Texas- Here, There, Everywhere

Wow, Texas is big!



The third weekend of our month tour of Texas was spent in the Piney Woods of East Texas. We left our comfy home in our sweet ride (thanks Big G!) and headed east.





We shared at Crossroads Baptist Church in Marshall. During my time at East Texas Baptist University, I was apart of this fellowship. This weekend just happened to be the same weeked as ETBU's homecoming. Here's some shots-

Our (20 minute)Homecoming Parade:





We saw some friends and made a few trips to Bodacious BBQ. :)




We shared in both morning services and had the evening service to share more in depth.



Our next weekend in Texas was spent in "The Jewel of the Forest" aka Jasper, Texas. We stayed at a lake house for the weekend and shared at Peachtree Baptist Church. Here's some photos:

























This month has flown by! This Sunday we're going to North Carolina to the JAARS training center for two weeks.

We're eagerly anticipating the upcoming months because of the treats!

The Goal

This is the work we're apart of. Josh was at this New Testament dedication. Very cool!

Texas- Week One Review

We've been in Texas for one week! Here are some first week highlights:

AWANA
We had the chance to share at an AWANA program at the church I grew up in. We talked about the importance of a team to help a translator be successful in a foreign country. No matter how many people are on our team or how strong the team looks like, the team will fail without the power of the Holy Spirit.






Celebrate Roanoke and Baseball
It's weird returning to the place you grew up and seeing all the changes that have happened since you were there last. This annual celebration of our city has really become quite popular. This year they were expecting around 30,000 people to come and celebrate. There was a lot of food, drinks, music, and football- that's right a big screen that was showing the University of Texas vs. Oklahoma University. Let's not discuss the outcome of that game!







This is our buddy, Luke. He was the ring barer in our wedding. He's in the 4th grade! It's weird coming back to kids that grew up.






The Texas Rangers are currently leading the American League Championship Series. Game 1 had a ridiculously long rain delay, and Game 2 ended in extra innings with a Grand Slam for a Rangers win! Game 3 is on tv right now, and I'm hoping for win #3 even though the Tigers just took the lead as I typed out the previous part of this sentence.

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to share at the church I grew up in. We had a potluck after church. I love potlucks... maybe I just love free food. Unfortunately, we didn't take any photos of our share time. But, you can trust us, we were really there! :)

New Blog Additions

I'd like to say thank you to those of you around the globe who check in every once in a while to see where we are and what we're up to. It's very encouraging to us :)

I want to take a chance to explain some of the additions to this page.

To the right there are two new options. One is called "Get the Email!", if you're interested in receiving email updates of the most recent blog entry just type in your email address in the spot. I know some people that are interested but forget about this journal (and that's okay, because, honestly, I forget too!). This option will notify you when we write a new entry.

The second option is called "Join the Team!" If you click on the link below that title, you'll be taken to a partnership page on Wycliffe's website. Just type in Harrington in the last name section. As of right now, we're the only ones. Click on "Learn More". This is a chance for you to commit to be apart of our prayer team, financial team, or express interest in receiving our newsletters. We encourage you to consider joining our monthly financial team. Wycliffe is a faith-based organization. None of us get paid for what we do, so we depend on friends, families, and churches to give monthly. It's been amazing to see how the Lord has provided over the past three years! None of that could have been possible without the prayer and financial support of you. Prayers have meant soooooo much to us! On the most difficult days, your prayers and God's strength gave us the extra push we needed. On the most wonderful of days, your prayers reminded us how grateful we are on a team- both overseas and stateside- that stands with us to preach the Good News of Jesus to the whole world. Thanks for being apart of the team!

So take a chance to check out the new additions :)

Blessings.

Meet Paul.

It's been quite the week, folks. It seems so strange that no matter where you are in the world, life continues. This past Thursday we received word that a pilot that Josh works with in Indonesia was killed in a plane accident along with two Indonesian passengers. We were crushed, immediately feeling the miles that separated us from our team. Josh and I were constantly checking our email and facebook looking for any information we could use to begin to piece information together. Our hearts ache for our friends and colleagues who had to plan the memorial service for their friend.

Here's Paul.




Here is the casket with paper wreathes of condolenses from friends all over the world. We ordered one.



These are the Indonesian teammates who load the planes.


Notice the crowd...


