More old pictures

We're also working on (still!) some kind of video presentation that we can use to introduce our ministry during a service or as a mailed DVD. To that end, I was uploading photos that I scanned in last December for Rob to pick from in his presentation planning. Here are a few that I was able to upload, before I maxed out my Flickr.com monthly quota (it renews tomorrow ... yay!):


when Rob and I "met again for the first time" after just emailing for the first 9 months of our relationship ... note the flushedness and perspiring


the day we sang together for a wedding; our first date


working with my CanIL study group


eating at the TWU cafeteria, during CanIL


presenting my grammar final project, "The many faces of Na; focus marking in Tagalog"

More photos to come tomorrow ...

Upcoming chapel talks

Rob and I have never actually done a chapel talk for LBT before. So, we emailed Paul & Ali, who have done a number of chapel talks. On top of that, Ali has been an elementary school teacher. She recommended Wycliffe's "Bright Ideas" resources. Here's what I found on that site:

Grades 1-6:
* In one ear, out the other - the whispering game, with one group having a written message
* What does it mean when - a variety of idiomatic expressions from around the world to illustrate one difficulty of Bible translation

Teens:
* Call my bluff - guessing what various idioms mean, audience participation
* Dirty water - not actually good for a chapel, maybe a youth Sunday School event
* Get packing - about the need to bring stuff with us overseas

I'm going to get Rob to take a look at these, see what he thinks.

ERI Cost of Living Calculator

ERI Cost of Living Calculator: Here is the starting point page.

stats on the cost of living in Africa

ERI Cost of Living Calculator Report: "Selected Location: Windhoek, Namibia
Student Cost of Living for Consumables as a percentage of the U.S. National Norm: 112% "

What a neat little internet tool! Here are some other stats:

Selected Location: Oshakati, Namibia
Student Cost of Living for Consumables as a percentage of the U.S. National Norm: 100%

Selected Location: Accra, Ghana (where Paul & Ali are going)
Student Cost of Living for Consumables as a percentage of the U.S. National Norm: 134%

Selected Location: Yaounde, Cameroon (where Rob & I had considered going)
Student Cost of Living for Consumables as a percentage of the U.S. National Norm: 150%"

Wow ... that Cameroon figure was a bit of a surprise for me. I has assumed it would be cheaper. Hmmm. I guess that's why there are experts who tabulate things for the uninformed.

Upcoming speaking in Enumclaw, WA

I was checking out Trinity Lutheran's website and decided to read something the sermon section, since we're looking at doing a sermon there. Read the most comprehensive response to the homosexuality debate in the ELCA (in my opinion) that I've encountered so far.

We'll be visiting this church on September 10; extent of involvement TBD. Pastor Doug is a cool guy. I met him when I was hu-manning our display at the SW WA synod assembly in June.

License to drive

We went to the department of licensing to get a driver's license with my new name and address on it. As soon as I get the plastic one in the mail, I'll be able to go and get my U.S. passport. Then, I can fill out the paperwork for the Namibian visa.

Today, I'll be catching up on phone calls and emails. We have to do a chapel a week from today, down in Portland. And I need to book a room in a hotel for the upcoming WELCA conference.

YWAM Namibia - Windhoek

Just got an email from Kelli, who was in YWAM with me back in 1997. She said that there's a YWAM base in Windhoek where a potter named John works and trains discipleship training school students. I found the link! I'll have to look him up when we get there. He taught a session at the YWAM school in Haiti when I was there. Very cool. It looks like they're working with the Himba in the north as well.

New webpage

This is the webpage that Rob has been working on since he got back from Africa. It's quite graphics intensive so if you try to load it and it doesn't load fast, don't feel bad about giving up. Just a coochy for technophiles, really, with photos of his Africa trip, selected blog entries and summaries of our ministry. Will have podcasts too, eventually. I hope it loads for you ...

click the pick to check it out!

Eek! We're here!

Just checked my own blog and realized that we hadn't bothered to mention that we arrived safe and sound. Well we did.

Friday - Tried to rest but that wasn't as effective as I'd thought it would be. Still ended up working on pressing communication issues for most of the day.

