Friends

We have a new(er) couple in our church (The Shorts) and they have two little girls.  This is Caleb and the older one (Anya) at the Coex Aquarium.

"Baby" Emma and Caleb, just hanging out after dinner.

Steve and friend Jason (Isaac's daddy).

Playdate with (L to R)  Sadie, Elisha, Caleb, Victoria.

Iz loves Caleb!

Neighbor boy who plays with C on the playground out back.

Caleb really really enjoys one of the youth (Jonah Caleb)

Caleb loves Isaac!

Mama, Iz and C.

Bibimbop

In a word?  Num.

"Wordless Wednesday" (US Time)

Team Zanger & Lantz Life

Check out our friends at Team Zanger for some cute baby pics (remember baby Emma being born? yeah, she's four months old now and totally cute) and some never-before-seen-on-this-blog pictures of Caleb.  He was hamming it up big time for Emma and enjoying all of her giggles and attention. 

AND THEN go check out our other friends at The Lantz Life for some more adorable baby pics (seriously a good thing this child is under a year so he can be the "cutest baby boy under 1" and not compete with Caleb!) and some other never-before-seen-on-this-blog pics of Lil C.  He loves his buddy "I'zac!"

joy's reliable foundation

When our dear friends the Maher's left Korea in May, Elisa gifted me a book called "31 Days of Praise."  I have been going through it as I have been fighting for joy in Jesus Christ alone, regardless of circumstances or fickle emotions.

In the introduction, Ruth Myers quotes Hudson Taylor's reflections on John 7:37, "Who does not thirst?  Who has not mind-thirsts or heart-thirsts or body-thirsts?  Well no matter which one or whether I have them all (Jesus says) 'Come unto Me and'  remain thirsty?  Ah no! 'Come unto me and DRINK.'  What, can Jesus meet my need?  Yes, and more than meet it.  No matter how intricate my path, how difficult my service, no matter how sad my bereavement, how far away my loved ones, no matter how helpless I am, how deep are my soul yearnings -- Jesus can meet all.  All and more than meet."

Today's praise point said "I praise you that the Lord Jesus lived His life sinlessly, in total accord with reality, with no falseness, no self deception, no dark secrets, nothing to regret or be ashamed of...that He proclaimed the TRUTH, the one utterly reliable foundation for our thinking and living."

I find it so easy to base my thoughts (and thus my emotions) on unworthy foundations, on circumstances, on feelings, on whims, on my own thoughts, on the way others treat me, on how my day is going, on how rested I feel or how clean my house is (or more often isn't).  It's hard to have joy when you base your thoughts, feelings and emotions on an unreliable foundation.  I am striving (and mostly failing) to put my hope, my trust, my thoughts, my emotions and my joy on the reliable foundation of Jesus.  He is the only utterly reliable foundation for my thinking and my living.

"Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God,

In every part with praise,

That my whole being may proclaim

Thy being andd Thy ways.

Not for the lip of praise alone,

Nor e'en the praising heart

I ask, but for a life made up

Of praise in every part."

~ Horatio Bonar

G'ma Hope's garden ~ July 2011



Celebrating....Lesson's Learned, a weekly debrief

I fell in love with this adorable photography blog when a friend of ours (Charlotte) had family pictures done through her last winter.  She is an expat wife who happens to also be living on this side of the pond and is an artsy crafty extraordinaire.  I became obsessed with stalking her blog began following her story more closely as her and her husband adopted their first child this spring.  Since Steve and I feel the Lord may be leading us to adopt as we expand our family, it is always an interesting topic and something close to our hearts.  We read a lot about it and hearing real-life stories are always inspiring.

Each week, as she has been adjusting to mama-hood, she has been doing a "lessons learned" blog post and inviting others to link up.  I've been sitting on the silent sidelines too long and have decided to join the fun in "Celebrating...Lessons Learned." As I've said before on this blog, it is absolutely incredible what BIG lessons such tiny (inexperienced, and often wordless) little beings can teach.  And I love her take on "Celebrating" the lessons ('oft hard learned) along the way.  Too many times I find myself regretting, lamenting, or desparing over my mistakes.  Celebrating my growing and maturing and learning sounds like a lot more fun. 

And besides, a little bit of humor goes a long way, as my lessons this week will attest:

Lessons Learned August 21:

- Toddlers aren't the only ones who can throw tempter tantrums.  Adults are just much better at making them look socially acceptable and pretty on the outside, while raging the all-out-on-the-floor-kicking-and-screaming-and-having-a-pity-party on the inside. It can get ugly, folks, and it is incredible how young we all are at heart, isn't it?

- It is good to remember to stop and distinguish between childishness (ie being a child, by nature a mini scientist curious about all things WORLD) and being outright disobedient.  Disobedience is not okay, but childishness doesn't always need to go punished (Sheperding a Child's Heart talks about this).  In fact, sometimes instead of getting frustrated, joining in the fun can go a long ways:

Case in point:  When I discover my floor and a certain 18 month old covered in stickers.

I started to get frustrated, then this sweet, confused look stopped me, reminding me how fun sticking stickers all over must have seemed and reminding me that I never actually told him not to put them on the floor or on himself and that's what stickers are for, right? To stick.

