This week Isaiah found his thumb. It’s really cute to walk into our room and see him sucking away on it. So far it’s been helping him take longer naps and fall asleep faster. Happy 19-weeks little man!

My youngest brother was in Dallas last week for work training (at Deloitte University), and he was able to spend some time with us at the end of his week. Becca had a good time with her Uncle Joey. When she went to bed Friday night she was concerned: “Is Uncle Joey leaving when I go to bed or will he be here tomorrow?”

Joey’s flight was cancelled, so he got to stay a few extra hours with us. We spent some time at the Fort Worth Science Museum (thank you Ishams for the membership). One nice plus from having Joey with us is that we were able to get more pictures than normal. Joey took tons of photos during his time here.

Becca had a great time in the museum and Isaiah did really well. The last thing we saw was a laser show in the planetarium. The picture below will show how the laser show kept the attention of our kids. Thanks, Uncle Joey for taking all the pictures!

Today marks Becca’s 150-week birthday! She’s made a great recovery from her surgery and currently loves doing surgery on Hop (a stuffed bunny that has a removable “bump” for warming in the microwave). Becca first routine MRI is scheduled for next Thursday.

Another brother & sister photo shoot!

Now that the weather is a bit cooler, we’ve been enjoying walking around campus. Becca loves racing Flopsie in her stroller against Isaiah in his. She’s a pretty vicious racer and regularly cuts her opponent off during the race.

This week Becca asked to go to school, so we’ve been packing up her backpack (crayons, scissors, glue, and snack) and sending her out the door each morning for school. She walks to the end of the sidewalk, turns around, and and comes back to knock on our door for school. She’s very good at role playing and separating me as the “teacher” and me as “mommy.” If I mention having to do something to Isaiah she’ll say, “but I thought you were my teacher.” Currently we’re working on shapes and numbers.

The “teacher” asked Becca to describe her mommy. Becca said “she’s happy.” When I asked about her eye and hair color Becca said, “she has black hair and black eyes….but she is a sinner!” It’s amazing what teachers find out from their students about parents.

We’re thankful for the sweet little boy God has given us. What a little treasure. (Just looking at these pictures makes me want to wake him up and cuddle him, but I’ll resist.) We’re celebrating Isaiah’s 4-month birthday by taking him to his 4-month well-check. I’m not sure he’ll be too thrilled with the shots! I’ll post his stats later this afternoon.

Update with stats: Isaiah had a good well check this morning. His size is just about average: Weight 15lbs 10oz (54%); Length 25in (43%); Head Circumference 42cm (62%).

The top picture shows just some of the many cards Becca received this past month. Thank you to all who have been praying for Becca and our family. Becca is doing great and one would never guess she had surgery 2 weeks ago.

Last Thursday the Rylands joined us for a very yummy dinner — provided by them. They also gave Becca a collection of early Berenstein Bear stories with some of Becca’s favorites.

Saturday Morning: One of the things we love about living in Arlington is all the free activities the city offers. The city’s Ecofest had some fun children’s activities (bounce house, petting zoo, crafts, etc). Becca especially enjoyed being in the petting zoo and (later) decorating a pot.

Even though the Ecofest was on the first day of fall, it was still hot in Texas! We let Becca play in the fountains. I was hoping we could keep her from getting too wet (surgery site), but how can you keep a little girl from getting completely soaked!

Sunday Evening: The weekend before Becca’s surgery we went to a free outdoor concert. The next day Becca asked if we could go again to hear the beautiful music. Arlington offers free outdoor concerts during the months of June and September. The concert we attended a couple weeks ago was solo piano music. This past Sunday evening’s concert featured Bryon Stripling and the UTA Jazz Orchestra.  I wasn’t sure what Becca would think, but once Stripling came out and starting playing the trumpet, Becca loved it, and she danced during the entire concert (Isaiah was not impressed!).

On Monday we made a fall decoration for our front door. The leaves from the tree are Becca’s hands and Isaiah’s feet. In honor of fall, Becca ate an ice-pop while I, with sweat on my brow, was putting our tree up on the door! No blog post tomorrow…I’m waiting for Monday to celebrate Isaiah’s 4-month birthday!

Our happy little man!

Pathology Results
This morning we met with Becca’s oncologist for pathology results and future treatment/observation plan. The bone marrow came back clean: no evidence of cancer in her bones. The tumor itself, removed in Friday’s surgery, was differentiated: mostly benign (ganglioneuroma), with pockets of malignancy (neuroblastoma). The cancer is classified as Stage 1. So this is good news.

