Catching Up - December 2014

Christmas Gifts from Aunt Wow

Ha Family Christmas



Meeting Auntie Jules

UCA BCM - Where Shin & I met

Seefeld Family Christmas

New Year's Eve - Zoo Lights

Weekend Update With Alycia

Not as funny as Seth Meyers, I can assure you. But an update nonetheless. :-)

Campus tour from Jules, an evening with Pippin (and Fassy), and fun with family = great weekend.

Today was

A good day. I promise this isn't going to be a running blog, but I ran a whole mile, walked two tenths, and then ran another mile! Total distance on the treadmill was 2.3 miles. And most of it was running! Woo hoo!

I also got to take a friend out to celebrate her 16th bday and she let her little cousin tag along. It was a lovely afternoon for everyone.

Unfortunately, it's my sister's 20th birthday and I did NOT get to take her out or do anything with her. But I sent card & $, texted, called, and sang. So I'm hoping all of those make up for not actually being there. I also publicly blogged about it- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY SISTER!!! (see picture to appreciate her cuuuuteness)

Oh! And I have some shmancy photos to share. The other night, Shin and I were invited to join his boss' family at a fundraising event featuring Laura Bush. We got dressed up real profesh! Laura looked decent too. ;-)

Psalm 65:4-10

4 How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You
To dwell in Your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple. 5 By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation,
You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea;
6 Who establishes the mountains by His strength, Being girded with might;
7 Who stills the roaring of the seas,
The roaring of their waves, And the tumult of the peoples. 8 They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy. 9 You visit the earth and cause it to overflow; You greatly enrich it; The stream of God is full of water; You prepare their grain, for thus You prepare the earth. 10 You water its furrows abundantly, You settle its ridges, You soften it with showers, You bless its growth.

...God chooses to bring us near. He invites us to His house to be satisfied with and in His goodness. He miraculously answers us. Valerie, Shin, and I stood at the edge of the ocean and stood in awe of His signs and creation.

It's been a good Val's spring break. :-)

Here we go again

1. Shin's doing well. He's getting the hang of things, keeping a positive attitude, and by the grace of God, I am too.

2. I made a 78 on my first TESOL final. That's like the worst grade I've ever made... I'm planning to keep up with the next course a little better. :-)

3. My Mary Kay party went great! I knew once I stopped fretting and just let God handle the attendance, that things would go much smoother. And they did!

4. My sister's coming on Friday night and she's staying a whole week and I'm SO excited!!!

5. India Child Sponsorship is still coming along well. It's so good to have a few people on board who really care.

6. I'm enjoying this Lent. I've given up TV. For anyone keeping score, we don't own a TV, but that hasn't stopped me from watching Conan, Castle, Saturday Night Live, New Girl, Psych, Daily Show, Colbert Report, and Once Upon a Time... What HAS stopped me from watching them is the realization that I spend at least 8 hours a week just numbing my brain. So, in an effort to spend my time more engaged in and aware of the life Christ has given me, I cut out all TV.

7. I'm reading a YouVersion (Bible) app 40 day Lent plan. It's walking me through the life of Jesus. I've basically come to realize I understand very little about the life of Jesus.

Can you recommend a book I can read to give me some of the historical background? I feel like His parables, teachings, and miracles should REALLY blow my mind, but most of them go over my head or seem normal because I've read them so much.

Please comment or email suggestions! Thanks.

Life is good

I thank God...
- I have a wonderful church family.
- I have sweet in-laws.
- I have a rewarding job.
- I have a great family.
- I have a cute cat.
- I can read God's word in my language.
- I have Internet access and Hulu!!!

Lovely day

Just a quick update. I'm typing from phone and have low connection so this will be very brief:
-visited FIL at work mon night
-fell asleep upright while shin and his dad chatted :-)
-went to bed for real at 9pm
-woke up 5:30 :-/
-breakfast made by MIL
-went with SIL to hosp in Pohang (20 min away) to pick up prescription
-visited other SIL at work (she's a nurse at a swank OBGYN)
-2 SILs, Shin, & I at lunch
-dropped SIL back off at work and I tripped over a parking stopper block, face-planted, skinned knee, destroyed leggings
-went back to other SIL's house, doctored up knee (I'm perfectly fine, mom & gma), took nap
-came home and looked through photo albums. Shin fell asleep on floor at 8pm. I fell asleep at 9.
-weds morn woke up 5:30am :-/
-went with FIL & MIL to Bomun Danji (scenic, touristy lake place) 20 min away
-came home or FIL to eat lunch before work
-took nap on floor
-went with MIL and Shin to huge, open, fresh market
-ordered lunch delivered to home
-hubs and I walked about his hood. He took me to his favorite arcade where we DDRed and karaoked to M Buble & B Spears. Then drank coffee in cute shop.
-went to SIL's home, finished Pride & Prejudice!!!, ate dinner
-nephew treated us to 2nd cute coffee of the day
-walked around SIL's apt complex w/neph & niece
-visited FIL @ work
-came home and packed for trip to Seoul tomorrow!!!

Okay... That's a list of what we've done. Porbs can update again after our 2 days in Seoul.

GyeongJu

We've made it to GyeongJu...

We arrived and Shin's BIL picked us up from the airport. We got ALL our luggage (a total of 6 pieces- 4 checked bags and 2 carry-ons). This is a huge praise because I was SURE we would lose some if not all of our luggage somewhere in our 4 flights.

Anyway, he picked us up and we headed from Busan to GyeongJu. We were surrounded by the huge city and surrounding suburbs of Busan- there are gigantic, towering, apartment complexes everywhere. We traveled about 20 minutes and then we stopped at a little cute restaurant/food/convenience store and got some coffee. I drank my cappuccino, we got back in the car, and I fell asleep for the remaining 20 minutes. Shin and his BIL pleasantly chatted the entire time.

We arrived at his parents home and his sister, nephew, and niece were there with his parents. We saw everyone, gave out a few gifts, talked a bit, and then the family left. His dad had to run off to work and Shin's mom, Shin, and I looked through lots of old pictures. I've finally seen my husband as a baby and a kid and he was cuuuuute, and always smiling. Then we went to bed around 1am.

Woke up this morning at about 7am and sorted through all of our stuff to figure out what gifts/food went to which families. Shin's mom made us breakfast. Then gathered things and came to SIL's house to shower. Nephew, SIL, Shin, and I headed out to get Shin a haircut. He looks SO MUCH better. Then SIL, Shin and I ran a TON of errands. We went to public admin office about Shin's ID (he lost old one), we exchanged money and tried to help lost Chinese girls, then went to photographer to get a picture taken for his license, went to lunch, we went to butcher, we went grocery shopping, we went to police station to submit paperwork for ID, we went to public health dept dentist about his chipped tooth, we went to a swanky private dentist office b/c public couldn't fix it. We finally came back to his SIL's house. I'm tired, but overall good. We're now headed back to parent's house and I'm ready to unpack all of our clothes so I can remember everything I packed to wear.

(Picture is of GyeongJu, the freezing cold city we've been driving/walking around ALL day).

Etta Lee Farmer: 1924-2011

My great-grandma died on October 27th, 2011. She was 87 years old and had a stroke on the night of the 23rd which left her unconcious during her last four days on earth. She was an amazing, godly woman whom I unfortunately didn't get to spend much time with. Her legacy is clear in the incredible family she leaves behind. This weekend Shin and I traveled to Hattiesburg, MS for her funeral and we met a LOT of family. I finally met my grandma's brothers, her older half-sister, and her younger step-sister. I also met their children and saw pictures of their grandchildren. Even though I will probably never see most of them again, it was good to finally put a face with a name.

Shin & I graveside (COLD) in Mendenhall, MS

 Saturday, October 29th, 2011

The funeral was also a good reminder that life is so short in comparison to eternity. I know this is a popular video, but our actions on earth DO determine our eternal existence. Chan's message became strikingly clear to Shin and I this weekend. It reaffirmed my desires to live life well. I want to follow God and to serve others because people WILL remember you by the sum of all the small actions that make up your life. Whether directly serving in India, sponsoring a child in need from halfway around the globe, or even serving a child's lunch in your own town (like my great-grandmother did as a cafeteria nutritionist for an entire county school-system), the things you do to serve others are important and they make you who you are.