The best thing about Texas…

…is Big Bend. That really wasn’t a tough decision, as neither of us are fans of the high temperatures, lack of the fall season, and the (mostly) unchanging landscape. No, we really do like living down here, but we definitely miss living in Fayetteville at this time of year when the leaves are actually changing colors and the temperatures get significantly cooler. Anyway, it was fun to make the nine-hour drive down to Big Bend National Park and see some really awesome scenery. We basically had a five-day weekend, so we spent two days driving there and back, and three full days exploring the park. Big Bend is basically in the middle of nowhere. Once we got off interstate, we still had a good three hours of driving and we only passed through three very small towns.

Here’s some pics of the last town we drove through (still an hour or so from the park entrance). The name of the town was Marathon, and in the background you can see the banner for the “Marathon Marathon”. We wanted to eat dinner in this town, but unfortunately not a single place was open. It was a pretty desolate town, though, so I guess you can’t expect much.

Our first day we hiked two trails, about ten miles in all. The first one took us to the summit of a mountain and we saw some gorgeous views.

The second trail we went on was mainly through the desert (much hotter temperatures than the first one) and it took us to a place called the “window”, a narrow cut of rock that overlooked the valley and mountains below.

We had to cross a lot of water on this trail:

On Sunday, we took a scenic drive down to the Rio Grande. We got to look across the river into Mexico, and we even saw one man crossing back into Mexico on his canoe. It appeared that he had just dropped off a bunch of goods for sale (decorated walking sticks, bracelets, etc.) on the US side. He had written notes on pieces of cardboard, asking for donations for himself and his local school.

On our last day, we did some “off-roading” (it obviously wasn’t too adventurous if our small car is still running) to get to a hiking trail with some neat rock formations at the end of it.

Here are some shots of our campsite. It was the only campground open in the park because of recent flooding. Had we been given a choice, I think I still would have chosen this one because we were surrounded by mountains…and one of my new favorite animals, the javelina. Groups of these would come through our campground every afternoon to eat the grass.

A Summer Update

It seems as if life has finally settled down after the hectic past few months. We had an excellent time down in Orlando. Not only did we learn a lot, we also met a lot of new people. Several of the friends we made in Florida are now here in Dallas studying with us. After finishing up in Orlando, we drove up to the northeast corner of Tennessee to visit James’ aunt, uncle and cousins. While there we got the opportunity to speak at their church, attend a bluegrass concert in Virginia, and I even learned to water-ski for the first time! We had a blast and really enjoyed getting to visit with them.

First day in Orlando!

These are the apartments we stayed in. This is also what a typical afternoon looked like…dark and stormy.

A day at Cocoa Beach

It started raining after an hour or two

Calling the Hogs at Joe’s Crab Shack

A Beautiful Orlando Sunset

My first skiing lesson in TN

Up for the first time! But probably not for long!

Jumping off a dock on the lake

James learned to wakeboard

Once we got back home to Fayetteville it was time to pack up and make the move down to Dallas. My parents followed us down with their mini-van loaded up with all our stuff. Our first day at our new home was actually quite eventful. We were leaving the apartment to go out to dinner, and my dad noticed that a police car was parked across the street next to his minivan, and a police officer was between the two vehicles. His first thought was that he had gotten a parking ticket. My first thought was that someone had tried to break into the van and they had been caught by the police. Neither of us was correct. It turns out that there was a bank robbery right across the street (hence the officers with giant assault weapons surrounding the entrances of the bank), and the police officer was actually using my parents’ van as a shield. About that time, a woman and her son rode by on a motorcycle and told us that this bank has been robbed quite a few times lately. Although our first impression of the neighborhood was not too wonderful, we haven’t had any other negative experiences.

Our new home!

This is James’ new favorite chair. My first instinct was to put it away in our extra bedroom, but he won.

We love the full-sized dishwasher!

Virginia came for a visit our first weekend in Dallas. This is at the Museum of Cultures, which is right next to GIAL.

