Mountain Pictures

Steve left this afternoon to take the youth on a weekend ski trip.  They are going to a resort a few hours away and will ski until about 10pm tonight and then all day tomorrow before heading back tomorrow evening.  Steve worked really hard on this trip....It's a lot of work to figure out a big event in a foreign country and all the little details!  He also put a lot of thought and time and prayer into what to talk about this weekend with the kids.  He decided to talk about hope and what we are putting our hope in.  He created a study that he plans to do at various intervals throughout this evening and tomorrow.  He even made me an extra copy so I could to it "along with him" and we could talk about it when he gets back.  I'm excited for it and would love for your prayers for this weekend!  Please pray that everyone stays safe, pray that Steve will have a great time bonding with the youth and forming deeper relationships, and pray for him to be a clear and effective communicator of the Gospel and where we are placing our hope.  Pray too for the youth hearing these great truths.  I challenge you too, dear Readers, where are we placing our hope?  If we are placing our hope in anything but Jesus Christ, we will be disappointed and come up empty.  Even as believers, we easily fall into the trap of misplacing our hope.  Where are you placing your hope and where are you looking for hope?

Anyway, since Steve is gone and he has not posted his pictures from his pastors retreat from about a month ago (and I have repeatedly reminded him) I've decided to take matters into my own hands....I figure 1) He's gone skiing on some crazy mountain in Korea right now so he'll be none the wiser, right? and 2) I've given him a month and 3) I've reminded him multiple times so I'm deeming it fair game at this point.  I know ya'll want to see so you'll probably side with me in the event of an argument and so I'm feeling pretty safe and justified right now. =)

Last month Steve went on a pastor's retreat and one of the "bonding" activities they did was to go climb a mountain.  Now climbing moutains and hiking in Korea is a big deal and something I'm pretty excited about doing THIS SUMMER but winter hiking, really?  Doesn't sound appealing to me.  But, to each his own and Steve had a good time climbing the mountain.  He took some pretty pictures too.  Apparently they climbed UP the mountain and went sledding DOWN the mountain. 

Okay, so maybe after seeing his gorgeous pictures I might be a little more interested in this winter hiking idea....maybe next year!  It's been warming up here and I've been told that the worst of Korean winter is behind us and that now it's full force to spring.

And pictured above is the group that climbed the mountain.  Take a look again.  Does anything about this picture strike you as funny?  Maybe if you see the next picture and then compare, you'll catch it.

This is the group that hiked the mountain (Steve not pictured).

And here it is with Steve again....Did you catch it?  Check out everyone's sleek, mostly black, professional, Northface/brand name full out hiking gear -- boots, pants, jackets, facemasks, hiking sticks....And then there is Steve with his maroon Augsburg sweatpants, a random grey sweatshirt, a hat and a striped scarf with tennis shoes.  Yeah, remember when I told you hiking is a big deal in Korea?  It's a really, really big deal.  And Steve kinda sticks out....But that's my husband and I love him.  It didn't bother him and I think everyone just thought it was fun that he was willing to go but we did get a good laugh out of it when we looked at the pictures together!