{"id":1232,"date":"2015-09-13T09:56:27","date_gmt":"2015-09-13T14:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/?p=1232"},"modified":"2015-09-13T09:56:27","modified_gmt":"2015-09-13T14:56:27","slug":"first-first-and-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/2015\/09\/13\/first-first-and-first\/","title":{"rendered":"First, First, and First"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 \u201cfirsts\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n

2. First time that I\u2019ve seen a tarantula<\/strong>. It\u2019s the class pet now, his name is Harry, and he\u2019s only escaped once so far. We saw another one strolling down the road as we were walking home. That one now shares Harry’s cage and has been named Junior. Lovely.<\/p>\n

\"Meet<\/a>
Meet Harry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2. First time that we\u2019ve lived in such close quarters with another family.<\/strong> The Hartmans and we have separate rooms but share a living room\/dinner table area and a kitchen. We also happen to share a love for coffee, dark chocolate, quiet evenings, and trash-talking each others\u2019 favorite soccer teams (Germany vs Brazil). Our boys just adore Baby Daea and enjoy playing with her brother Tiras (favorite games: coloring, puzzles, yelling at each other through closed doors, and pretend kite-flying). It\u2019s truly been a joy to be their neighbors!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The three amigos: Elias, Judah & Tiras with their pretend kites<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3. First time that Judah is drawing actual people and things<\/strong>! It\u2019s so precious. Our door is covered with his artwork and I am amazed at how focused and long he just sits and draws or colors.<\/p>\n

\"Judah<\/a>
Judah with his chalk “dawcrads” (crawdads) drawing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"One<\/a>
One of my favorites: first family portrait.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
A lion and a giant worm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. First time I am doing Pre-School with\u00a0the boys.<\/strong> I took over as John\u2019s mornings are usually filled with watching between 3-8 kids :). Talk about a busy morning! I\u2019ve really enjoyed spending intentional time with our boys as we learn and play. Judah\u2019s working on learning the letters of the alphabet, counting, shapes, and other skills like recognizing patterns or following detailed instructions. Elias is right beside him repeating everything Judah says and blurting out \u201cB!\u201d whenever there\u2019s a letter or number he doesn\u2019t recognize.<\/p>\n

\"Elias<\/a>
Elias looooves puzzles<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"School<\/a>
School time!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

5. First time the boys bathe in a plastic bin<\/strong>. We\u2019ve been spoiled until now with a proper bathtub in our Missouri home, but those days are over for now :).<\/p>\n

\"Bath<\/a>
Bath time fun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

6.First time we\u2019re learning about a culture other than our own as a family.<\/strong> The boys say \u201chello\u201d and \u201cthank you\u201d in Cherokee and Judah\u2019s picking up other words from classmates as well. The other day he came running to me with a plastic bunny in his hand, yelling \u201ct\u0283istu!!!\u201d (rabbit in Cherokee). Last weekend was the Cherokee National Holiday with lots and lots of activities all around the town of Tahlequah, and the boys even got their very own bow & arrow.<\/p>\n

\"Shooting<\/a>
Shooting practice with Dad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Elias<\/a>
Elias wasn’t quite sure what to do with it<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"He's<\/a>
He’s ready for battle with all his weapons!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

7. First time that we\u2019ve cooked for 25+ people.<\/strong> Thankfully, we cook and clean in teams, so there are lots of helping hands around. It’s quite the experience meal planning, grocery shopping, making meals, and cleaning for that many people!<\/p>\n

\"Fun<\/a>
Fun Food Friday! Each day has a food theme (like Taco Tuesday and Soup Wednesday) to make meal planning simpler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Judah<\/a>
Judah and his friend Layla enjoying their food<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\":)\"<\/a>
\ud83d\ude42<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

8. The first and (probably) LAST time we’ll ever live in such a community setting surrounded by classmates\/friends\/our family in the faith<\/strong>. It’s good to remember to cherish these weeks of fellowship with these dear people whom we’ve shared life with for the last 2+ years while in training. Chances are we won’t see each other again on this side of heaven as we’re spreading all over the world. But what a reunion it’ll be :)!<\/p>\n

\"S'more<\/a>
S’mores night with all the kiddos. They truly enjoy being around so many of their friends each day\u0323<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"This<\/a>
This little guy will not just miss these special treats but also his little buddies!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

4 weeks down, 4 more to go! Thanks for being part of the journey!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u201cfirsts\u201d\u2026 2. First time that I\u2019ve seen a tarantula. It\u2019s the class pet now, his name is Harry, and he\u2019s only escaped once so far. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1077,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1232","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1077"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-anyan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}