Our first anniversary! We went to the Dallas aquarium and enjoyed our wedding cake (especially James, since he never got any at the wedding).

We were very thankful that the Covingtons (Mom, Dad & Lisa) came to visit us the following weekend. We had gotten quite bored with no jobs, no school, no more boxes to unpack, and nothing left to organize. Not to mention that we were pretty much confined to our apartment due to the intense heat. They brought down another load of boxes for us, and they also showed us their first apartment and first home. We had a fun time with them, doing a little sightseeing and shopping around the Dallas area. The next weekend we went home for Allison and Tim’s wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and much fun was had!

On the 23^rd we began our first session of classes here. Right now we are both taking “phonetics”, “grammar”, and “language and society”. It has been an adjustment being in class all day long, but so far we have had much more free time than we did this past year. We hope it will stay that way, but from the way people talk, it probably will not!

Well, that’s a brief update on what’s been going on in our lives. I hope it won’t be quite so long before the next one!

Road Trip!!!

On Saturday we arrived at Training Camp (more on that in a later post) after being on the road for almost four days. Currently being jobless we decided to take several days to get down to Orlando by doing some camping and sightseeing on the drive down. Wednesday was our longest driving day–we left Fayetteville at 6 a.m. and arrived at Cheaha (pronounced Chee-haw) State Park, one hour east of Birmingham, Alabama, right at 5 p.m. After getting our tent set up and cooking a quick dinner, we checked out a few trails and watched the sunset over the foothills of the Appalachians. Thursday morning we got up early to hike the “Pulpit Rock Trail”, which led us to a beautiful overlook of the valley. Then we set out for the “Very Steep Lake Trail”, which was a huge understatement. We were exhausted by the time we got to the top, not to mention overwhelmed by the humidity. That afternoon we made the two hour drive to F.D. Roosevelt State Park in western Georgia, and finally on Friday we drove an hour or so down to Providence Canyon State Park to see Georgia’s “little Grand Canyon”. The canyon formations were quite impressive and definitely not something I would have ever associated with Georgia. Friday night we stayed at a hotel in Valdosta, Georgia (we figured that our grungy camping appearance might not make too great of a first impression at Training Camp) and Saturday we finished the drive down to Orlando. Here are some pictures of the road trip:

The highest point in Alabama! Yea!

Pulpit Rock Trail

Campsite in Georgia on Lake Delano

Posing for picture with FDR

This is where FDR often had picnics and where he sat to contemplate WWII

FDR’s retreat home in Warm Springs, GA

Hiking down in the canyons. It was super hot!

Guatemala

James and I were excited to get the opportunity to travel down to Guatemala with a group from UBC last week.  We’ve been wanting to go on a short-term mission trip together for a while, but it has never worked out until now.  We really enjoyed playing with the children at “Casa Para Ninos Aleluya”, a children’s home right outside of Guatemala City, caring for nearly 500 abused and abandoned kids.  We spent the mornings doing physical labor, and once the kids were out of school at 2:00, we spent our time playing with them.  On Thursday we took the afternoon off and visited nearby Antigua, where we did some shopping and visited some old Spanish ruins.  I went a little crazy with the pictures, and it was really difficult to narrow it down to just these. 

Me, Telma, Graciela and Ana

The children’s worship service on Sunday morning

Anna and Ana

James and Betty

Betty, teaching me a game

On the first day the girls (we were in charge of preparing all our meals) went to the supermarket with Rene, a nearly 80 year-old woman who definitely didn’t look, or act, her age. 

I’ve never seen ground beef like this before…

On the way back from the supermarket, we got a little lost in the city, so I thought I’d take advantage of the time to take pictures.

Our first project was to dig this big hole, which would later be filled with cement and used as the foundation for a water tower.  The guys did most of the digging, and we carried off the dirt in wheelbarrows.

James had quite a few eager helpers.

We also helped clear scraps of wood and concrete blocks from rooms that were going to be used for classrooms. 

