.f2s.com/emmanuel.htm) and Croham Road Baptist Church (www.crohamroadbaptist.co.uk). We also caught up with a couple of groups who regularly get together to pray for us, one near Yeovil where we used to live and another in Orpington. We are aware of other churches and groups that we didn't get to see ... and will make you our priorities next year when we're home.

A personal priority for us as a family while we were in the UK ... was to eat some yummy food that can not be savoured over there in the small town America! Real bacon, sausages, crumpets, Chinese & Indian takeaways ... to name just a few!! We took a couple of photos of some deliciousness we were able to enjoy ... a Cornish Pasty, Cream Tea and Fish & Chips ... YUM!!

We knew that it would be a really busy time for us ... and so carved out a few days in the middle just for us as a family down in Cornwall. Mark's parents have a little cottage down there and it was the perfect getaway for us to recharge ... we did a lot of relaxing but tried to do something fun each day as well. We built and decorated sandcastles on a couple of beaches (a new experience for Abigail which she took very seriously but loved doing), went swimming, shopping and to a huge playzone which Abigail loved to lead her mummy and daddy through, even though we struggled to keep up for the most part and as it was designed for little people!!

We also took a day out down on the beach in Brighton ... a favourite spot for us ... in fact where we went on our first date together ... as you can see from some of the photos below, it was another day of fun and silliness with Mark's sister, Amy, in amongst all the comings and goings of everything else!

It was so lovely to see so many people, get to eat so many things and visit so many places that we love, in such a short space of time. There were elements of UK life that we hadn't realised we missed and didn't know if we would want to leave at the end of our stay ... however arriving back in Ohio on October 31st, we were really glad to be 'home' again!!

The rest of Popeye's visit (back in Sept!!)

OK ... so Auntie Popeye left in the middle of September ... and we've been a little slack at updating this for various reasons ... so here's a snapshot of the rest of her visit!

The photo below shows Abigail's method of getting to bath-time for most of Popeye's visit!! Very amusing for us to watch and great fun for Abigail ... and I think Popeye too!!

We took a day trip to Rolling Ridge Range up in Amish Country ... it's like a drive through open safari type park with loads of great animals ... you can either drive yourself or take a wagon ride (we chose to do the latter) ... and along the way you get to feed the animals too!

We all really enjoyed the ride ... which takes about an hour and half to go round the whole park, stopping every so often to look at the different animals ... Abigail loves animals and loved watching them all over the side!

Here's a couple of photos showing some of the animals there ... including deer, camels, pot-bellied piglets, there were a couple of zedonks (zebra/donkey cross), bison, zebra, llamas, emu ... the list goes on!!!

After the wagon ride there was another area with a chance to see more animals ... monkeys, turtles, crocodiles, ducklings, baby camels, goats, guinea pigs ... etc etc

We also had lots of fun hanging out at home, going to the park and lots of other stuff ... as you can see the Abigail and Popeye were just as cheeky as each other most of the time ... this final picture sums it all up!! ;o)