Travel Update

To bring you up to speed, we traveled to Nampa, Idaho for our final training on Saturday, August 10th. We awoke bright and early at 5 AM, just so we could hit the snooze button and wake up again at 5:15 (we had to start the day off right!) We loaded up Kevin's dad's truck with our 4 pieces of checked baggage, 2 carry-on's, a back-pack, and a diaper bag...plus a baby! After an uneventful drive, we brought all our luggage in to check in for the flight, only to find a 1.5 hour delay. That delay would bring us into our next airport 30 minutes late for our next flight. So our ticket agent, who was from Mali, Africa, worked hard to get us into Boise as soon as possible. For those who don't know, they speak French in Mali. So once we got done with our introductions, asking about family, etc (as is the typical African custom), we completed the rest of our business in French. That was a nice surprise and gave us some encouragement.

Our original flight plan was Knoxville to Detroit to Minneapolis/St. Paul, to arrive in Boise at 1:50 Mountain time. We were still travelling to Detroit but with a longer lay over, and the next connection was in Salt Lake City with another longer layover. This would put us into Boise at 6:30 (Mountain time). Dealing with the delay for two adults is no problem, with a kiddo however, that is another story. We were hoping to arrive in time for an afternoon nap, instead, we were to arrive for a late bedtime. But we arrived with all of our bags in one place and we were together and safe, so we were grateful.

Adah did AMAZING during the first flight, even getting in an early morning nap. She did FANTASTIC during the first layover, playing with her toys and charming bystanders. We ate an early lunch/late brunch thanks to Delta and she stuffed her face! She did SUPERB during the second flight, inching her way into first class by being her adorable little self!

She was OUTSTANDING during our second layover. We enjoyed a nice little dinner together and played with other waiting children. Unfortunately, our tired little monkey was just about over it during the last flight, that was only 47 minutes long. Luckily, we were in the back of the plane as she fussed. We were simply glad she didn't have a major meltdown.

After arriving in Boise, we met our ride and drove the 30 minutes to Nampa. Adah resumed with her cuteness and entertained everyone in the car now that she had room to stretch her legs. We unloaded and unpacked while Adah attempted to unwind.

We were all asleep by 10 PM (12 EST) and were ready to go the next day again.

Abundant Blessings

We are so blessed! Thanks to the efforts of our friends, we were partially moved in the Thursday we planned our move. By Friday, everything was out of the old apartment and in the new. By Saturday, the new apartment was clean and everything was in place. By Monday, the old apartment was cleaned up and the keys were turned in (gotta rest on Sundays).

Our apartment is the top  left one. 

We adore living on campus! We have a beautiful deck with a gorgeous view.

Sunset from our deck

There is a large open area of grass for Adah to play on and many new friends to play with.

Adah with her buddy Georgi

There are many missionary families right next door, so we have people to enjoy an afternoon BBQ with!

Adah and her buddy Oliver begging for corn niblets

There is even a swing set for our little monkey!

We have been blessed to have someone who has agreed to keep Adah during the day that Adah enjoys spending time with! Now, instead of opposing schedules and little time to study, we have matching schedules and more time together. I suppose we be spending more time reading!

Our schedule looks the same on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. We have class from 8:45-12:15, divided up into three classes. 8:45-9:45 is "culte personnel" ("culte" means worship) where we talk about our personal devotionals, in French. It is great practice using Bible words and reflexive verbs to talk about how our daily readings are applicable to our lives. From 9:45-10:15 is "les informations" where we talk about the news and culture in the local area we will be living. This is great practice for utilizing less often used terms such as those used in business, government, and military. Plus, it helps us to stay up to date on the current events in the Congo. We have a coffee break from 10:15-10:45 that is the same time as the Bible students. Since Adah will be elsewhere, both Kevin and I will have the opportunity to practice French with the other students, checking off one required French conversation for the day! Finally, we have "orale et grammaire" where we work on our techniques and fine tune our grammar and review what we learned in the past semesters.

The only exception is Wednesdays. We have school wide "culte" in the mornings with all of the language and bible students. It is from 8:30-9:30. Then, the missionaries ladies meet together separately from the missionary men. This is the time we have set aside each week to pray for one another. It is from 9:30-10:30. At 10:30, we begin our classes with "les informations" and then from 11:30-12:30, we have "orale et grammaire." We have a one hour break before we have our bible class or singing class (depending on the week) from 1:30-2:30. Adah is welcome to hang around during that class, so we will pick her up during our lunch break.

Chapel

All of our language learning opportunities are made so much better by being on campus. We are exposed to French daily, whereas in our old apartment, we were exposed to Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Portuguese, and English on a daily basis. We have more study time (and a bit more free time) because of our schedule and Adah has somewhere to play. God has blessed us abundantly!

What If...?

Everyone has thought of a “what if” moment before. You know, what if I had done something different in my life? What if I had not said that stupid thing that my friends overheard? What if I had completed my graduate degree before getting married? What if I had not bought a house right before getting married? What if I had not changed jobs? What if I had children earlier in life? What if…?

In Janis Joplin’s song “Bobby McGee” she says that she would “trade all of my tomorrows for one single yesterday.” What if…? What if you could go back and change one of your “what if” moments? Growing up I used to think about that very scenario. As a child, I wanted desperately to change the past. I wanted to go back and say the right words that would have convinced my father to not commit suicide. But as I grew older and became a Christian, I began to realize what I would have to trade in order for this scenario to come true. I would have to give up my baby brother, who was born four years after my father’s death. Would I give him up? Could I give him up? It was then that I began to understand the “Butterfly Effect” of life. In order to change one scenario, you cannot have the present stay the same.

Today, as I was rocking my sweet little girl to sleep, I thought to myself “what if?” Here I am, in my 30s, married, with a 9 month old daughter, a missionary in language school, soon to be in Africa. But what if…?  And it was then I realized I don’t really want to know. I cannot possibly imagine a life without my soul mate, the man of my dreams who completes me as a person. I would never want to picture my life without my precious baby. I don’t think I would be the same person I am today without the things that have happened to me in the past, in the order they happened, both good and bad. Many times we have curious thoughts, thinking “what if?” But you know what? I no longer care about “what if” because I am content where I am.

In class the other day, we read Psalms 139 (in French) and talked about why it was important to us (in French). Although my lack of knowledge of the right words (in French) might have prevented me from truly expressing myself, I still managed to get my point across: This verse helped me when I was pregnant by knowing that even if the baby was not to be, God had a plan.

God made us, He knows us, nothing is hidden from him, we cannot depart from his presence, and as impure and imperfect as we are, we can always delight in Him when we follow His will. Why spend time wondering what could have been, when instead we can praise God for what could be!

139 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
…. For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.