So, another move was the next assignment, another place to live, another home, another set of friends to love. Oklahoma, here we come! Having again packed all that we owned (including the two kids!) into our VW van, we were again nomads, leaving Mexico with hearts full of gratefulness for God's goodness and faithfulness.
We stopped first in Dallas to discuss Bill's responsibilities with SIL administrators concerning the Devanagri typesetting project. (For those turning in late, Devanagri is the writing system used in Nepal and India.) While there, we also got a short vacation with Bill's parents. Bill's mom was great helping with meals and watching the kids as I wasn't feeling too well. But we all enjoyed eating Braum's ice cream together.
So the summer was full. The kids loved the SIL kids' program. We were again teaching linguistics, Bill grammar and me phonetics. But the biggest project was to find a house. After going through a realtor with 5 failed contracts, we finally found a house in the newspaper on our own. We went and saw it and loved it. Then we made our own contract with the Chinese couple who were the owners, applied for an FHA loan and waited. We even purchased a green fridge to match the color of the kitchen for the new home. Then on July 19 we got word that our loan was approved! We thought we were through the hard part--not.
Getting the papers all in order (remember we were doing this on our own) was a real challenge. By early August we still did not have all the papers to close. My anxiety levels were high even while I knew the Lord of the journey would work things out for good. The lesson he taught me was that "I had a thorn in my spirit, anger at God, unbelief in His provision, which goes back to my youth without a dad. For the first time it's coming out. I'm grateful the Lord chose to go deeper than I wanted Him to go." In the meantime, we all kept getting sick, spent time on antibiotics, in and out of seeing doctors and just adjusting to stateside living.
Then we finally thought of a solution for the house. Until the needed paper came, we would rent the house from the current owners. So began the process of planning for a move at the end of the summer. I wrote that "Jenny is almost as excited as I am and even loves to help with the floor plans and arrangements. And she promises to keep her room clean!"
It was a small three bedroom ranch home with a big yard for the kids. By mid-August we had moved in and set to work to clean and fix it up. Both the kids were so happy to be in their own home and have their own bedroom for the first time in their lives. Our hearts were full of gratefulness. Now it was time to get ready for school. Jenny would be in second grade and Jonathan in fourth.
Bill traveled to Dallas for short periods to work on the Devanagri project for the Nepal teams, meanwhile taking on a part-time job at OU (Oklahoma University) to bring in some needed income. Bill found himself challenged and "tried, with house repairs, yard work, and work in a 'new' culture." After ten years away from stateside living (from jungle camp in 1969 to the jungles of the US), it is a culture shock to return.
Below are a couple photos of the kids in the house and them and I in front of our house. Can you believe all the curls Jenny still had?? We were so very grateful to our Father for this house, each other.....and all the houses yet to come!
We stopped first in Dallas to discuss Bill's responsibilities with SIL administrators concerning the Devanagri typesetting project. (For those turning in late, Devanagri is the writing system used in Nepal and India.) While there, we also got a short vacation with Bill's parents. Bill's mom was great helping with meals and watching the kids as I wasn't feeling too well. But we all enjoyed eating Braum's ice cream together.
The kids made drawings for me to embroider pillows for Grandma and
Grandpa Leal. Jonathan was 8 and Jenny just turned 6 when they did these
pictures for the pillows below. Since the first Star Wars movie was
just out, R2-D2 was pretty popular then; kind of like now, actually.
Jenny's pillow included a picture of Muffy, our first real family dog. Later the kids made pictures for aprons for Grandma and
Grandpa.
We were welcomed in Norman by loving friends and church family there. Naive as we were, we had hoped to find a house right away, but soon learned that is a lengthy
process. So we settled into a couple of dorm rooms at SIL, happy to be
in our new "hometown." I wrote "The kids were thrilled to have their
own place again, Jon especially. He went wild with his own bed, desk,
drawers and closet. It's just lovely to be unpacked and have a room to
call our own for the summer."
So the summer was full. The kids loved the SIL kids' program. We were again teaching linguistics, Bill grammar and me phonetics. But the biggest project was to find a house. After going through a realtor with 5 failed contracts, we finally found a house in the newspaper on our own. We went and saw it and loved it. Then we made our own contract with the Chinese couple who were the owners, applied for an FHA loan and waited. We even purchased a green fridge to match the color of the kitchen for the new home. Then on July 19 we got word that our loan was approved! We thought we were through the hard part--not.
Getting the papers all in order (remember we were doing this on our own) was a real challenge. By early August we still did not have all the papers to close. My anxiety levels were high even while I knew the Lord of the journey would work things out for good. The lesson he taught me was that "I had a thorn in my spirit, anger at God, unbelief in His provision, which goes back to my youth without a dad. For the first time it's coming out. I'm grateful the Lord chose to go deeper than I wanted Him to go." In the meantime, we all kept getting sick, spent time on antibiotics, in and out of seeing doctors and just adjusting to stateside living.
Then we finally thought of a solution for the house. Until the needed paper came, we would rent the house from the current owners. So began the process of planning for a move at the end of the summer. I wrote that "Jenny is almost as excited as I am and even loves to help with the floor plans and arrangements. And she promises to keep her room clean!"
It was a small three bedroom ranch home with a big yard for the kids. By mid-August we had moved in and set to work to clean and fix it up. Both the kids were so happy to be in their own home and have their own bedroom for the first time in their lives. Our hearts were full of gratefulness. Now it was time to get ready for school. Jenny would be in second grade and Jonathan in fourth.
Bill traveled to Dallas for short periods to work on the Devanagri project for the Nepal teams, meanwhile taking on a part-time job at OU (Oklahoma University) to bring in some needed income. Bill found himself challenged and "tried, with house repairs, yard work, and work in a 'new' culture." After ten years away from stateside living (from jungle camp in 1969 to the jungles of the US), it is a culture shock to return.
Below are a couple photos of the kids in the house and them and I in front of our house. Can you believe all the curls Jenny still had?? We were so very grateful to our Father for this house, each other.....and all the houses yet to come!
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