Our time in CO

From January 3-15 our family was in Colorado Springs, CO participating in a 2-week language acquisition program.  While it was not specific to the local language we'll be learning, it did give us incredible tools to help us improve in comprehension and fluency as quickly as possible.  I honestly cannot imagine going into this upcoming season of language study without having done this program.  While it was extremely beneficial in terms of how it prepared and equipped us practically, even more than that I benefitted from simply taking time to think about the process of language learning and to reflect upon what language learning might look like in my actual life.  To be honest, we have been so busy traveling and support-raising that, prior to this program, I had spent about zero minutes considering the reality that learning language is going to be our full-time job.  Not only that but it was incredibly encouraging to be with other brothers and sisters whose lives are in just as much chaos as our own!  The folks running the program were a precious couple in their 70s who were former translators for Wycliffe.  Their story was an amazing testimony of God's faithfulness, and they spent just as much time reminding us of God's promises of faithfulness as they did teaching us how to make really strange sounds with our mouths.  There's so much more I want to share about this time (like how awesome it was to hang up our clothes on coathangers after living out of a suitcase for two months!).  I hope to sit down again and share some more about this very valuable time.

[I so wish we had pictures of our time in CO (and all of our journeys). Our camera broke just before Christmas, and we are awaiting arrival of our new Canon (thanks for the recommendation, Bitsy!) I know all you grandparent-types out there only read our blog for photos of the kids (just kidding), so I'll try to oblige by posting some shots taken by a friend.  Katie had an awesome time playing in the snow...she could've stayed out for hours.  There aren't any photos of Caroline since she was a total crankpot the entire time we were there.  I can't really blame her since she did have a cold and was literally surviving on air during the entire program.  I seriously think she ate a sum total of 1 piece of toast throughout the course of two weeks.  I can't really complain though; both girls have been amazing considering all that we've put them through over the last 3 months.]