The last two days some plumbers came from Springdale and we helped them dig a ditch and install some pipes.

The completed hole

One of the “gringo dorms”…this is where the girls stayed

All 8 of us outside the gringo dorm

At the town square in Antigua

Ruins of a Spanish convent that had been destroyed multiple times by earthquakes

This picture overlooks the gardens at the restaurant where we had dinner.

   

Spring Break 2008

Well, I realize that spring break was nearly two months ago, but I am just now getting around to posting some pictures of our spring break trip to Panama City Beach, Florida. With writing my thesis and everything else going on, I just never got around to it until now. We had a wonderful time camping at St. Andrew’s State Park with the Covington’s, Schaefer’s, and the Huneycutt’s and also enjoyed getting to see the Seaman family one of those days. Camping on the beach was a first for me, and other than sand being everywhere, I have no complaints.

Our first day, camping in Mississippi

James and Hannah

Campground in FL

Lisa and Pirate Hannah at Grogg’s, celebrating Mom’s (Ann’s) Birthday

Still at Grogg’s, sporting our St. Patrick’s Day attire

If you look really close, you can see an alligator

Gator Lake

I think these three could have won the best sand castle contest

Most of the crew at the beach

Boy was it windy!

At the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola

Only the Beginning

This week was very encouraging to both me and Allison. On Monday morning we found out that we had been accepted as members, which was two days earlier than we had anticipated. Although we had no real doubts about being accepted, it was a huge relief from potential fears and a confirmation of where we feel called to go in our life. Three years ago I first felt led to translation work, and now, three years later, that call has been realized. Hearing this good news amidst our busy schedule, however, was rather anticlimactic. In many ways, we feel caught between two different worlds. While we are still trying to finish strong at the U of A, particularly Allison with her thesis, we are looking forward to what the next few months have in store for us. At the same time, though, we realize that there is a lot that must be done before our goal of starting in July can be accomplished.

The fears of raising support and developing our partnership base, which were once something that we only thought of in the distant future, have very quickly become a reality now. Although we will receive some useful training in June, when we are registered to go to Training Camp in Orlando, we have to begin cultivating our partnership now, before we are trained, and while we are still going to class and getting in our weekly hours at work with Lightbearers. The most encouraging thing in all of this is definitely the support that we already feel from our friends and family, who we know are faithfully behind us. There is no way that we would have made it this far without the support of our family, and the closer we get to our translation project, the more we are going to need the this support.

Allison and I have already begun working on our first Partnership Development letter, which we hope to send out fairly soon. Again, we are so thankful for all of you who have played such an integral part in our lives and in getting us to this point. From grandparents to siblings, aunts and uncles to parents, and from friends to cousins, you have been immeasurably significant in our lives to plant a love for him in our hearts. It is impossible to express the encouragement that we receive from you in knowing that you are just as excited as we are about the work that is ahead of us.

Joyfully,

James and Allison

The Countdown

On Friday afternoon, James and I both had our 90-minute phone interviews. We felt like they went really well, and they definitely went by much more quickly than we expected. It was also really exciting to find out that we will not have to wait as long as we expected to find out if we have been accepted as members. We are expecting a call on Wednesday, February 20, so please be keeping us in mind.

A Winter Wonderland

This year for Christmas, we both decided that our Christmas present to each other would be a trip to Mt. Magazine. Several family members had told us how nice of a place it is and even though both of us have lived in Arkansas our entire lives, neither of us had ever been there (or at least remembered being there). We decided to go right after final exams were over, which coincidentally might have been the best weekend to choose, since it happened to snow up on the mountain.

We arrived early the first day, so before we could check into our cabin we decided to hike the Signal Hill Trail, which leads to the highest point in Arkansas. Up on top there is a huge stone map of Arkansas, and we were able to find a geocache up there as well. We ate lunch in the lodge’s restaurant, which has a wonderful view of the whole valley below.