So we decorated my feet, snapped some pictures, giggled and had a talk about putting stickers on paper and never on the floor, walls, highchair etc.

And my biggest lesson this week?

-  Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER (and can I just repeat NEVER one more time for emphasis?) put your toddler to bed without a onesie on.  Even if you live in Korea and it is hot and humid.  And you don't have an air conditioner.  And you have a tender moment of compassion and think it might be nice to nap in just a diaper.  Don't do it.  Be heartless. And selfish.  Just this once.

Unless, of course, you enjoy spending your afternoon cleaning up smeared toddler poop from every surface of your crib and toddler. 

At least he didn't eat it, right? 

 Lessons learned.

Rumparoozin' A Rice Patty

There is a "Fluff in Nature" photo contest over at Happily Domestic that we thought we would try to enter so yesterday we stopped by a rice patty near the mountain by our home that we walk past almost every time we go hiking and stopped for a little fluff photoshoot. 

We all three had a blast taking the pictures and I thought Steve did a really great job as the camera man...made me wonder why we don't do little photoshoots more often.

As Caleb likes to say "Fun time."

P.S.  In case you aren't in to cloth diapering, Rumparooz is a brand of cloth diaper

Stalker Steve

Okay, didn't know my hubby had stalker skills but apparently he does....

Took these behind our backs (literally) as we went out sippy cup in hand to "jump in de puddles" and "go slide" at the "park owsside."



Wheels

First set of wheels...and lovin' it!

P.S.  If you watched a recent Tout in which Caleb was talking about "drivin' da car," now you know what he was talking about!



"Wordless Wednesday"

Summer in Korea

Seriously, it's no wonder we're all "down."  "Seasonal depression" isn't only for the winter, apparently the summer is just as bad in K-town....just grey, grey and more grey. 

 "Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, Please come out and Play!"

Recipe Randomness

We have been working hard on that "try-not-to-buy-more-groceries-until-every-last-thing-is-used-up" dollar won saving strategy...not the most fun way to cook but it definately stretches the imagination right along with dollar won and is a great way to get creative in the kitchen and put the culinary skills to the test.

Many days I think "it is just not possible to pull another meal out of this random assortment of food items" and I'm always surprised.  Allrecipes.com has a life-saving feature that allows you to enter in the food items you do have and the ones you don't have and it pulls up recipes that fit your search.  This has been a wonderful tool these past months.  I am also often surprised at how a seemingly odd assortment of ingredients can come together quite nicely.  We have also found that curry is a life saver (for us anyway).  As Steve likes to say, "curry makes anything taste better."  True story.

As I searched through our freezer and cupboard today, I actually found more than I was anticipating (always a nice thing).  I found some chick peas and some lentils that a dear friend had gifted us, I found some pre-made brown rice in the freezer and some frozen spinach (another gift), and some carrots that needed desperately to be eaten.....about 30 minutes later we had dinner on the table and Steve said our kitchen "smelled like India."  He would know.

It always happens to me when we cook this way (using up random ingredients and not following a recipe) that occasionally we will make something delicious quite on accident but are never able to repeat since it was thrown together.  So I thought I'd write it down here on the blogdiggity where I could actually find it again.  That and I am always ever-so-thankful when the blogs I stalk follow post a good recipe.

Here goes:

- In one pan I reheated the soaked brown rice with a little coconut oil to make it crisp up and some garlic for flavor
- In another pan I combined cooked lentils, cooked chickpeas, chopped carrots, garlic, and spinach (quantity depends on how much you want to make...I did about 2 cups of each of the beans and spinach and 3 large carrots because that is what we had).
- I added coconut milk (I used half a can because it is a precious commodity in Korea that I use sparingly but I would recommend a whole can) to the beans/carrots.  And then got crazy with the spices.
- In decending order (not measured, to taste):  curry, tumurec powder, cumin, paprika, pepper flakes, salt, ground cloves, cinnamon....If Caleb was better at tolerating spice, I would have added more pepper.

Best part? 

Caleb ate it up,

 literally.

"More Pleeeeeeaaaaasee"

Clean Plate club.

Who says nutritious can't also be delicious?

PS  When I make this again, I'd for sure add onions.

Daddy in Training!

Daddy&C May 2010

C&Caillou August 2011

Teaching real boys how to become real men.

Macho, manly, tough are not antonyms for sensitive, loving and nurturing.

Personally, I think the mannliest of men are the ones who are able to do both.

Today's Smile brought to you by Caleb Houser

Cute Picture of the week

Leave it to my friend Meggy and her excellent photography skills plus her over the top creativity to post an adorable picture on facebook that made my day.  It helps that she has an adorable baby too.

Seriously, how cute is he?

Yes, I'll still claim him...

This week was VBS week at SCBC, 5 days of truth-filled fun with a high of 65 kids learning about Jesus, the Rock of Ages....Steve and a few of his young men did the closing act (a rap summarizing the Truths learned this week). It was a big hit and a lot of fun - I think they did pretty well, don't you? To be honest, in person was a lot better but the clip captures it pretty well all the same.

A few other pictures from the week: