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Posted on October 24, 2020
by Nathan
New Translation Project
If I were to rank the all the books I've read in terms of the impact they have had on my life, a book titled By Divine Design would definitely be in the top three. I'm excited to report that we have recently started translating it into Ukrainian!
Despite being fluent speakers of Ukrainian, we don't actually do the translation ourselves. Instead, we hire a translator to do the work, and the result is a text that sounds much more like it was written by a native speaker. But that doesn't mean that Josh and I are off the hook! We read through the translation, comparing it with the original, making notes on the spots that didn't quite get translated right, and then sit down with the translator to sort them out. And since By Divine Design contains a lot of higher-level language and concepts, there is a lot to do! Take this closing thought from Chapter One as an example of one of the more thorny spots for a translation team: "In forming this independent soul and then releasing him to his own cognizance, in a real sense, God had entrusted His sovereignty to this man and his descendants. This and all that would result from it were and are by Divine design."
Web Development
We are continuing to make progress on different web development projects. Sometimes it's "two steps forward, one step back", but the good news is that we are still moving in the right direction.
Family
Not much to report on here. Except for a couple sniffles, we are happy and healthy, and life continues on!
The whole family!
Posted on September 18, 2020
by Nathan
Web Development
Just last night, Josh and I were testing a new feature of Bible First Online that makes it easier to sign someone up for Bible First wherever you happen to be, using just a smartphone! Our goal is to finish up a few last features, then recruit some friends to be beta testers while we tie up some more loose ends.
Just tap the Invite Now button, and you get a QR code, or a signup key and web address!
Bible First
While we work on Bible First Online, it is nice to see a steady stream of people finishing the Bible First course. So far this year, about 3-4 people have been graduating each month. We also occasionally get notes and testimonials which remind us that others are using Bible First as well!
Coronavirus
New Coronavirus cases in Ukraine continue to rise, averaging about 3,000 per day now. The good news is that new cases in our corner of Ukraine have remained stable.
Family
Cooler weather is returning to Ukraine. It will be nice to have a break from the heat, but that also means that a long, cold winter is coming. This morning, Katelin and the kids were trading out their sandals for shoes and digging out their jackets! Yesterday, Katelin spent the day canning tomatoes. Fall is in the air!
This swing is just right for three sisters!
Posted on August 27, 2020
by Nathan
Carpathian Mountain Outreach
CMO 2020 went great! At least, as far as I can tell! For the first time ever, thanks to COVID-19, I was not a part of CMO at all. Instead, CMO took place in Colorado and was organized by CMO alumni. To see pictures and read reports, you can visit the Onward for Christ Facebook page.
Bible First Reprint
The reprint of the English Bible First lessons is still in progress. Our graphic designer recently came back on the radar and mocked up some initial designs, so that's a step in the right direction.
Web Development
Web development is also going well. One of the things I recently learned was how to use a new CSS framework called Tailwind that we plan to use in the future. CSS is what makes a website look nice and puts the content of a webpage where it's supposed to go. (If you'd like to see what websites like Amazon or Wikipedia look like without CSS, click here.) In the here and now, however, the CSS framework I was using for this blog was going obsolete. And so I was able to put my newfound skills to good use by replacing the old CSS framework for our blog with Tailwind.
This is what our blog looks like without CSS.
Coronavirus
On the one hand, over the last month, new Coronavirus cases in Ukraine have roughly doubled from about 1,000 per day to 2,000. On the other hand, cases in our area of Ukraine have remained fairly stable. We will see what the future holds.
Family
While on the subject of sickness, our family got hit by a nasty virus a couple weeks ago. That's one of the reasons this update is later than usual. But we are thankful to be healthy again.
Aside from the time we were sick, it's been nice for us to start getting back together with friends and attending church in person. School has started again, so that's keeping Katelin and the girls busy. Jonathan recently had his second birthday, and Lydia's birthday is right around the corner!
Soaking up that summer weather!
Posted on July 17, 2020
by Nathan
Bible First Online
Last month, I mentioned my "continuing education" in the area of web development. That has been going quite well, and I'm looking forward to jumping in to some "real" web development soon!
Bible First Reprints
The reprint of the Ukrainian lessons went great! The lessons themselves look good and so far, we haven't found any typos, so that's always good. I now need to go back and incorporate some suggestions from the translator, but that's a job for another day.
The reprint of the English lessons is in a holding pattern right now. We are waiting on the graphic designer, and he is finishing up a big project, and then hopefully we are next!
Carpathian Mountain Outreach
As you may recall, we had to cancel CMO 2020 because of the coronavirus situation. But in its place, a couple CMO alumni decided to organize their own CMO! It will be taking place next week, so be praying that all would go well.
Coronavirus
I mentioned last month that we are living in one of Ukraine's coronavirus hotspots. Gratefully, while our area has remained one of the hotspots, the number of new cases has leveled off, instead of spiking upward, at least for now. Some of the restricitons have been loosened, so we are excited about the pospect of returning to some of the things that have been off-limits for a while now.
Wake up and smell the oatmeal!
Family
The girls are enjoying their summer vacation! Of course, sometimes they can get a bit bored with all the free time, so Katelin found a online cooking class to do with them, and I got them set up with a typing program. I think there are also plans to learn some sewing skills. So while school may officially be out, the learning continues!
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