On Saturday, even though it was extremely cold (temperatures up there are usually quite a bit lower than the rest of the state) and misty, we decided to set out on a five mile or so hike. Even though it wasn’t really hiking weather, the scenery was beautiful and almost magical looking because of the fog and all the ice that had frozen on the trees. The half-way point on our hike came out at the visitor’s center, but we could barely find it due to the thick fog. We probably looked pretty silly going in there all wet and red-faced when everyone else had obviously decided not to get out in the weather.

Saturday afternoon it began to snow a little. We decided to go have dinner at the lodge, which was a slightly treacherous endeavor, as we could barely see the road in front of us because of the thick fog. Sunday morning we woke up to find about an inch of snow covering everything, so we decided to take the scenic drive on our way out. I have included some pictures below.

James driving my dad’s car (it was very kind of him to allow us to use it, especially with all the snow and ice)

Playing in the visitor center’s museum.

The main lodge is in the background.

The highest point in Arkansas on the Signal Hill Trail.

The view from our cabin; this was an overlook on the valley, but we weren’t able to see this until our last day there.

The beginning of our Saturday hike…

The cabin

Almost There

Well, Allison and I have been working pretty hard on our applications over the last several weeks. The whole process is rather in-depth, considering that we had to write out a testimony and brief autobiography, as well as answer numerous short-answer questions, part of which included writing out our beliefs about general topics, and of course, backing up everything we wrote with references. Now we’re waiting for our personal references to come in, most of which have. The next big step is a 90 min. biographical interview that we each have to have with someone in Dallas. Although I’m not really nervous about it (all of the interaction that we’ve had with people so far has been really great), it is kinda scary to think that the interview is supposed to last that long.

Anyway, once we complete that interview, a decision will be made regarding our acceptance. In the case that we are accepted, we will then be able to start raising support. It is an ambitious goal for us to start at GIAL in Dallas in July, but that is what we’re aiming for. If it doesn’t seem realistic as we get closer to that time, then we may have to back off and aim for starting in January. If we are going to start in July, though, we’ll have to get a fair amount of support raised before mid-summer, and that may be difficult, particularly considering that Allison is working hard on her Honors Thesis right now.

Well, we’re hoping to use this blog for personal updates, and I think that Allison is planning to post something soon about our trip to Mt. Magazine. It has been difficult for me to have any time to post on this blog, since I have been devoting a fair amount of time to Consanguinity. I hope to post more personal blerbs on this blog in the future.

Beginnings

Well, we finally decided to give the whole blog thing a shot. We thought it would be a good thing to start to help us keep in contact with people as we are about to move away for the first time in our lives.  We are planning to move to Dallas, if we are accepted, and begin studying at GIAL for linguistics training.
After a trip to Dallas this past September, we have a much clearer idea of the future.  After speaking with about a million different people, James still felt strong about translation work. This typically involves going in and learning an unwritten language, developing a writing system, and then tackling the long process of translation from the Greek and Hebrew.For me, the Dallas visit was a great relief, because I finally knew where I would fit into the plan. We talked to a woman in the literacy department who shared all about her work in Ecuador, picking up the project that Jim and Elizabeth Elliot didn’t finish. The literacy program was very interesting to me and is a good combination of education (my first major) and anthropology (my current major). Basically, the literacy program works alongside the translation team, teaching people how to read and write their own language so that they will be equipped to read what we translate.

While in Dallas, we were blessed to be able to stay with a couple that works there in Dallas. They used to live in the Phillippines doing support work. That evening, they invited another couple over who had actually completed an entire translation project in the Philippines. It was so exciting to finally talk to someone who had experienced everything that we soon will. They showed us a lot of video footage of where they worked, and it was exciting to think of all of the things we may experience in the future.

We hope that this blog will keep people up to date on our lives and our journey.  It will primarily be about the personal side of our lives.  We’ll try to write about the fun things we’re doing and post pictures, too.  Right now we are trying to get our applications turned in this week and hopefully by March we will be accepted and able to get started on raising support.