Homeless

At the Lab this morning they asked me for my adress... Saying I don't have one just didn't work!  Funny how we get tied so much to places.  I called and made sure I had Brian and Marian's adress right, because at least for the next two days that is where we will call home. 

Family, daily joys

The last few weeks have been amazing as we have traveled towards the west, seeing children and grandchildren in Little Rock, Colorado, Utah and now Idaho.  We vistied with my two brothers and their children also while in Colorado and had a wonderful time.  In fact, I have a date with my nieces Faith and Grace for a camping trip and hiking in about two years.  That's exciting!  While in Colorado with Tina we were able to spend several mornings out hiking and it continually reaffirmed the glorious beauty in which we live.  Majestic mountains, side by side with brilliant tiny flowers. That and a lovely evening roasting marshmallows over a fire in the backyard. Visiting Amber and Tilile in Provo we met their friends. We are so grateful that Amber has been taken so lovingly in by wonderful people who support and believe in her.  We know that we need to leave for our mission, but thoughts of leaving our chldren are very hard, until we have seen how they are being cared for by others.  Natalie and Amber being the youngest, of course, we felt very responsble and concerned.  We know now that Amber will be fine and Alea will stay with Natalie when Justin leaves for Afghanistan and help take care of Isaac, so Natalie can finish her Associates degree.
  We are daily seeing blessings and miracles both small and large, and I am very grateful. We went to General conference on Saturday and Alea had a nonmember friend in Salt Lake that she wanted to invite to go with us, but we didn't have any extra tickets.  Amber's Bishop called us late Friday night and said there was another ticket available for our session if we needed it.  We were so grateful for his inspiration - because otherwise he would have not known that we even needed it.
There is a lab here that Marion knew about where I was able to get my Thyroid test done and faxed back to my Doctor in Arkansas, while there I mentioned needing to get our Typhoid vaccines and one of the ladies knew exactly where to go and what to do, because her son has been called to serve in Peru.
We have been so warmly welcomed, loved and cared for in our travels that I am overcome with the joy and gratitude I feel.  Studying is a high priority, we also need to be exercising and both of these things have been continually wrapped up in the joys of being with family. We were able to help Tina with some of the projects she needed done, help my brother Jerry move, and now Harold is helping Brian with the carpet.  I'm grateful that in some small ways we also are able to be of service to those around us.         

by study and learning

Studying Q'eqchi' is sometimes very difficult.  Being a language teacher I should know how to make information stick in my brain...be able to attach it to something.  Some does, but then the rest seems to fall right back out again.  I'm hoping that repetition gets the basics grounded in, the pronunciation though is a different process!  Not really having someone yet to listen to on a regular basis and having to learn to make completely different sounds, when I'm not always sure that I am doing them right, makes this a large challenge for me. One person explained that if I take a spoon and depress my tongue with it, then try to make the letter sound I would get closer to the guttural Q' for example. I guess once I get it down, I will then be able to use the spoon for things like eating! The grammar book I have gives rules, examples, and a very few sets of dialogues, but it is not written like the textbooks I have always used, that means I am having to learn how to work within different parameters.  A lot of the verbs are just one syllable, and so are other words, in fact sometimes just one letter, so I think I shall have to become a very careful listener.  It makes a big difference just using a k or a q in a word. Exciting challenges.  Anyone want to speak Q'eqchi' with me???