[Update: Today we heard back that there is no N-myc amplification – good news as well.]

Prognosis and Plan
Becca’s prognosis looks good; since the tumor was completely removed, Becca requires observation (MRI’s) but no further treatment (chemotherapy, radiation, etc). In 3 weeks Becca will go in for another MRI, then again after 2 more months. After that she’ll get an MRI every 3 months, indefinitely. [If N-myc had been amplified in the range of 6-10x, the oncologist would have done mIBG scans in addition to the MRI’s.]

Surgery Recovery
Becca’s doing great from her surgery. After we got home, she would only take her pain medication a few times. She’s sleeping on her tummy again, and she’s doing all her normal activities, except when we tell her to slow down.

We’re encouraged by the news we got today, and again we thank the Lord for giving us grace during this time and guarding Becca from anything more serious. Thank you all for your concern and prayers. (Do please pray for Amy, who has a bad cold, probably as a result of inadequate rest over the weekend.) When we hear about the N-myc results, we’ll update you on that.

Josh & Amy

More on N-myc Amplification
(The following is a layman’s explanation of N-myc amplification that we received from a radiologist friend. It’s clearer than what I read online, so I’m sharing it here.)

N-myc is a normal gene in our DNA which plays an important role is normal cell division. Other genes play the opposite role, namely inhibiting cell division. Normally there is a healthy balance. Some cancers are characterized by mutations that prevent certain genes from doing their normal function of inhibiting cell division, thus facilitating uncontrolled cell division.

In the case of neuroblastoma, the N-myc gene may be amplified. This means that there are very many copies of the same gene, which has the effect of overstimulating cell division. This is obviously not a good situation. Not all neuroblastoma cases have this. Prognosis is more favorable if there is no n-myc amplification.

(This morning we have an appointment with oncology to find out Becca’s test results. I’ll  try to post later this afternoon with what we find out.)

Thursday Evening: Thursday night we prepared for Becca’s surgery. Josh took Becca to Daddy Story Time (No Mommies Allowed!) at one of our libraries while I stayed home and packed. I did Becca’s hair that evening, so it wouldn’t be in the way during the surgery or recovery. Originally Becca was scheduled to arrive at the hospital at 6:30am, but late Thursday afternoon we received a call that her arrival time had been moved to 8AM. Our biggest concern with this was Becca having to fast before the surgery.

Friday: We’re very grateful that Becca slept until we left at 7AM. We’re also very thankful to Karen Isham who came to the hospital to watch Isaiah so Josh and I could be with Becca before her surgery. Karen also came with gifts for Becca. The bunny slippers were a hit! Becca had her pre-surgery assessment and then we were sent to a playroom to wait. Becca enjoyed playing until about 10:15 when she realized she was thirsty! We then asked how much longer the wait would be, and they immediately took Becca and me into the medication room so she could have her “giggle juice” to relax her for the surgery. Unlike the other procedures, I could not go back with Becca to where they would administer the anesthesia, so the “giggle juice” helped relax her so they could wheel her away without Mommy. She did great!

Becca’s surgery started around 11:30 am, and less than an hour later the surgeon came out to meet with us and tell us that the tumor popped right out — a very easy removal, all done laparoscopically. After surgery they did the marrow aspiration, and then we were called into the recovery room with Becca, who was sound asleep from the morphine. We had to wait for an in-patient room to open up for Becca. Isaiah was allowed to be with us in the recovery room – which worked great for nursing him. (The picture to the left is how Becca looked when we first saw her after surgery.)

Becca slept until about 5:30 pm – and then wanted to be held. She was pretty grumpy the rest of the day and we held her until 11PM. We had decided that Josh would spend the night in the hospital and I would take Isaiah home. I figured it would be better for me to get some sleep. However, when we told Becca, she said “but I need you!”. What can a mommy do? So I spent the night in the hospital with Becca. She said it was special to stay in the hospital because Mommy could sleep in her bed (though I didn’t get too much sleep that night).

Saturday: After getting a few hours’ sleep Friday night, Becca woke up in the morning at 5 or 5:30 in much better spirits. I was exhausted, so we watched Finding Nemo while we waited for Josh and Isaiah to arrive. After breakfast Becca and Josh went down to the hospital playground on the 1st floor, Becca quite happy in her wagon. She got out and walked around and played quite a bit, and then she wanted to go back upstairs to show mommy she could walk. she came up and said, “look Mommy, I learned how to walk! I can walk!”

For most of the rest of the morning, she insisted on pulling the wagon rather than sitting in it. Karen Isham had given Beca a Build A Bear gift card, so we went down to the hospital store and Becca choose (and named) “Monkey Monk” as her new friend. We left after lunch, and Becca cried when she got to the car — she was exhausted (and sad to leave the great play areas behind). After we arrived home Becca slept from 1:30 to 6:30 (the rest of us also took long naps).

Sunday: We had a rough start Sunday morning, but after that she did well. Sunday afternoon Becca woke up from her nap and was feeling well, so we made it to the end of the NICU reunion to see the nurses while they were cleaning up. It was good to see many of Becca’s nurses. Sunday afternoon Mrs. Krager (the wife of Josh’s dissertation committee member from GIAL) came to visit. She brought Becca two books – the one about Madeline was appropriate, since Madeline also had surgery on her tummy.

Becca has made a great recovery. She did not want to take pain medication – tough girl. We are very grateful for all the people who have been praying for Becca. The surgery could not have gone smoother. We thank the Lord for all His grace to us these past few weeks.

Sunday evening we went to a park and then to a free outdoor concert at the Levitt Pavilion (Danny Wright). It was the perfect evening…having fun together as a family. What could be more special and relaxing than sitting at an outdoor concert next to my husband with our boy on my lap and our girl on Josh’s lap – picture perfect. Becca really enjoyed the concert (bringing popcorn helped!). A few days later she asked if we could go again to hear the “pretty music.”

During his naps, Isaiah has started sleeping with his face straight down, resting on his hands (picture to the left). Often he wakes up with a hand print on his face!

Happy 15 weeks, Little Brother!

We received very good news on the results from last Friday’s test: there’s no evidence of malignancy. Specifically, Becca’s blood levels were normal, the pelvic MRI didn’t show any spread of the tumor further down, and the tumor above her kidney didn’t take up the mIBG, which suggests that either the tumor isn’t neuroblastoma (other possibilities include ganglioneuroblastoma and ganglioneuroma), or that the neuroblastoma has reached maturity and become benign. They won’t know for sure until the tumor is removed and a biopsy is performed.

This afternoon we have an appointment with Becca’s oncologist to hear the results from last week’s mIBG scan. We will also hear if the MRI revealed anything suspicious in her pelvis area. This is only the first half of tests concerning the possible spread of cancer. We have to wait until after the surgery for the bone marrow and tumor analysis. We expect to hear boring news. We expect that everything will be just fine. We expect as we’ve been told that tomorrow’s surgery will take care of everything and that life will soon go back to normal.  But we also know that we could receive bad news. We wonder how we would respond to bad news.

So far (besides the initial news of the tumor) all our news about Becca’s tumor has been encouraging. We are so thankful that Becca’s tumor was caught this early in the game. Everything has been going so smoothly with Becca’s tests and the speed at which she is being treated. When I think of all the “what if’s” that could have happened if they hadn’t discovered the tumor this early, I can only be grateful that the Lord allowed the doctor to find her tumor. When we walk in the hospital and see children who are being treated for cancer I find myself praising the Lord for His mercy to our family. Thoughts of “why did the Lord allow this to happen” are far from our minds when we’re so grateful that the tumor has been caught and that things are going so well.

I’m reading a study by Nancy Leigh DeMoss called The Power and Practice of Praise. In one lesson she says a test of praise is “Will I praise Him when I don’t get the outcome that I wanted? Anybody can praise Him when the outcome is as we had hoped, but the challenge is: Will I offer the sacrifice of praise when it costs me something?” If today or in the weeks to come we find out bad news concerning Becca’s cancer will I still be able to praise the Lord? If I have to watch Becca suffer through cancer treatments . . . if we lose her . . . will I still be able to praise the Lord? This would not be easy and would be a battle I would have to fight. Could I have the spirit of Job and say “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord”? I don’t really want to find out.

In another study I’m reading by DeMoss she discusses Ezekiel 37:4 and Ezekiel’s response to the valley of dead bones: “But Ezekiel wisely says in verse 4, “O Lord God, you know.” You know. What does he mean by that? Well, he may mean, “Lord, You know that these bones can’t live.” Or maybe he means, “Lord, only You know what You can do with these dry bones.”  I don’t know what God is going to do or what He has planned for our family. We’ve taught Becca the catechism questions/answers: “Who made you? God made me. What else did God make? God made all things. Why did God make you and all things? For His own glory.” I’ve been thinking lately: how is God going to get the most glory out of our situation? Will it be by healing Becca . . . by having this be the simple thing of removing the tumor. That would bring Him glory – many, many people are praying and all will praise God for His healing. Or is God planning to bring glory to Him by allowing Becca to have a cancer that is more serious – by allowing her (and us) to suffer so He can show Himself to our unsaved neighbors. What would be more meaningful to them: would they perhaps be more drawn to God by seeing (Lord willing) our faith in God as we go through something like that? Becca’s tumor getting caught early and being removed would just be considered lucky to our unsaved friends. Watching us deal with something more serious could be what draws them to Christ. In my heart I say, “please, Lord – no.” However,  this thought has come to me often over the past week. So I pray, “O Lord God – you know.”

We expect to hear completely positive news concerning Becca today and for the next few weeks. However, we know that God works in ways we do not understand and we must be ready to trust Him no matter what the outcome is.

Becca did well with her MRI and mIBG scan last Friday. We had a good time playing until they were ready to put her to sleep. I had to wait two and a half hours while she had the scans done. When they called me to see Becca, she was quite grumpy and it took a while for her to even take a sip of water. Once she got home, she was her happy energetic self. So much for having her take it easy after the anesthesia! We were able to bring home Becca’s mask – which she now loves to use to put Flopsie to sleep (and sometimes Mommy). She’s been giving Flopsie surgery almost every day to remove the “bad bump” in his body.

Our precious little man is really stepping up to the plate to take his manly role in our home and help out as much as he can with his sister’s many hospital visits. He’s been sleeping all the way through the night (10PM – 6:30AM). He’s also moved to feeding every 4 hours. We’re thanking God for helping Isaiah do this when we especially needed the extra sleep and time. I’ve been trying to make sure I still spend time talking with Isaiah, since even though he’s just a babe, I don’t want him to feel neglected with all that’s going on with Becca.

The other day I took the picture on the right of Isaiah during his nap. The sleeping positions of little ones have always been amusing to me. That very night, Becca also assumed that position; it must be a sibling thing!

We’ve had a nice week with several days (Saturday – Wednesday) without doctor’s/hospital appointments. Saturday Josh and Becca went to Home Depot for their free kids workshop. Becca loves painting! Sunday we had Micah, Anna, and Adam over for dinner. Monday we went to buy Becca special pj’s for the hospital. I gave her several options, and she had a hard time choosing between her two favorite. I guess we’ll post pictures of those when she’s wearing them after next week’s surgery. She told Josh that they were “pretty pretty pretty pajamas!”

Tuesday we went to the Countrymans’ for our last swim of the summer (since we thought Becca’s surgery would be on Friday). We had a wonderful time enjoying the pool, and Heather made us a nice lunch. Becca loved the Jello jigglers! Tuesday afternoon we found out that Becca’s surgery would be the following week. Tuesday evening we had our upstairs neighbors (Tim and Teri) over for dinner.

It all started with a urinary tract infection. The urine analysis came back positive for bacteria, the doctor prescribed an antibiotic, and Becca’s follow-up appointment was scheduled for Tuesday, August 28. Tuesday I was planning on a quick in-and-out appointment with Dr. Raine. Come to find out that UTI’s are not so simple anymore. UTI’s can be a sign of vesicoureteral (VU) reflux…which usually doesn’t show up until later but causes problems in adulthood. So to be safe rather than sorry, Dr. Raine sent Becca to Radiology the next morning to have a kidney ultrasound and a cystourethrogram. Dr. Raine said he’s “old fashion” and likes to check everything out. Sounds like a lot of doctors only order the tests if the child has reoccurring UTI’s.

Wednesday morning (August 29) I took Becca in for a ultrasound of her kidneys and the other terrible test where they inserted a catheter and filled her bladder up with fluid and then took x-rays while she urinated. She did pretty well until the end and then she was screaming “GET ME OUT OF THIS PLACE!” You can see from the picture on the right that she was not very happy after that test. The picture on the left show how unhappy she was when we started our drive to the test — since she had to fast. Fortunately, she forgot about that part as soon as we started driving and was a very happy girl until the testing started.

I noticed during the ultrasound that the tech took a lot of pictures of her right kidney…it seemed strange. Then it seemed really strange when he only took a few of her left kidney and went back and took more of her right kidney. When we got home I told Josh that I thought something was wrong.  About 30 minutes after Becca and I got home from the tests, our doctor’s office called and asked for one of us to come in right away talk with the doctor. Josh went. You know it’s not good news when the doctor’s office calls right after testing and asks to see you. Josh came home and told me that they had found a mass and that it could be cancer – shock! I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look on Josh’s face when he came home and told me the news.

