Getting in the Christmas Spirit...

On Saturday our school hosted a "Swingin' Christmas Party." They had swing dancing, but we didn't swing dance. We did enjoy the party though. Sophie dressed up for the party :)

We told Sophie to smile, and this is what we got...
The party was decorated really nicely :) Lots of lights and a big Christmas tree.
They had a photo booth there, so we took some fun pictures!
We just have 3 days left of classes and then we have a break from classes for a month!

Random Happenings

This past month we've been busy with random activities.

We went bowling with the married students here at school...

Alisha went with her friend Laken to see the new Twilight movie...
Sophie "checked out" the snow... she wasn't impressed...
And Sophie turned 8 months! Along with turning 8 months, she now has a top tooth (so 3 teeth total), she's crawling, and she waves hello and good-bye!

They were Foreigners and Nomads Here on Earth

One of our classes we're currently in is Hebrews.

For our homework, we are required to read each chapter of Hebrews in 3 different translations. Sometimes this seems tedious, but often I am encouraged by each version in a different way. Tonight I was reading Hebrews 11 and I was surprised that it took the 3rd reading (New Living Translation) to be struck by a truth that is so close to my heart because of where Ben and I are in life and because of what we plan to do with our life:

"It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God" (Hebrews 11:8-10)

"They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them" (Hebrews 11:13b-16)

I sometimes find myself struggling that we don't have a true home. I know that it won't get any easier either as our family plans to head overseas to a country we have never even visited before. These verses are an encouraging reminder that this is not our home. Feeling like an alien and a nomad on this earth should be expected as we follow Christ in faith. I am thankful that Hebrews 11 has reminded me of this truth :)

Random Sophie-ness to Catch Up On :)

Currently, poor Sophie is sick with a cold :( We're hoping she gets better soon!

In other news, Sophie is a pro at sitting up now. She's still not crawling, but she's starting to pull herself up on me a little. She also is an amazing jumper. She absolutely LOVES to jump! Maybe she'll have some of her daddy's basketball skills or her mommy's high jump skills?

At the end of October, we went to Indiana to celebrate Grandpa Miller's 75th birthday. Ben's cousin Ashley and I have babies that are just a few months apart, and here they are together :)

Sophie turned 7 months on the same day as the birthday party!
We're teaching her young to cheer on the best football teams... Notre Dame and Colts!
Sophie with her daddy on Halloween :)

Sophie with mommy on Halloween...

Sophie playing with her friend Ivy in the ball pit

Sophie ready for the cold winter in her new cute chickie hat, made by Keisa Troyer... check her hats out here! http://www.etsy.com/shop/keisajeanne

Tribal Cup

Every year we have Tribal Cup at New Tribes. There are two Bible schools in the U.S. We are in Michigan of course, and the other school is in Wisconsin. They come here in the fall and play outdoor sports, and we go there in the spring and play indoor sports. In preparation for the big Tribal Cup weekend (which is going on currently), we have Spirit week where we have different dress-up days.

Monday was Superhero vs. Villain Day. Sophie had an appointment that morning, so we didn't dress up on this day :)

Tuesday was Twin Day...

Sophie dressed up like her friend Daisy who is one month younger than her (Daisy was sick of pictures by time I finally got my picture snapped)!
Wednesday was Hippie Day... at this point Ben and I became lame and stopped dressing up, but we kept dressing Sophie up!
Thursday was Mix-Match Day...
Sophie and her friend Ivy mix-matchin' it...
And Friday was Black-Out Day since Jackson's school color is black. This is the most black that Sophie owns, haha...
This weekend student have been playing ultimate frisbee, softball, and soccer to determine which school is better at each sport. Our school has the trophy from last year. We won't determine until the spring which school will get the trophy this year. Ben and I aren't participating in any sports this semester, but it was good to see my friend Hannah! I babysat her when we were both younger, and she now goes to the Wisconsin school. We determined that we haven't seen each other in about 10 years. It's so neat that we were able to reconnect!

Learning New Things Everyday...

