from the blogosphere, that is. If you're the kind of person who checks your friends' blogs to see what they've been up to, rather than just calling and asking them, then you're just like me! And you might have wondered where we've been--we haven't posted in awhile, after all. Though I must say that only a few people have complained about our lack of blogging, and those were certain family members who see us fairly regularly anyways:) But in the off-chance that someone else out there really cares what we've been up to, I'll tell you what's been keeping us away from the computer:
*my new job--it is amazing how a full-time job tends to eat into your free time:) Fortunately for me, I wouldn't trade this job for anything. I'm working with refugees who live in the Oklahoma City area and, though I came on board at an incredibly chaotic time in our agency, I'm loving it so far. Every day is filled with crazy happenings and funny mis-communications. I'm glad that know that those daily occurrences didn't have to end just because we moved away from Japan.
*Mark's chemistry class--I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge that Mark kicked chemistry's butt this summer. HE was finally that kid who gets mad about getting an A- on a test...it's refreshing to have another anal nerd around the house.
*playing tennis and sunning ourselves--though I'm no longer a student, I refuse to give up the idea, the spirit of summer vacation. So we've thoroughly enjoyed our weekly tennis (for the guys) and swimming (for the girls) Sunday afternoons with Damon and Amy.
*establishing the Saturday-morning-Farmer's-Market-visit tradition--that about says it all. We're happy to be within walking distance of the Edmond Farmer's Market, and we've spent many a Saturday morning picking out fresh zucchini and perfectly ripened tomatoes.
*spending time with the international family of God-- we're loving being a part of the International Class at our church. In many ways, it feels more natural to be there than in a class of regular ol' Americans like us!
*practicing Espanol and Portugues (the sticklers for detail will realize that both of those words aren't properly accented, but I don't know how to do it on this computer so, yes, I KNOW)-- Mark's been spending many of his Thursday nights at an inner-city ministry in OKC, so that's allowed him to build his Spanish vocabulary. I think this has both helped and hurt his effort to concurrently learn Portuguese . He's taken the lemons of working by himself all day and made the lemonade of using the time to learn Portuguese on his iPod. Now our discussions at home and with the Carpenters are sprinkled with Portuguese phrases such as "excuse me, where is the Hotel Flamingo?" and "I can drink a cool beer. I have lots of money. Do you have money?"
*supporting local artists--mainly, Mark's younger brother, who recently starred in a local production of "Seussical: The Musical." We're looking forward to many more Joel Barneche musicals in the future!
So as you can see, we've had plenty to do besides spend our time blogging. Oh yeah, and we haven't had internet access in our apartment. Which probably explains why we've had the time to do all of these things:)