Thursday morning (August 30) I took Becca to Cook Children’s hospital for an MRI. They put her to sleep, which was nice for her. It’s a terrible thing to walk away and leave your child in a room where she’s just “fallen to sleep” and you know they’re going to do an MRI. She had a rough time waking up – pretty grumpy — but after that did great.

They told us we would hear the results in 2 days, which with the holiday weekend could mean Tuesday.  I was looking forward to a day without a medical appointment and decided it would be nice to have a few days before we heard the results. However, that night the oncologist’s office called and set up a Friday morning appointment with us. Becca’s pediatrician also personally called Thursday evening to tell us that the tumor is probably cancer . . . but that things were looking good. Shock.

Friday morning we met with the oncologist. She confirmed that the tumor is almost certainly a type of cancer called neuroblastoma; her assessment was based on how the mass appears in the images (and it turns out she’s a specialist in neuroblastoma!). She strongly suspects that the cancer hasn’t spread, and it doesn’t show the characteristics of the more aggressive types of neuroblastoma. If this is the case, after the surgery to remove the tumor, there will be no need for further treatment — just observation. She then made an appointment for us to see the surgeon that afternoon.

At 3:30 we met with the pediatric surgeon who will remove the tumor. He said that it has a clean profile, does not appear to have gone into the kidney, and will likely come out easily. He will attempt to remove it with laparoscopic surgery. If he can’t do that, he’ll simply make a larger incision and complete the surgery that way. The surgery is scheduled for next Friday, September 14th. If the surgery is done laparoscopically, Becca will only need a night or two in the hospital for recovery. If a larger incision is required, recovery might take an extra couple days. After surgery the tumor will be sent for analysis; a major part of this will be genetic analysis of the neuroblastoma (to confirm that it doesn’t fall into a subtype that is particularly hard to cure — but presently there is not indication that it is this type).

Today Becca goes in for a shot to prepare her for additional testing tomorrow. Tomorrow (Friday, Sept 7th) Becca goes in for a CT scan and an mIBG scan. She will be asleep for both.

It’s all gone so fast. Monday was a normal day…and now we’re dealing with this. How fast things can change. It doesn’t seem real…I keep telling myself “my daughter has a tumor and they’re calling it cancer. How can this be? Look at her – she’s the picture of health and high energy!!”

We’re so thankful for many things…the UTI (which had nothing to do with the tumor!)…our careful doctor…the location of the children’s hospital – about a 20-minute drive…the team of doctors…the speed in which this has all taken place. God is good and we continue to trust Him. I’m also extremely thankful that the night before this all happened Isaiah began sleeping through the night and has done so since then. He also moved to a 4-hour feeding schedule, which has been a great help with getting to Becca’s appointments. We’re thankful for the many people who have been so kind to us. We’re thankful for the many people who are praying for our little girl. We’re thankful for the church we’ve just started attending and for their kindness to us.

There is much more I could say, but time does not permit me to. Thank you for all your prayers for our family. God has given us His grace and peace during this time and we praise Him for all He is doing. We praise Him that He revealed the tumor early before major damage took place. We have a great and sovereign God and we know that He will do His best for us.

Happy 3-month birthday to my sweet little boy! Your mommy is not one to instantly fall in love with anything (with the exception of your daddy who I liked the day I met). I have preferences, but it usually takes me a while to really like things/ideas/people/etc. I loved you when you were born because you were our son – our baby . . . but as time has gone by I’ve grown to just adore you, my little man. Your grins and coos are so precious – you are precious to me. A wonderful gift from God – we thank Him for you. Happy 3-month birthday Isaiah Emil!

Since Becca has been on an antibiotic that requires her to stay out of the sun, we’ve been enjoying many different indoor activities. Sunday Becca asked if we could make the Cat in the Hat’s cleaning machine. She was very disappointed when Josh said he couldn’t make a real one. Monday we came up with an alternative! Becca is enjoying putting on her costume and sneaking up to attack me.

Adam and his mommy came over for lunch last Friday. Both Isaiah and Adam are growing fast.

Isaiah is growing fast and “talking” more and more each week. He’s a very happy baby and loves to interact with people. I could just sit and talk with him for hours. I’m trying to get Becca to interact with Isaiah more, but she’s not interested. She will help with him, but she rarely interacts with him. She was willing to give him a bottle the other day . . . for 30 seconds. Wednesday I tried to get her to read a book next to Isaiah, just so he could see her while she read . . . no way. Then I tried to get her to play with her toys next to Isaiah . . . she just so happened to be done playing the instant I made the suggestion! We’ll keep working on it.