October is flying by, but it's been a great month! It's been a good month of being challenged in classes, hanging out with friends, and enjoying our family :)

Also this month, our friend here at school had her baby Adele... welcome to the world baby Addie! You make Sophie look so BIG!

We have been learning a lot in classes, but we're not the only ones learning. Sophie has been learning a ton lately! She has learned to like the ergo baby backpack...
She has learned to push herself backwards...
She has learned to get up on her hands a knees (she rocks back and forth- no crawling yet!)...
She has learned to sit up... although she still needs to be watched closely :) ...
She has learned to stuff diaper laundry... haha just kidding! She's sitting up here again though :)...
Daddy is teaching her how to play Angry Birds on the computer...
She also got two teeth this past month on the bottom! Yay Sophie! It's fun watching her learn and grow. She also has been consistently sleeping 10 hours at night now which is, of course, most exciting!

Sophie is Six Months!

Today our baby girl turns 6 months! We love her and are so thankful for the best blessing that is in our lives. I truly cannot imagine my life without this little human being. It's so fun watching her learn and grow.

The other day the marrieds on the 2nd floor decided to have a dinner together. We all brought our own food to eat and then a little extra to share. It was so much fun, and it reminded many of us of Acts 2 where the early believers are said to "have everything in common with one another" and where they shared in the "breaking of bread" together. It really is a neat community that we have here.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned on this blog before, but we cloth diaper, and I LOVE it. We decided to do it to save money, but I (Alisha) admit that it has become somewhat of a hobby. It's fun that we are not only saving money, but Sophie also gets to wear cute diapers!

And here are some 6 month pictures of Sophie girl :)

I've Always Hated Titles...

I think Blogger makes you have a title for your post. I've (Alisha) always hated titles. As an English major, I would type my entire paper and then come up with a title at the end, and usually it was the part I dreaded the most. Okay, that was a side note. Onto the update...

We have begun our second block of classes. We are still in Romans, but we now are both taking James too. Ben is also taking History of Missions and Islam. We are really being challenged in Romans to consider how all men are held accountable for their decisions and how all men know the truth. We are also overwhelmingly encouraged by Jesus Christ's obedience to God the Father to justify us and give us the opportunity to reign in life (rather than death). As believers, we are reigning now in life! While Adam's choice only led to death for all, Christ's decision has allowed us to have peace with God rather than enmity. We have the opportunity to spend 45 days in this 16 chapter book, and we are amazed that 45 days doesn't even seem like enough!

Ben has continued to work at Red Lobster 3 times a week. Alisha and Sophie like to go on stroller walks and visit friends :)

Sophie has continued to help Daddy with his homework:

...still loves child care:
... is growing quite the mullet:
... loves to smile:
... wears cute farm clothes from Uncle Dana and Aunt Karen
... and cute outfits from Aunt Katie (and cute cloth diapers underneath the cute outfits):
And while we're on the topics of Sophie outfits... we're so blessed by many family and friends who have bought Sophie the greatest wardrobe. We never have to buy her any clothes. Thank you!

Angels and Families and Romans, Oh My!

We are all doing great! We're a couple weeks into classes, and we are really enjoying the ones we are taking right now! We are both taking Romans and Family Relationships, and Ben also has a class called Angelology where he learns about Satan, angels, and demons. It's interesting and a topic that many people know very little about. We are reminded again about how fortunate we are to have two years to devote to studying the Bible, and we realize how much we didn't know before. Ben is also back at Red Lobster, but his schedule is more consistent this year which is better for making plans.

While we're in classes, Sophie enjoys her time in child care with two great teachers and other babies... and lots of fun toys:

Sophie has started having a little bit of food. She loves it:
Grama and Grandpa Jenks came for a visit to Indiana, and Alisha and Sophie took a weekend trip there to hang out with family:
Sophie helps daddy with his Romans homework:
Sophie playing on the floor... still not scooting or crawling, but she's anxious to!
She's 5 months now!