Here are the pilots.


Here are the mechanics and technicians.


Here are the Bible translators.


The photos we saw were very moving. We are truly apart of much more than a team. That team that you work alongside everyday becomes your family. These photos show our family coming together in a time of crisis and standing firm, not allowing the Enemy shake our foundations. They were allowing the Light of Jesus Christ to shine during a dark time. Hundreds attended this service. As our friends were carrying the casket down the hill, God reminded them that He had not abandoned them- a rainbow stretched across the sky. The memorial was a time of celebrating a life that loved the Lord and LOVED serving those around him.

Furlough Goals

Furlough rumors and realities:

1. America has deliciously unhealthy food!
2. It's almost certain that you will gain weight while you're on furlough.
3. It's possible that you might return to Indonesia completely exhausted.

These are some "rumors" that we heard just before we were going to go on furlough. The truth is- these are NOT rumors! This is reality! So to fight against these things, we've set some personal furlough goals.

Here are my goals:
1. Complete requirements for recertification of my Texas teaching license.
2. Participate in a 5k- maybe in every state we're in IF possible- not likely in California or North Carolina.
3. Take a test to get certified to teach mathematics in Texas.

Goal Progress:
1. I've finished all the requirements and now need to complete the paperwork.
2. Josh and I ran in our first 5k- story with photos below.
3. I've checked out a math book with examples- so I sit around doing math problems in my free time :)

5k Story-

This run was to benefit a non profit organization that builds houses for people.

I thought the run started at 9:30, BUT when we got there at 9:20 the only people standing around had blue jeans on and were holding cameras. We asked if the run had already started. Yep, it started at 9. Ooops! We asked if we could still run. Sure, they said, but your time will be all messed up and you probably won't win. We said we're not in it to win it. Grabbed our numbers and music and were off! I kept our time on my watch. We passed a hand full of people and finished 76th and 77th (out of like 80 people!) with an "official" time of 54 minutes... but our "unofficial" time (according to my watch) was 35 minutes. Not too shabby for us considering we had just finished week 4 of the Couch to 5K program.

Looking back at my motivation and attitude I think it's a lesson learned. In reality I knew there was no way that I would win... but what if I'm the only female in my age group? All I have to do is finish to win! What if the spirit of competition motivates me to push harder and finish faster? What if I could be better than I really am... what if my dreams could become reality?

**Reality Check**
You can't win races if you show up 20 minutes AFTER the race starts!
You can't win races if the first place runner was FINISHING when you were beginning!
The reason for running is NOT to win but it's to fight against an unhealthy lifestyle.
If we're honest, we're running for the t-shirts and to support good causes.


We finished!


The official- unofficial time.


The trophies we didn't win! :) **note** these were for the 10k runners- some finished right about the same time we unofficially did!


This is the first place finisher- notice the time in the bottom right hand corner.


Wooohoo! I finished it! Notice there is no time... they didn't write it down for the back of the pack.


Here's the proof that Josh finished too. I beat him because he LET me go first :) so sweet.


I'm a goal setter.

Furlough in a Flash- Friend Edition

I tried to correct the spelling of "edition" in the previous post but wasn't able to.

One thing that is really cool about being on furlough is that other people that we live with in Indonesia are also on furlough. Everyone is traveling from here to there and back, and the chances are pretty high that you could plan to meet up.

While I was in Texas I visited Chase and Kelli Reynolds along with their three handsome boys (Uriah, Nathan, and baby Corin). We spent the afternoon catching up, complaining (just a little bit) about the heat, and making the most amazing sign for the Rangers game.

I went the Rangers game with Tim and Kyle Cripe. Tim is the high school principal at Hillcrest International School, where I teach middle school. During the World Series some friendly bantering was going back and forth between the three of us.

Kara is somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. It's like that game "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" You know that game, and if you don't find it. Right now. Play it for days and learn something. :) I still remember my good friend, Abby, having that game growing up. I played for hours, and she went to bed. :)

Joel, Elaine, and Esther made their way to Camano Island. (I'm going to throw in some USA lingo that other people around the world don't know about or use.) They live in Minnesota and "GPS-ed" our address. We were so excited when they came! We hiked, camped, grilled out, hiked some more, ate incredible icecream, and visited with one another. Control yourself, you're about to see some incredibly CUTE pictures. :)