Big Words

I love words. I'm not sure when it happened, exactly, but somewhere along the timeline of my life, I fell head-over-heels in love with language. It's not that I'm particularly fond of the English language. I'll take any country's native tongue, I suppose. I only have this one down so far. The prospect of taking on a completely different vocabulary and set of grammatical rules thrills me. I say that now. We'll see how far that excitement gets me in the learning process.

There is an abundance of words that are left unused, sitting desperately in the dictionary, hoping that someone will come across them when searching for the correct spelling of "spaghetti". There are a few words that I feel are sadly overlooked. They aren't long words, and they are pretty easy to spell, but for whatever reason, America has overlooked them. Here is a list of the unsung heroes of the English language, as I see it (and I am no authority):

• Placate- to satisfy, as one would a child, not an authority figure.
• Ardent- passionate; fiery. Usually this word is used in its adverbial form of "ardently".
  ("I'm ardently against the use of chocolate as a means of placating small children.")
• Monosyllabic- the state of a word having only one syllable. (Cat and dog are monosyllabic words.)
• Superfluous- unnecessary and unneeded; redundant. ("The politician was superfluous in his choice of words in an attempt to make himself sound smarter than he is.")

In the time of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, the middle-class Russians (as well as the high-class) would speak several languages because they felt that a single language was inadequate for full expression. Most Russians spoke at least French, in addition to Russian. Every once in a while, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky would randomly throw in a word from French to convey their point better. Even with all of the words held in the Russian language, it wasn't enough. Here we have plenty of words in our own language that not even native speakers know.

Of course, it is necessary to take the audience into consideration when choosing words, but the fact of the matter is that the more words we know, the richer our discussions and the deeper we can understand one another. Words are a powerful thing, my readers. Obviously you know that, or you wouldn't be reading this ;)!

Here's wishing you a wonderful weekend.

How You Can Pray For Us

People have asked how they can be praying for us. I figured that I'd go ahead and give a few specifics.

• Work- We're in no threat of going hungry. We will be okay, even if we never get jobs, but for our own sanity, we would love to get some work. The pay doesn't need to be fabulous, and menial tasks are fine. It's more of an issue of finding part-time work that doesn't require Sundays and allows us to take turns taking care of the girls.
• Adaptability- We will be moving again in April, June, and eventually to our new home in Nicaragua some time in the fall, or next winter. For young children, this is a lot of change. We'll be changing languages, and they'll be in the care of different people at each stop. I'll be back in full-time mommy mode when we arrive in Nica.
• Preparation in the hearts of the people we encounter- Edwin and I will be building relationships and presenting the Gospel at every opportunity. Pray that God will be working in the lives of the people we meet, that they will become aware of their sin and that they will desire the grace of our wonderful, forgiving God.
• Humility- What I am realizing is that pride, or a belief that we are somehow better than the people we will serve, is going to be an enemy to us and our work. If we can learn from the people in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, respect their culture, and gain from their wisdom, we will have a much better chance at adapting to their world, parenting our children well in the new culture, and reaching them. We're going into their world, and we are going to have to earn their respect by being respectful of them as they are.

We need your prayers. It is God's choice as to how He will answer. It will be His grace that sustains us in each and every phase of this journey. What a wonderful thing that we get to serve a big God, for whom nothing is impossible!

Deja Vu!

As you probably know by now, I am living in the town where I attended middle and high school. This brings back a lot of memories, some happy, some not so happy.

I decided that today's post would be a light one, so we're going to focus on some of the goofier memories. This isn't hard because last night I had a big kick-back to middle school. I was a Hansonite, a Fanson. Whatever you want to call it, I was a die-hard Hanson fan. Hanson fans are much cooler now days. They aren't the same thing that they were when I was in middle school. I know this because there is a wonderful teenage girl in our church who is a fan. I don't think anyone would debate her coolness.

When I was a nutty, out-of-my-mind, couldn't get enough Hanson fan, we weren't cool. We giggled constantly, cried when we saw them up close, and clung to every word that came out of their pubescent faces. I had posters... lots and lots of posters, that cluttered my walls. I remember one day when Dad came into my room to get me up for school. He turned to walk out, and seeing my Hanson-plastered wall (Mom had a rule that you shouldn't be able to see any posters from the door), said under his breath "My daughter is a groupie." He sounded so sad, as if I had been abducted by aliens.

I had a Hanson birthday cake. I'm embarassed to say that it was for my fourteenth birthday party. I totally should have grown out of that stage of fandom by that point, but I hadn't. By the time I got to college, my fandom waned. I still kept up with them. Oh, how disappointed I was to discover that Taylor, the middle one, had gotten a girl pregnant and was engaged to be married.

It was only a few months later that Edwin and I began dating. We were engaged by the time I was 19. I saw a concert the September before we got married in December. To be totally honest, if I had the opportunity to see them tomorrow, I would totally do it. They had a concert in Louisville, but I couldn't find anyone who wanted to go with me, and Edwin somehow thought that it would be a waste of money. Plus, it was in a club. Not really somewhere that I want to visit.

As memories of who I was collide with plans for who I want to be, I find myself confused. But some part of me still hums "Mmmbop". If you'll excuse me, I have a kid who needs her diaper changed.

Belated Pictures (From DeLaynie's First Day of School)

I took these pictures yesterday, but I couldn't find my cardreader to upload them. I'm a very proud mama, so I decided to go ahead and post them a day late. I assure you, tomorrow I'll talk about something other than DeLaynie going to school for 4 hours, 3 days a week ;).

Edwin going for "Dad of the Year," getting DeLaynie dressed. Don't worry, I picked out the clothes and packed her bags the night before.

Every great day starts with a slide, at least for DeLaynie.

I made the mistake of saying, "Are you ready for school?" After that, there was no keeping her inside the house.

So how did my baby do? That's right, she was happy, playful, quiet (huh?), and cooperative. If there was an option for "best kid ever!" they totally would have circled it. Okay, not really. I'd like to think she's tied for best ever, but I'm pretty sure that it's just my own bias. Thanks a ton to her teacher for helping her get adjusted and being so very patient with her!

DeLaynie's First Day of School

This morning began with DeLaynie jumping into our bed and cuddling up next to Edwin, as she does most mornings. We finally got up and got ready for the big day. Edwin was deeply concerned that DeLaynie would be completely thrown off guard by the routines and structure that come with preschool. She took a second to check out her surroundings, but before long she found a toy mailbox that she found amusing.

Ella actually took a nap! A long one, too. I had to wake her up to get De from school. Edwin went to a pastor's lunch with Dad, so there was a time during which I was the only conscious person in the house! I talked to B.Wal for a while. I didn't have to take "angry mommy voice" breaks every fifteen seconds, and I didn't have to feel guilty for not wanting to pick up Ella, my little Cling-on (that would be a Star Trek pun).

When I did go to pick up DeLaynie, her very sweet teacher said that she'd had a great day! She'd cried once, but quickly calmed down. Edwin was quite relieved to discover this. I was happy, but not as shocked as my hubby. DeLaynie was delighted to see that I'd brought Ella with me. When I walked up, I heard, "There's Mommy. And look! There's the baby! It's Baby Ewwa." She seemed pretty happy in general.

I'm pretty proud of her, myself. She's going to be just fine with this missions thing.

What is Normal, Anyway?

Edwin and I have been talking about the idea of getting used to our new normal. I try to take the positive spin on the situation by saying, "Isn't it great? We get to define normal for a while!" He doesn't seem as enthused. I'm not as excited as I try to appear.

Neither of us like the fact that we don't have jobs at the moment. I haven't worked outside of the home in years. Edwin, however, has always loved working. It isn't that he prefers being at work more than being at home, but going to work makes being at home more enjoyable to him. (Try to say that three times fast.)

The hardest part is establishing a routine. When you have nowhere to be, it's difficult to get into the swing of things. The good news is that pre-school starts tomorrow for DeLaynie. Three days a week, she will delve into the predictable world of structured education. At least as structured as a classroom of two year-olds can be. This will be a good warm-up for the eight weeks of 8 to 3 childcare she'll experience at orientation.

Daddy is far more nervous about this school thing than I. He may seem like a sentimental guy, but he isn't. Or he wasn't until the word, "school" was spoken. He's gotten all warm and squishy ever since it came up. He's mostly nervous for her. I think DeLaynie will like it once she adjusts to the expectations of the classroom, a process that will be good for her in its self, though it may not be so enjoyable to the teacher.

Child-Free Weekend!

For a Christmas present from my parents, Edwin and I asked for a few nights out of town. It came at the perfect time. Edwin and I were exhausted from the move, and the girls seemed more annoying than normal. This generally happens when I haven't slept enough. We went to a little cabin in Warm Springs, Ga for three nights. (It's near Callaway Gardens.) My mom is great at finding random places that are cozy and wonderfully obscure.

We went to Columbus a couple of times. We ate out, without fighting two little mess-makers. We saw a movie... in a theater. We heard almost every word. The movie was Valkyrie, so I really can't say that it was a barrel of laughs, but I do recommend it. It was a great movie, even if it was dark. It helps to know that we won eventually.

Then came Friday night, when we watched the Sugar Bowl. I'm not a sports genius. I do know that the University of Alabama only played sparatically. I'm not going to say much on the subject. The Alabama papers have said plenty. Let's just say that the Sugar Bowl was the low light of our vacation.

We had a good time sleeping in, watching television on cable, and walking around without worrying about the girls getting worn out from all of the shopping. We're home now, and it's good to be back with the girls, even if DeLaynie is a tad bit cranky from all the work that she put in preventing my mom from getting sleep. (Thanks mom!) We really missed them, and I am very grateful to have the opportunity to miss them.

Now we move on to job hunting. DeLaynie starts pre-school on Tuesday, and Mommy and Daddy are pretty nervous about it. Keep on praying for us!