I love the season of Advent and and all the majesty that starts with the beginning of the church year. Advent, originally from the Latin word Advenio, means coming to. It starts four Sundays before Christmas and has two purposes. It is to prepare us for the celebration of the birth of Christ and it reminds that we are eagerly waiting for Jesus' return in glory. Advent, arrival, invasion, coming. Christ is coming!

We had a great start! In the morning the boys, of course, love discovering the chocolates in our hanging Advent calendar in the kitchen. I can hear and see delight with God’s word and chocolate to celebrate God’s word. 

In the evening, we are using Ann Voskamp's beautiful Advent book for children that has the pop up Christmas tree. Jordan loves opening up the book and putting the beautifully done decorations on the tree. First, we are reading one of the devotions from that book every night, praying, and asking questions. Second, we are reading Christmas picture books. The boys are taking turns picking the next Christmas book out of some 'wrapped' books In our Advent basket.

Why am I doing this?

First, it is giving me an opportunity to tell an overview of Bible stories and show the boys how Jesus is the Rescuer. He rescues us from our sin.

Second, it always all of us to grow a little in terms of consistency and discipline. (Last year we managed to get about half way through Advent before the challenge of consistency became difficult!)

Third, it gives the boys an opportunity for their faith to spiral inward. Those little Hands that flung the stars and planets into their places now reach inside us to grip and hold our hearts. 

Fourth, it gives the boys an opportunity for their faith to spiral outward. They are learning about the Ultimate Giver. As they think and prepare gifts for family members and an act of service, they grow a little in how to express love and appreciation for each other.

Fourth, I love the consistency of paying attention to light and beauty. The Christmas story strikes again as beauty in the midst of chaos. Celebration in the midst of craziness. It seizes my attention. In this barren, broken stretch with no snow on the ground, the tree captures my imagination.

That gorgeous tree is defiant beauty. In a world where people continue to choose themselves, where ugliness happens, where sin seems unchecked, where daily assaults take their tool, we can point to the defiant beauty of a selfless life, seeking first the King of God, putting others first, and even sacrificing. All to proclaim the truth of something great than ourselves.

Other small gifts along the way:

Jordan loves picking the Christmas books which means he is growing in understanding the gift of reading.

Aidan grabbed the devotional last night, read the Bible verse, and started to read the meditation!

Justin even managed to learn about the light and turn it into a science experiment. Apparently, all things wax can enthrall a teenager!

Our other highlight has been light. The light and wonder of our Lord is all around us. It is displayed in candles, on the Christmas tree, in Christmas lights around our home. Light and beauty. Holiness is coming down soon!

Did you know that O come O Come Emmanuel has been sung in monasteries for 1 500 years? This song and other like it are called O' Antiphons because they began with "O" and were followed by a name of Christ. There were seven O' Antiphones and one was meant to be sung each day the week before Christmas. Here is the interesting part! The first letter of each antiphon adds up to an acrostic in Latin which read "ero cras" which means tomorrow I will be there, an anticipation of Christ's coming. 

Here is what they sang:
17 December: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)                                                   
18 December: O Adonai (O Lord)                                       
19 December: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)                     
20 December: O Clavis David (O Key of David)                     
21 December: O Oriens (O Dayspring)                     
22 December: O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations)       
23 December: O Emmanuel (O With Us is God)

May God bless you and your family as you move towards Christ's coming! I can feel the Spirit of the Lord moving in prayer all around me as I walk through Advent.

I would love to hear what you have done for Advent and/or what you are doing for Advent this year. I welcome you to drop a line in the comments or post on Facebook. 

Grace and peace!

Virginia
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“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
— John 1:14

Halloween activities have not been the usual around here. There has been no trick-or-treating or dress up parties but there have been other creative and treasure hunting activities. Let's start with the Night of 1000 Pictures.

What was the Night of 1000 Pictures? An art gallery in Daejeon had the great idea of inviting people into their gallery to draw, paint, or color pictures of anything that inspired them.

It turned into a beautiful, slightly cool evening as people wandered in and out of the gallery. Aidan and Jordan were enchanted by this and spent a little under an hour creating their 'art' to be displayed at the gallery. 

