This Is Where I Was Last Friday

Part 1. Certified 100% Pure Turkish.
My morning started with meeting the lovely Mrs. Turk. We chatted for awhile, and I was able to see some of the details I've gleaned from the website rounded out. I was also able to meet his precious daughter.

The meal was Chinese. I had rice, he had noodles. I ate with chopsticks, he stuck to the fork. We found common ground with Dr. Pepper, as they only served Pepsi, no Coke.*

Once, when we were talking about some bloggers, the eyebrow did go up, just like in the picture. And I was struck by an odd thought--if you took Neelix and Tuvok & merged their pictures together, you'd get something that would look an awful lot like Frank.

We ended by speaking briefly about the book business, and I almost got him into an hour long discussion on the dangers of bad theology, but at the last minute he decided it was time to head back to work. He did have time to express disappointment that I didn't wear my "50K T-shirt" for the visit, but it's not my fault it didn't get here until today Monday. I am wearing it while writing this post, however.

Part 2: A Day at the Farm
We stayed with my aunt and uncle. It was a wonderful visit. My uncle is a dairy farmer, and one of the greatest businessmen you'll ever meet. I study business, but he lives it.

My aunt is an amazing woman, who has more accomplishments than any two other people I know. She's retiring from a career as a college professor, and I can only ask myself what she'll be doing next.

The kids love the dairy farm. Despite the fact that it smells like cows, they always love to see the calf barn, and we are usually able to climb on hay bales.
If we ever retire, we think it will be in Northwest Arkansas. That's how much we love it there.

Part 3: Candlelight Service
Each year John Brown University holds a Christmas worship service. You enter a darkened chapel, sit on the wooden benches, and after the brass prelude, you hear the choir singing from the foyer. Then they file down in silence with lit candles, stopping just to the side of the pews, and sing across the room to each other. After this, they file up on stage for various songs from both smaller groups and the combined choir. From impossibly young faces, an amazingly mature sound breaks forth and engulfs you. Then there is the finale, where from a single candle, everyone in the room receives a flame, and then with candles raised, Silent Night is sung.

I had the privelege of singing in the service all four years I was there, but this was my first time in the audience. It was quite an experience.

Part 4: The Next Generation
One of our high schoolers from our youth group in Texas is at JBU, and we had the opportunity to spend some time with him and his friends. What a privilege it was to sit and speak to these young men and women. They listened eagerly as my wife and I talked about our time at JBU, dating, marriage, child-rearing, with a kind of attention you see only from the most eager of students.

We had such a great time, but were shocked that these college co-eds would choose to spend a couple hours with us thirty-something parents.

In any case, we wish them all the best, and will be praying for them in the coming semesters. Mark, Ryan, Kristen, Lara, and Karen--thanks for letting us spend the evening with you!


(Note: I originally inserted this as something just for fun. However, in the interest of preserving accuracy, and limiting artistic license, I removed it. Except that I thought it was funny, so I put it here.)
*His fortune cookie read,"You are not your persona." Mine said,"It’s a tavern, not a Swiss watch doctrinal precision factory." Now that was weird.