Life in the UK when you are 2

With no exciting news about where we will be serving with MAF to tell you about, we thought we would let Bethan share with you what she gets up to in a typical week. When we've settled overseas she will write another blog post to give you an insight into different cultures from the eyes of a toddler. Bethan recently turned two she got lots of birthday presents including a digital camera (for kids!) which she has been practising with by taking lots of photos of the floor. On her birthday she went on a train to St Ives and a few days before, she had a train-themed party with a few of her friends.

Turning 2

We expected to have sent out another newsletter in April but we are waiting on the imminent news that MAF will give us before writing to tell you all. We will write a blog post as soon as we find out and then a newsletter will follow shortly after. We are very much looking forward to starting work for MAF but at the moment it is a feeling of “so near, yet so far” as we are ready to go but waiting on a decision to be made.

Bethan’s blog – April 2014

Sunday morning means a half-hour drive to Buckland Monachorum where we go to church. The mysterious disappearance of 15 minutes from 9:45 to 10:00am in our house means we nearly always arrive late but I race up the path to the sound of singing from inside. Then I start my eating marathon as I work my way through all my fruit and snacks in record time. I like going up to the front when the vicar does a children’s talk and then I usually decide to give the sermon a miss and head for the children’s play area with Daddy. Sometimes play is interrupted while mummy and daddy have a drink and some bread which I always try to get a piece of but haven't managed yet!

Monday is normally spent at home. Mummy does the Tesco shop and I “help” by putting things in the trolley while munching on a carrot or something. When we get home, daddy is in the garage I make him show me his dirty hands from working on the motorbike. Mummy gets on with some jobs – either work on the computer or housework – the latter means daddy and me have to go out as the hoover will make noise! We have lunch then take 4 books upstairs to read in my cot. Then I have a nap for an hour or two, while daddy pretends to sleep on the floor but I know he sneaks out as soon as I’m asleep. The rest of the day might involve playing with the duplo, brio or playing in the cardboard Thomas the tank Engine or perhaps cooking on the cardboard oven. Monday dinner is usually salmon (my favourite) and after a bath or more playing, Mummy feeds me in my room and I fall asleep at about 9pm.

cooking dinner

On Tuesday mornings Mummy and I walk to Baby sign in town, which we’ve been going to since I was born. We sing and sign to lots of nursery rhymes and songs and my friends and I steal each other’s snacks. Sometimes Rachel and Pops are waiting at home with lunch. Every now and again they take me out on my own, either to the aquarium or back to their house for the day.

Trains at Rachel & Pops' house

Wednesday is when I go out with Daddy to Chattabox, a busy group run by a church in Launceston for toddlers. They have lots of toys and vehicles to play on and a craft activity to get messy with. I’m usually shy and play just with daddy but I love having different toys to play with and watching the other children. After lunch and nap time its time to play and one of my favourite games is “Pooh getting stuck in a hole.” We build him a house from duplo with a small doorway and after eating too much honey he can’t get out so I pull and pull until he pops out. I play this over and over again. I also like doing puzzles, playing football and drawing.

Playing Pooh's stuck with Ruth

My day normally starts at about 7:30 when I’ll come into Mummy and Daddy’s bedroom and Say “ello, num num”. I climb into bed to have a feed before ordering daddy downstairs to get a satsuma, which I don’t really want but it gets him out of bed to play with me! For breakfast I eat porridge, or cereals like rice crispies or fruit and fibre. After dragging out “getting dressed” for as long as possible, we usually go outside. My favourite days (usually Thursday) are when Grace comes to play or I go to her house with mummy. Once or twice a week I go out somewhere in the car with mummy and daddy. Last week we went to the gnome reserve near Holsworthy. I dressed up in a hat and walked around the woods looking at my fellow gnomes.

Playing in Thomas with Grace

Gnoming

On Friday I might spend the morning with daddy while Mummy clears out the spare room and decides what to pack and what to store at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. We sometimes go to the small park opposite our house and play for ages on the slide followed by about 3 swings on the swing. Then we go round the estate looking for cats and dogs. Some days I do some craft at home and often Daddy decides the activity for the day should be baking cakes (I keep telling him, if he eats too much cake his bottom will get stuck in the door like Pooh bear)

Playing on the swing

Baking cakes - yes Daddy is letting me break the eggs myself!

Saturdays we often go exploring the countryside, Mummy and Daddy have written a list of places to visit before we move away from the West Country. I usually insist that I don't want to go out, I'd rather stay at home and play with my toys but actually going out is fun too. I get to discover lots of new things, like stiles and tadpoles. Here are some photos of me discovering things to finish off with xx

climbing a stile

Exploring the South West Coast Path

holding a baby bunny

playing with sand

Daffodils

first tadpole

Spring flowers

We’re still here

As we approach the date that we were given as our expected departure to South Sudan, we couldn't be further from being ready to leave! We expected to have all our belongings packed and to move out of our house around now but this has been put on hold until a decision has been made on which country we will move to.  

With other families ready to join the South Sudan program but still delayed in Kenya amid security concerns in Juba, it was jointly agreed by ourselves and MAF that it would be better for us to join another program, and re-evaluate the situation after a couple of years. We had mixed feelings about this as we were looking forward to going to South Sudan but we hope to have a long career serving with MAF and the opportunity may come around again when we are more experienced.

We should find out where we will be going within the next few weeks but relocating families is a major decision and MAF will take time to ensure that everyone goes where they are most suited. Its fair to say we don’t expect to leave the UK for at least another 2 months but we will keep everyone posted as soon as we know for definite.

Piper Arrow at Exeter used to renew Becki's instrument rating 

We feel a bit like we’re in limbo at the moment with lots of things to do but we cannot do them until we have an idea about when we will go. Becki has renewed her instrument rating for another year, which is one of the flying requirements for working for MAF. We were due to have our commissioning service at Buckland Church last Sunday but delayed this in view of the uncertainty. We are enjoying working through our list of “places to visit in Devon/Cornwall before we go” and are getting excited with Bethan about her upcoming birthday.

Please pray for the safety of people in South Sudan and that Juba will be safe for MAF families to go in the near future. We would appreciate your prayers for the right decision to be made about which program we will join and that barriers will be overcome quickly to enable us to move there and begin working soon.

Sunny day at Fingle Bridge, Devon

What's new?

As you may know, South Sudan has seen a great deal of unrest since we last wrote a blog post. Violent clashes between the two main tribes have led to many deaths, scores of refugees and cities being reduced to rubble. We have been monitoring the news with obvious concern for the people living there and with MAF evacuating staff before Christmas, we wondered what the future holds for us now. Peace talks between opposing parties were successful in January and MAF families have returned to Juba but fighting is still going on around the country and we are considering whether this is a suitable assignment for us at this time. Please pray that the correct decision will be taken.

In contrast we had a relaxing Christmas spent with family and then have hardly been home since! January saw us take our longest road trip while support raising, spending some time in Leeds and a quick weekend talking at St Hilda's church in South Shields (or very far north shields for us!!). We also stopped off in Northampton on our way home to catch up with friends from uni.

Helping Grandpa open his presents

Stopping off to meet Thomas and friends on the way to Leeds

Enjoying time with Ruth 

In the new year we reached 100% of our support raising target so we have the green light to pack up and go! Praise God that the money is in and we can now focus on preparing to move overseas. The pile to sell/give away is getting ever bigger but so is the list of things we need to get!

We have just returned from a 2 week course entitled 'Facts and Friction' that is run by MAF to prepare us for life in Africa. It was designed to open our eyes to some of the difficulties we will face adapting to an unfamiliar culture and gave us useful advice on everything from compound conflict to carjacking! We stayed in the Ashford Holiday Inn, where the course was held, with other families that were starting service with MAF in the near future.

Enjoying the mini gym at the hotel in Ashford

We really enjoyed the course with the knowledge that Bethan was in safe hands. Our need for childcare was wonderfully met by our friend Ruth and Matt's aunt, Nikki who came with us for a week each and were brilliant at keeping Bethan busy.

And so to Bath

Our last weekend away before Christmas was a trip to Bath to visit good friends that we've known since attending St John’s church 10 years ago. It was exactly 5 years ago this weekend that we were married there and had our reception at Emmanuel church so it was nice to go back and speak at both churches on Sunday.