Funny Quotes from Becca:

Mommy: “Did you wash your hands?” Becca: “No – but I washed my feet!” When we asked Becca to show us what she did, she happily ran into the bathroom, climbed up on the sink, and put both feet in to wash them.

When telling us the story about Jesus calming the storm: “Then it stopped right away so Jesus didn’t have to discipline it.”

Josh and I love surprising each other . . . we enjoy it so much that we usually end up giving our surprise away with our many “clues.” Last week I was able to totally surprise Josh with an evening date to You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. I’d been working on lining up everything since the beginning of August – tickets, babysitter, rearranging piano lessons, and telling Josh about the “surprise” I had for him that week. Six hours before our date, my friend who was going to watch the kids had to cancel due to an emergency, which sent me frantically searching for someone to watch our kids. Fortunately, Stephen and Kristen saved the evening and drove 45 minutes from their home to watch Becca and Isaiah. I’m very grateful for their willingness to help us out.

Josh was completely surprised to find out that the heavy wrapped box contained one of his books (for weight), a second wrapped package, and inside that, an envelope. The collage on the left captures his reaction as he realizes that the papers are tickets and that we’re going on a date “tonight!” Ah – sweet success and a lovely evening out with my man! (Yes – from the collage on the right you might notice that I cried . . . guess I was so pleased my success.)

A few other pictures: Our first watermelon from our garden! Both kids in the car after a pool party at the Woods’ house. Lunch with Miss Jean. Breakfast trials – Becca is having to learn that food is not finger paint – it’s a slow learning process! The last shows how much our kids enjoy photo shoots!

Our little man is doing great. This week he has started to laugh – it’s so cute. I love baby laughter! In other news, I had to take Becca to the doctor on Monday for a suspected UTI. The lab report came back on Wednesday confirming our suspicions, and Becca is now on antibiotics. Becca especially enjoyed her visit, since she really likes the Berenstain Bears story about going to the doctor. She did get a little scared when Dr. Raine put on his latex gloves, but that’s because we’ve also read a book about a vet putting on gloves and pulling out several animals from a puppy’s throat! Becca is doing great and you can’t even tell she has a UTI. For the record, Becca now weights 27.2lbs. and is 34.5in.

Sunday we had lunch with Lee Roy & Lou Olson. It was a delight to be able to spend some time with them in our home.

On July16th the EMU board voted to accept our family as missionary candidates to Cambodia. Lord willing, Josh will finish his Ph.D in the spring 2013 semester. After that we will move back to Greenville, SC, and begin deputation. We’re thanking the Lord for already providing three supporting families. We look forward to how He will provide all the support we need to serve Him in Cambodia.

For those who are interested in our future ministry, here’s some answers to the questions we were asked by the EMU board:

•  Type of service: translation of Bible; translation and/or development of Bible study materials; Bible school training
• Is there a clear need for this kind of service in that country? yes; at least two groups in Ratanakiri have a need for Bible translation (Jarai, Kachok); multiple groups participate in Bible school training, and there seems to be the need of more teachers who can work with individual language groups.
• What are your Goals for your ministry? If translation, then eventually the translation of the entire Bible into the target language, starting with the NT. In Bible school training, the goals would be set by other missionaries on the field and by the church leaders themselves – but in general, demonstrable progress in knowledge of the Bible and ability to apply Scripture in their own cultural context and teach the Scripture to their people.
• What are your plans to accomplish those goals? First, intensive language training in Khmer and then the target minority language. Then grammatical analysis of the target language. Building up a team of people in the target language to serve as a committee or committees in the translation process. Gathering of native literary forms for language development (literacy) purposes, as well as gaining a better understanding of how literature in the language is structured. Translation by committee, with active input/checking by specialists (me and others). Outside consultation to check translation. Periodic small-scale printing of completed Bible portions.
• What will you do when those goals are accomplished? Continue teaching; look to assist with other translation projects; work on the development of other native-tongue resources to help church leaders; (eventually) retire!
• Do you have a timetable in mind for accomplishing these goals? Language study will undoubtedly take up the first term and be a significant part of the second term (though we hope that in the second term we can be more active in ministry). Once started, a good translation can take anywhere from 10 to 30 years, depending on involvement of the community and many other factors. Perhaps 7 years for the New Testament.