The month of November brought some “firsts” into our lives…some exciting, some a little nerve-wracking, some fun, some all of the above.
1. Judah’s first hospital visit
This is definitely not in the “fun” category. John was holding Judah’s hand when Judah decided to make a run for the playground, which pulled on his arm. That then resulted in a “pop”, lots of crying, a cookie and a DVD for comfort, a drive to the hospital, and a partially dislocated elbow. We are very thankful that it wasn’t anything more serious! Definitely deserving of some milkshakes for our brave boy and his parents after all that excitement.
2. A first step toward linguistics
This month our whole class took a linguistics aptitude test to see who would be a good candidate for the linguistics program that New Tribes offers as an extension to our training here at the MTC (it’s another 1 1/2 semesters). I scored well on the test, which means that we are now considering and praying about staying for the extra time for me to take the linguistics classes. Linguists on the mission field are often used to create alphabets, analyze languages, and aid as language consultants, and it could be a very helpful skill to develop as we think about our future work.
3. Our first pinterest-worthy home project
As we barely brought any wall decor with us as we moved across the country, the walls in our apartment seemed very white and very empty. So one day over lunch, I told John that I wanted a biiiiig frame on our living room wall so we could use it to hang up cards and such. To be honest, I didn’t have a clear picture in mind of what I wanted and I really didn’t expect it to happen. But, lo and behold, John came home from work the next day with some cedar wood that was just perfect for our huge frame! That was the beginning of our joint efforts to create our first pinterest-worthy home decor item. And it did get finished and we are quite proud of it 🙂
4. First inkling of a potential fieldÂ
John and I never had any particular field or country that we felt called to when thinking of our future in overseas missions. We threw out random ideas every now and then (Indonesia…Papua New Guinea…some Asian country that starts with a “B”… ), but we didn’t consider any of them too seriously. Well, the latest idea is West Africa and that seems to be taking root in our hearts and minds. Could God change that in a heartbeat? Sure! But until then, we will keep on pursuing Africa by doing some research, talking to missionaries who have been on the field there, and emailing others who are currently there.
5. First Thanksgiving on our own
We are so thankful for a staff family here who is traveling over Thanksgiving and opened their beautiful home for us to use! John and I rallied up some people who are staying on campus over the break and are excited to celebrate with them this week (there’ll be 13 adults + 5 kids). I’m also excited (and nervous) about cooking my very first Thanksgiving turkey! We will see how that goes… Another blog post on our Thanksgiving is to come after the festivities :).
still saw Bolivia on the wall of your class… :O)