January in a nutshell!!

Well ... we finally got our cheeky girl off the blog to update it ourselves (although we're very grateful to her for filling you in our Christmas antics!!!) ... she is now happily chilling out on her new Amish made rocking chair bought with some Christmas money from Auntie Betty!!

We all enjoyed the snow at the beginning of the month ... with Abigail and without!! Jenny and Mark made the most of one of Abigail's naps on a Saturday afternoon ... to sneak outside, have a snowball fight and build a snowman ... lots of fun ;o) As you can see though, Abigail really loved her little toboggan ... sliding up and down the sidewalk outside our house ... major upsets when we want to take her inside!!! The snow disappeared for a little while ... but we're pleased to report that this week it has returned and everything is beautiful and white again!

In the hangar Mark's had some ups and downs! He had a major Electricity chapter to study for ... so long, it was broken into 2 tests ... and not a subject he was very familiar with! Unfortunately he didn't pass the first one, first time round ... which was very frustrating for him (especially as he was only one question away from a pass!!) ... but as of yesterday we are pleased to say both tests have been taken AND passed ... and he's very pleased to be moving onto another subject!

Mark is taking a break from the Cessna he has been working on to help out on an annual inspection of a Piper Aztec (see above) ... another skill he will have to master as an aircraft maintenance engineer. Below you can see Mark removing some panels for the inspection. If you would like to have a look at a specific task he was doing today ... click on the following link (http://mmsaviation.blogspot.com/2010/01/video-what-are-you-doing-today-mark.html) a short video clip from the MMS blog. Keith Dodson keeps the MMS blog up to date with everything that is going on in the hangar ... so if you want to see what Mark and the rest of the guys are getting up to check out that blog from time to time too!

Jenny has been getting up to date with a lot of our paperwork and continuing to keep in touch with many of our supporters ... she has also had the chance to spend a few hours one Saturday with a group of the MMS wives ... to hang out, catch up and do something crafty! All the ladies brought something they were working on ... it was a great chance to spend some time together as although the guys see each other every day, the ladies are dotted around getting on with their own thing! The plan is for this to become a monthly event ... hosted by Isobel Dunkley (the Dunkleys were the family who allowed us to use their basement for a few weeks when we first arrived in Coshocton!).

Jenny has also been getting to grips with her new sewing machine (yes, she is becoming very missionary-ified!!) ... we now have new cushion covers, kitchen valence and a few other things are in the process of being made ... all a lot cheaper (nicer) and more personal than anything we saw in the shops!! As you can see below Abigail approves of the cushion covers ... she spends a lot of time jumping all over them!!

Abigail continues to amuse us on a daily basis! She now has a whole load of animal noises going on and has started on quite a few random words now too including Hi, Daddy, duck, eye and banana (sounds more like ba-larl-larl-la though!!). She's also been spending more time with people of her own age ... and has been playing really well, sharing toys ... giggling alot! Her latest thing at home is to remove one of the huge spongey coloured tiles from her bedroom and carry it through to the kitchen (with lots of huffing and puffing!!) so she can sit on it while playing with the letters on the fridge ... check out the morning hair!!!

In other news ... we have finally got our second car situation sorted ;o)! We were given some money from one of our supporting churches, Croham Road Baptist, when they had a special offering in November ... that and the remainder of our car allowance from MAF together are almost exactly to the dollar the cost of the car we found for Mark to use! We pick it up tomorrow afternoon ... thank you so much to all those who gave towards the Ambassador offering ... it will make a huge difference to us out here!

We are all aware of the situation in Haiti this month ... for those of you who don't know, MAF who we now work for are out there working hard and MMS who we are training with have been able to send a team to Florida to help maintain the aircraft for MFI (Mission Flights International) who are flying in and out with aid. It's great that people we know have been able to help out first hand ... please remember them and their families as they work overtime in this situation to help as much as possible.