Langlingo.org

Hi FOLKS! We're live!

www.langlingo.org

bye Blogger. thanks.

A new day, A new Address.

Hi Friends!

You're probably wondering why we didn't do our semi-usual monthly post or two since Annabelle turned 3 in Feb. Well, we decided it was time to turn a new 'page' in our blogging. So I have been redeveloping Lang Lingo on a friends site. And now I think its ready for viewing.

Please have a look and see what you think, comments on the bew look and feel are quite welcome. langs.rowbory.co.uk THIS IS NOT THE FINAL address for the blog however. It will shortly be at www.langlingo.org. But I'll don't worry I'll let you know. Thanks for listening!

Annabelle's Birthday

Annabelle turned 3 today!!  Here are pics of her birthday party!  All she wanted was a cake, lollipops, sprite, and lots of friends.  I think she got all that and more.  What fun!!

Hi friends, Things are going well.  Just thought we would post these pics. One is of Annabelle with Gladwell's youngest daughter, Virginia.  Their favorite thing lately is to come home from school and ask for 5 shillings, then they go and buy bananas from the fruit and veg. lady and eat them together.  Then there is the pic of Jer's eye when he had such a bad infection, it was swelled shut.  It is probably a good thing that we didn't take a pic of it on the inside cause it was hemorrhaging.  Then there is a pic of Junio in a play at school.  It was a modern day version of the good samaritan.  He was a kid who beat up another kid on the playground and took his ball.  He had a little too much fun with that role :).  Then there is one of him with his friends at school.  And then there is big girl Lily being so proud of herself sitting up.  She is generally really happy.  I love when she smiles, her tongue pops out! 

Trip to Marallel

We went on an exciting adventure during mid-term break.  We went up to a little town up country called Marallel.  We went to see some friends named Jim and Sue who have been working with the Daasanach people up north on a Bible Translation for many years.  We thought that we would visit them and see how the translation of the book of John was going.  It was very exciting because it was the first time for Jeremy to sit in and see a taste of what he will be doing next year.  

We borrowed a friends bright yellow Pajero for the trip.  It apparently used to be an ambulance and even had a switch on it to make the siren go off which is good to avoid boredom on long trips. We left Thursday after Jer got done with classes and drove 3 1/2 hours to Nyahururu and stayed at a lodge there at Thomson Falls.  The lodge was a little run-down with beds a bit more like car seats than mattresses but a nice atmosphere, no bugs, and great food.  The waterfall was absolutely gorgeous!!  It was cool so in the evening they came and lit a fire in the fireplace in our room which was so nice.

The next day was 4 1/2 hours going only 110 KM on a dirt road.  Some of the dirt was ok and some was challenging to say the least.  I was just about to the limit (ok, maybe over the limit) of my patience with the road, the kids, my husband and the flies when we arrived.  But we had such a great time, it turned out to be worth it.  Part of the patience testing was when Annabelle asked to go pee about every 15-20 minutes.  By the time we got there though, I realized she had a fever and therefore a urinary tract infection.  We called our doc who talked to a local pharmacist, got her some medicine and she was feeling much better in 24 hours :) 

We had fun going on walks around Marallel, and just experiencing the day to day life of Jim and Sue.  I think one of the most fun things for Junio and Annabelle was doing dishes in a bucket on the floor.  When they ran out of dishes, they wanted to do more, so in went the toys.  They were soaked and happy and had clean toys.  What more can you ask for?

The second half

Dear Friends,

Its been several weeks since the last time we posted on our blog becuase We have had family visiting us since the 22nd of Nov. Jamie's Dad and step-mother were here two weeks and then the following day my parents came (Dec 7th). My folks left last friday. Its been a lovely time. Its been restful and fun to see our family again, but it was also quite hard to say goodbye again.

I finished last term just as Ted and Linda arrived and now I have started school again this past monday. ONly two terms to go, thats really only 24 weeks of responsibilities for schooling left (basically 10 weeks or class and 2 weeks of studying and exams per term). It is quite exciting to see the end and to be in the year in which I will graduate. And then...on we will move for more transition, this time, Lord willing we will be, at long last, in Tanzania, doing what God had called us several year ago to do, finally. We are not yet certain where in Tanzania we will be yet, we will discussing this with some of our friends and counselors in our organization in the coming weeks, and we should know hopefully soon.

We are looking forward to getting to Tz, but it is not without stress and a bit of apprehension. Jamie, as you know has been sick, quite alot this past year with Lily and then even following with mastitis and other things, so we are taking things slowly and tentatively realizing that for us to go certian places in Tanzania will require her to be stronger and healthier more consistently than she is. She is not unwell at the moment, but being that she has not had a stretch of health longer than 25 days since this time last year, we are praying and asking the Lord for health and wise councel in making our decisions.