Saturday - Hu-manned a display at the southwest Washington WELCA Bible Study event from 9AM to 3:30PM. Went to dinner with Dave & Kate at the Meskel Ethiopian restaurant in downtown Seattle. Spent about an hour trying to get onto 520 to drive home, stuck in a trafficky mess. Ew. But the food was great. Yum.

Sunday - Got to visit our home church, Cross of Christ. Twas a beautiful thing. We tried to unpack when we got home but didn't get as far as we would have liked. I fell asleep on a sqwooshy chair for an hour late in the afternoon.

Today - Rob is out having car maintenance done. Driving cross-country always makes us overdue for an oil-change. Also, Rob said the shocks were feeling funny, as in, non-existent funny. I can't tell. Well, maybe I can. The ride was feeling pretty rough the last few days. I've did some exegeting this morning and will be getting ready for my driver's license update (new name and address) this afternoon. That is, if Rob gets back this afternoon at all. He said this car trip might take longer than usual. Both our horn and cigarette lighter crapped out this trip as well. Is a 1998 car considered old? 'Cause that's what we have.

Fire in the sky

We've been driving through Montana all day today. The skies were all weirdly hazy and we wondered what the "mist" was all about. Now that we're watching the news, we know about the wildfires all through the northwest.

We'll be in WA tomorrow evening, settling in, in Woodinville.

Yellowstone adventures

This is by far the most relaxing cross-country drive we've done so far. This time, we're not just driving by Yellowstone; we actually stopped and looked at stuff.


We actually had to stop at one point for bison in the road.


We waited for Old Faithful to blow for about 30 minutes. It was definitely worth the wait.


There's a path around the geysers where you can get a closer look.


Isn't this beautiful? This geyser blows unpredictably.

Howdy from Wyoming

We spent a great day and a half with Kary in Denver. We even got to hike out by the Red Rocks Amphitheater on Sunday.











Today, we drove in hail; a first for me. Well, technically, I guess I was just passengering.





Tomorrow, we hope to stop in Yellowstone briefly before heading on to Idaho on Wednesday.

Riders on the storm

Last night, we were safely in bed when he lightning got heavily underway. It was so bright out there that it was flashing around our blacout curtains. I thought there was a light flashing on an appliance near the window. We actually got up to watch it awhile, it was so crazy out there. Right now, we're hopig that the car (convertible top) didn't leak. Rob says there was hail this morning too; I was just sleeping too heavily to hear.

I'm feeling better after the sleep and I think we needed to head into today well-rested, with the thunderstorms going on out there. Please pray for us, that we would make it to Kary's place in Denver without incident. It's a full 8 hours drive .... on a good day.

Moving right along

We spent last night in Springfield, IL with Peg and John. It was good to sit down with Peg and just hang out, talk plans, watch a little TV before bed.

We kept it short today, stopping in Topeka. I felt particularly wiped. I think we'll make it into Denver by 6PM tomorrow. Slightly later than we had planned but, still, I think taking this extra rest on the front end will do us well for the rest of the trip.

Just got another booking for August 26, a WELCA event. Now, we have a time we have to be in WA for; gives the trip structure. :)

Econolodgings

We were exhausted enough to stay anywhere by the time we found this motel. It smells WAY funny. Mold, I think. I had half a mind to go elsewhere. But we're tired. I've got disinfectant oils going, just in case. At least I can get online here.

Driving in Washington, DC is ridiculous. We nearly got smushed several times on our way here, by way too aggressive drivers, not even looking where they were going. People must be praying for us big-time.

Will sleep soon. We have 8.5 hours to drive tomorrow.

A day in Washington, DC

We took this morning to see the place, as it was Rob's first visit and I hadn't been there as an American before. Here are some shots.












"But ... but ... I should be allowed to see George! Don't you know I'm an American?!?"

Barrage of photos

Here are some shots from the days of packing to move:


A freaky but tasty tomato I bought at Rosewood Market.


Can you see Rob in this picture? This is from our day at the Isle of Palms beach. Hint: he's in the middle of the picture, in the water.


Dried roses from our 5th anniversary.


Rob, packing for the move.


Window clings that I made while in SC.


View from our SC bedroom window, our car and an empty tea canister.

More photos to come, from the trip.

For want of a cigarette lighter ...

Q: What's the value of a cigarette lighter in a non-smoker's car?

