Random recent pictures

The past week has felt really busy in some ways, Steve has had a lot going on and has been gone a lot and then we went to a wedding on Saturday. 

The above picture was taken at the wedding, but is in our Church so you can kind of see what the inside of the church looks like.

This is Pastor Chapman (the head English Pastor and Steve's boss).  Riley, the groom, is also pictured and Denise next to him is his best man.  Dennis is very involved in the church.

Above is Marvin holding Caleb.  He loves Caleb and has been really welcoming and loving towards us.  He is also very involved in church and him and his family have been so welcoming towards us.

Above is a picture of Kayla and her friend.  Kayla is Marvin's daughter.  Marvin and his wife prayed for a baby for a long time and the Lord blessed them with this beautiful daughter later in life, like Abraham and Sarah!  She is one of the sweetest 8 year olds I've met and she also really enjoys Caleb.  She watched him for us durning the service.

Pictured above is Marty, already a good friend to Steve and our family! He has also been so warm and welcoming and loving towards us and Caleb.  He is the picture guy and is great at photography and documenting everything at the church and sending out pictures! 

Pictured above are the happy Bride and Groom, exiting the church!

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But in other ways it has been less eventful, especially for Caleb and I (who end up staying home a lot because Caleb is still little and taking 2 naps a day + going to bed at 7pm most nights).



Saying good bye to DaDa in the mornings!

Above is a picture of Caleb and Steve's morning good bye ritual when Steve leaves for work...And Caleb is looking adorable in his Buzz Lightyear PJ's!

This one's for you Luke--Your Cousin in Buzz PJ's!  You are rubbing off on him already....! =)

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But Caleb and I have had a chance to get out and do a few things.  One lady (Teal) who works at the International Christian School took us to Home Plus for the first time (similar kind of to a Target in the states).  And Michelle (the pastor's wife and new friend to me) took us to New Core (one of the shopping malls not too far away, similar to maybe a Macy's but very expensive!).  They had Christmas trees decorated and it was fun to walk around.  After, she took me to E-Mart (which is similar to a walmart) and she bought us these nummy coffee milk shakes in a bag (not pictured) but NUM!  Interesting fact, Walmart came to Korea several years back but couldn't make it and had to pull out of this market.  Not sure why, but I thought that was interesting.

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Here is a picture of Caleb "meeting" his new friend Charlie Jude for the first time.  He got all excited and started pointing and going "ooo" "ooo."  It was cute. He loves babies and other kids, especially other little boys!



And here are some more recent pictures of Caleb, just playing....Nothing too new.  Lately, he has been giggling a TON.  He has giggled for a long time now, but more and  more recently he'll just start laughing and giggling.  Something strikes his little funny bone but not always sure what!  And he is very much into laughing when those around him laugh, even though he has no idea what is so funny.

Oh! And I'm trying really really hard to get him dancing on camera!  The other day we were talking about dancing and said the word and he just started doing it!  I've never seen him do it before and had no idea he knew that word but now whenever we say "dance" he starts right up (except when I have the camera!! Then he promptly stops).  One of these days.....It's pretty cute though!
And that's been us the last week or so....Nothing too exciting but that's what we've been up to!

Happy December!

We went to a Christmas wedding yesterday and took the opportunity to dress up and take some pictures...we meant to get a family picture at the wedding but forgot.  I'm disappointed but oh well, maybe another time!  But for now, sending you Merry Christmas pictures from our home to yours!

Welcome to Apt. #303

Well I've been a little hesitant to post a tour of our apartment because, frankly, we aren't totally set up and it doesn't look like I would like it to look and isn't very "homey" yet but we've had numerous requests to see our new home so below is a little video tour we did last night.  I hope you enjoy seeing where we live and are able to better picture our life and home here.  You are always welcome to come visit or stop over!

Happy Birth Day, Charlie Jude!

Here's a shout out to our good friends Dan and Tara and their new arrival, Charlie Jude!

We were in a small group for several years with Dan and Tara and were thrilled to find out shortly after Caleb was born that they were expecting.  It felt extra exciting because we had been praying with them for a while that the Lord would bless them with a baby and we were so happy for them to find out they were pregnant.  When we had Caleb, we were the first of many of our close friends to have kids and in some ways it was a lonely and isolating time (there is a big difference between being two and being three!).  We were so excited to have some close friends to walk through the parenting stage of life with.

