Looking Forward to What's Ahead

It feels like things are coming together. Steve and I had a two hour conversation with our Wycliffe recruiter on Sunday. Since we hit the break even point in our debt we felt that we could move ahead with the process. We now know what our next step is. Once we fill out the application and become approved candidates, and have an interview with the application specialist we can apply for the Equip training in Orlando. Equip is a two week training that will teach us about partnership building, language development, and other things for Wycliffe. The next Equip training is at the end of January. Two weeks in Orlando in January 2012...that sounds like a great plan. Then when we complete that we will get our assignment and can start our graduate studies at GIAL. At this point we will put the house on the market and move to Dallas. Selling the house will not only make us debt free but will give us the money we need to pay for school. We are thinking that maybe that can happen in the next two years. We can keep working our current jobs through the whole process.
I'm excited to see what God has in store for us in the next few years.

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A Must-Try Recipe: Mali Peanut Butter Sauce (Tiga Dege Na)

Below is the recipe for Peanut Butter Sauce (Tiga Dege Na) that we ate on Monday of Total It Up.  It was really good.  The lady who made it sent us the recipe.
If we were in Mali, I would use everything fresh from the market and not use any canned items. However, since we are not in Mali, I use canned food since they are less expensive.  You can use the fresh tomatoes if you like, but I use tomatoes in cans.

1 14.5oz Can Diced Tomatoes
4 Cloves of Garlic-Pressed
1 lg Onion-Diced
1 tsp. Nutmeg
1 Tbsp Chili Powder
about 1/2 of the Chicken (chunks/strips of beef can be substituted)
1/2 cup Peanut Butter with no sugar added
3 Okra Sliced Thin
4 Large Hunks of Pumpkin (or squash)
1/2 Head of Cabbage

Heat the first five ingredients in a large stew pan. Add a fourth of a cup of oil and the raw chicken (or beef). Brown the chicken in the tomatoes mixture for about 15 minutes and then cover the chicken with water. Add salt (I like to use Seasoning Salt) and pepper. Let the chicken simmer until the meat is done. Remove the chicken and set aside to cool and to remove from the bone. Put the Peanut Butter into a cup and then add water until the Peanut Butter looks more like chocolate pudding. Add the Peanut Butter to the Stew. Add the Pumpkin and Cabbage to the stew. Let it simmer until the veggies are done. Remove the veggies and add the Okra. Cook the okra until it has become part of the stew liquid. The Peanut Butter and the okra are the thickening agents in the stew. The Peanut Butter will burn on the bottom if it is not stirred often.  If you think that it is too thick then add water, if it seems to think then let it cook for a while longer or add more Peanut Butter. Put all ingredients in the stew pan and simmer for about 5 minutes. Serve over white rice and eat it with the right hand.
IT IS SO GOOD. I hope you enjoy it.
Serves approximately 10 people.

Total it Up: Thursday and Friday

Thursday was our final full day of classes. We did some more "Fun"etics and "Fun"ology.  In the evening, Steve and I got to eat lunch with a retired couple that lives on campus.  There is a beautiful apartment complex for retired Wycliffe workers.  They both served in Peru.  They met in Peru and have known each other for about 40 years but they have only been married for 4 years.  Don and his first wife served Peru at the same time Lucy was there. Don's first wife died some years ago.  After all these years, they find themselves both living in the apartments and they hit it off again.  Isn't it awesome how God brings people together?  One of the things I think I have loved most about this week is listening to the stories of the missionaries and hearing how God brought them to Wycliffe and what they have been doing.
After dinner, the Total It Up crew had a campfire and S'mores.  It was pretty fun, even though we were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. 