A: Nothing ... until it breaks.

We pulled out of our driveway a few hours after we had planned to and Rob went to plug in his iPod transmitter to the cigarette lighter for power. Nothing. I plugged in our power adapter, which I use to power my laptop, which I planned to use to navigate this entire trip. Nothing. So, we begin with a mysteriously busted cigarette lighter. Later in the day, as I reach into my purse to retrieve my cellphone, I find that the camera button had been on and my cellphone battery was a single bar away from dead. The value of my car cellphone charger at that moment? Nothing.

[Sigh] So, navigating from a hastily scribbled set of instructions which I wrote from Streets & Trips on my laptop, trying not to keep the computer open too long as we would be needing the GPS navigational capability for the downtown Washington, DC part of today's trip, we made it to just outside Washington by shortly after 8PM. I suddenly got nervous about trying to meet my friend at her hotel at 11PM, counting on her flight not being delayed or anything, not knowing if she'd have a spare bed in her hotel room or not. So, we checked into the first hotel we found in Dumfries, VA. Glad to be off the road, particularly as darkness was fast approaching. I've never seen more aggressive tractor trailers! I'd rather "passenge" around those in daylight, thanks just the same, and sure Rob would rather drive that way.

Tomorrow, we hope to visit the International Spy Museum, see a friend who is on her way to SE Asia and see another friend that I haven't seen since 1997.



Thought about audioblogging from the road on my dying cellphone but, as I mentioned before ... CIGARETTE LIGHTER?!?!

S-U-C-C-E-S-S ...

... that's the way you spell "everybody passed the Greek course this year"! Yippee!



Yes, the results are in. All students will be continuing on to their regularly scheduled seminary courses without having to do a year-long rehash of Greek along with that daunting-enough-as-it-is courseload.

Suddenly, I feel like Tom Cruise, both in his early movie roles and semi-recent appearance on Oprah.





Now, I can pack in peace. We hope to have everything packed by this evening, get all the cleaning done tomorrow.

While the test is being taken

Here's what I would look like as a superhero: the Brown Barian

joshuamichael: Party of Five

This is the blog of a guy I know from when I was in YWAM, at Tyler, TX: joshuamichael: Party of Five. He found my Exegettes blog and commented there so I tracked back to his site. Small cyber-world!

The trip is coming ...

Just finished the last small group session for Summer Greek. So, technically, my job is finished. I think I'm going tomorrow morning to sit there while they take their exam, for moral support and whatnot. I'll probably bring my laptop with me for something to do while they're testing.

We've got a potential route for our upcoming drive across the country so I thought I'd throw that up here. The rainbow globes on the map are where we know people that we're either considering or know that we are staying with along the way.



Not all of our "rainbow globes" have been contacted yet but I don't think that'll be a problem. I suppose I could do the contacting tomorrow morning, during the test. I think we're going to focus on actually packing today, since there's going to be things that we're mailing to ourselves.

Here's the tentative timetable:

• Monday, August 14 - drive to Washington, DC; spend the night and the next night at a hotel with/near Johanna
• Wednesday, August 16 - drive to Springfield, OH; crash at Emily's place, the Emily I met here at LTSS this summer, friend of Rachel (of Pirates of the Caribbean fame from previous blog postings)
• Thursday, August 17 - drive to Springfield, IL; crash with Peg, from LBT
• Friday, August 18 - drive to somewhere in Kansas, sleep in a motel
• Saturday, August 19 - drive to Denver; crash with Kary, longtime friend of Rob's, for 2 nights, visit his church Sunday morning
• Monday, August 21 - drive to Montana; sleep in a motel
• Tuesday, August 22 - drive to Potlatch, ID; crash with Larry, Rob's brother, maybe spend a couple of days before ...
• Wednesday or Thursday - drive to Woodinville, WA, move into Kate & Dave's basement

Why Joseph is my hero. By David Plotz

Someone is blogging the Bible. Neat.

Visiting the Federwitzes

We went up to Waxhaw, NC after class yesterday to visit with Paul & Ali, fellow new LBT missionaries. We had a great evening and were glad we could see them before we, once again, head to different parts of the world. They'll be going to Ghana pretty soon.

Noting the similarity between Paul & Ali and Rob & I is a (small) hobby of mine.