So, this post is not going to be a long one, except to say that we’re sorry–things haven’t been as hoppin’ lately here on the blog, and we’ve got no one to blame but us. Please forgive us.

After we got back from ICC, in early November, life-as-we-know-it has taken on a life of its own, with lots of time- and energy-consuming events. We will blog about some of those things in the near future; some others are going to be passing soon, and we’ll be able to commit the much-needed time we should be committing to the blog and other areas of our lives.

This post is simply our way of telling you that we’re still here, and you’ll see and hear more from us in the coming weeks and months.

Thank you for still loving us!

One of the really cool things that JAARS does for Wycliffe missionaries is that they have whole departments who have the responsibility to assist missionaries-in-the-field in sorting out the best transportation solutions for their field locations. For example, there are some folks here in North Carolina who advise field organizations about cars, trucks, SUVs, and motorcycles that can be used to meet their needs in their location–the Land Transportation Department.

Last week the folks in our ICC program offered for us to participate in a off-road driving course hosted by the Land Transportation Department. Naturally, as I would with anything involving engines, and tires, and dirt and mud, I jumped at the opportunity!

Mike (our instructor) shows John and Erik (ICC classmates) some of the under-the-hood features of our classroom SUV. We went over, under, and in between on that vehicle, learning the in’s and out’s of the 4WD experience.

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This weekend was the last full weekend we’ll have in ICC and at the JAARS Center here in NC. Our course is over next Friday, and from there, we’re moving on to hang out with family nearby and then back to the Houston area for the foreseeable future. So, naturally, we packed as much as we could into this weekend–you know, one last movie with the friends, one last guys’ night, one last picnic with the neighbors, one last bike race, etc.

We might as well have called this one Crazy Train, because that’s sometimes how I felt as I tried to understand how it was played. But we had fun, and that matters.

On Friday night, I went over to a neighbor’s apartment and hung out with the guys, where we played a game that was new to me, called Ticket to Ride. We also shared and enjoyed stories about life on the mission field, complete with a seaplane-dock-side baby delivery and a mine-laden runway landing experience. Saturday we spent mostly enjoying ourselves around the center, having two meals outside with friends.

The kids turned lunch into an entrepreneurial adventure–here they are with their handiwares on display.

At lunchtime, I happened upon this sight: many of the neighborhood kids (ours included) decided that it was a good day for an entrepreneurial endeavor–they posted signs all over the apartments telling folks that their handmade clay pots were for sale. They also ate lunch at their “storefront.” At least lunch went well. We shared a pizza picnic Saturday night with another family that is making a transition from a life overseas to a life on the tundra–they’re going to Alaska to serve with the Mission Aviation Repair Center in Soldotna, AK.

On Sunday, on the way home from our last day at the Charlotte Holiness French Church of the Nazarene, we stopped to have something really cool–handmade fresh ice cream. The folks who dish this up have a special mixer that has a liquid nitrogen tap. These guys take their cool very seriously. And the kids loved it, because they got to see cream and ingredients turned immediately into yummy frozen creations.

The proprietors at Frozen Gold (right next door to the BBQ joint, of course) take their frozen treats very seriously. Here the owner turns cream, sugar, and strawberries into something tasty.

Sunday afternoon, as the sun was setting on our last weekend here, Phoenix and friends organized a all-comers-welcome bike race around the apartments. All the kids lined up, from the very young to the not-so-little-anymore.

There were all kinds of bikes entered into the race–but not everyone finished. Phoenix, Wolverine, and Beast competed, while Cyclops started the race and served as safety monitor.

Amazingly, Phoenix (on Cobra) managed to outpace her friends on larger bikes, and she finished just ahead of one of her new friends. All in all, it was a good weekend, a fitting end to the four weekends we’ve shared here with our friends at the JAARS Center in North Carolina.

Phoenix rounds the last corner in the bike race, with the second-place rider just behind her. She really enjoyed the race.

Every once in a while in one’s life, one experiences opportunities to meet truly amazing and influential people. You know the ones–their presence and legacy looms, seemingly larger-than-life, from the past into the present. Sometimes, if one is very lucky, they form a bridge between generations, a living connection to specific histories.

On Friday of this week, the whole family had the chance to meet one of those kinds of people in the Wycliffe/Jaars world–Bob Griffin, and his wife Louise.

Bob welcomed us into his home during the Jaars Ministry Day. If I’d had another 4 hours to sit and talk with him, I think he’d have let me.

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A really cool aspect about being here at a real-life, actual Wycliffe office/center (the Jaars headquarters in North Carolina) is that we get access to all kinds of extra resources while we’re here. One of those resources is the clinic here on the center. The medical professionals who work there provide a great deal of medical services to Wycliffe and other missionaries as they make their way through the area. They also provide training to those of us who are going out to the field.