One of the highlights of the evening was the man wearing the white shirt who invited anyone and everyone to draw on him. Jordan, of course, loved him!

Hallowed Eve's brought the possibility of a party at the piano hogwon (institute) that never quite happened. The boys were excited in the morning to be find the box of costumes. Aidan spent a good ten minutes trying to find the box before asking for some help. Jordan asked for 3 000 won to be vampire teeth and the fingernail attachments so he could be a vampire. (I may not be thrilled with a little vampire but considering the small amount of money, I caved!)

The Halloween party with the kids from piano never panned out for reasons that weren't explained. The condolence prize was a small package of candy that the teacher gave to all her students.

So, the night after Halloween, I wanted to do something fun with the boys. I had found this cute and fun treasure hunt activity online. It was a string of Bible verses with clues that lead to the next Bible verse and its clue. The boys enjoyed decoding the Bible verse to figure out the clue and I enjoyed watching the whole process. It combined reading skills, problem solving, and a puzzle to find their treasure of special treats.

There are treasures everywhere if you are really looking...

"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
Matthew 16:19

It’s been a beautiful Thanksgiving (Chuseok) week here in South Korea. We have spent lots of time outside enjoying the beautiful weather as well as eating, laughing, and fellowshipping with good people.

Sunday afternoon after church we went into Sejong City to the Lake Park beside the library. It was a beautiful afternoon for a walk and we spent about an hour walking around the lake, poking our noses into interesting spots, including a new coffee shop, and a few other improvements since we hadn’t been there for over two years.  Aidan and Jordan enjoyed using the kick board around the lake.

Monday we had a great visit with Grandmother and Big Aunt and her husband in Seoul. We managed to get up there quite early and were able to visit Duck Su Koon (palace) which is where we had wedding photos done 20 years ago. It’s always good to revisit places like this (note to self here)!

Tuesday was a lovely day of playing around in the house and walking around a reservoir 10 minutes from our place. We strolled down the boardwalk and got to listen to Justin sing. He had a hilarious Sound of Music moment where he learned the words to Do-Ray-Me. (Check Facebook for the video on this)

Wednesday we enjoyed fellowship time with people from church. We had some good conversations about teaching English, missions, ethics, and just horsing around. 

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Justin is studying for midterm exams and tends to distract himself with news, YouTube, Kim’s Convenience (CBC show now on Netflix). 

Aidan continues to be a source of support and joy unlike any other kid I know. I made him tea earlier this week and he must not of expected me to do it. His eyes popped open and said, “Woo!”. He sat down, tasted his tea, looked at me, and declared “Mommy, you are the best Mommy ever and I love you!” I know this sounds terribly cheesy but he was completely sincere in that moment.

Jordan has been practicing Taekwondo all week because he wants to get the next belt. He woke up rather early this morning, ate breakfast, brushed his teeth without being asked, and wanted to leave an hour early for his Taekwondo test.  We kept him in the house for as long as we could. We will get the results in a few weeks.  Pictures to come...

Just for fun...

Summer vacation started last week. The boys and I finished our classes at the end of the week. I had everything finished, including the grading, by Friday at 2:00 and everyone was home at 3:00 in the afternoon! We celebrated over the weekend with some easy homemade meals, family movie night, and an evening at the spa for the whole family (this probably seems strange to all the westerners reading this unless you have been th Korea and enjoy the Jimjilbang or 짐질방).

Earlier this week we went up into Seoul to visit Hansung’s sister and grandma!  I managed to get the boys to write letters and buy a little gift for both ladies before the big event. Grandma genuinely enjoyed reading their letters and clapped her hands when each grandson finished. This then turned into a sing-song for the next 30 minutes. Aidan and Jordan sang children’s songs in Korean, Justin sang an Italian opera song that he had memorized in music class last year and my hubby joined in on that one after looking up the lyrics. The singing continued in Korean with Hansung’s sister and her husband singing old Korean country songs. I was gearing up for Edelweiss because I thought grandma would recognize it when the whole event ended. Grandma was tired from all the young stimulation in the room. The art of the song was more noisy stimulation than actual art!

