Craig and Mel D

One of my best friends in life is Craig DeMeester.  He and I grew up together at Third Presbyterian Church in Dubuque.  We went through Sunday School together.  Went to Camp Forest Springs every summer (and a couple times to Wintertainment in the winter).  Went on summer missions trips each summer throughout high school.  I also grew up with his wife Melanie (Birch).  They live in St Louis.  He is an engineer with Boeing.  She is a beautitian and stay-at-home mom.  They have 3 biological kids and then are foster-parents on top of that.  

Just like old times, we attend church with them at New City Fellowship.  Craig talked to me about NCF years ago when Kathee and Gideon (he was the only child at the time) came down to St Louis to visit Covenant.  During that time I shared some of my frusturations with a ministry that was very dear to both of our hearts and that had played a huge role in our Christian growth.  As I talked, he started sharing about his church and that many of the things that this ministry did is something that his church also does.  Upon getting more information, I decided to start bringing my youth to St Louis to help the church he attended carry on some of their summer outreach ministry.  

Now that we are living here, we attend church at NCF each week.  And now Kathee does the tutoring on Tuesdays and I go on Thursdays.  

The other night, Craig and Melanie and the kids came out for supper and hang out at our home.  It was so fun, and yet so weird, to be going to church again with Craig and Melanie.  It's weird to look across the gym when we are receiving communion each week and see Craig standing there (Mel is oftentimes helping out in the nursery).  

It's good to reunite with friends who have made a HUGE impact in one's faith development.  And Craig, more than any other friend during my growing up years sharpened me and helped me most in my faith (and it's still so easy and so good to just talk with him about matters of faith).  

Our Dancin Rock

Today I took Hope with me to ask a professor where the reading I need for tomorrow was on the class download page (it ultimately wasn't there and so I didn't have to read for tomorrow class in Covenant Theology...which freed me up to continue reading 2 other books for 2 other classes.  However, both times I've taken Hope with me to the school buildings, she's wanted to stop at a big rock that's in the middle of the yard.  And each time we've ended up dancing around on it.  Today I twirled her and twirled and twirled.  We had to stop because I thought I was going to yak off of said rock.  She asked if we could go tomorrow when "I'm not in class or in the lie-berry studying?"  I love dancing with my girls!    

I Am Awesome!

I eat popcorn a lot.  However, I had forgotten that I mostly eat it after the kids go to bed.  So the other day I made some and Gideon and Hope thought it was Christmas.  They loved the stuff.  They snarffed it down and asked for more.  Who'd have thunk it, right?  I'll have to remember that for next time.

Here's Where I Live... When I'm Not At Home

Although I'm less than pleased that somebody mistakenly took my desk, this is where I usually study.  It's in the basement of the library.  So three days a week I drop Gideon off at the bus (his stop is right outside the library) and then head down and study until class.  Then I head home for lunch and then back to the library for more studying.  Tuesday, Thursdays, and Saturdays I'm here, too.  I think I'm going to put my name on this desk.  Or if someone mistakenly takes it in the future, I may either join them at the table, or just stand at the end of the table and study until they either invite me to join them or move to another table.  I'll keep you posted.  

Razors Are Cool? Depends Which Kind!

I thought Razors were past their prime.  Oh how wrong am I?!  The kids on campus use these scooters all the time.  Most of the kids who ride the school bus with Gideon ride them up to the busstop each day and then stash them in the bushes during the school day and then ride them home when they get off the bus.  And since all the bikes on campus seem to be community bikes (not my kids, though, we take care of our things.  So we have them LOCKED in the bike racks at the top of the hill.  So they never get used.  Why not just use everyone else's right?"), my kids love riding them.  If this blog were able to have me upload videos to it, I'd post the video of me riding two of them down the hill (I got bored playing with Hope outside one day and thought I could do it).  So here are the kids playing one night after supper!  

Today's Greek Test

So here is what I had to have memorized for today's test.  It covered the entire subject-matter from the first day of class on through the past Friday.  I felt ready and prepared for the test, both prior to taking it and upon completing it.  I think I may even have aced it, but I'll let you know.  

Here was the amount of content I had to have memorized:

-24 Greek letters and how to spell those letters

-84 verbs or nouns (20 of those verbs change spelling-and sometimes completely different words in past tense)

-12 sets of declensions (2 for 2 aorist; 2 for 1st aorist; 2 for future active indicative; 2 for present active indicative when the last letter of the word is funky; 2 for imperfect active indicative;  2 for present active indicative).  Within each set is 6 endings.  For instance, the Greek word of "loose" is lou-O.  So if I want to put that in the future active indicative I spell it:  lou-so (I will loose), lou-says (you will looe), lou-say (he, she, it will loose), lou-samen (we will loose), lou-seteh (you all will loose), and Lo-sousie (they will looe).  That's just one set.  I had to have memorized 12 different sets.  And the confusing part is that some sets have some of the same endings as other sets, etc, etc.  However, it's critically important to know them as it comes to exegeting Scripture.  

 

4 sets of declensions for nouns (masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns).  And there are 8 articles for each set.  For instance, the Greek word for heart is kardia.  So "hey kardia" is "the heart" as the subject of the sentence.  tAs kardias is "of the heart."  "tA kardia" is to/for the heart.  tAn kardian is "the heart" with the heart being the direct object.  Then there is the plural of each in order- hi kardia (the hearts), tone kardi-own (of the hearts), t-eye-s kardi-eyes (to/for the hearts), and tas kardia (the hearts).  And that's just the feminine articles.  The masculine articles are completely different than the feminine, and the neuter have 4 of the 8 same as the masculine and 4 different than the masculine and the feminine. Sound confusing?  That's why I spend at leaast 2 hours a day studying Greek!  And that was the first of 3 tests.  

Also, this may make more sense why Doctor Y gives us a quiz every class period.  The great thing?  He gave us the first three pages of the test on Monday.  So I was able to use that to study and practice like crazy.  However, none of the vocabulary was on it (which I'm the strongest in currently), and none of the Bible translation was on the sheet.  

What I continue to be impressed with is that he want us to succeed.  He could be a total jerk and throw us to the wolves.  But he treats us like dignified first graders as we learn our alphabet, as we break down sentences into its parts.  He is awesome!  I'm already bummed I won't have him for Greek 2 in January when we trasnlate the book of 1 John!  

So with all the academic mumbo-jumbo, I want to say that I feel very positive about the test today.  I wasn't nervous like I normally am when it comes to tests.  I was relaxed.  Had time to go over the test 3 times.  And left the classroom with a smile in my heart!  

So today when I got home we went to Chickfila to celebrate!  I know, I know, I haven't gotten the test back yet, so it's kinda premature.  I don't care.  Normally I come home from taking a test for seminary almost to the point of tears (I took all my tests from a distance from my office in Moline).  So having a good feeling about a test is something to celebrate.  So we did.  And since Hope loves Chickfila, that's where we went to celebrate!  

This is what I had to have memorized for today's test!

Greek Test Update

So I was way off.  The Greek test is NEXT Wednesday!  Thanks for praying anyway, I sure need it!

I'm Feeling Concussed!

Kathee got a call yesterday from the school.  The school nurse said that the gym teacher and she were concerned about Gideon and that we should set up a doctor's appointment to see if Gideon has a concussion.  So, against my better judgment (and more our of fear of what "they" may do if we didn't take him in), I picked him up from school and took him to the doctor.  

As you can see, he looks really worse for the wear.  

So after being called back we were asked if a student could come in and do Gideon's work-up.  We were fine with that and so the young lady came in and attempted to get some information out of the guy who has the gift of gab....Gideon, not me!!!

After helping her ask some questions to get his story out, she said he looked fine and that she'd then send the doctor in to see Gideon.  

Gideon worked her over and schmoozed her with stories having to do with how he got the egg and two shiners, as well as, stories that were intermingled in that happened at any point in his life, as well as, things that have never happened in his life.  The kid is good, I'll give him that.  

So the upshot, after the doctor said she was surprised at the school, is that we have to keep an eye on him.  She also gave him a "get out of gym" pass for the week (because apparently jumping rope caused him to get dizzy and stomach-achy (go figure).  

So life goes on in the Terwilleger residence in St Louis.  The kids are basically healthy and doing well.  And oftentimes, their parents are just along for the ride.  

Vietnamese with Grandpa Karl

One of the great things about our fair city is the amount of diverse ethic foods available.  And one of the great things about Karl is that he has eaten just about every ethic food known to man (which also means that not many food types are out of the realm of possibility).  Kathee's friend Sohe also said we should go to this Vietnamese restaurant.  So we went for lunch yesterday and had a good time.  

Although the food was good, we thought it was much spicier than needed.  That being said, we weren't sure if that has more to do with the likes and preferences of the American palate than it does with how it would be authentically made in Vietnam, or for a predominate Vietnamese clientele.  

Either way, it's always fun to try something new, and so nice to be able to spend time with loved ones!  

Dating Kathee

Grandpa Karl came to visit on Friday afternoon.  So Kathee hatched a plan for Kathee and I to go on a date Friday night and have Grandpa watch the kids.  After much arm-twisting of Karl (yeah right) and much weeping and gnashing of teeth from the kids (not likely), Kathee and I headed off to our second date since we've been in St Louis!  We had a blast.    

As Kathee has developed a good relationship with Sohe (the lady from Korea that I blogged about last week), Kathee asked her where we should go to eat good Korean.  Interestingly, we drive right in front of the place each Sunday on the way to church.  

Neither of us had eaten Korean before, so we were a bit like fish out of water.  And based on the servers nice-but-awkward responses to us, it appeared that they don't serve many people who haven't had Korean food before.  Sohe had told us to order something that came with Kimshee (which are all the bowls in the picture above).  So we agreed that we'd order two entrées and then share them between us and have the Kimshee.  When they brought the food, we asked what all the Kimshee was.  So after they found someone able to translate it all to us, we delightfully partook.    

We ate lotus root, seaweed, potatoes, tofu, a jelly thing, and a bunch of other things with wildly diverse flavors.  One of my favorites were the anchovies (seen above).  Although they were quite crunchy, the sauce they were in was fantastic!  

After supper we went down to The Loop (on Delmar), which is a rejuvenated area that has become quite trendy.  It was so fun to just walk the 5 or 6 blocks with Kathee and be able to chat (about our marriage, about the kids, about seminary, etc, etc, etc).  We stopped in a bike shop I've read a lot about and oogled the wares.  We stopped in a World Villages shop (where Kathee found the perfect ring that she bought using some money from our friend Rhonda), and stopped by the Bubble Tea place for some bubble tea.  

Side story.  I wish that we lived closer to Bubble Tea, as I have become friends of sorts with one of the employees there.  In past years I have taken students down there everyday while we were on the mission trip.  I have spent time getting to know him bits at a time.  When my family stopped there two summers ago when we were on our way to Branson, he remembered me the minute I walked in.  He asked where the teens were and if I'd be bringing them again (Kathee just laughed at me and said, "Really, Isaac?  You come here enough that the guy remembers you?).  

Anyway, on our date, after we ordered and were waiting for our drinks, he came out from behind the counter and sat down to chat with us.  Remembering that he is going to college in West County, I asked him about classes.  Our conversation got interrupted, but I thought it cool that he felt comfortable enough to just pull up a chair and join us.  We'll see how this goes, but I'd love to get to know him more and talk with him about things of weight.  That's why I wish we lived closer... and I had tons of time... and all kinds of money to go and spend on Mango Snow Bubble Teas (with Boba).    

We had such a great time on our date.  I love spending time with Kathee.  And it's even better knowing that our children get to spend time with Grandpa Smith, and that they are doing stuff like this, which build lifelong memories!  God is good!  

Greek Quizzes

This picture is not to show off.  This picture is to remind you to pray for me.  I spend TONS of time studying Greek.  I honestly wake up in the morning already saying Greek endings (that's sick) in my head.  I have my first test this coming Wednesday (this one is 15% of my final grade).  And though my quiz scores are good, I don't feel like I have proficiency yet.  That will come with time and practice.  It will also become "over-learned," as Doctor Yarbrough says to us all the time.

So far, Greek is my favorite class.  Certainly not because it comes easy to me, but because I'm able to measure my progress (we take a quiz each class period).  

I'm also liking my professor A LOT MORE.  Even to the point that I told Kathee last week that as there are the courses he teaches that I'd love to take more from him.  Weird going from not liking him at all to  giving him first dibbs to future courses.  Oh how things change quickly at seminary.    

Esther's Center Stage

Each day of the week, we make going to the bus stop with Gideon a family affair.  Not because we are helicopter parents, but because we just need to get out of the apartment.  So we go up to the bus stop (right outside the campus library) and do recess duty until the bus comes in the morning.  As you can see below, Esther is a highlight each morning.  The kids absolutely love her.  Her favorite right now is Moses, the boy from South India (Chennai), with his back to the picture.  She looks and him and just smiles.  We love our time with the kids each morning!  

New City Fellowship's Firm Foundation Tutoring Program

The church we attend has a tutoring program on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.  As the church started doing outreach in one of the more difficult neighbors in the city, they went door-to-door to ask people what the biggest need they had for their children.  The resounding answer was that their kids needed help with school work.  So the church's first outreach ministry was started 20 years ago and is the Firm Foundation Tutoring Program.  It meets in the church offices (which is about 5 or 10 minutes from where the church meets) and is the home of all of the church's outreach ministries.  

Over the past years, as I've brought high school mission teams to New City Fellowship, we have helped Firm Foundations in the summer with tutoring.  So now that we attend the church weekly, this is something that both Kathee and I wanted to help with on a weekly basis.  So Kathee serves Tuesday nights from 6:15-7:45.  I help out on Thursdays from 4:15-5:45pm.  So far, Kathee has been working with an 8 or 9 year old girl named Leslie (a city kid).  I have been assigned to Baraka, a 5 year old refugee boy from Burundi (shown below).

I am REALLY enjoying serving in the tutoring program and see how important it is.  Specifically with Baraka, his parents speak very little English (he has 4 older siblings, also in the program, and a baby brother just born a few weeks ago).  Not only are we helping him (and his siblings) to succeed in school, but the leaders of Firm Foundations advocate for each kid in the program with/to their teachers at school, etc.  They know what to ask of the teachers, what changes need to be made, are able to set up specific goals for the child, etc, so the kid doesn't slip through the cracks.  It's truly a vital ministry.  

And as a seminary student, it's nice to be doing hands-on ministry with the least of these.  It's nice to get off campus and do ministry in the real world.  And with a face and attitude like Baraka's, how can I not love every second of it.      

Preaching Chapel Classroom

This is what the inside of the preaching chapel looks like prior to class starting.  Currently I have two classes in this room.  I have Covenant Theology in here on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and Spiritual and Ministry Formation on Monday nights (with Kathee).  As you can see, there are MANY students in my Covenant Theology course.  The class is made up of first year MDiv students, as well as, all of the various master's degree students.  The course is taught by Mike Williams, Doctor Chapman, and Jay Sklaar (Chapman and Sklaar are contributors to the Hebrews study notes and Leviticus study notes (respectively) in the ESV Study Bible).   

And most of the time you'll find me with my Greek flashcards.  I try to run through them prior to each class period if I have time.  

Esther on the Front Sidewalk

It's Not A Tumor

This past week we had another family from our building up for supper.  We had so much fun with the Wheeler family.  Rob and Lisa spent a couple years in Belarus as missionaries, and some years with RUF (Reformed University Fellowship, which is the PCA's version of Intervarsity or Cru).  Their eldest son Robert is the teenager on campus I've connected the most with while here so far.  We've loaded him up on Whitey's Ice Cream and freezie pops (to the point that he calls me either Mr Whitey's or "the ice cream guy").  

After Gideon was excused from the table, and after he took his dishes over to the sink and washed up, he came running down the hall excited to show us something from his room.  Not having worn socks on linoleum before, when he hit the linoleum he wiped out and slid the rest of the way into the wooden chair.  Head first.  

I swooped him up and took him into my bedroom to get him away from everyone (he was just howling in pain).  As I pulled him away to get a look at him I saw the biggest egg I've ever seen.  It was absolutely huge.  

Now, 4 days later, the egg has diminished and has moved down to his eyes.  He currently supports swollen eye lids and black eyes under each eye.  Stylin and profilin!

So-he

Kathee has taken up a friendship with the wife of a Korean student here on campus.  She speaks VERY little English.  VERY little.  She is taking ESL and says that her reading skills are doing well, but her speaking is not doing well.  So Kathee has invited her over and she comes over a couple times a week.  

Kathee, being the introvert that she is, has no problem with silence.  So their friendship works out very well.  It seems that Sohe likes to get out of the apartment, and I would think it would be very lonely for her on campus (though their family does go to a Korean Presbyterian church in St Louis, so I think that helps).  She brought her two girls with her this morning (her eldest goes to Mason Ridge-- the school Gideon attends) and they came over and played with Hope and Esther.  

I love it that Kathee is reaching out and investing in others.  She's such a cool lady.  

So Hot in the Hot Tub

It was so hot on Friday that I literally took a wash cloth and put it on my head as I walked to the library from our apartment (about 3 minutes).  By the time I got inside the library, this is what my shirt looked like.  Think it's hot in St Louis?  