Reaching the Unreached

We were talking last night to the parents of a new student here at NTBI (this new student's brother also graduated from here last semester, and we knew him). The parents are missionaries with New Tribes... they currently are church planters in a tribe in Papua New Guinea. We were talking with them about our desire to go overseas and work with New Tribes, and they were telling us about how few people go to the unreached. Of course, we already knew this. But we liked the way they put it.

They said 16 people out of 1 million people go to the unreached... but 1 million is a hard number to grasp. So (this guy is a mathematician), he decided he would explain it in relation to pennies lining a football field. If you line pennies all the way around the entire football field, then you would have a lot of pennies, but not anywhere near a million. He said if you have 15 football fields lined up, that you will have 1 mile. However, if pennies were lining all 15 of these football fields, you still would be nowhere close to 1 million. It takes pennies lining 11.84 miles of football fields, which is around 177 football fields, to equal 1 million pennies. To take it back into context of how many Bible-believing evangelicals are going to the unreached... only 16 of these pennies that would cover just a small portion of one of these 177 football fields are going. That's a small number!

People need the Gospel.

Just some food for thought on your friday afternoon. Will you pray about how God would have you involved in reaching the unreahed?

People Really Are Going

Sometimes I forget that there really are people, like you and me, who are in tribes right now working to learn a language that's barely known, creating a written language, teaching Bible stories to ears who have never, ever heard the name of Jesus. Sometimes I forget all of this when I live in comfortable America... even when I live at a Bible/Mission school that is sending out new missionaries all throughout the year to reach these people. Sometimes a speaker comes here to NTBI and reminds me though that there really are people going. Not enough. Never enough. But there are SOME people going.

Yesterday and today a man named Tim shared with us during orientation. He spent time as a missionary in the South Pacific, and he worked in a tribe, lived with men who wore gourds as their only clothing, dodged bow and arrows, and witnessed the salvation of people who had never previously even known that Jesus Christ existed. It's hard for me to wrap my mind around the idea that this man standing in front of me had done all of this. He looked like me and you. He talked like me and you.

Even more so, it's hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that there are thousands of people groups who never heard the gospel, and many of these who have never ever heard the name of Jesus Christ. I grew up in America. Even though I know many non-Christians, these people still all KNOW the name Jesus Christ and know the basic story of the Bible. It is literally impossible for me to grasp that there are people who know none of this.

This is why we are passionate about what New Tribes does. First, they go to people groups (and build friendships there) who have no written language and give them the gift of allowing their language to be put on paper (which allows for the preservation of a language, for better health, for better education... for so many things... I wrote my senior paper on this subject in college). But then, even more importantly they give them the Bible in their language. This is such a privilege that we take for granted often because we have so many copies of the Bible in America.

There's a video called Awayo that NTM has. Tim spent time with the tribe that Awayo is from. It's a video I've seen a number of times, but I think the story became more real when I met a man who actually knew Awayo. Awayo is a real man with a story; he just lives half-way around the world. I'll post it below incase you would like to watch it.

New Home and Leadership Training

We are officially settled into our new home, and leadership training has been going well. We arrived on the 10th and the training began that night. We spent a few days here and then headed to a camp where we stayed in cabins and enjoyed time at a beautiful beach. I was lame and didn't take any pictures. We had fun, although I (Alisha) was limited in what I could do because of Sophie. Ben has been asked to be a Student Work Program leader. In order to keep the costs down at NTBI, each student (except for mothers) has a work detail that takes anywhere from an hour to 3 hours a week. As a leader, Ben will be in charge of making sure a group of students gets their work detail done.

Today is registration day, so there are a lot of students moving in. We are excited about meeting new people, and we are especially excited about getting to know the new families that are coming to NTBI. We have met a few already.

I tried to upload a video of our apartment but couldn't get it to load. Here are pictures for you to enjoy though :)

Our door:

Looking into our apartment from the door:
Kitchen:

Living Room:
Our bedroom (which looks really boring, I know... we also have an awesome huge closet to the right):
Sophie's bedroom.. this is the first time Sophie gets an actual bedroom so I had so much fun decorating: