By Amanda
For two weeks, beginning this past Sunday, Matthew and I will be in Houghton, NY for a Third Culture Kids Pre-Field Orientation. Done through the Association of Christian Schools International, this is to help us learn about the specific needs and gifts of students who grow up in a culture outside of their own and outside of that of their parents. It will also cover how to teach these students and how we as foreigners are to adjust to the cultures we will be entering.
So far things have been pretty good!
The airport we flew out of did not send our luggage on time so it ended up arriving in Buffalo hours after we had left. This in and of itself is not a big deal but we gave them my cellphone number to call when it got there (for when and where to find us) and it began to die shortly after we got to the college. We tried to get a hold of someone (ANYONE!) at the airport or at United who spoke English as a first language, but that did not happen. My phone finally died despite all efforts and I even set out asking many people if they had a charger that would fit my phone, and met great people that way. We were finally able to tap into my voicemail and another couple here who also was missing luggage was able to get through to the guy delivering it, so we waited and talked to them until it came.
While that was a stressful way to begin, we were able to meet people because of it so there was some good! And a good story!
While we know that the students at IA do not love the term "TCK" (there is a Facebook group about this!) it has been helpful to come to a better understanding of what others see in them and also what Matthew and I's culture is like to other cultures.
More updating to come!
If you want to see wedding pictures you can take this link regardless of if you have Facebook or not:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027583&id=62401192&l=b9bfaac3d6
It poured the day before the wedding and rained a bit the morning of but we were able to have the wedding outside and at the park all as planned. The lawn people were a bit far away because the grass was swampy but other than that everything was great!
Thanks for all of your prayers and support!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Heading off
We have a date of departure now! August 2nd is when we will be leaving.
Now that we have a date it seems really close!
We've been married almost a month now and so far we just spend time with friends and family in the area.
Settling in has been pretty easy, though neither of us really look forward to packing everything back up again.
We will be attending a 2 week confrence soon as well so that should afford a bit of a break for us as well!
Thank you for your prayers!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Big Jumps
This is Amanda!
Matthew and I were married at 11:15 am last Saturday!
We've just gotten back from honeymooning in Sandusky and Cleveland. We went to Cedar Point, Kalahari, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
We had a really good time and it was very eventful! Now we are settling into our temp condo for the next couple months.
We are almost through visa things which is a relief!
It's really nice to get back for memorial day weekend because we can kick back for a while now before matthew has to go back to work!
Please continue to pray and we will continue to update!
Pictures from the honeymoon!
Matthew at Lake ErieMe after finally riding the Top Thrill Dragster
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Super Fast Update!
So I'm sitting here at work in the library with a little downtime on my hands as I print off a big list of articles, and I decided I would quickly write a few lines. In case anyone forgot (or didn't know), our wedding is this Saturday. As in three days from now. Thats very soon :-) Everything is coming together very nicely and I don't feel stressed or worried or nervous. Even if something goes terribly wrong with the ceremony, at least people will remember it and we'll all have a good laugh about it later.
On the Russia front, we're in the middle of visa applications! That means we have been doing things like getting HIV tests, passport photos, and a whole stack of documents ready to send in along with our application forms. This is one of the great pleasures of going abroad, but we are very grateful to have great people to work with at IA and World Partners to help us through the forms and steps.
I'm sure we'll have some photos and things from the wedding in a few weeks after we get back from scenic Ohio for the honeymoon:-)
-Matt
On the Russia front, we're in the middle of visa applications! That means we have been doing things like getting HIV tests, passport photos, and a whole stack of documents ready to send in along with our application forms. This is one of the great pleasures of going abroad, but we are very grateful to have great people to work with at IA and World Partners to help us through the forms and steps.
I'm sure we'll have some photos and things from the wedding in a few weeks after we get back from scenic Ohio for the honeymoon:-)
-Matt
Friday, May 7, 2010
In case you do not know, I am mildly obsessed with Neil Gaiman's works.
So when I found out there was a coffee shop with a latte in his name only 30 min from my home, of course I had to go get one!
So that was my pilgrimage today. It was good: cinnamon, expresso, honey, raw sugar, and milk.
I had to get it iced since it was so hot out but I hope to try it again hot!
Friday, April 30, 2010
Nothing to Do With Russia and Everything to Do with Life!
Matthew has been wonderful and handling a lot of the Russia things so that I can get this crazy wedding put together! So that is what this update is about!
We've had four showers and many gifts later we were blessed with a vast majority of the things we need! So that has been very cool to see as well.
For the most part everything is done and ready. Just a few things to make here and there. I think I was able to plan out the right balance between making and buying things for the wedding. I do not feel like I am going to die so that has been it's own little miracle!
We are going to begin moving things into out "summer home" this weekend before and after graduation so that is exciting as well! A professor is graciously allowing us the use of her home while she is gone for the summer (yet another blessing in our lives!). Then I go home for two weeks before the wedding.
We also graduate this Sunday! It's odd that it is so soon.
So many big things coming quickly! We also have two weddings we are attending this summer so that should be fun all around!
Thank you to everyone for reading, praying, and remembering us!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
LOIs!
Hello All!
We have recently received word that our Letters of Invitation (LOIs) are making their way to us! This is an important step towards getting our visas to go to Russia, so we are excited. In going to Russia, one can't just waltz across the border. If you want to stay for any length of time, you need to be formally invited from within Russia. IA has been working to prepare Letters of Invitation for Amanda and I, and they are now done and being sent to us.
We also have found out that we will be able to send some of our things ahead of us, thanks to a short term work team that is going to IA in May. We can send a couple of suitcases of things (mostly clothes, books, teaching materials) on ahead, which will help us since we will only be able to pack what we can take on the plane with us when we finally leave in August.
We have also had our application confirmed for the TCK-PFO training in Buffalo. So all that we have left to do now is fill out about 600 forms for that and we'll be ready to go :-P The plane tickets have already been purchased for that particular trip, so everything is falling into place.
As always, we cannot thank everyone enough for their faithful giving and prayer. It looks like everything will be in place financially for when we leave, which is an incredible blessing. We have been so amazed at the way God has used so many different people to make it possible for us to serve in Russia!
Until next time,
Matt
We have recently received word that our Letters of Invitation (LOIs) are making their way to us! This is an important step towards getting our visas to go to Russia, so we are excited. In going to Russia, one can't just waltz across the border. If you want to stay for any length of time, you need to be formally invited from within Russia. IA has been working to prepare Letters of Invitation for Amanda and I, and they are now done and being sent to us.
We also have found out that we will be able to send some of our things ahead of us, thanks to a short term work team that is going to IA in May. We can send a couple of suitcases of things (mostly clothes, books, teaching materials) on ahead, which will help us since we will only be able to pack what we can take on the plane with us when we finally leave in August.
We have also had our application confirmed for the TCK-PFO training in Buffalo. So all that we have left to do now is fill out about 600 forms for that and we'll be ready to go :-P The plane tickets have already been purchased for that particular trip, so everything is falling into place.
As always, we cannot thank everyone enough for their faithful giving and prayer. It looks like everything will be in place financially for when we leave, which is an incredible blessing. We have been so amazed at the way God has used so many different people to make it possible for us to serve in Russia!
Until next time,
Matt
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Planning for Summer
Hello again!
Since time has kept on moving and more things have happened, it seemed only natural that I should take some time to write about it:-) This past week or so has seen Amanda and I taking our first steps toward obtaining visas to go to Russia. There is only so much we can right now, but we appreciate your prayers for this process as we move forward. We've also been making plans to attend some training sessions over the summer in preparation for going to St. Petersburg.
IA has encouraged us to do Third Culture Kid Pre-Field Orientation, which is an approximately two week training course offered in the summers on the campus of Houghton College in New York. For anyone interested in more details you can check out their website to find out more. The training helps teachers who are planning to teach third culture kids. Third culture kids are children who are living in a foreign country and attending an international school, so they are in the unique position of balancing the culture of their native country, the country they are living in, and the own unique culture of an international school. Since these are the students that we will be working with in IA, it will be good to have some specific training to help us do the best job we can teaching and relating to the students we will be working with. It runs during the last week of June and into the first week of July, so it will be a good way to help Amanda and I shift gears into "Russia mode" for the last few weeks before we fly out.
We also some important plans for May, around say the 22nd that we (Amanda especially) are also working hard towards:-) It seems to soon to be thinking about summer already, but its creeping up on us faster than we realize and we have a ton of important things to be working on. Life seems to be picking up speed with each passing week. If this trend continues, perhaps we won't even need to take a plane to Russia, we can just jump!
-Matt
Since time has kept on moving and more things have happened, it seemed only natural that I should take some time to write about it:-) This past week or so has seen Amanda and I taking our first steps toward obtaining visas to go to Russia. There is only so much we can right now, but we appreciate your prayers for this process as we move forward. We've also been making plans to attend some training sessions over the summer in preparation for going to St. Petersburg.
IA has encouraged us to do Third Culture Kid Pre-Field Orientation, which is an approximately two week training course offered in the summers on the campus of Houghton College in New York. For anyone interested in more details you can check out their website to find out more. The training helps teachers who are planning to teach third culture kids. Third culture kids are children who are living in a foreign country and attending an international school, so they are in the unique position of balancing the culture of their native country, the country they are living in, and the own unique culture of an international school. Since these are the students that we will be working with in IA, it will be good to have some specific training to help us do the best job we can teaching and relating to the students we will be working with. It runs during the last week of June and into the first week of July, so it will be a good way to help Amanda and I shift gears into "Russia mode" for the last few weeks before we fly out.
We also some important plans for May, around say the 22nd that we (Amanda especially) are also working hard towards:-) It seems to soon to be thinking about summer already, but its creeping up on us faster than we realize and we have a ton of important things to be working on. Life seems to be picking up speed with each passing week. If this trend continues, perhaps we won't even need to take a plane to Russia, we can just jump!
-Matt
Friday, March 5, 2010
Moving Ahead
We've begun working more on obtaining visas this week. This is yet another exciting step forward as it keeps dawning on us more and more that we'll be in Russia in just a handful of months. We are looking at August 1 as our target date for arriving in St. Petersburg. It's great to have a date like that to plan around, and it just further drives home how soon this is all happening.
We have had the opportunity to participate in another World Partners training session, which was helpful and enjoyable. We covered a lot of important financial matters, plus it's always great to see the other people. We are really blessed to be able to work with such wonderful and interesting people.
Funds keep coming in, and we are doing very well from that standpoint. I keep writing this, but it's still such an incredible blessing in this economy to see so many people willing to contribute so generously. Amanda's student teaching continues to go very well. She'll be done in a few more weeks, which seems crazy. It feels like just yesterday when she was anxiously wondering what it would be like to be teaching classes by herself for the first time. A few months later and she has settled in very well. Everyone says that she has been doing a great job, and she has had plenty of exposure to all sorts of new experiences that have stretched her as a teacher. It's been fun to hear all of her stories about students and all the ways that she is learning and adapting. I think IA is going to be getting a wonderful teacher next year!
That gives us graduation, a wedding, and a trans-Atlantic move all in the next five months. Hopefully that will quench whatever remaining thirst we may have for major life changes, at least for a little while :-)
-Matt
We have had the opportunity to participate in another World Partners training session, which was helpful and enjoyable. We covered a lot of important financial matters, plus it's always great to see the other people. We are really blessed to be able to work with such wonderful and interesting people.
Funds keep coming in, and we are doing very well from that standpoint. I keep writing this, but it's still such an incredible blessing in this economy to see so many people willing to contribute so generously. Amanda's student teaching continues to go very well. She'll be done in a few more weeks, which seems crazy. It feels like just yesterday when she was anxiously wondering what it would be like to be teaching classes by herself for the first time. A few months later and she has settled in very well. Everyone says that she has been doing a great job, and she has had plenty of exposure to all sorts of new experiences that have stretched her as a teacher. It's been fun to hear all of her stories about students and all the ways that she is learning and adapting. I think IA is going to be getting a wonderful teacher next year!
That gives us graduation, a wedding, and a trans-Atlantic move all in the next five months. Hopefully that will quench whatever remaining thirst we may have for major life changes, at least for a little while :-)
-Matt
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Another Update!
More things have been happening since we last wrote about the latest round of letters. First, I want to say THANK YOU! once more to everyone who has helped us out through their prayers, generous giving, advice, encouragement, love, and direction so far. We have so humbled and blessed by the response we have received from so many people who have gone out of their way to encourage and help us and who have given so sacrificially.
This is a terrible economic climate to try to raise funds, especially as a young couple who has never done this before and therefore have limited fund-raising contacts, but we have been so blessed by God through it all. This time last year we were going through the application process to work at IA, and Amanda and I both felt strongly that God was leading us in this direction, but also felt a great deal of fear and uncertainty as to how it could be possible. A year later, we have seen so many amazing things happen and so many pieces fall into place, and we want to give praise to the Lord for all that has happened and thank all of you once again for what you have done!
We continue to keep busy with life and school, as well as with making plans for next year. We had a huge answer to prayer take place in the last couple of weeks when we found out that we would have a place to say for the months after we get married and before we go to Russia. This had been something that was a concern and something that we were praying about, since the fact that we would only need housing for a few months meant that our options would be very limited. However, thanks to the wonderful generosity of a professor at Bethel and her husband, we have been given their condo to live in for the time after the wedding until our departure! They have also generously offered it to us rent free, meaning we only need to pay for utilities and take care of things. This is a huge blessing, and we are so grateful!
Amanda's student teaching is still going on, and she is doing very well. She is working with 10th and 11th grade students, teaching them Fahrenheit 451 and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at the moment. She is getting exposed to lots of new situations and responsibilities as a teacher, but things are going well and Amanda is really enjoying teaching and working with students. Last week, we got to talk with Tammy at IA about clarifying a few more details as we look ahead to teaching next year. It was a good conversation and we have a better sense of direction now about a number of things. As we continue to get a clearer picture about our next steps in preparation to go to Russia, we'll post them here to help keep everyone informed:-)
-Matt
This is a terrible economic climate to try to raise funds, especially as a young couple who has never done this before and therefore have limited fund-raising contacts, but we have been so blessed by God through it all. This time last year we were going through the application process to work at IA, and Amanda and I both felt strongly that God was leading us in this direction, but also felt a great deal of fear and uncertainty as to how it could be possible. A year later, we have seen so many amazing things happen and so many pieces fall into place, and we want to give praise to the Lord for all that has happened and thank all of you once again for what you have done!
We continue to keep busy with life and school, as well as with making plans for next year. We had a huge answer to prayer take place in the last couple of weeks when we found out that we would have a place to say for the months after we get married and before we go to Russia. This had been something that was a concern and something that we were praying about, since the fact that we would only need housing for a few months meant that our options would be very limited. However, thanks to the wonderful generosity of a professor at Bethel and her husband, we have been given their condo to live in for the time after the wedding until our departure! They have also generously offered it to us rent free, meaning we only need to pay for utilities and take care of things. This is a huge blessing, and we are so grateful!
Amanda's student teaching is still going on, and she is doing very well. She is working with 10th and 11th grade students, teaching them Fahrenheit 451 and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at the moment. She is getting exposed to lots of new situations and responsibilities as a teacher, but things are going well and Amanda is really enjoying teaching and working with students. Last week, we got to talk with Tammy at IA about clarifying a few more details as we look ahead to teaching next year. It was a good conversation and we have a better sense of direction now about a number of things. As we continue to get a clearer picture about our next steps in preparation to go to Russia, we'll post them here to help keep everyone informed:-)
-Matt
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