Syllabus Shock and Ramen Noodles!

So, Darrin and I made it through the first week of classes!  I have to admit, it was a bit overwhelming for both of us.  Going over all of the class requirements and syllabi. (The words "syllabi" and "syllabuses" are both acceptable plural forms of "syllabus', but I think "syllabi" is more fun to say.)  Hundreds of pages of reading, many papers to write, even a new language to learn...it's a lot to accomplish!   We are praying that God will work a miracle in our "old" brains and help us kick them into high gear!

In addition to experiencing "syllabus shock", we have been exposed to several different cultures this week.  The first of which obviously derives from my Hebrew class.  My first assignment was to memorize the Hebrew alphabet, spoken and written.  Learning Hebrew is not like taking Spanish or French.  It's more like learning Japanese.  The Hebrew alphabet is composed of 22 symbols that represent different sounds, all of which are consonant sounds.  We haven't learned how the vowels work yet, but I know it has something to do with adding dots to the symbols.  Oh, and you read this from right to left, so it is a bit more difficult than high school Spanish.

Anyway, I had to figure out how in the world I was going to be able to speak and write this from memory within a week's time.  Well, the music teacher in me kicked in, and I set the alphabet to a familiar tune.  I had to play with a few tunes to get one with the right timing, but I finally came up with "Jesus Loves the Little Children".  I want you to sing it now...go ahead...come on...."Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.  Red and yellow, black, and white, they are precious in his sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world."  Very good!  Thanks for singing along.  Now, keep thinking about that tune, but add in the words in the picture above.  Remember, read right to left.  Here we go..."Aleph, Beyt, Gimel, Dalet..."  I won't make you finish it, but that's what I have been doing for several days.  I just walk around the house singing the Hebrew alphabet.  The kids are singing it too.  It's great!  Writing it is a bit more challenging for me.  I have just been writing it over and over and over and over.  I'm getting the hang of it.  I have a quiz on Monday afternoon.  Say a prayer! :0)

Another cool cultural thing we experienced....Indian dancing....not Native American, but from India...Bollywood type stuff.  There is a dance class for students and family members on campus on Monday nights.  Kayla and I went last Monday and LOVED it!  We will be going back!

Let's see...this might be stretching it as a "cultural experience", but I thought I'd share.  Darrin has had a couple of great interviews at Olive Garden (Italian culture...Ha!).  He got connected with them at a job fair we attended last week.  We are waiting to hear back from them, but it seems promising.  So, that's another thing  you can add to your prayer list please. :0)

Oh, and this is one of my favorites of the week....Kayla has recently been exposed to a Japanese delicacy....ramen noodles!!!!  Would you believe that she, nor any of my children, had never had them before.  On our very frugal seminary budget, we thought our children should be exposed to new, exciting items from the grocery store. A $0.20 package of ramen noodles was a great place to start!  Who knew they would be the best thing since sliced bread???

Those were all of our cool cultural experiences for the week. :0)  Darrin and I both have quizzes in multiple classes next week and must choose topics for interpretive papers and books for book reviews, on top of LOTS of reading.  Oh, and don't forget about the Hebrew! :0)  We certainly have our work cut out for us, but we also know that God has brought us to it, and He will bring us through it! :0)

The kids start school on Monday....FINALLY!!!!  They are ready, and Darrin and I are most definitely ready for them to go back to school.  Today we went to Adam's school for an open house.  He and I spent over an hour of one-on-one time with his new teacher.  She is wonderful, and we are very excited about what this school year holds for Adam!  We also were able to go to Emma's school.  It was not a time to meet the teachers, but a time to get familiar with the building and where everything is located.  Emma was quite excited when we left there today.  Kayla isn't quite so lucky.  Her high school open house was on August 1st, so we missed it.  She gets thrown in on the 1st day never having met anyone or had a tour of the school at all.  The day we went to get her schedule we asked for a little preview, but we were told there would be seniors in place to help on the first few days.  She is a bit nervous about finding her way around such a huge high school, but after a week or so, she'll be an old pro at it! :0)  One other great adjustment for the girls...their school day starts at 7:25am.  The bus picks them up at 6:45am!!!!  That's definitely different.  They get out of school at 2:15pm.  Adam's school day is much later...9:15 - 3:45.  I think that will work well for him.  Please pray for the kids as they get adjusted to new schools and begin to make new friends this week.

One more thing...please keep the sale of our house in Danville in your prayers!  It is being shown on Saturday.  The showing may have past by the time you read this, but please pray anyway.  We know that God's timing is not our timing, but we sure would like His timing to hurry up a bit. :0)  I really think He is going to take us to a new level of faith when it comes to relying on His provisions in His perfect timing.  We have learned those lessons in the past, but perhaps not to the degree that we are about to learn them!