I laughed when she called me an excellent woman for taking care of three boys. I leaned in and told her it was actually four boys and she burst out in hysterics. It was a good visit and I think we gave her some good memories!

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It turns out little boys know swear words in Korean and it was time to put a stop to it. 

“If you swear, you have to eat soap! It will make your mouth clean and take out all those dirty words!”

Jordan replied to this without missing a beat! “Mom, you too! No swearing!” I agreed.

It turns out that soap has only been eaten once to change someone’s language. Yes, it was the little guy!

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Justin has inspired to the boys to burst into short sentences from Black Panther. He taught Aidan and Jordan “Ee Pompei” which is some kind of war cry. They all break out with this whenever more than two of them are in trouble!

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Aidan was the first place winner for cute sayings when he woke up, rolled over, and declared, “I want to sleep forever but I should get up!”

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i have been thinking a lot about language from stories that keep us connected. We have been reading Kate Di Camillo’s Mercy Watson series. (If you haven’t read these, you really should! They are hilarious stories about a pig that basically lives as a child, not a pet!) There is a great part about two-thirds of the way through the first book where the pig is described. “She is amazing! ... She is unbelievable! She is a porcine wonder!”

These are great lines that the kids have been using around the house. Jordan finished his meal the other night and Aidan declared, “HE is amazing! ... He is unbelievable! He is a porcine wonder!” It was a great family moment with Justin and myself busting with laughter.

Stories connect us in special ways. Of course, there are amazing benefits in terms of academics, improved listening skills, improved vocabulary, but I love how other stories have become a part of the way my children and I speak to each other! They get to experience another life, learn from it, and apply it to their own! Magic and astonishment in a new way! 

Narratives of all kinds bless us. Even those epic narratives in the Bible!
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Before I tell you dear readers about June in my home, I want to take a moment and reflect on laundry.  I want to reflect on this because I never seem to catch up with the laundry. With five people in the house, I am constantly doing this chore/job.  In the past, I have been able to do it meditatively.  I folded shirts, pants, towels, and other clothes methodically, thinking about how little things repeated again and again build character. I'm an English teacher so this definitely applies the classroom. Vocabulary and grammar need to be learned over a long period time with small, repeated steps daily in order to make progress.  It works in my kitchen too.  I can meditatively take ingredients out of the refrigerator, cut and chop vegetables, and put a meal together.  It works in regard to my health too.  Exercising and eating properly need to be done everyday.  Not just everyday.  In the end, I must remind myself that the laundry piles are building my character. Consistency and persistence in laundry.

My eldest son had a great birthday weekend! He turned fifteen and basically had a party all weekend long. He got a special lunch from me on Saturday because we were alone, a homemade hamburger in the later afternoon at a barbecue, a supper out to his favorite restaurant that night, a gift from church on Sunday, and a trip to the spa (his choice) Sunday afternoon. My husband cooked birthday bacon on Monday morning, ate the cake after supper and he got a few gifts from his brothers. He has exams at the end of this week, so I'm glad all the birthday fun is done for now.

In other news, piano lessons have begun! Aidan and Jordan have been going to piano for about a month now. They are enjoying themselves and have actually sat down at the piano and attempted to play a few times.  Jordan did it yesterday! Besides piano, they also go to Taekwondo classes Monday through Thursday. They love the movements, and practice the moves at inopportune times (like when they should be sitting for supper)

So, I introduced a laundry basket quite a while back.  Interestingly, Aidan is the only child who actually uses it. Everyone else (husband included) just tosses their clothes on the floor which results in my raised voice.  The funny thing is that because the laundry basket is not used very often, I often forget to check what is inside. (Consistency is not really a part of this story!) Aidan of course had a good pile of his clothes in it when I checked at the end of the week. At the moment, it’s full of cute stuffed animals!
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We visited the Trickeye museum up in Seoul over this past weekend. This included a virtual reality experience and an ice museum! You can see a few of the shots we took besides Justin's Birthday picture. I'm including some more pics at the bottom of this post!

