Everland with the Youth Group

Everland is Korea's version of Disney World or a version of ValleyFair if you live in MN.  It's an amusement park full of rides, games, a zoo area, petting zoo, indoor kids play ground, theater, restaurants, people dressed up in costume and more.  We took 12 of the young adults from the youth group yesterday and all had a blast.

 I was a little hesitant going since it has been so hot recently and since it was an all day trip (meaning no nap for the little man) but I was really glad I went and enjoyed some great time with some of the young ladies in the group.  This summer I have had a small Tuesday night Bible study in our living room after Caleb goes to bed. We have been studying Colossians together.  It was fun to spend some "fun time" just bonding and enjoying time together outside of Bible study group. I felt like I got to know a lot of them in a better way and build our relationships.  They are wonderful young ladies and I've really enjoyed my time with them.

Thank you for your continued prayer and support as we live and work and minister to this precious next generation in Songtan, South Korea.  We value your prayers, your emails, cards, gifts and support as we are away from "home" and figuring out what ministry and family and Church look like in our lives.

Traditions

One thing I am glad I learned from my Grandma Hope and Mom:  How to bake pies!  I don't do it often, but Caleb and I enjoyed baking some for a recent event and I wanted to post a thank you to the women in my family!

Mine is on the far right, Caleb's "pie" is on the left!

Turned out great, love you ladies!

Stress Less

Thoughts on de-stressing.

And best of all - they are all FREE.

Walking in Daddy's shoes

Caleb was talking with one of his friends and she told him to "be a big boy." He looked shocked and replied, "I'm NOT a big boy, I'm a MAN!"  The past few months have been full of wanting to be "just like daddy." I love it.

Happy 4th of July!

To my shame, I have never really put a lot of thought into the Fourth of July.  The years I lived in the States, I always enjoyed the parades, celebrations, picnics and fireworks, the getting together with friends and family, Shari's outlandish sweater {wink}and the summer-ness of the Holiday.  I have always been thankful for our servicemen and women who protect our country and fight for our freedom but I just never put a lot of thought into this particular holiday. It usually snuck up on me and wasn't something I put a lot of forethought into.  Not so this year.

We have been trying to make an effort to begin establishing family traditions and intentionally celebrating holidays with our little family.  I want Caleb (and our future children) to grow up with a sense of traditions and an understanding of why we celebrate the things we celebrate.  Two years ago, I purchased the book Family Celebrations: Meeting Christ in Your Holidays and Special Occasions.  I bought a used copy for a penny plus shipping shortly before we moved to Korea.  I love Ann Hibbard's thoughts on making occasions Christ-centered and the importance of them to children growing up.  While a lot of her craft ideas might be outdated or over Caleb's head right now, I find it a good starting place for ideas and thinking through our Holidays and special occasions.

Her thoughts on the 4th particularly stood out to me, as I read over it last week in preparation for this week's holiday.  She uses the story of Daniel to teach children about being persecuted for our beliefs and following God.  She goes on to talk about the persecuted Church and the number of people around the world who are in danger or being persecuted because of what they believe. This is also particularly convicting, as we live just hours from North Korea, a country unable to freely worship and just hours (by plane) from China, another largely persecuted country.  Literally, our neighbors can't practice freedom of religion and are persecuted for their faith in God.  She encourages us to be in prayer over the 4th (and always) for our brothers and sisters in Christ who don't enjoy the same blessing and freedom we do.  Finally, it encouraged me to be thankful this Holiday for the freedom to believe in, pray to and worship God freely, openly and without threat of persecution.  The 4th has never held so much meaning for me before this year.  Oh the things having little kids can teach! And here we are thinking we are setting out to teach them....!

Tomorrow, we will celebrate by joining our Church family for a picnic filled with food (I'm making a giant batch of potato salad and several apple pies), games (Steve's in charge of this!), fellowship, fireworks and more.  Looking forward to it!

Happy 4th of July, May it be filled with gratitude and fun!

Bonus Blog:  For Steve's thoughts on the 4th, check out his recent blog post on our Church blog.

Great End to the Week

 

This is how I spent last Friday evening - at a new coffee shop just down the block from our apartment, prepping for my July Childbirth Education class and enjoying some much-enjoyed time alone while the boys had some much-needed "guy time" at home.  It was a great way to end a busy week without daddy.  Thank you, Steve, Steve for some time away and for wanting to invest in time with Caleb!

Last week was a busy one - Steve and his friend Jason (local P.E. teacher at ICS) hosted a "Sports Camp" for teens in the area.  Not as many showed up as they had hoped but they had a great time nonetheless and I think next year will be bigger, based on how much these five enjoyed it.  Steve also took behind the wheel Korea-style last week, logging 6 hours of crazy driving time and (finally) passing his 15 passenger van driver's test!  This test is something that he has been trying to obtain since we arrived over a year and half ago and every single time he attempted, something went wrong and he was unable to pass until this past week. This is great news for us, as it means we will now have access to driving a vehicle for things occasionally such as getting groceries or giving students rides when they otherwise could not get to youth group.  Praise the Lord!

Waist High

April 2012