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No Fun.

No Fun.

  “Mama, warum bist du traurig?” “Alles in Ordnung, Judah, Mami will nur keine Hausaufgaben machen.” “Warum?” “Weil es so schwer ist” “Aber Mama, wenn etwas schwer ist, muss man es TROTZDEM machen! Gott kann dir helfen!”   “Mama, why are you sad?” “It’s ok, Judah, Mami just doesn’t want to do homework right now.” […]
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What We Learned in Oklahoma

What We Learned in Oklahoma

That even a place where you only stay for 8 weeks can become a “home.” That scorpions glow under black light. Crazy, freaky, and cool at the same time. That there are a lot of Baptist churches in the South. That Indian Fry Bread is just delicious. That being a Language Helper is harder than […]
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On The Night You Were Born

On The Night You Were Born

On the night you were born, The moon smiled with such wonder That the stars peeked in to see you And the night wind whispered, “Life will never be the same.” (by Nancy Tillman) Life truly has never been the same since the night Elias was born. A birth-day of unspeakable pain, joy, and love. And […]
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The Empty Dinner Table

The Empty Dinner Table

One of my past favorite actors wrote an article about his philosophy on life. He described life as a big feast with many participants. He went on to say that to be a winner, you grab as much of the food off the table as you can and leave the scraps for everyone else. After […]
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First, First, and First

First, First, and First

Friday marked 4 weeks in Oklahoma and the halfway point of our practicum here. This month really has flown by in a flurry of school work, community living, and many “firsts”… 2. First time that I’ve seen a tarantula. It’s the class pet now, his name is Harry, and he’s only escaped once so far. […]
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It Takes A Zoo.

It Takes A Zoo.

One of the boys’ favorite books is “Wild About You,” a sweet story about a tree kangaroo and a panda bear couple who each adopt a baby animal from a different species to raise them as their own. The last lines of the book read, “Every kid needs a family, we know that it’s true. […]
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Chukapapa!

Chukapapa!

  “Chupababa… Chukapapa… Chuuuupabaka!” Elias laughs and giggles and he’s attempting to pronounce the name of one of the boys’ favorite characters from the movie “Planes:” El Chupacabra, the Mexican airplane with the 5-syllable name. As we are into our second week of learning Cherokee and collecting language data, I often feel like a little […]
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Fun Foto Friday #65

Fun Foto Friday #65

Dear Diary, Just another day in Oklahoma. Since we’ve come here, we have not had any proper bath, although we play in the dirt and eat messy things all the time. I guess Mami and Daddy are too lazy to fill up our “bathtub” (= plastic bin) with warm water, so all they do is […]
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Everything’s OK.

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 […]
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Needy.

Needy.

  “Maaaaaaaaaamaaaaaaaaaaa” Elias’ wailing cry, which was accompanied by sobbing and loud tears, woke me from my restless sleep. For the 4th time that night. I sighed a deep sigh, dragged my body out of bed, and stumbled across the hallway to the boys’ room. As I held my teething toddler, sang to him, rocked […]
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