Why have we been so silent???

Hello to all of our friends and faithful blog followers! (and by that I mean our family!) I hope life is finding everyone well this time of year. This is our first Tennessee fall and so far the changing of the leaves is a slow process, but we hold out hope none the less. I apologize for the lack of blogs. We have been pretty busy, but this is no excuse. We should be more diligent. So, if nothing else there is a TON of info to let you become privy to! 

Since our last installment we have baked cookies for the neighbors and introduced ourselves, went for a visit to Travis and Emily (brother and sister in-law), and Sonya joined a women's small group bible study. We are really loving the area. One of our favorite things to do, when the weather is nice...which is most of the time.. we go to the top of the hill and read or picnic. Although it's not technically OURS, we do try and take full advantage of the 10+ acres that we consider "our backyard." 

Sonya doing some reading in our backyard

Another fun thing that we've taken part in is the hiking group here at Johnson. We've only gone on one hike so far, but it was really beautiful and a ton of fun! We drove about 30 miles or so to the Smokies and went on one of the trails. It was about 6 miles total...walked about 3 miles, had some lunch, walked back. It's really a gift from God to be able to have hills and mountains and beautiful country so close by....I do miss the coast, but... this ain't so bad!

A mountain stream in the Smokies

Another mountain stream in the Smokies

This has nothing to do with our hike, but I just wanted share this little critter that was hanging out on our clothesline. 

For my World Missions & Evangelism class I am required to do 14 hours of evangelism service hours. For my hours I decided to participate in "Friendspeak" which is conversational english lessons for international students or residents in the Knoxville area, offered by Laurel Church of Christ. One of the aspects of it that I love so much is that Sonya and I can serve together.

We have been truly blessed, because the couple that we were teamed up with are our newest friends Changwoo and Hanjin! They are from South Korea, have been married since May, like us, and have only been in Knoxville for a few months, also like us.  Hanjin studied calligraphy in Daegu, South Korea and is just a sweet and gentle lady. On S. Korea's thanksgiving she made us these fantastic little treats that were shaped like little pumpkins. One of pumpkin flavored and the other was strawberry flavored, made from the real fruit. It was incredible and really impressive the way she shaped them like little pumpkins.

Hanjin's incredible treats!!

Changwoo is just your average run of the mill nuclear scientist at Oakridge National Laboratory. He did his masters work at M.I.T. and then fulfilled his Ph.D requirements back in South Korea. What does he do exactly? He works on neutron spellation. You see, Oakridge has the most powerful neutron spellation beam in the world. For those who don't know, neutron scattering is an important tool in studying how materials are made so they can be improved upon-lighter, cheaper, stronger...and our friend Changwoo is right in the middle of that. (I figured everyone knew about neutron spellation??)

The neutron spellation beam at Oakridge where Changwoo works

 The best part about Hanjin and Changwoo is their humility. You would never suspect that Changwoo was a scientist or that Hanjin had studied calligraphy. They are just really nice people who enjoy life. They are interested in eating fresh, good food and doing things like going to the symphony, learning tango and salsa dancing, and trying new foods. They're really a special couple and we feel blessed to know them. It's a lot of fun to meet and talk about Korea and America, the bible, neutrons, life, marriage, etc. 

Two weekends ago we had a little Weeks family reunion. When you have three kids that live in three different cities, getting everyone together can be kind of a challenge. This is why, anytime all of the Weeks (or Davis) clan can get everyone together it's a special occasion. So, Sonya and I drove over to Johnson City to meet with Travis and Emily, Aaron and Morganne, and Tom and Mary Jane for a weekend filled with food, fun and fellowship (kind of sounds like an invite to a youth program). We had a big dinner Friday night and then Saturday spent the day at the Apple Festival in Erwin, TN. Surprising to us all, there were not many apples and not a single pie eating contest, bobbing for apples contest, or even an apple pie bake off. There were, however, a ton of tents with little crafts and things for the house.

i'm pretty sure that i've lost her to the country....

