Everything’s OK.

 

The stats: 8 weeks. 4 people. 1 room. 20 beds. 0 windows.

Welcome home!

This past Friday, we drove to Cookson, Oklahoma, with a car-load full of kids and baggage and only a vague idea of what lay ahead to start our 2-month linguistic practicum studying the Cherokee language. We spent the first evening shuffling around bunk beds, building a “tent” for the boys to sleep in (which they think is the coolest thing ever), cleaning like crazy (as these rooms are usually occupied by teenage campers), and eating chocolate with our new neighbors (we share the same building and kitchen). The next morning, Judah declared, “I like our new house. I want to stay here sooooooooooooooo long.”

Take a look at our new temporary home. Check out my Facebook page for a VIDEO of our palace (it’ll give you an all-around view of aaaall the bunk beds 🙂 )!

 

For me (Asmara), the days will be filled with preparing language sessions with our Cherokee language helper, going to the 2-hour sessions with my classmate and partner Kaylee, and then spending several hours each day organizing data, checking phonetic transcriptions, analyzing phonemes, and creating hypotheses of how the Cherokee language is structured and how it functions.

For John, the days will be filled with an even more consuming and eternally important job: raising Judah and Elias! He, once again, will bravely take on the role of stay-at-home dad/homeschool teacher/disciplinarian/caretaker/babysitter for other kids on campus. He’s my hero!

So far, I have only cried once and am getting back into school mode (and crying is part of that, I assure you). The boys have adjusted well to the new home but have been very, very clingy as they realize that Mama has to go back to school every day. Transitions are hard, eh? But this verse, which I just happened to pull out of my stash of verses after my little breakdown, reminds us of an oh-so important Truth:

What a timely reminder 🙂