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.  

Supper with the President and His Wife

Tonight we had distinguished guests to 424F.  The president of Covenant Seminary and his wife Beth joined us for supper.  It came about a few weeks ago when we went to a campus picnic where they were in attendance.  Kathee got to talking with Beth about our transition to St Louis.  Beth said that the best thing we could do would be to invite people over to our home and get to know them (which is exactly what we'd already been doing).  So Kathee said, "would you and Mark be available some night to join us for supper?"  She said she'd love to and that they used to do that when Mark was Dean of Students.  She also said we were very brave and seemed excited to come.  

So they came to supper tonight at 5:30.  Kathee made a pot roast and we ate like kings and queens.  

They were a bit late for supper as Beth had to sit in traffic when coming home (they live somewhere on campus) from the Cardinals game.

Doctor Dalbey was a lot of fun (I'd never met him before they arrived at our door).  He was really great with the kids and took interest in each kid separately.  They have grandkids who are 6, 3, and 1, so he was right at home with our kids.  That was really fun to see.  

We had a blast with them tonight and would love to have them over again.

As Beth is auditing a course on Tolkien, we lent her our copy of The Lord of the Rings.  

It was pretty cool tonight when Gideon and I were praying together.  He thanked God for "Mark and Beth" and prayed that God would bless them.  I thought it was pretty cool that he prayed for them by name and really had no concept with what a neat honor it was to have them join us for supper tonight.