In early 1994 the Lord intervened in our lives and set us on a major course correction. We quit our jobs and started the process of joining Wycliffe. Later that year, we were accepted into membership and headed into the great unknown.

Two weeks ago, at our annual general meeting (yawn!) we received a nice plaque for 15 years of service. Thanks! Many of you, our supporters, also deserve a heartfelt “thanks” for your partnership over the years. We couldn’t have done it without you. How about another 15 years?

In our travels and socializing we’ve had a lot of fun showing off the Hawaiian Pidgin New Testament. It was published in 2000 and has sold over 60,000 copies to date. It’s quite an interesting read. For more info, visit their website: www.pidginbible.org. Here’s what they have to say:

“Da Pidgin language, get diffren kine grammar den da English language, an diffren kine meaning too. Da Pidgin Bible talk strait to da heart fo plenny peopo. Fo tell odda peopo bout Jesus, gotta use da odda peopo language, so da odda peopo can know him too.”

Emma in one of her silly, creative moods.

I don’t usually write about stuff like this but there’s always a first. I’ve been watching the development of the all-in-one range of PC products with interest but have usually been disappointed in one way or another. MSI really got my attention with this one. It’s their newest Windtop AE2220 with:

• Dual core (Pentium or Core 2 Duo) processor
• 21.6″ multi-touch 16:9 screen (1,920 x 1,080)
• Nvidia Ion chipset (Geforce 9300)
• Wireless keyboard/mouse
• IR receiver with media center remote
• eSata, HDMI in, gigabit, wireless g/n
• Windows 7

You can even get an optional Blue-ray drive and TV tuner. Amazon (US) is selling the base model for $659.99. You can read more about at MSI’s site.

On September 11-13 twelve teams converged at Frontier Lodge to compete in Race to 2025–a fundraising adventure that challenges people to test all that they have to raise money for Bible translation and literacy development overseas. Below you’ll find a 10 min video produced by 100 Huntley Street that shows footage of a previous race and features one of the competitors.

Well… actually we’re not ready to announce a winner quite yet. At the Wycliffe office I’ve been evaluating countless open source web based CRM packages for the public relations department to use. We’ve managed to narrow it down to two contestants for the final face-off: VTiger and CiviCRM. Yesterday we had a long meeting to put each one through its paces and try to make some progress on the decision. Now I need to go back to the lab and review the features of each with a fine-toothed comb.

The other day I (Val) met Jesse at his bus stop with my bike. He had taken his scooter with him so it wouldn’t be such a long walk home. As we made our way home I noticed he would often stop and walk beside his scooter while I rode as slowly as I could beside him. When we were about halfway he said, “Mom, could we just walk?”

“Sure, Jesse.” I replied. “But why do you want to do that?”

“Well, when we get home you’re going to get all busy and make supper and everything. But if we walk now then we’ll have some time to talk.”

Wow! Trust Jesse to point out the obvious. I guess I need to spend some more time with my kids! The need in missions is so great and yet I am the only one who can be mom to my kids. So I’m asking for prayer so that I use my time wisely this year. I want to get involved in the Wycliffe office some more now that the kids are in school all day (well, the girls come home for lunch). I need to balance that with being available for the kids while I also lead a weekly ‘Mom’s In Touch’ prayer group for kids and schools. (The first meeting of the year didn’t go so well. No one showed up! Help, Lord!)

I’ve spent a lot of time in airplanes and airports. I used to enjoy it but the last few trips drained the last bit of enthusiasm out of me. When we got off the plane last June I thought to myself, “Ahhh, I’m done! No more flying, airplane food, airport layovers, sleeping on benches, security checks, packing, suitcases, boxes… etc.” But it seems I just can’t get away from it.

Since moving to Calgary I’ve had to make a lot of trips to the airport to pick up visitors. The first time in the arrivals terminal I had that queasy feeling but managed to keep it together. But this last weekend I really fell off the wagon. My brother did his cross country trip for his commercial pilot license and chose to make Calgary his destination. On Sunday, before flying back home, he offered to give us a quick circuit around Cochrane and back. I got in the Piper Cherokee and was soon cruising with the birds in the shadow of the Rockies. I have to admit, it was fun! Emma and Jesse loved it too. Maybe flying isn’t so bad after all.

After a fun-filled summer vacation the kids headed off for their first day of school today. Getting them out of bed was a little harder than usual but we enjoyed a nice family breakfast together of porridge with Dad’s special recipe. David is in grade 7 and heads off to a new middle school today. Jesse’s in grade 4 and will also be going to a new school. Kara is in grade 6 and will be going to school with Emma who is thrilled to finally be in grade 1 and old enough to go to school all day like the big kids… but I’m sure the novelty will wear off soon. She’s already not very impressed (see photo) by all this rushing around after breakfast just to get to school on time!

I like to get to the office early and spend some time in God’s Word before I dive in to work stuff. I used to go to Bible Gateway to read the Word but lately I’ve been enjoying YouVersion. They’ve got a trendy interface with lots of AJAX stuff goin on. Today I noticed they’ve added a side widget that plays audio Bibles from Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH is a ministry partner with Wycliffe Bible Translators). Looking through this list of languages available I saw a few that I had published during my time in Kenya. Cool!

I find that Bible Gateway is a bit more forgiving in it’s navigation though. For example, if I type ‘ps 4′ in the YouVersion search box, it hangs. But Bible Gateway gets it right and seems to be more flexible.