Today was kind of a closing day.  We talked about what our next steps could be and basically debriefed the whole week.  We all got graduation certificates, so I guess we are officially graduates. :o)

Since after lunch, we have been a little on our own since the program is technically over.  We helped the leaders clean up a bit, took a walk, ate dinner, and went swimming in the pool.  At the pool, we met a missionary couple that is about to go to Papa New Guinea.  They are apparently Financial Peace grads, so it was fun to talk to them about their journey.  Now we are just relaxing in our rooms. It seems way to earlier to go to bed.  "Daddy" Steinbach is picking us up from here tommorrow morning.  We are going to spend the day with him and then we head home on Sunday afternoon.

I was a little nervous about this week at first, because I thought the classes were going to be really hard and way over my head. I don't have skills in Linquistics like Steve does.  I have actaully learned alot. I'm excited to see what God has in store for us next.  I don't think I will be serving in a Language role, but there are so many support/administrative and Computer/IT roles that, with a little more training, I could definetly do.  I'm really glad Steve talked me into going on the trip.

Total It Up: Wednesday

Today was a great day. I even enjoyed the Grammar class.  I'm still trying to figure out exactly where I fit into the Wycliffe organization, since I don't have an interest in languages like Steve does.  I'm learning a little more everyday.  It's been a pretty great week.  The campus is beautiful.  A few of the other girls and I walked the trails around the campus for about an hour tonight.  It was such a beautiful night.  It was a little hot, but not too bad.  It looked like it might rain, but it never did.  We brought umbrellas with us, just in case.

Tommorrow is the last full day of classes.

Total It Up: Tuesday

We have computer access today, so I can actually type in more than 160 characters.  Woo Hoo!
Today, we started with a tour of the campus.  Since there was so many of us, we actually watched a video of a tour, instead of walking around everywhere.  It was such a beautiful morning, so I was a little bummed about that.
Our second class was another Language Learning class.  We have been learning Mandarin.  I actually learned a few words. I'm not sure how long I will remember them though.  The rest of the day was Phonology and Ethnomusicology. Phonology is the study of sound and Musicology is how music and arts are used in Bible Translation.

Total It Up: Monday

Today was full of classes: Phonetics, Anthropology, Literacy, etc...All very good. Dinner was an African Meal. It was really tasty.

Total It Up: Sunday

We landed safely yesterday.
Today, we spent a fun day with the Steinbach family and Lizzy. Tommorrow, the classes start.

One More Day!

Tommorrow, we leave for our trip. I'm not sure if we will have access to a computer while we are down there or not. I'm going to attempt to post from my phone, for the first time, during the trip. Apparently, I only have 160 characters though. That's alot harder than I thought.

Summer 2010

For the past few weeks, I have been working about 60 hours a week.  I know for some that seems like way to much and for others sounds easy, but I'm starting to feel a little tired.  I love my jobs though, so I guess that's a plus.  I'm trying to make as much as I can with the second job, because it's going to be a busy and expensive summer. 

Steve and I taking a vacation during the first week of June down to Dallas, TX.  The Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics is where Steve wants to do his Graduate work to enter Wycliffe.  We are visiting to attend a Total It Up week long workshop.

"This five-day course includes introductory classes on phonetics and phonology, grammar, language and culture learning, translation and semantics, as well as field reports, videos, and personal testimonies. Learn in a relaxed, informal setting with experienced translators from many different countries and language projects. Devotions, prayer time and group living build meaningful relationships between staff and students."

It should be a very stretching experience for me.  We also get to see one of my best friends, Lizzy, and her family while we are down there, so I excited about that too.
 
On top of that my cousin Joe is getting married in an amazing girl named Carrie in June and my brother is getting married in August.  My parents 30th Wedding Anniversary is also this summer.  Not to mention, we have 2 sister-in-laws that are expecting (one of them due very soon), one of my best friends, Tabby, is expecting in October, Steve's cousin had twins last month, my friend Esther is also expecting in the fall, our chef at work is pregnant (also due in October)...This summer/fall is apparently the time for babies.

And...Steve wants to do some work on the house this summer.  He wants to build a porch on the front, so we can sit out there when it's nice.