We are now over the half way point of our first term here in East Africa. It has been marked, interestingly, by a reunion with our families for the holdays. This has been great, and it is interesting to reflect for a moment on our last 18 or 19mos here. We have seen alot, transitioned alot, learned alot... in some ways life is now fast becoming normal. I only notice this when we have company here as things are really quite abnormal, strange and potentially quite stressful for them and not for us. This is good, i mean us feeling adjusted we love living here and working here. We are in the right spot.

At any rate, we praise God for his provision, protection and love that is so visible in our lives (even as difficult as they are from time to time). I do hope you can do the same.

THis term should prove to be slightly different from the others, it seems to be more focused on Biblical studies than on translation studies. I have basically finished my lingusitics courses now and am moving, basically, to the application of my linguistics knowledge and translation theory towards the task of making God's word clear to those who don't speak the same langauge. It is an interesting and important process, translation, and one that takes a great deal of thought and seriousness. I recognize that my God given passion is nothing to take lightly and is something which apart from God's grace and my willingness to humble myself, is quite dangerous. I suppose the same fear exists in the hearts of many faithful preachers and teachers of Gods word. But my task is somewhat more basic than theirs, my responcibility is faithfulness to God by delivering his Word as untainted and unhindered by my sinfulness and incapabilities as well as clear and quite understandable to a quite distinct language and worldview from my own, so that preachers and teachers may use it. One cannot simply assume that if we take a word for word approach to translation it will somehow make sense those who wish to read it, hear it, use it. So much cultural understanding and Biblical exegesis and linguistic informedness and many other things goes into Bible translation that, In summary, I simply feel the weight of the God-given task before and look forward, eagerly, to the working of his spirit in my life, to help me accomplish His goals. Pray with me for these things and the health and provision for my family. Thanks for listening.

Pictures: the trouble with these pictures is I took so many, that the five i post here don't do justice to our time with our family or all the wonderful things we did with them. so I guess you'll just have to wait until we post more. The pictures are, in some order -

Linda and Annabelle at home
GraMitz, Annabelle, and Jer at Amboselli game park
The kids at Christmas
Sunset in Amboselli
THe top of Mt. Kenya

Whew!

Dear Friends,

  well...I'm done, or mostly. This has been a long intense and crazy term of school, certainly the hardest, but its finished (except for final revisions on my big paper). In addition to school work, we have been getting used to being a family of 5 (no more room in the back seat). Annabelle potty trained herself several weeks ago. Junio is doing quite well in 1st grade and got the obedience award for the 1st grade class. But now that classes are finished until Jan. for me, we have family here. Jamie's Dad and Step-mom arrived last sunday for two weeks. As soon as they go, my folks come for the rest of Dec. We are very excited to welcome them to our world. Thanks for watching. Enjoy the pictures. I hope to get Jamie to post a more detailed post here soon...this is all I can think to say right now. Thanks for your prayers.

Pics:

Lily- Let's go Shopping 

Junio and Annabelle at Gladwell's house (where her and her husband are building)

David, Gladwell's husband, and Lily

Lily playing with her bugs

David, Gladwell and Lily

Jeremy 

A new normal

Hi everyone. We have been quite busy as we get into the middle of my school term. Classes and assignments are busy but I are managing to keep my head above water (or maybe just my nose). Anyway, I wanted to share some more pictures with you. Lily will be 1 month on Sunday, the time has flown. She seems to be doing well, and slowly figuring out how to sleep at night and not all day.Crystal, Jamie's mom, was with us for about two weeks just after the hospital, which was a huge help. Junio and Annabelle are doing well. I think they had chicken pox the past couple weeks, but now that's over and we are slowly finding a new normal.

Little Lily...or Lillian Ginger Lang

Hey Everyone!

I have the pleasure of Announcing Lillian Ginger Lang was born a week ago 4/9/08 here in Nairobi. She was 3.75kg (8lbs 4oz.), and 50cm (19in) long. Momma and Lily are doing alright. I finally got to bring them back home monday, just in time for me to jump back into school. Jamie had some complications with blood loss after delivery but is recovering quite nicely. Lily had troubles with her blood sugar as a result of Jamie gestational diabetes, but that too seems to be doing ok now. Anyway...the best thing about this post is the pictures so enjoy!

JEremy

Waiting

Hi everyone,

  So where were we? We are now one week from starting classes again. My second and final year, part of me is really looking forward to getting back to work and another part is really not (I'll miss the time with my family). It should be a fairly difficult term, with 17 hrs in Translation a bit of linguistics, cultural anthropology and greek (for the first time). Junio has been in school now for 2 weeks and is enjoying 1st grade. He has a great teacher, and seems to be doing quite well. Annabelle went back to baby class today at the school here on campus, she also loves it and was scooped up by one of her favorite teachers at the door, and whisked away without any trouble. I am glad she has a good time and can be social too. 