Rev. Clive and Jenny were kind enough to let us stay when we asked if there was “any room at the inn” and couldn't do enough for us. We spent Saturday catching up with friends and timed our visit to Colin and Fiona’s house perfectly as Ruth arrived from Leeds and being a fellow Saints supporter, Colin kept me up to date with the score against Man City! Every week is a new discovery for Bethan, as she wakes up from her sleep in the car at yet another house. She takes it all in her stride, quickly setting about discovering her new environment. This weekend she enjoyed playing with a marble run, watching a cuckoo clock and discovered a passion for buttons!

We were privileged to witness Erica’s full immersion baptism at St Johns on Sunday and Becki spoke about our MAF plans. Many of the congregation will remember Becki telling them many years ago of her plans to fly with MAF and we enjoyed going back to Bath with that about to become a reality. The rest of Sunday was spent enjoying the company of friends we know well enough that they didn’t mind us inviting ourselves over for the day! Bethan made us laugh with her unsubtle flirting with Ben (aged 11) who amazingly put up with her constant stroking of his hair and requests for drawing rabbits!

Bethan loved meeting the Guinea Pigs

Our planned visit to the Bath Christmas market on Monday morning turned into a quick stop at the Royal Crescent when we realised time was against us. This was a blessing as we had a lovely walk around the most beautiful city we've ever been to. We both feel a strong bond with our university city and always want to stay longer.

Looking down Malborough Lane.

Splashing in the Royal Crescent.

Merrily running along Gay Street after a visit to The Circus.

The Royal Victoria Park Lion looked magnificent in the winter sun.

Alas we had to leave Bath, as we were on our way to Trowbridge to see Dr Andrew Steele who speaks about MAF in this part of the country. We had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon with him and his wife and we were all impressed by their garden. Bethan's Teddy actually enjoyed it so much he decided to stay the night!

Bethan playing in Andrew's garden

We now have a rough departure date from MAF of around the beginning of April 2014. We will be going to Kenya for 6 months and then onto South Sudan. We look forward to sharing our adventures with you in this blog next year. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year. 

Busy but lovely weekend

So we are now into week 7 of our 12 weeks of support raising, over 50% supported and have got used to being away from home! This weekend saw us pop up the M5 to Weston-Super-Mare, with a detour to Stroud.

We had a great afternoon with Becky, a friend from university and got to meet her delightful 3 month old daughter Amelia. Bethan was very taken with her and enjoyed giving her kisses and cuddles (although I failed to actually capture any cute moments!). Becky also made us the world's biggest cake - yum yum! 

We had a family day on Saturday in Weston, in that we visited a lot of family! We stayed with my (Becki's) second cousins for the weekend and took the opportunity to visit my Aunt and Great Aunt (Bethan's Great Great Aunt!). There was a lot of laughter, especially when Uncle Ricky recounted tales of accidentally shooting a basket full of racing pigeons.

Four generations of Skidmore's 

Sunday morning saw us at Bristol Road Baptist Church where we were privileged to have the entire service to talk about the work of MAF and what we will be doing when we go overseas. We enjoyed the service and meeting the very friendly congregation. We were also interested to hear that long serving MAF pilot Max Gove is the son of one of their previous vicar's.

After having lunch back at the house we'd been staying in we made our way back down the M5 to our second service of the day at the very lively Living Waters Church in Paignton. The service started with worship music, which Bethan danced her heart out to (wish we'd been able to video her). There was then a time of testimony where members of the congregation shared what God has done in their lives recently. We then shared about our work with MAF before Misheck (the youth leader) gave an amazing talk on obediance. We really enjoyed spending time at Living Waters and can't wait for the next time we get to go to a service there!

29% Raised!

I realise 30% raised would be a nice round number but 29% is factually accurate! We get a report every Wednesday as to how much support has come in that week and after 4 weeks we are delighted to be over 1/4 of the way towards raising the funds we need to go to Africa.

We have been travelling round the country and this will continue for the next few months, starting when Ruth came to visit (and we used her as a guinea pig for our presentations) then moving onto London and Dorset over the past weekends we have been able to visit a few old friends and meet new people.

Playing in the park in Wembley, Matt enjoyed catching up with an old uni friend on the swings! 

On the slide with Uncle Sam in Weybridge

Meeting Felicitie's dogs, lots of fun playing in their bed!

We have also been invited to speak at 2 churches this month, we spent a lovely morning at Bovey Baptist Church speaking to the children and adults about the work we will be doing, and Bethan decided to join us on stage. We also went along to St Martin's Church in Liskeard to speak at the 9.30am cafe church and 11am communion service. 

So Becki did lots of exciting flying in America...

....... what did Matt and Bethan get up to you might (but probably won't) be wondering?

Our first 2 weeks were spent staying with my uncle Kit, Angie, Joe, Ivan and Katherine, plus Trapper the dog and Juliette the cat. Being school holidays it was great to spend time with them. Bethan and I took trips down-town on the bus, visited a water park, children's museum and fairground among many other adventures. We loved Portland and had great fun seeing family and meeting new people there.

A short flight over to Nampa in Idaho and we settled into our MAF studio appartment, which would be home for 4 weeks. Becki had a busy schedule of groundschool and flying but we weren't allowed to be passengers (something about making the aircraft too heavy to take off again from the short strips) so Bethan and I made a 4-week plan. I found the only 2 places of interest in Nampa to visit (children's play centre and the most awesome water park) while Bethan thought time would be best spent in the sandpit or being pushed around the block on a variety of toddler-sized vehicles by her Dad.

So week 1 in Nampa meant I finally had to get behind the wheel of the car (smallest available was a 7-seater), which was a scary experience. It probably didn't help that the road I chose to drive on (Happy Valley road) was used by Becki's flying instructor to illustrate how we have to manage risk in everyday life. Anyway, Bethan and I did successfully get to our destination and I'm glad we did as it was a toddler paradise with a race track, pretend shopping and slide, which we went on again and again...and again!

Lakeview water park was going to be our second home as far as I was concerned, with the temperature in Idaho being consistently in the 30's. Exact temperature unknown as the Americans use Fahrenheit, which I believed (and taught Holsworthy students) to be extinct nowadays! Unfortunately, mid-August signalled the end of summer season and a few days into our stay the pool closed so that was a blow! Our studio appartment had a sink however, so Bethan did get to do plenty of splashing around!

Fortunately, Bethan didn't just have me for company, she made great friends with Adah and Laron and looked up to the older kids with awe. Many an hour was spent in the paddling pool, giant sandpit, on a trike or running away, squealing in delight when an older child came round on a scooter who was (albeit unknowingly) chasing Bethan! Usually tired out after lunch (or on one occasion during - photo below), Bethan would have a nap and I would hone my domestic skills ready for being a house-husband in Africa. Cooking was a bit hit and miss, with the rice pudding hitting the floor and smashing its glass bowl being a low-point. After that I gave it a miss and made myself useful by catching up on the new football season via the web!

Living next to the airfield meant that Bethan quickly developed a love of aeroplanes. We went to the hanger to watch Becki take-off one morning and from then on, Becki was told in no-uncertain (sign-language) terms, that she should (at all times) go up in the air. Equally, all overhead aircraft were told to land at Bethan's feet so she could have a go. Being co-pilot in the simulator wasn't enough to satisfy her!

We were kindly taken out to Snake river by Becki's instructor, Tim and his family for a lovely evening. I was glad to see a little more of Idaho than Nampa, which was a very disappointing city compared to Portland! We spent a few hours one day hopelessly looking for an interesting feature of the city but alas, it hasn't yet been built!

One thing that Idaho does well is rain, it didn't happen often but for a couple of days we had fantastic storms, giant raindrops, hail and the most beautiful double rainbow I've ever seen. We watched this unfold from our apartment, another downpour coincided with our visit to Jump Creek to see a waterfall. It was great fun but we all got soaked.

All too quickly, our time in Nampa came to an end and we said farewell to our MAF neighbours. We felt that it certainly wouldn't be the last time we saw most of them even though they are now travelling all over the world to begin life as missionary families. Before travelling back to England, we took a few days to visit some of Becki's friends in Vancouver, stopping in Seattle on the way. We had a great few days socialising, relaxing and sight-seeing in a beautiful city.

Bethan slept for most of the 6 hour drive back to Portland, clearly worn out from all the excitement of her American adventure.