 After our fun at the Apple Festival, the family journey'd up the mountain to a place called "Beauty Spot," which is an appropriate name. We were able to look out over Erwin and see all the way back to Johnson City. It also intersected part of the Appalachian Trail, so we took a little stroll.

where's sonya??? 

This is as good of a spot as any to take a nap

right after this Sonya was told that it was highly illegal and expensive to pull anything out of the ground on the Appalachian Trail. whoooopsie!

The family just hanging out on top of a mountain. same ol' same ol' 

 It was really great to see everyone and to visit. We can't wait for us all to get together again. We do love having guests. Our friends Gabe and Audrey stopped by for a night and that was great, and my parents will be here in a few weeks. Can't wait!

Other than that we've just been living from one day to the next. I work in the Financial Aid Department at the school, and Sonya is currently working on full time employment. She has a short term job that starts Monday (praise the Lord!) so we're excited for that. We're being taught humility and patience, as well as God's provision from day to day, but we always have all that we need.

Last but not least, Changwoo and Hanjin and Sonya and I went for a walk through some nature trails around the city.  They allowed us to take some mini polaroids for us with their camera (Koreans have the best technology) and we got these....

the tree in the background proves the leaves are slowly changing

on a bridge on the greenway

Anyways, I hope that everyone is well and enjoying life. I am really enjoying school and learning a lot, but am ready for this semester to be over and move on to some new classes. All of the teachers and students are great. God is good. Please continue to pray for us as we move forward over the next few days, weeks, and months in the hopes that we will glorify God the most by what we do. We love you all!

Matt and Sonya

Honeymoon and Saturday around noon

Hello everyone!!! Long time no talk. We pray that everyone is doing well wherever you are. Sonya and I are really enjoying being here in Knoxville. It's been a nutty week, but more on that later. 

So, we've shown a lot of our family pictures from our honeymoon to Ecuador, but we thought we'd throw a few on here so that people who live way far away could get a little glimpse of our adventures. Pictures don't do the trip justice... it was indeed an adventure, but all in all a great time. We saw beautiful parts of the world and met some amazing people. Even an Ecuadorian who had attended school at Georgia Southern. 

Here is my beautiful bride telling everyone how long we had been married. Day 3!

This was set out for us by Soledad upon our arrival in Montanita!

Sonya enjoying the good life at our favorite restaurant Hola! Hola!

I did not find this picture on the internet. It's the actual view from our loft. 

View #2. This was the only morning that was sunny. 

This is a sunset from our room at our friend Carlos and Jeanette's house. 

Ok, so this picture paints a thousand words. This is about 7 pm and after a bus ride where my computer and 

a few other valuables were stolen, and a plane ride. This was our dinner before our final 5 hour bus ride to Shell. 

A little cuisine of Maria cracker cookies and a Coca-Cola! My poor wife.... 

So, there were just a few pictures of the views and good times that we had while galavanting down to Ecuador for our honeymoon. Ok, now on to this week in news from Johnson Bible College. I started classes this week, which was pretty incredible. God has led me on an amazing journey that has, for the time being, led me here to college. He's provided me a true partner and helpmate in Sonya, and is providing for us abundantly. Everyone stop and give a little shout of praise!......ok... 

I am really enjoying my classes so far, although I can already tell that it will be a ton of reading and a lot of hard work. It's good though, because it is all subjects that I am really interested in learning. Tuesdays and Thursdays (no school on Mondays!) I have World Missions and Evangelism, Biblical Hermeneutics (which is a fancy way of saying biblical interpretation), and Pentateuch (which is a fancy name for the first 5 books of the bible). Wednesdays and Fridays I have Basic Christian Beliefs and Marriage and Family. All my professors are cool and seem very eager to help us succeed. 

