Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day is coming up, so I’m hijacking this blog in honor of my husband.

Reasons I Love Mike

He’s smart. Among other things, he can listen to two lectures at the same time and follow both. He can read in three languages (working on a fourth), and has written more pages on apologetics than I can count. He reads Jonathan Edwards for relaxation.

He’s got a good sense of humor. He’s willing to laugh at himself when the occasion requires, and he’s willing to laugh in instead of get mad when I do something stupid. He makes me laugh too, and we both enjoy watching a good comedy together.

He’s romantic. He’s good at finding special places or things to do. He likes to sit and talk, sometimes for hours, over dinner after a long work day. He has good tastes in presents, restaurants, and all that stuff that goes into making a date. And he’s handsome too.

He’s strong and caring. He can open a jar when I can’t, keep me from falling on the ice, carry both our kids in from the car, pull me up the hills when we’re hiking, and he doesn't mind doing all that stuff.

He can cook. When we were first married he made one or two things better than me, but now, everything he tries his hand at he can do better than me. Salmon, steak, chicken, cinnamon pastries, French fries, French toast…

He loves God and he makes me love God more. He gets up before he has to so he can read and pray, he longs for holiness, he teaches our kids about God, and he loves—really loves—shepherding other to love and know and obey God.

I love you!

St.Peter's Church

We had our first real out-of-city daytrip yesterday. We carpooled with some friends (gas is kind of expensive, like the equivalent of about 8$ a gallon) to see some ancient sites. Now, in the US, if you want to see history maybe you head to Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell (1776) or Colonial Williamsburg, or even Jamestown (1607). Well, we drove two hours to see the church where followers of Jesus were first called Christians. (Acts 11:25). The church is a sort of cave in the side of the hill overlooking Antakya (Antioch), complete with an escape tunnel thought to be used by early persecuted Christians.

Here’s a view of Antakya from in front of the church:

On the way to Antakya we drove past Iskenderun, which tradition states is where the large fish deposited Jonah when he was on his way to Nineveh. After Antakya, we drove about 20 minutes farther to the point the Mediterranean, where Paul and Barnabas were sent off (Acts 13:4 ). There we also did a hike to the “tunnel.” We walked through the hills to a place where a long time ago (sorry, no info plaques to read here) they carved a tunnel through the hills and build an aqueduct. Only Mike climbed down to actually see the tunnel, but here are some shots of the aqueduct. A few minutes farther along we climbed all over first century cave-tombs. Our friends (3 10-12 year old boys) counted 230+ coffin-shaped holes in the caves. Anna just enjoyed being allowed to climb around on her own two feet.

Matthew even enjoyed exploring some, although by the time this last picture was taken, both were ready to head back to the car for a nap.

Check out the slideshow link for lots of pics taken on the way back—mountain scenery and typical southern towns and villages. If you want an even better view, come visit and we'll show you around--mi casa es su casa!

In Daddy's Shoes

I found Anna like this the other day. There's probably some parenting analogy that can be made...

Pushing Anna's truck

On her own, Anna only knows how to go backwards until she crashes and gets stuck. Matthew likes to help her.

Matthew's first computer project

Language

Matthew had one of his first debates today. It was the simple two-year-old kind, and it went something like this:

“Kopek”

“Dog”

“Kopek”

“Dog”

“Kopek, kopek, kopek!”

“Dooooog!”

I’m calling it a debate and not a fight since both side were good-natured. Moreover, it wasn’t Matthew’s goal just to be obstinate; he was really trying to convince our language teacher that the animal in the picture was a “dog.” It was really cute!

Matthew and Anna both love our language tutor. She is a sweet, energetic, college grad who speaks English well. She comes over the house four (soon to be three) afternoons a week for several hours. We are working through a grammar book; we practice with her, and she corrects us and answers questions we’ve come up with in our many adventures. When she first started coming Anna warmed up right away, but as usual, Matthew wasn’t as outgoing. So, our teacher came up with the idea of bringing a sweet or a snack for him each time. At first he was just in love with the snack, but now I can honestly say both kids love her! We love her too, she’s a great teacher, explains and answers questions willingly, and even gives us her cell number in case we need help when we’re out and about.

Right now, we have 8 hours of language class a week. During most of that time the kids sleep, so both Mike and I can participate. The rest of our time we spend in self-directed study. We have several “teach yourself” books/CD’s, internet sites, etc. We watch dubbed movies, listen to the radio, and go for walks to window-shop and talk to the sales clerks. Mike joined a gym, and has some friends at a photo developing shop he can hang out with from time to time to practice-. Altogether I (Becky) am aiming for about 20 hours/week of language study. Mike is aiming for 30-40. What kinds of things can we say??? We can do greetings, weather, and all that polite stuff. Family is a favorite topic of conversation around here, plus that basic introductory stuff like where do you life, what’s your occupation, are these your kids, etc. Grammatically we’ve done quite a bit, but what’s on paper still looks better than what comes out J Really, it can be frustrating and exhilarating. Sometimes I understand exactly what is being said and know exactly how to reply or how to ask what I wonder. Other times someone says something and about all I can tell is “there must have been a verb in there…somewhere…” Actually, verbs generally come at the ends of the sentence. I’ve gotten good at identifying questions so that I don’t smile and nod at the wrong time! When I studied Spanish I found my comprehension depended quite a bit on the speaker, and it seems to be no different here. But as our teacher often encourages us, “Day by day, you will learn, you will see.”

So here are the kids enjoying their lesson-time snacks: