Ninas Family Missional Life

Why Do I Write?   I have two answers to that question ...maybe three.  First and foremost I have stories to tell.  Take the picture to the right here.  It was taken in 2005 in Beijing at a silk factory.  We had just been through a tour and watched silk worm cocoons unwound by a simple strand generated by the worm.  The guide told us that it takes the silk of 2-3,000 silk worms to make a silk shirt.  The silk producing gland composes about 25% of the caterpillars body weight, and it takes 3 days to make the cocoon.  It takes less than 15 minutes to undo their handiwork.  What does that have to do with this picture.       If you know me well, you know my callsign during my last Navy tour was Panda (after being Budha in Guam and Gunny in Spain, Panda was a nice change).  You will also recall I collect stuffed pandas.  So I walk into the gift shop for this silk factory and they are selling fresh water pearls.  The young lady is holding two pandas woven from fresh water pearls.  Did I

     This past Thursday I put in my resume for an ESOL position open in my school system.  I am nervous about the prospect of leaving a school at which I have taught for 13 years.  This would be a new adventure for me, as I would be an itinerant teacher working between at least two middle schools, if not three.  The previous teacher who had the position taught two ESOL classes (small group, ESOL students only) at a school only 5 minutes from where we live.   Love my job at LCMS and the ability to teacher grades 6-8 building a rapport and relationship with the students.  However, I feel drawn to work with the ESOL students in our county.  There are over 10 language groups represented in Troup County.  I covet your prayers.

     You will have to forgive me as I write to my friends in Zambia, and catch them up on what is happening at the Ninas Family Farm.   When we killed our rabbits a few weeks ago and couldn't remember how they cooked them at New Day Orphanage (NDO), it occurred to me that I stay up on them through the various blogs but haven't let them know how we are doing.      I am sitting in Stephen's room typing this.  Stephen is 19 years-old, and a sophmore in computer science at West Georgia Technical College.  He is in Kansas somewhere right now pitching his tent and getting ready to start a fire for his dinner. You might remember that Maribeth worked at Latigo Ranch last summer as a wrangler. Stephen is working at Latigo this summer as a cowboy maintenance man.  He is hoping to get winter work and winter-over in Colorado.  He is driving to Kremmling, Colorado, and should be there by Wednesday.  He is camping his way across the country.   If he can find work next Spring, we may n