Jamie is doing ok. As many of you know, she broke her foot, but it is mending quite well. We are still waiting for the little one ot come out, we've had a couple of close calls, been to the hospital a couple of times but still no baby. Last week we went in, after she had contractions all night, and it appeared she was in pre-term labor (35 weeks), so the doctor tried to stop it, but that didn't really work. So the doc decided ok, lets just let the baby come, but she wouldn't and the contractions left on their own eventually. We had discussed an induction, but in the end decided the best thing to do was to wait. So wait we did and waiting we are still. I keep telling Jamie it will be sooner rather than later, but still it's difficult with a big belly, on crutches, having  mini-contractions all the time. Pray for her. 

We have had our friends, Ian and April, here all week which has been so much fun.  They were able to do some work for Pistis School, the little Kenyan school here on campus that Junio used to go to and we also did some fun things with them like the giraffe center and the elephant orphanage.  They are also friends with Don and he was able to take them camping and on safari at Nakuru National Park.  Attached is a picture of all of us at a BBQ at Don's house.  

We'll attach some fun pictures. Thanks for watching. Keepin you posted.

Jeremy

my Cute Kids

Hi Everyone,
Well we finished, a couple weeks ago (with school i mean), and then it was off the the coast. Our organization had its annual conference, always a good time to reconnect with colleagues and friends, and also hang out on the beach a little and relax. So that's what we did. The conference was a week and then a holiday for a few days. We returned to cool cloudy Nairobi last Tuesday. Now its been time to catchup on things which got pushed aside during school and Jamie's sicknesses and stuff. But we are well, and happy. Jamie did very well on the coast with all that humid air, and even now is pretty well though she gets tired often up here at 6500ft. SHe is about 32 weeks now, so certainly on the homestretch. In fact she may be induced early because of her gestational diabetes (things to pray about). So we may be 5 at the end of next month, certainly around the time school starts for me.
We are house-sitting for one of my profs while he and his family are on furlough in the UK. Its nice, the house is large with a big yard, and a trampoline for the kids. One of the best things for Jamie and I is that it is actually quiet. School will start the 7th of Sept for me and the 15th of Aug for Junio. I hope everyone is well, and I am glad I have the chance to actually post a blog again to y'all. please email us or something soon. We will be sending a newsletter out pretty quick i think (its on Jamie's todo list). Enjoy the pictures of my cute kids.
Jer

Finishing Well

Jer ran in his first race.  It was a fundraiser for the Bibleless people of Kenya.  It was supposed to be a 10K but the route ended up being only an 8.7K disappointingly.  He ran with his friend David who had been training with him.  And their friend Esayas did the 4K walk. Mommy and Annabelle and Junio got up at 6AM to watch Daddy.  There were tears when Junio realized that Daddy didn’t win the race and get a trophy.  I tried to explain that he was competing against former gold medalists in the Olympics and that Daddy was very happy with finishing in 47 minutes but I don’t think he quite understood!

Jer is also busy finishing the race to complete this school term.  He is slowly working away at all the presentations and papers.  Almost there and then it will be break!  Ahhh!

Junio just finished a week of Vacation Bible School.  He has come home beating his chest like Tarzan and singing silly songs all week. But then, what else is new!  

Annabelle is finally back to normal after a whole month of one sickness after another.  She is happy and soooooo talkative!!  She went back to baby class two days this last week and always comes home with lots of stories about her friends.  She is now working on counting in Swahili, which has been fun!  

I am feeling better now after a couple of trying weeks with blood pressure problems.  It turns out that I have gestational diabetes and even though the two things aren’t supposed to be related, when I went on this special diabetes diet, I have had hardly any problems with my blood pressure and I feel so much better.  Praise Jesus!!  Another praise is that a German friend of ours happened to have an extra glucometer so I can test my blood sugar.  We were dreading having to buy one here because they are so expensive but he said that I can use his extra one until I have the baby and don’t have to worry about it anymore!! Yeah!  

Mid-Term

Jer and I are both mid-term right now, him in his 3rd term at school and me in my pregnancy!  

Jeremy is very busy with school and trying to press on with all his papers and books.

Annabelle got pink eye last week which would have been fine but we forgot to tell the doc that she was allergic penicillin and so her first eye drops made her look like she just lost a fist fight. She is fine now though with different medicine.

We are having a little girl!  Yeah.  Junio's response was "Dad... that means we have 3 girls to take care of now instead of just 2."  The responsibility of a 6 year old!! He has proved his responsibility well this weekend though when he got Annabelle up on Saturday and made her breakfast all by himself.  We were not only impressed, Jer was also actually able to sleep in on his day off.  Wow!!