Above is a picture of Megan (another really close friend and sister in Christ who we were thrilled to find out was pregnant this fall) during her first trimester, me and Caleb at 8 months post-birth, and Tara in her last trimester.  I love that we were able to capture our friendship and the various stages of mommy-hood.

And here is a picture of Caleb and his new friend, Baby Schmidt.  I have a sneaky suspicion he was whispering naughty things to "innocent" lil Charlie in this picture because (suspiciously) Charlie was a little over a week overdue (Caleb was between 2-3 weeks overdue), Charlie was 8 pounds, 12 ounces (Caleb was 9 pounds), Charlie was 21.5 inches (Caleb was 22.5 inches), Tara labored 24 hours and pushed for 2...hmmmm....Sounds familiar, huh? Here's to hoping he didn't also share his secrets to bad sleeping habits!

Happy Birthday, Charlie!  And now the countdown to Baby Schaap's arrival.....

Advent Season

So it is that favorite time of year, Christmastime. 

Our first Christmas tree 2008

Last week I was feeling rather sorry for myself and was missing my big box of Christmas decorations all packed up and sitting in a shed half way across the world.  And I was thinking about Christmas without a tree and without decorations and without family and possibly without snow.  On top of that, it will be Caleb's first Christmas and that made it all the worse in my mind.  I was throwing a good old little sorry-for-me party in my head and heart.  I should have known I was in for a lesson.

Steve and I also started an advent Bible study together last Sunday (first Sunday of Advent).  It has a portion of scripture to read each day in anticipation of Christmas and to focus our minds daily on the real meaning of Christmas, why Jesus was born and why it is such a big deal.  The first week we read a lot about sin.  An ugly and unlikely topic to pair with commercial Christmas, I know.  We read in Genesis about the fall and we read about how we are condemned as sinners.  We read about Jesus being prophesied in the Old Testament.  And we talked a lot about how the need for Jesus (and subsequently the need for Christmas) really isn't very pretty at all.  We needed Christmas.  We needed Jesus to come and be born in a manger and live the perfect life to die in our place and rescue us from our guilt, our shame, our sin, our evil hearts and deeds and thoughts.  Our pity parties.  Our selfish feel-sorry-for me days. 

And that lead me to realize my sin and my skewed view of the meaning of Christmas.  It made me see how my eyes had shifted from the real meaning to the commercial meaning.  I'd gotten wrapped up and consumed and distracted.  My gaze had gone from Jesus to me. And trees. And lights. And ornaments. And decorations.  This.  This was the very reason Jesus came.  The very reason He came to die. 

And so the Lord gently shifted my gaze back into focus and my heart settled down, excited for this season of Advent and reflecting on the meaning behind Christmas. 

But it doesn't stop there.  We recieved a phone call from a couple in the church who are going on vacation in December, asking if we would like to borrow some Christmas decorations because they weren't going to fully decorate since they were going to be gone.  They brought over a big box of Christmas decorations.  Oh and it doesn't stop there either.  The other day we received a message asking if we had a Christmas tree and offering to lend us one of those too. 

I stand humbled. I stand corrected.  And I stand blessed in undeserved ways.  As has been the case often in the past few months, all I can think of is "grace."  Undeserved grace.  Thank you, Jesus.

Popcorn!!!

This post brought to you in honor of Kaitlyn Joy and in memory of our beloved air popper popcorn maker!

**Sorry it is a little quiet...Caleb was sleeping and we were trying to not be too loud.

Lil C and Big Daddy

Lil C and I have been having all sorts of fun...He is turning into quite the personality! 

 He is a little social ham most of the time, with a dash of daring, a large sprinkle of spirited baby, and a generous helping of sweet angel pie.

Lately we've been seeing lots of these:

Taking a knee....I think it is pretty cute and have been trying to capture it in a picture.

Yesterday (not pictured) he calmly went from that to standing, looked at me, smiled real big like "what's the big deal, mom, didn't know I could do that?"  Stood there a while longer just smiling away and then cooly sat down, like he'd been standing for months and it was no biggie. 

We have also been getting frequent attempts like this...

And this...



But they are kind of hard to catch on camera....And of course when video is on he'll have nothing to do with any of it.  Typical.

Speaking of catching on camera.....Turns out Caleb isn't the only ham in the household....

No he isn't preaching....If you are wondering what he is doing, I'll clue you in by saying you are at a disadvantage because you can't hear the beat.

And if this suprises you at all, you must be one of our newer friends! =)