A Yoder Wedding!

With ten children, three spouses, and one grandchild, our “family day”  7-mile bike ride to the park  was a truly celebratory occasion the Thursday before the wedding!   With braids, culottes, grey “Yoder” shirts, a buggy for the grandbaby, and a couple of tandems flying down the road we were a sight to behold.  We played tag on the playground, raced around the obstacle course, cut a 30-pound watermelon with a one and a half inch blade, and sat in a happy circle wagging carrots between our teeth in hopes the 11 month old grandbaby would pick up on this strange behavior, giving us all a good laugh.  He obliged, we roared with laughter.  With a group this joyful, entertainment is easy to come by.

The day of was a flurry of activity as suit coats, a wedding dress, forgotten decorations, and hair supplies were bustled out the door.  I stayed behind to make a huge salad for the 24 person wedding party (you don’t want to leave anyone out) and to bring anything anyone might have forgotten at the house.  It was fun to have my own part in the joyous day.

The wedding ceremony itself was short yet meaningful, and the highlight of the reception was watching the Yoder sisters singing “You’ve got a friend in me” adapted for the occasion.  We cheered the new couple, Wesley and Katrina McCullough out in a cloud of rainbow bubbles.  

picture coming...

A Graduate in the Family

Finally, we have our first Masters degree holder in our family of two!  Yeah! 

Zach walked on June 6th, having successfully defended his thesis on June 4th, 2014. 

We thank God for how he opened doors, and made it possible for Zach to make this step! 

Snip, snip, snip

I think I have one of the world's best head for a thesis committee.  On "day one", when I first got back to write my thesis, Dr. Pete Unseth asked me when I was planning to finish.  I said, "Maybe at the end of this term in June, maybe in December."  He said, "Let's aim for June. A finished thesis is a good thesis."  Since then he has guided me through the process of writing drafts and submitting them to the other two members of my committee.

I got a bit carried away with the theory before Easter. I had six research questions in my thesis, and in order to discuss the first three, I needed a better understanding of statistical reliability.  I felt like I had hit a wall.  A little after Easter, with God's help, I felt I had scaled the wall (Psalm 18:21).  I had a theoretical breakthrough.  Using a matrix of covariance between the results of individual questions on three separate tests, I could describe how the internal reliability and the equivelance reliability were related.  (Don't worry, you don't need to understand this to follow the rest of the story!)  I wrote and wrote and wrote describing the theory and the implications for my data.  Then I turned it in to Dr. Steve Walter for his review.

Early May, I went in to have a meeting with Dr. Pete and Dr. Steve.  I had just gone through Dr. Steve's review of the results of my thesis.  There were several places where we had discussed how I needed extra supporting data for the discussion of the first three research questions.  We discussed the theory a bit, but I was beginning to think that I didn't have enough theoretical background to support my discussion of research question 3.  I suggested we cut this research question.  Dr. Steve thought research questions 1 and 2 also needed further support and were less helpful. 

Dr. Pete asked what surveyors would actually benefit from these research questions.  As I explained what I had learned, I realized from the expressions on Dr. Pete and Dr. Steve's faces that it still needed a good deal more development to be useful. Suddenly I had an idea.  "What if I cut out all three of research questions 1 through 3?"  I asked.  Really, the most practical and applicable part of the study were research questions 4 through 6.  Without all the baggage of partially developed theory for research questions 1 through 3, we all thought maybe I could finish this thesis this term.  With it . . . probably not.

I got out my digital scissors and cut out forty pages of material. (Double spaced)

• • •

About a month later, Dr. Pete met me at my desk in the library (see earlier blog post for a photo of me at my desk). We went outside to chat (it isn't recommended to talk in the library).   As we sat at the picnic table, Dr. Pete told me that Dr. Steve had been reading another draft of my thesis, and there was some theoretical material in it that he wasn't quite sure was fully supported.  Basically it was defend with this material, or defend in June, but not both.  I had not thought I was really adding much, but I knew at that moment what my choice would be.