Greek

The phrase that Doctor Yarbrough keeps saying is, "overlearn it, folks."  So I guess that means I need to have it memorized so that it just "comes" to me.  Well, I've been working hard.  2-3 hours each day on Greek.  I have flash cards for vocabulary and declinsions and other Greek stuff.  And thus far, I'm beating his curve.  We take a quiz every class period (to make sure we are keeping up with studying and so we can see how we are doing).  With 50% of the final grade coming from these quizzes, I think they are very important.  So far, I have gotten a 100, 95, and 96.  So although I feel prett good about my quiz scores, I certainly haven't "overlearned" it yet.  

As you can see below, I am writing, writing, writing to practice.  

Also, as an update on Doctor Yarbrough, I am starting to like him more and more each class.  He has a great sense of humor, though you have to be tracking with him as he's deadpan and says it quickly.  I love his devotions that he leads each class period, using the Greek.  

I think by the end of the semester, he may end up being one of my favorite professors.  Interestingly, after being pretty sure that it wouldn't matter if he actually had students or not, by the second class, he knew my name and the majority of the students in the class (about 50).  I stand corrected.    

The Williams'

So Matt and Laura's family got here late Friday night.  So Saturday morning, with the Williams boys and Terwilleger kids up early, Kathee sent us on a mission.  I think part of it was to pick up breakfast, but the lion's share was to keep it quiet so Matt and Laura and Emma could sleep longer.  

So down I-270 we went to the closest...

Krispy Kreme!!!

After breakfast we headed down to Soulard to the Farmer's Market

Kathee and Laura LOVED it.  They were so fun to watch together.  And if you've kept up with the blog, you know that we go down there A LOT!

The redeemable thing for both Gideon and Hope is the "free" face painting.  Free because it's free.  "Free" because we always drop a tip in the jar for each kid.  

After we left the Soulard Farmer's Market, we headed to The Grove District to a Nepalese restaurant we really enjoy.  

As there is a large biking community in the Grove, there are metal penny farthing bikes on the sidewalk.  After the big kids climbed aboard, Hope would be outdone!  

We also went to the Museum of Art, which is a top-notch museum.  Here I am in front of a Van Gogh.

By Labor Day night, we had kids who were out like a light.  Esther is our proof!

Taking the Train to Meet up with the Trans

This past Friday one of my roommates from my junior year of college was in town to visit.  Justin Tran was a transfer student and he joined our townhouse of 5 guys to fill out our slate of 6.  There were three per room, and Justin and I shared a room along with Clint Kuipers.  His girlfriend, now wife, was also a student at Bethel and so Clint and Leah, Justin and Lahna, and Kathee and I did A LOT of hanging out!  But I hadn't seen them since graduation in May of 2000.  

So when Lahna Facebooked me saying that they were in town and wanted to meet for a meal, we were pumped.  However, our friends Matt and Laura Williams and family were also coming down to visit the entire Labor Day Weekend.  So we thought we'd just catch up with Justin and Lahna for a quick lunch on Saturday.  However, they got tickets to the Cards-Cubs game and so we went down to the stadium to hang out with them before they went in to the game.    

It was a beautiful night, and great fun to see them.  

Baseball Village is right across the street from the stadium and is a gathering place.  So that's were we met.  

Knowing that the Metra (train) has a stop right at the stadium, I decided that I wanted to figure out how to use the train system.  So we drove about 10 minutes to the closest station, parked for free, and jumped the train to the stadium.  

And since it was a train, the kids were super-excited.  And I must say, I joined them in the excitement!  

After catching up for an hour or an hour and a half, they crossed the street and went in to the game, we walked to the station and came home, and only had to wait for a couple hours before Williams' arrived.  What a blast!  

Update on President Dalbey

On Friday, Kathee and the girls joined me for chapel.  Due to Esther not being church-ready yet, we sat in the back corner of the chapel, in case we had to take her out so as to not interrupt the service.  

When President Dalbey saw us sitting there, he made it a point to come up and speak with us.  Calling Kathee and I by name, he asked Hope how she was doing (again, by name), and asked  Kathee if he could hold Esther (again, calling her by name).  He spoke with us for a while very casually and then handed Esther back and then heading up just prior to chapel starting.  

I don't share that because we are something special, or even that he is.  I merely share it as I think it's very neat that someone of his importance would even join us for supper, much less remember our names days afterwards, much less make a point to seek us out.  I really enjoyed having him for my Christian Worship class last year, but I am thoroughly impressed with him now.  

Just thought that was a worthy update of sorts.