More to come next week about first quiz grades and the kids' first week of school!

Matriculation!

Matriculation Day was yesterday!  Sounds painful, doesn't it?  It is actually just the registration process...signing up  for classes, getting a parking pass, getting an ID card,  and paying the bill.  It went quite smoothly once we arrived at the "matriculation room".  It was the 3-hour line we had to wait in to get in that room that was a bit painful!  Southeastern has 500 new incoming students this semester...the biggest incoming class they have ever had, I am told.  I believe the staff was just as overwhelmed with the day as the students were.  As I was waiting in the LONG line, a group of us were talking about old school IDs.  I mentioned that I still had my ID that was made at undergrad registration at James Madison University.  I commented that it was way back in 1992.  You must realize that I am the "old one" of the bunch.  Most of these people are in their early-mid 20s.  Some are brand new college students at 18 years old.  Anyway, it dawned on me in that moment that I was in freshmen orientation at JMU 20 years ago....20 years ago!!!  How could that be???  So, the long line, and the realization of my age made MATRICULATION a bit painful. :0)

Darrin and I both registered for 3 classes each (9 hours).  He is taking Hermeneutics, which is a class on how to study and interpret the Bible,  Intro to New Testament I, and English Comp I.  I will be taking Hermeneutics, Women & Evangelism, and Hebrew I.  Yes, I am jumping in with both feet with the Hebrew.  My original plan was to take either Old or New Testament, but I couldn't get in a section that fit my schedule, so Hebrew it is!  Darrin's classes are Monday - Thursday in the mornings.  Mine are Monday - Tuesday.  Our schedules leave a fair amount of time for part-time jobs...whatever those may be.

The girls also have their school schedules.  Emma's is a basic 7th grade schedule. She is taking Computer Skills and Drawing as electives.  Kayla is very pleased with her schedule.  Her new high school is on a block-schedule, which she was hoping for.  She takes 4 classes each semester.  She got into all of the honors classes that she would have had back home.  She also had many more electives to choose from than she would have had back home.  She is actually taking Modern Dance, which she is very excited about.  We have never been in a school system that offered that as a class before.  It was always something that you had to do as an extra-curricular activity and pay for.  Not in Wake County...it is a part of her regular school schedule.  It makes me think of the TV show Fame. (I know, that dates me too.)  She is also taking Chorus, Spanish II, Geometry, Honors English, Honors History, and Honors Science, and of course, PE/Health.

None of us have actually started classes yet, but we are all very pleased with the classes God has put before us!  Darrin and I start on Monday, the 20th.  The kids start on Monday, the 27th.

Earlier this week, as a part of Welcome Week, we took a trip to Falls Lake with many other students.  We had a great time, great food, and great fellowship!

We have had a great Welcome/Orientation week at Southeastern!  We have already been under the teachings of Dr. Akin and many of the Department Directors as we have been in information sessions, advisement sessions, worship times, and even an assembly for married students.  We have made connections with great, great people!  We are just so blessed to be here! 

I will let you know how blessed I feel after a week or 2 of Hebrew! :0)

Everyone but me and the cat!

Kids say some funny things!  Sometimes they say very profound things.  Sometimes God speaks to us through our children.  Sometimes we wonder where in the world the things they say come from.  Adam, our 9 year-old, frequently says funny things.  He also frequently says things that we have no clue where he picked them up...some are just funny little phrases, some can be inappropriate at times, and every now and then he will say something that is so profound that is causes me to really pause and think that his brain is working at a higher level than I am aware of.

Adam has some developmental and educational issues.  He has symptoms of mild autism and is diagnosed with ADHD.  He is a bit behind most kids his age in his learning and processing abilities, but he still does fairly well, considering those things.

Over the past several months, salvation has been a big topic in our house.  We have had daily Bible study and prayer as a family since the first of this year.  We prayed for Kayla's salvation frequently.  We celebrated greatly when that occurred early this summer.  We also were thrilled when one of Emma's friends was saved during VBS this summer.  So, it's a topic that has been frequently discussed.

While Adam doesn't really participate in these discussions, he hears it all.  He also loves to go to Sunday School and learns quite a bit there.  He has a general understanding of God and Jesus.  He knows that God loves us.  He knows that Jesus died on the cross for us.  He knows that going to Heaven has something to do with loving Jesus.  He knows that praying to Jesus to ask for his bad dreams to go away generally makes his bad dreams go away.  But that is about the extent of his understanding, at least as far as we can tell.  Sometimes, though, he says things that make us think he understands more than we realize.

