A Look Back at 2011

 2011 has been another big year for us as a family. 

At the beginning of the year we prepared for and welcomed the littlest member of the family, Naomi Grace. She made it a good, Good Friday (April 22nd) for us and has been lots of fun ever since. Naomi was dedicated here in Coshocton in June and has two very crazy American 'fairy' godmothers to keep her a little bit American, seeing as she was born here!

At the end of October we said goodbye to another special member of the family. Jenny's Nan got 'promoted' ... to Heaven. We were really luck to be able to see her one last time before she died when we arrived in the UK for our home leave and she got to meet Naomi too.

Here in Coshocton we've experienced all kinds of extreme weather this year that we're not used to back in England. From the long snowy winter (which as you can see below Abigail loved!), including ice storms, to flooding, severe thunderstorms, tornado warnings ... to the hot and humid summer with a heat index of 110+ degrees a lot of the time. It certainly kept us on our toes!

At home we had lots of family visiting us this year which was really helpful while we adjusted to our newest member. We were also able welcome three baby birds into the hanging basket on our front porch. It was a big excitement for most of June to check it every day and see new eggs, watch them hatch and see the  little robins grow. We wonder whether they will revisit in 2012!

Another event that happened this year that we won't forget in a hurry was our first pumpkin patch adventure when Mark lost his wedding ring ... and the successful return trip several days later when amazingly we found it again, just lying on the ground!

In the hangar at MMS Aviation, we welcomed several new families and said good bye to a couple of others. Paul Jones and Andy Porter both qualified and got their A&P licences making Mark the senior apprentice and the next in line to take his exams next year.

Mark was also able to see one of the planes he worked on a lot during his first year here, a Cessna 206 now on floats, return to service with Asas de Socorro in Brazil just last month. This year here, amongst other things, he has spent a lot of time working on a Cessna 402 which has been in the hangar for a couple of years and is now very close to completion. It belongs to the pastor of a baptist church in Maine.

These are just a few of the many things we've got up to. As we look forward to 2012 ... we can already foresee quite a few more adventures just around the corner. Including a rapid response trip for Mark to Papua New Guinea in the New Year, Mark's final exams in the early summer and then us preparing to leave Ohio and move again to another continent to an MAF project (probably somewhere in Africa) later on in the year.

As this year comes to a close we just wanted to say thank you to all those of you have been supporting and encouraging us on this adventure ... making it possible for us to be here and for Mark to be able to work on these aircraft enabling missions around the world to serve the people where they are based more effectively.

A Snapshot of our Christmas!

We haven't posted much this month as there hasn't been too much for us to share. We've spent a lot of our time just catching up with ourselves and getting healthy ... which is exactly what we were, finally after a month and a half, in the few days before Christmas. The perfect Christmas present in itself!

On Christmas Eve we chilled out a bit, had some lunch out, did some last minute preparations and Mark and Abigail decorated our alternative 'Chocolate Christmas Tree' Christmas Cake ... which as we've had one for the last 3 years has become one of our family traditions now!

Another tradition we have started the last two years is opening one present on Christmas Eve which is one special ornament each for the Christmas tree. Ornaments are BIG in America, so I guess we picked that idea up while we've been here!

On Christmas morning, we started off with stockings in bed. Abigail came running in to our room and completely missed the stocking by her bed. When we sent her back in to see if Father Christmas has been, she was so excited she came back with without the stockings the first time!! After that we enjoyed a first breakfast and then read The Very First Christmas together ... a sticker storybook that we had been working on throughout December (see The Christmas Fairy).

Then the BIG present opening session began!! As you can see Abigail took the lead and showed Naomi how it was done ... after all it was her first Christmas. It didn't take long for her to pick it up though.

The first Christmas we were in America, Abigail was spotted crawling under the tree hunting for pressies ... as you can see, this year was no different!

Naomi really enjoyed the paper and the colourful presents ... we're pretty sure she had no idea what was going on ... but enjoying every minute of it!!

Abigail loved every minute of it and for the first year really has understood every aspect of the build up and the Christmas weekend. She really enjoyed her Chef's outfit ... and Naomi's ball popper ... and everything else that anyone received!

After the present madness we enjoyed a second bigger breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausage and hash browns. There were then a few hours of getting showered and dressed, playing with toys and getting ready for our good friends the Gettles, another MMS family, who joined us for a delicious Christmas feast and some fun and games.

Today, Boxing Day, something the Americans don't recognise when you mention it to them, we have been really chilled. Playing with pressies we got yesterday, building pink foam castles and pink lego houses, playing hungry hippos and snakes and ladders, painting, colouring ... and other silliness. Naomi has been on her feet more and more and today has been no exception.

This afternoon, the sky was blue and beautiful and although a little fresh we decided to bundle up go out for a walk around the neighbourhood. It was nice and peaceful and we ended up at a nearby playground which Abigail loved!

We have really enjoyed our long weekend and are looking forward to having the rest of the weekend together as Mark won't be in the hangar until January 2nd!! We hope you all had a good Christmas too.

Senior Apprentice

You may remember a lot earlier in 2011, we wrote that Andy Porter, another MAF UK apprentice here at MMS Aviation, became the Senior Apprentice. A handover happens when the current longest serving apprentice finishes their required number of hours in the hangar before sitting their final written and then oral and practical exams to be FAA qualified. He 'hands over' to the apprentice who will complete next.

In the hangar they have a handover 'ceremony' ... there is a 'Senior Apprentice Wrench' which gets handed from one apprentice to the next as they finish the programme. When it got passed to Andy it was renamed the 'Senior Apprentice Spanner' ... if a Brit has it, calling it a wrench isn't quite right!!

Recently Andy completed his own required hours and so the 'Spanner' needed to find a new home in the toolbox of the next apprentice. Mark, Paul Gettle and Ben Fisher are all due to complete their training at MMS around the same time next year, however as Mark started first (not by much!) he got the title and the Spanner!

Last week while he was home looking after his girls who were still recovering from illness, Mark disappeared up to the hangar with Abigail for the latest handover ... when he received this honour! He is a bit skeptical about the 'joys' of being the senior apprentice as the implications are that he is next in line to sit for his exams, not such an exciting prospect!

The 'ceremony' also consists of cake and ice-cream which Abigail enjoyed as much as all the guys in the hangar. While everyone was tucking in to the goodies, Monkey ceased a photo opportunity to claim the Senior Apprentice Spanner for himself.