Boy, it has been awhile since I have made an entry. Ken is doing so much better than me. We got back to Orlando safely last Friday from Panama. The vacation at the front end was fun although my friend Lanita was sick the entire time and I guess will be for a couple of months. She has something called post viral chronic fatigue syndrome which is a big term for getting realllly down AFTER having a viral bout of anything. It takes her months before she can do much of anything. We felt so bad that here we were in this neat place and she spent all her time down in bed.

The last 5 days we were at a conference for over 50 translation organizations (who knew there were so many!). We interacted with some very interesting, smart people. My mantra to our group in private was "I am not worthy!" I just never had put much time in considering what my "worldview" was or how cultures are diverse or what obstacles there are in translation. I have been blithely walking through my life, focused on my own little world. Wow, was I challenged and the people that were at my discussion table were so gracious and patient. They took great amounts of time explaining missions history and cultural mistakes and current challenges to me. Most of them told us all these things in Spanish then one man translated to us. It was a huge answer to our prayers to be able to communicate. It was not the same at all discussion tables. At some, if you didn't speak Spanish then you could just sit there and be quiet. That is why I say this was a huge answer to OUR prayers.

I would attend another conference in a heartbeat, but I did promise our translator that the next time I saw him I would speak in HIS language so I will start Spanish training soon...like in 5 min. when I am done with this!

Sorry there are no pictures today. We have some but I am not sure I will post them. I did not ask any of the participants if they were in sensitive areas and would prefer to not have their pictures on my blog, so I will err on the safe side.

We are heading out on Wed. morning to be with my parents and sister's family for Thanksgiving. Friday we will go to Shelli's, Sunday to Chris', Monday to Rockford for the next round of Ken's doctoring. We hope to be back in Orlando by the first of Dec. If you are on this route we hope to see you.