Getting Settled in TX

Here’s a general update on what has taken place over our last week.A week ago we had several friends come over to help us pack and clean our apartment (it was a HUGE blessing!) and then Saturday morning we packed everyone up and started our drive to Texas at 6:30am.We arrived at our new home 19 hours later and then spent the next few days unpacking.And unfortunately, 4 out of the 6 of us have been sick.

However, we have been greatly enjoying this new chapter of our lives thus far. We went from intensive partnership development which had us traveling out of state sometimes for several weekends in a row to living very simple lives. We have one car, we live across the street from the school, we don’t really know anyone (yet), we just now got our internet hooked up, neither of us are working, and we are here with one goal: linguistics.

Dave started school today and our academic adviser sat me down, looked me in the eye and told me that I needed to basically function as a single parent until Dave completes his 20-week certificate program. Even with that said, I oddly enough, I have more time on my hands now then I have had in a very long time. So, I am hoping to teach myself French, study Greek and Hebrew, and read books to prepare us for the mission field. I finally feel like I have time for the “important-but-not-urgent” category that often gets pushed aside. So far, we are very very excited about our lives here.

Just for fun, here are a couple “loves” and a couple “hates” about our week in Dallas…

  • We LOVE that a block down from us there mini “farm” that is loaded with chickens, goats, and even a llama.
  • We LOVE GIAL so far. Most of the faculty and staff are retired missionaries and are thus very down to earth and are very eager to help us apply what we learn. This is a training center for the field, not a place where simply the theoretical is discussed. We think we’ll learn a lot from this community. And everyone is so incredibly kind.
  • We HATE all the allergens here in Dallas. Dave is allergic to the air here – so much so that he has been sneezing all through his classes and his eyes were almost swollen shut. However, he’s been prescribed some allergy medicine which seems to have been helping a lot. (Fortunately he did not have this reaction in Cameroon).
  • We LOVE our house. The school provided us with a fully furnished duplex to live in while we attend school and we LOVE it! We have always lived in an apartment, but unlike an apartment, this place has a yard! The kids (and their parents) are giddy about that.
  • We LOVE that we can go to a school where all the professors dress up for “student life” days – ie pirate day. 🙂
  • We HATE that we don’t get to go to class together but instead have to go through the program one at a time. 🙁

Thank you to those of you who have been praying for us as we’ve gotten settled. Our house is all unpacked, the kids are doing great, and we can’t wait to dive into linguistics! Just wish all of our Louisville friends were here with us!

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Author: David M. Hare

Dave is a husband, father of four Africans, and is currently helping the Kwakum people do Oral Bible Storying and Bible translation in Cameroon, Africa.