The students here are pretty nice, but I am finding myself to be an old man and noticing my age gap... I'm one of the two people in class who LIKES doing their homework. Ask me at the end of the semester and I could change my mind. So far so good. Sonya, in the meantime, has been battling the two most ridiculous systems in the entire world, both of which happen to exist in America; health insurance and car insurance. She spent countless hours on the phone, printed out page upon page of rates, and looked at every loophole. Now, some of you may be asking, "Matt, why did Sonya do all of this and not you?" Well, the answer is simple... she is much more thorough than I am. She is my helper and friend and as a unit we are better because she can think of every angle and make sure we're covered. I could have figured it out, but praise the Lord she's brilliant. I did however wash a TON of dishes this week, so I have strengths too. So, after hours of reading and working and living, we decided to go and explore Knoxville last night. Here are a few photos....

We found this guy trying to row through the streets, so I tried to help him.
(and yes gentlemen, i am carrying my wife's purse and am not ashamed)

Sonya much preferred to just console the tired sailor.

Sonya was excited about finding the famous Tennessee Theatre. 

This is Market Square. It's a lot like City Market in Savannah. 

This is a giant tiger. What else would you expect in Market Square? 

This is one of my favorites. Makes me want to join the Army.....ok not really.   (from sonya: Matt MADE me go stand by this person.  that is the first time he has ever MADE me do something.  Of all things.)

We had a great time last night. Explore, get ice cream, come home and watch a movie. Good friday. Today we woke up and I made French toast and coffee. See, I told you I had strengths... although I didn't say it was the BEST french toast. My first try. Pretty decent. Then we went galavanting over town, running some errands. (sonya enters the conversation) We found an amazing bookstore that sells rare used books, including in other languages.  Sonya was in heaven.

Everyone needs a hippopotamus book.  This is mine.  I'll show you when you come over.  It has beautiful pictures and interesting facts about how hippos fertilize the bottoms of African streams with their  poo, and so much organic matter is on the bottom of these streams, including tiny little shrimp!  To me, hippos are a cross between a bear and a seal.  They are like big, slippery, hairless bears that can walk underwater.

hi!  Sonya here.  Matt is --guess what-- washing dishes.  I see he is working on the blog. I asked him to put more pics of him in here, but he said he looks tired in his photos.  That is because he stays up late reading and wakes up early to go to class.  me?  I just lay on the couch and eat bonbons.  Well, not exactly.  :)  

Anyway, it has been two weeks since we've been up here.  I've done a lot of "experimental" cooking (ie: recipe?  who needs a recipe?)  and brushed up on doggone health insurance.  That was a little more --ahem-- overwhelming, than I thought it would be because the gov't is requiring us to have it, and most plans, frankly, offer inadequate coverage, and then there is the whole question of how to wisely plan for a CATASTROPHE, which is so relaxing that I would do it in my spare time.  I mean, PLAN for a CATASTROPHE?  It's just a weird, philosophically challenging idea. But, we finally just went "eenie meanie miney" and picked something.  So, then we celebrated with ice cream and I got two victory books (above).  You are looking at an insured woman, folks.  

Speaking of rugby, matt finally told me that he doesn't really like vegetarian food.  Oh.  (WHAT?!?!  Really?!) Because i find it extraordinary and refreshing and completely wonderful and so I just thought that he would, too.  That's ok, he really likes beans and rice, so that'll do.  (Vegetarian, I know, but he loves it!) Tonight's episode in the kitchen was a total cooking fail.  Veggie burgers with my usual approach (recipes? no way! I got this!) and they were soupy and dry at the same time.  Who knows how i managed that.  They crumbled all apart, but no matter! there is nothing you can't roll up in a trusty burrito shell, (we've learned) so veggie burgers in a burrito shell it was!  Matt put ketchup and mayo on his, so it was the weirdest thing ever.  I love him.  He'll eat anything and smile.  Whatta guy!

(Matt, again) Ok, well I guess that's about all from the Davis camp. We are trying out a new church tomorrow, so we're excited. This week Sonya will be working on her resume so please keep her in your prayers as she attempts to find a job that will pay $114,000 a year and only works 25 hours a week. I, too, am looking for a job, so again just please keep us in your prayers. We do love you all and hope you will all come and visit. 

Matt and Sonya

and here we....go!