Maybe someday I will choose to publish articles on those other topics.  Maybe surveyors will benefit from those things that I have learned.  But for now, my goal is to have a finished thesis.  Bring on the digital scissors!

Mr. Yoder Roller Coaster

You can be sure, any time of the day,

You’ll find Mr. Yoder, in the libraray,

With computer lit up, furrowed brow,

Shows you not to interrupt right now!

He starts early, coming home a bit late,

Bedraggled and hungry, I patiently wait,

‘Til at last he darkens our trailer door,

A sigh of relief, “I’ve lived one day more!”

He dramatically utters with a smile worn,

We eat then sleep, til the new day is born.
 Day in and day out, this is the roller coaster life here,

Every moment is terribly exciting or dreadfully drear,

There’s no in between for our emotions are high!

As the big day of thesis defense does draw nigh!

The Yoder family will come, and we’ll horray!

That done are Mr. Yoder’s long days in the libraray! 

Flowers Transform

As Zach and I were sitting on Delphinium knoll where we sat four years ago when Zach sang me the first of many meaningful, homespun love songs, I had this thought:  Flowers are meant to fade.

Over four years ago, we met here at GIAL while partners in the final project of a  Scripture use class.  After five months, we decided to pursue a future ministering together.  Two years after that decision, and a two countries away, we were married. Wow!  Marriage was so much better than we'd imagined! We experienced a rich, flowering love as we returned to Nigeria to begin a new life together.  Flowers of spring are strikingly beautiful, and our marriage is indeed a burst of colorful, creative beauty.  

As summer comes, the flowers turn into fruit, producing seeds that will carry on the life-giving essence.  As our love matures and changes shape, we are looking forward to the new fruit that God will produce through our understanding of himself and of each other.  It may not be as striking as the expectant blooms, splashes of color, and wild petal formations, but still divine and miraculous.  

We are at GIAL again to learn to bear more intentional fruit. The coolest thing about God's garden of people, is that two individuals existing in the body of Christ find themselves part of a life system where fruit of crazy colors, unusual sweetness, and turbo-healthy nutrients good for the whole person abound!  The fruit of a Christian marriage is so spectacular...and we are just getting the first tastes of it as we remember what God did last year in Nigeria, pray for the nations, dream of what God will do with us, and expect our GREAT God to accomplish more than we can ever imagine!  We pray that our time here at GIAL will be an integral part of this new growth in us as we prepare to return to Nigeria in early 2015. 

Grandma and Grandpa Yoder

Getting to know one's Grandparents-in-laws is one of the many joys of being married.  Afterall, Grandma married a Yoder, so I have a lot to learn from her! 

Grandma and Grandpa Yoder visited us in Dallas over our long weekend between sessions!  It was so lovely to fellowship with them! We hiked, biked, toured, worshipped, and ate...a lot! 

We went to the Fort Worth Stockyards!  We missed the "cattle drive," but after Zach realized the cattle were being driven from one side of the block to the other for the tourists, he wasn't too sad.  The longhorns here all look like their pregnant with their round bellies.  No wonder the ground meat in the US has so much fat in it! 

And I had my first beef ribs!  I'm sure I've had pork ones, but this was the "all-you-can-eat ribs!"  That much meat on my plate was...well...delicious and a bit of a culture shock.  I can only imagine what my Nigerian brothers and sisters would think of that!  Notice the dog behind Zach...see any similarities? Written by Christy 

The School Zone Speed Limit

Today I went to the not-too-far store.
Of Cheese and chocolate I needed more.
We came upon a school zone,
Complete with sign and cone.
We slowed, I looked, what did I see?
Beautiful pink flowers upon a tree.
That is when the thought so deep,
Into my rock-like mind did creep,
That slowing down to a good pace,
Might help me run a long-term race.
That is when I then did joyfully hope,
for more school zones to help me cope,
With the rush, the speed, the frenzied run,
Of living this life and having hilarious fun!
I need to schedule school zone places,
Where I can look about and see traces,
Of God's majesty and glory, his eternal signs,
That say, "I'm here, precious daughter of mine!"