Oklahoma Pics

Above: My language helper, Louise, (middle), my language partner, Julie (left), and Cali and I

at an appreciation dinner we put on for all of our Cherokee language helpers.

Below: A Friday afternoon after language session – Jevon cutting a rotisserie chicken for a picnic in Louise’s backyard.  And that is my mom in the picture also.  She came for Isaiah’s birth and was a huge help and blessing to us.

Above, left to right:  Jevon holding Isaiah, me, Julie, Louise,

Cali and Karina in front.

Below:  Another session day.  The shoes are on the table because we are eliciting noun phrases.  Such as “two black stringed shoes”.  🙂 We set up the situation on the table and asked her to describe it, in hopes of getting the phrase in its most natural Cherokee form.  We were concerned that if we simply asked for it in English, our English form might influence her language choices.

sorry the pictures are a little blurry.  we are getting to know a new camera.

Shoes were not the only things on the table that day. We had lots of fun with various assorted objects.

Isaiah – one week old.  With Faith – the midwife God gave us in answer to your prayers, Salem kids!  We are so thankful for her help and for Isaiah’s very good birth.

A Saturday morning at the Illinois River.

Flowers from Daddy.

Clean-up crew.  Teamwork was a big theme of our 7 weeks living together in Oklahoma.

Stew for 30 people.

And bread to go with it.

Eye protection…was he just being a goof or did chopping that whole bag of onions really warrant some safety gear?

Playing with the kids while other daddies and mommies cooked.

Who isn’t cute with flour on their noses?

And who doesn’t love chocolate chip cookies?

Cali with Louise.

Louise and her twin sister, Betty.

Some of the church ladies put on a baby shower for the two pregnant girls and Isaiah and me.

Lucille and Isaiah.

I guess when you travel by car as much as we do, little things entertain you.  ha ha, like seeing all the same 6 digits on your spedometer.  This was a few days before we got to trade our faithful little Toyota…

for this.  which is a little roomier and more comfy.  thank you, Lord, for letting us drive a mini van, this year.

October 1st we left the camp in Oklahoma…

and I spent 3 weeks at Marilyn’s dining room table sifting through language files and charts, writing down everything I knew about Cherokee…and trying to make careful notes about things I didn’t understand yet.  All this was a practice run. If God gives me the opportunity to work in a language that is not yet written down or does not yet have God’s Word translated, I will have a good idea where I’m supposed to start!

The write-up was due and I turned it in Monday, October 24th.  Jevon was as excited as I was to be done with the linguistic marathon.  🙂  He put in as much work as I did to make this happen, because he wanted his teammate equipped this way.  And we both are super glad we did it…and glad its done…glad God carried us through this chapter of our life.

So bring on the next one.  🙂

and here’s a bonus picture of Isaiah…at six weeks old.  He’s getting bigger and cuter all the time.

Until next time…

May God, in His faithfulness, continue to grow us and stretch us all in preparation for His work in every corner of the world.

Love,

Danica for the Rich family