Hello everyone. Matt here. My better half has been working tirelessly the past week to get our home in order, so she's resting. I figured now was as good of a time as any to post some photos of our new place and just talk about some of the things that have been going on in the wonderful world of East Tennessee.

Believe it or not everything that we own was packed in that Budget truck, Sonya's car, and that little black car in the back. As you can see, Sonya is anxious to get going.

We began our day bright and early Saturday, August 14, 2010, loaded and ready to move to Knoxville. After 7 hours, a stop to add air to a tire, a phone call to a friend to make sure our moving truck was not going to explode, sitting still in traffic for an hour, and all of the pop music the Budget rental trucks am/fm radio had to offer... we made it to Johnson Bible College! (applause here)  There are no pictures of us unloading the truck, because obviously all hands were carrying boxes and furniture, but just let me say that it was truly a group effort. Sonya's parents and my parents, along with aaron and morganne (brother and sister) made record time. So, after a long day of moving and unpacking, the eight of us went to Puleo's italian grill. Many laughs and good times were had. Sonya and I really love and appreciate our families. There's no way this move could have been made as efficiently and effortlessly as it was without the help of everyone. So, thank you!

Well....ever since then we've just been sitting around and waiting for the boxes to unload themselves.... ok.. this is not true. We've been moving and shaking and unpacking and cleaning (i washed dishes for 4 hours straight the other day). 

Yes, this is Sonya chasing me out of the kitchen....lovingly.

We've made a lot of progress. It hasn't been all work though. It has been time of rest and exploration. Johnson isn't exactly in downtown Knoxville, so to go anywhere is a trek. It has been fun though. We've been downtown and walked around, drove around University of Tennessee campus...which does pail in comparison to University of Georgia campus.. just saying. We've also walked around the Johnson campus. It's beautiful out here with the rolling hills and and trees and even a river that runs past our campus.

This is a view from atop the hill outside our back door. 

Ok, on to the good stuff. Now a tour of the house. First is the study/work room. I will be a student, so it was very important to me to have a good work area. I have a nice new desk and computer(praise the Lord)! We also have some beautiful artwork (courtesy of Lauren Porter, Anthony Faris, and Gabe Hall). 

The desk on the left is Matt's, the work table on the right is Sonya's

Sonya's art supply closet


It's great because not only does the study house my workspace, but there's room enough for Sonya's work table and art supplies so she can be creative and experiment and have fun.

Ok, downstairs (I know I'm doing the tour backwards) is the living room/dining room/kitchen area. This was the first set of rooms to be "finished" mainly because we couldn't walk anywhere with all of the boxes in the way. We've spent some time here eating and watching movies and cooking. 

view from the stairs

view from the front door

Sonya's personal favorite so far, I would say, would have to be the kitchen. It's been great to see her finally have a place to put all of our dishes and for us to be able to use all of the gifts that were given to us at our wedding. This may sound crazy, but I am starting to think that there's a holy moment when a wife finally gets her kitchen in order and steps back and is satisfied--if she likes to cook of course...which she may not admit at first.  

Pardon the mess, I was making BCT's (bacon, cheese, and tomato)
we were out of lettuce. 

The other side of the kitchen with our sink and all our cooking utensils. 

A few rooms, like the bedroom and bathroom are not COMPLETELY finished, but will be soon. It's been an exciting week so far. Travis and Emily came over from Johnson City for a night. We've played bananagrams and just been able to hang out. Classes start on Wednesday, so I am getting pretty excited about my classes. We're also going to be applying for jobs and just trying to live. Praise the Lord for the opportunity to be here and for His provisions. We ask for your prayers, of course, as all of this is definitely new to us. Pray for Gods continued provision for jobs and finances. Pray that I can remember, somewhat, how to be a student, while also remaining humble and teachable. Pray for Sonya as she begins the job hunt this week. And most of all, please just pray for our spirit as we do miss home and family and friends. We pray that this step of faith be glorifying to God and that we are able to play a small role in whatever He has for us here. Thanks again for your prayers. We love you all!!!!