The other day, sitting at lunch, out of nowhere, he looked at me and said, "When can I get saved?"  I was taken aback for a moment and I just looked at him.  He said, "Everyone is saved but me and the cat!  When can I get saved?"  In his precious heart and mind he was so serious, but I really had to bite my lip for a moment to prevent myself from busting out laughing (I have a problem with laughing at the wrong time...those who know me well will agree.)  Everyone but him and the cat!  That was funny!  So my brain is quickly trying to process what he just said.  He understands that his sisters and his mom and dad are saved, but he is not. He also understands that the cat isn't saved.  Does he think the cat can be saved?  I don't know.  But I do know that he is concerned that he is not saved.  So in that moment I had to respond appropriately to his very serious question.  I told him that we could talk about it later that night if he wanted to.  He agreed.

So, later that evening I asked him if he wanted to talk about it.  He did, but he wanted it to be very private...just me and him.  Everyone else had to leave the room and the close the doors.  So I asked him a few basic questions to see what he really did understand.  It was as I suspected.  He has a very general understand of some basics, but not a full enough understanding to really make a decision.  He asked me how you get saved.  I told him that you ask Jesus to come live in your heart because you love Him and you want to love Him forever.  He said that he would be scared to do that.  I told him that when the time was right, he wouldn't be scared.  He said that would be a long time from now.  I told him that it would be whenever God wanted it to be.  I reminded him that Emma was only 7 when she was saved, but Kayla was 14.  We wait on God's timing.  He seemed to be ok with that.  He told me we should talk about this again when he is 10.  I smiled and agreed.  He asked, "Will you remember to talk to me about this when I'm 10, or will you forget?"  I assured him that I would most definitely remember!  He was content and the conversation was over.

Now, do I think Adam is ready to be saved?  No, not today.  But is God working in his heart?  Absolutely!  That just makes my "mommy heart" spill over with joy!!!  When Adam was a brand new infant, I gave him to the Lord.  He had a lot of health issues.  He had trouble breathing and eating.  I would hold him and rock him to sleep at night and tell him that he was going to grow up and do good things for Jesus.  Nine years later, as I see God working in his heart, it makes me so joyful to see God's faithfulness.  Adam is a precious child.  He has had a lot of struggles with health, developmental, and behavioral issues in his 9 years.  He will probably always have some type of those issues throughout his life, but God is bigger than those issues!  God is faithful and good!  God has a plan for Adam!  What a blessing it is for me to be a part of that and watch God work in his life!

Please pray for Adam.  Change is difficult for him.  He is adjusting to the move (new home, new town, new state), we are attending a new church (new enviroment, people, SS class) and he will be starting school on August 27th (new school, new teachers, new friends).  All of this is hard for anyone, but especially for Adam.  Please pray for smooth transitions, a positive school environment, for any anxiety to be removed, and for peace in his heart and mind.  And, of course, please pray for God's continued work in Adam's heart! :0)

Somewhere Over Flaherty Farms

I love rainbows!!!  I really don't enjoy the rain at all.  I'm a sunshine kind of girl.  But when the storm is almost over and the sun peaks through and that rainbow shows up...that I LOVE!  It is, of course, a symbol of God's promise to never flood the earth again.  I always see it as a reminder that God is there.  Sometimes in the midst of life's storms we can't see God.  We know in our minds and our hearts that He is there, but we just can't see Him or feel His presence always.  As that "storm of life" begins to clear and we get a glimpse of God and His Glory again...that's like a rainbow.  A beautiful reminder that He is still there!

This is a picture taken yesterday right over our new apartment building.  The complex is called Flaherty Farms (if you didn't get that from the title), but the building in the picture is the one we live in.  It was just yet another reminder for me that God is here with us, shining down on us, and His promises never fail us! :0)

God has gone before us!

         We have been in Wake Forest, NC for a week now.  God has been showing Himself to us in so many ways!  The move was very smooth.  Thanks to all the youth from MHBC that helped us load the moving truck in Danville and those that came with us for the trip to Wake Forest, we loaded and unloaded in record time!

        When we arrived in town we had to go to the housing office to sign our housing contract and pick up our keys.  The Director of Housing asked us if we had a pet.  We explained that we did have a cat, but we just gave her up 2 days earlier because we were not allowed to bring her.  He told us that just 2 weeks earlier he made the decision to make our apartment building "pet-friendly", meaning we were allowed to bring the cat.  This was a huge answer to prayer for us, especially for our 12 year-old daughter, Emma.  Emma has prayed daily for a good home for the cat for the past several months.  We knew we would not be able to bring her with us, but Emma has been especially attached to her.  For the sake of God's call on our family, Emma knew she would have to give up her pet.  She did give her up.  We gave her to my in-laws just 2 days before the move.  Well God honored Emma's prayers.  What a great surprise it was to us to find out that we were actually able to keep her!  What a wonderful lesson for Emma on the power of prayer!  So that was our first big "God-moment" in Wake Forest.