This week, our course offered the chance to learn how to do certain medical-related tasks that might be useful on the field. Specifically, we learned how to do Malaria blood smear slides and how to use sutures to give stitches (on chicken pieces!). There were only a few of us who were interested (basically, me, and a couple who are going to Papua New Guinea), but it was really cool.

[NOTE: for those of you who think this content might make you a bit squeamish, I’ve kept the photos under the jump.]

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So, you guys remember this fella, right?

We didn’t buy this lamp, but we had to bid on something, so we gave it the old college try!

Attending the twice-a-week auction at Don Hall’s Auctions in Marshville, NC, was one of our assignments this month. We had to go, we had to register, we had to bid on something. Those were the rules. And they had all kinds of stuff–including a 2007 Pontiac Solstice, a big pile of rough-hewn timber, and even a cardboard box full of Mike & Ike’s.

There were a few things we were interested in beforehand, but one item we saw once we arrived piqued my interest: a beautiful black and red 20″ bike named Cobra.

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There’s nothing like the cold, hard wakeup call of a “Weekly Roundup” to jolt one into the realization that you’ve been terribly remiss in posting photos of your month in training.

As Miranda and I saw the sad, lonely, single blog post sent out this week in the “weekly” email, I felt incredibly small. So we thought we’d share a few images from the last week or so, all having something to do with the “creek” behind our apartment building.

It’s not so much a creek as it is a regularly wet ditch, which has eroded over the years to have somewhat vertical banks, much like a very, very, very small creek. The kids love it–a constant source of water-and-mud-based fun, as well as laundry.

Nightcrawler (left) and Beast demonstrate the awesome greatness that is the “creek.” It’s been the best thing about afternoons at our place for weeks–we couldn’t keep any of them out of it if we wanted to, I think.

They come home from the homeschool host family, and the MK Station (like daycare), change clothes, and out the door they go, as soon as lunch can be consumed. Continue reading →

OK, I admit it–today’s “photo” isn’t really a photo. I’m not trying to bamboozle anyone, but we thought we’d change it up this time.

The other night, I went in to check on the twins, and they were “reading” books to each other. I spent some time playing with the video capabilities of my camera, and thought we’d share this with you guys.

We admit, at the outset, that if you’re not a grandparent, aunt/uncle, or very close friend, you may or may not care one iota about the video. On the other hand, if you are one of those, this may be right up your alley.

Enjoy!

Baby Bear, Baby Bear from PeacocksOnTheLoose on Vimeo.

This weekend was jam-packed with fun and excitement–we spent the better part of Saturday experiencing JAARS Day and closed out Saturday night with our first family outing to a real, live auction in a nearby town.

Cyclops tries out his chops on the didgeridoo. One of the really cool activities at JAARS Day is the ethnomusicology tent. They have instruments from around the world that the kids can play with and experience. Cyclops was pretty good with the didgeridoo, but Dad was better.

The kids had lots of fun, and we came home with lots of goodies, but we were very tired at the end of the weekend. Normally, I might set up each of the images with the context. Today, however, we’ve got deep captions to do that for us.

All the kids had the chance to try out the process of prepping metal for rivets and setting them in a piece of aluminum. Here, Phoenix is working with a JAARS member who volunteered to help the kids to make aluminum/rivet letters for their initials. She’s not too excited about the noise of the pneumatic rivet buster.

After JAARS Day, we headed back to the apartment, where we rested and got dinner, and then it was off to Marshville, NC for a night at the auction.

We took the whole family to the auction house to see what all the hubbub was about. The kids had popcorn, and Miranda and I perused the stuff for sale–think swap meet meets flea market meets American Pickers, but without the glamor and all the nice things. We bought a few items, including a bike to use while we’re here, which we’ll pass to another missionary family when we leave.

If we ever go back to the auction, this will be our “paddle” number–for life! There were some folks who had paddles in the low 100s…they must’ve been going to the auction for decades.

Hey guys, sorry we’ve not been posting as regularly this week–we’ve had a busy few days, followed by a night in which a couple of very cute four-and-a-half-year-olds were not feeling well, and they might or might not have had “accidents” most of the night, some of which might or might not have required one of their parents to shower to remove the aforementioned “accidents” from various bodily locations, including their hair. Fortunately for you, there are no photos of that fun stuff.

However, ICC has been plowing ahead quite well. As we’ve previously shared, we spend the mornings of each day in class, discussing various issues related to living other-culturally. Which means we spend a lot of time sitting, and talking, and sitting, and then talking some more. Today’s first photo is from a day or two ago, when I was able to catch Miranda chatting about deep thoughts with one of her team’s table leaders.

Miranda and one of her group’s table leaders discuss issues during our morning training sessions.

We spend a lot of the day doing stuff just like this–not very photogenic, but important nonetheless. Sometimes, however, we do things that are much more fun, like this:

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