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Visit my personal ESL (English as a Second Language)
page.
Hi!
My name's Eric. This is a short rundown of my history. Every life has a story. Mine just have changed locations a lot
over the years.
Welcome to The Evolution:
For more information on our extended family history, go to the Home Page of the Ohio
Warrens and see our family tree and history in more detail.
New York
I was born in New York--Rochester to be specific. It was--and I
imagine still is--a Kodak town. I spent much of my life there.
They say you learn the lion's share of what you will learn during a lifetime
before the age of six. While I still can't necessarily agree with that
assumption, I guess that's where I started. Well, at least I learned to
ski!
Australia
Mom went to visit dad while he was on a business trip in Sidney. I
was only eleven, but I still remember the Blue Mountains, the Opera House (of
course) as well as the Great Barrier Reef. The Gold Coast still stands
out in my mind, if not only for the impacts the meter maids made on me.
Hong Kong
When I was around eleven, we moved to Hong Kong. My vague memories
are of us going somewhat kicking and screaming, but I'm still glad we
went. The memories of the Junk (that is to say, a boat),
the islands, culture and language seem quite vivid at times. They are
nurtured by infrequent flashes of the lives we all led in the HK International
School.
New York
The state and its underrated upstate region are good enough to keep
going back to. It was my locus until I got married. Five months
later, Kansas City became the place to call--repeatedly--home.
Click here to see some additional wedding pictures.
Schools and Universities
Bill Cosby said one true thing that is forever with me. You can quote
me. "I started out as a child." My superior education
(not to say that Sutherland High School in Pittsford, New York is not
superior--rated top 50 in Time Mag. 1990) but my post-secondary life began in
1978 when I graduated from my Public Education. After that, I look like
an itinerant car thief.
| 1978 to 1979 University of Buffalo, SUNY |
| 1979 to 1980 Metropolitan Community College, Rochester |
| 1983 to 1986 Calvary Bible College, Kansas City (bachelor's) |
| 1995 Maple Woods Community College |
| 1995 to 1997 University of MO, Kansas City (Spanish Ed.
Certification) |
| 1997 to 1998 University of MO, Kansas City (Masters--ESL) |
| 2000 to present Longview Community College (Kansas City) |
Kansas City, MO
When we came to Kansas City in 1983. It did not take us long to
settle on a church. KCBT has been our home church since then. Here, our kids were born at St.
Josephs Hospital (both in the same room). And to this place, we seem to always
come back.
Brazil
We moved to Brazil in 1989 sent by both the Kansas City Baptist Temple and
Kansas City Youth for Christ. Although not traditional missionaries, we
did receive support from many people here in the states. At first, we
worked with the First Baptist Church of Niteroí (Priméra Igreja Baptista de
Niteroí) for nearly four years. We made some tremendous friends and had
some of the most memorable times of our lives. There is too much there
to summarize. Then, we joined the First Baptist Church of Pendochiba.
The pattern was consistent: we made friends whom we will never forget and did
things that will always be a part of us.
Once I read that change causes stress (duh). In the reputable magazine
(Cosmopolitan or something like that) they said that more than 200 relative
stress points could result in devastating emotional turmoil. Adding up
the influences, we determined we had accrued more than 400 points to our
credit. Thank God we survived our transition to Brazilian culture.
Better than that, it did not take long before it became our home!
Click here for a few additional Brazil pictures.
Now (KC again)
I hope it doesn't me we have no imagination to say we came back to Kansas
City! One prefers to think that there is not beating a good thing.
That's the timeline God has given me and us. But it is best to represent
a timeline with an arrow pointing past the present to signify that the line is
not done being extended. To this I will hopefully continue to add...
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