        As we were moving into our apartment, our upstairs neighbor, Sal, helped us out.  After talking with Sal we found out that he and his wife, Jess, have 4 children under the age of 6.   They have a girl and 3 boys.  One of their boys, Isaiah, is very much like our Adam as far as being on the mild end of the ASD spectrum.  Our families connected immediately.  We have already gotten together several times.  Our kids have played together.  God placed our families in close proximity to one another.  He gave us new friends right off the bat.  He even went so far as to give us friends that understand Adam's issues and understand what we go through as parents dealing with those issues.  Adam and Isaiah have played together and seem to get along beautifully.  God not only cares about and takes care of the "grown-ups", but He also takes care of the precious children as well!

      Sunday morning rolled around and it was time to go to church.  We didn't know where we would attend church in our new town.  For about a week or so prior to that, God had been whispering in my ear the name of a local church, North Wake Baptist Church.  I just heard it in my mind on several occasions.  You know how God whispers to us, right?  Anyway..."North Wake....North Wake" just kept popping in there.  So, guess where we went to church Sunday morning....North Wake.  As soon as we got there we knew it was different than what we were accustomed to.  Don't get me wrong.  We LOVE our home church in Danville, but this was definitely different.  The dress was very casual.  We walked into the lobby and saw the "coffee bar" and all the people milling about.  It was such a different environment, but already our oldest daughter, Kayla, had a huge grin on her face.  Then we walked into the sanctuary.  There were no pews, but rows of cushy chairs.  The stage was set up for a full praise band, including drums in a glass cage.  The grin on Kayla's face got even bigger.  She said, "I love this church!"  The service was great...full of great worship, scripture reading, and strong Biblical teaching.  I was in tears through most of it...just in awe of God and His provisions for us.  It was our prayer that we would find a church that our girls could really get plugged-in to.  We were especially concerned for Kayla.  She is a brand new Christian (as of June 23, 2012) and she was very involved in her youth group in our home church.  We want her to stay plugged-in and continue in her growth with the Lord.  To see how thrilled she was in this new church on our first Sunday away from our home church was just further confirmation that God had that in place for her.  Sunday night during our family prayer time Kayla prayed that we would go back to that church and get involved there.  That just made my "mommy heart" spill over with joy!  To hear that she was excited about something new and different here in Wake Forest was another answer to prayer.

       Then Monday came and it was time to get the kids registered for school.  Well I have taught in 3 different public school systems over the last 16 years and I have never seen anything like Wake County Schools.  There are no base schools.  You don't just go to the school where you live.  You are assigned to a school based on seat-availability and "proximity" to your home.  Many of the schools here are year-round also.  The year-round school year started about a month ago, so if any of the kids got assigned to a year-round school, they would be starting the school year quite late.  I also heard about people being assigned to schools that were 10 miles or more away from their home.  Well, needless to say, I didn't want year-round schools, nor did I want schools so far away from home.  So we went to the "student assignment office", which was 45 minutes away from our home, and sat there for 4 HOURS in a room with over 100 other people.  When we finally got called in for our turn I was pretty anxious about what they would tell us.  Well, once again, God went before us!   All 3 kids got traditional year schools that don't start until August 27th, and all of their schools are very close to our home.  I couldn't have asked for anything better.  The school that Adam was assigned to is a new school only a mile away from us.  Because it is so new, it is very small.  His 3rd grade class only has 13 students enrolled currently.  That is perfect for him and his "special needs".  Both of the girls got the schools that they wanted too.

      As I am writing all of this it has just dawned on me that God has really shown up and gone before us on behalf of our kids.  We made this move because Darrin and I were called into full time ministry and were called to start that journey by going to seminary.  But God didn't just call Darrin and me to this, He called our family.  He loves our children more than we do (which is really unimaginable, but true), and He has prepared the way for them as well.  How cool is that? And I think about how their faith will grow because of all of these things that He is doing for them.  What an AWESOME God we serve! 

      Darrin and I get to register for our classes next week.  We don't have any idea what classes we will be taking for our 1st semester or what our schedules will look like.  We start classes on August 20th.  Darrin is also working on getting a part time job very soon. 

     God has proven many times over this week that He truly has gone before us on this journey.  We know He will continue to prove that to us.  We can't wait to see what He does next!