As I write, my husband is on a mission trip in Nepal with students from his Bible college. He won't be back in the 13th of July, which means there will be another mountain of laundry to do. Lord, help me to meditate on that mountain!

Don't they look like they are actually playing the piano! I love Jordan's synchronized swimming move!

​Does anyone know any scripture references about laundry?

The month of May has more than few holidays here in Korea. Korea celebrates Children's Day and Buddha's Birthday as national holidays.  Buddha's birthday was the more eventful holiday.  We did not go to the temple and eat bibimbap. Instead, we packed up bathing suits and spent the afternoon at Daecheon Beach.

It was a slightly cloudy day, but that didn't stop the boys from having a great day. They helped set up the beach tent, listened carefully to instructions about what could and could not be put in the tent, and then ran into the water at full speed! Jordan, in particular had a great time dancing and singing to a song that he had in his head. Justin and Jordan enjoyed burying Aidan in the sand. We all played, took pictures, ate snacks, got too cold, wrapped ourselves in towels, and just had a fun afternoon.  It all ended a little about 3:30 when it started to drizzle and Dad decided it was time to go home.  

One of my favorite moments was coming home. Justin, true to form, fell asleep in the backseat. He does this quite often right after we have done something really active!

Justin in many ways is a typical teenager.  He is phone obsessed, calls me "momma", and cracks jokes whenever he has an opportunity. The other day I had the pleasure of taking the boy shopping in Homeplus. What a riot that was! I don't think I had taken him with me since elementary school, and he was like a kid in a candy store looking at things, asking questions, and trying to get me to buy stuff for him. The highlight was looking at dustbusters. He thought he needed one just for his room! (I have a hard time just getting the child to pick up the garbage that seems to scatter all the floor.)

Jordan continues to fluctuate between wanting to be a big boy and being a baby. The baby action at the moment is to touch people, declare them "soft", and then run away giggling. The big boy action is to play dakjee with big brother Aidan and other friends in the playground. For those of you who are curious, dakjee are plastic discs in varied forms that the children slam onto the ground in an attempt to get them to jump or bounce. If you can make another kid's dakjee bounce or jump, you get to keep that dakjee. They get quite skilled at this too. 

Aidan continues to be the kids with plans in his head. He is always thinking about the best way to do something. The latest decision is to get up earlier than Justin and have a shower.  I guess waiting to use the bathroom is just too hard when you are nine years old.  He is learning patience. And patience is something we all should learn.  We all need it.

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Ephesians 4:2

There is nothing quite like family living to show you just how impatient you really are!

Beach Update: We will be having another beach day because of some Wednesday’s off in June! Looking forward to it!

We have spent the month of April having fun, enjoying spring, and planting gardens.  Of course, this has been done in between teaching twenty one hours of classes at Korea University and helping a church start an English service for children and youth. Here are a few stories about us.

Jordan has turned into an inventor and builder.  He snuck off the other day with the recycling boxes and plastic bottles.  I thought the child was doing his assigned job of putting the recycling into the baskets beside the front door.  What I didn't know is that he took a turn into our little library/piano room and starting cutting and building.  

Jordan just started elementary school and something the teacher said has inspired all this cutting and building.  I have discovered "new toyboxes" along with towers, buildings, interesting contraptions requiring pieces of water bottles, and others.  I'm resisting the urge to throw it all away because of all the creative activity that is going into this slightly unique endeavor.

He also had a loose tooth for over a month.  He refused to let any of us help him with it at all.  I think it was Justin who offered to pull it out for him, and then, suddenly, he was okay with me wiggling his tooth. Low and behold, one quick yank with only a little squeak out of the boy resulted and we had a tooth to put under the pillow so the tooth fairy could finally join us!

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Aidan fairly assessed being class captain the other day.  Generally, I thought he was happy about being in charge of his class and getting to tell them about things happening at school.  I did giggle a little when he admitted, "Mommy, sometimes my classmates don't want to listen to me.  It's a bit of a headache to get their attention and make them listen."  I have had similar thoughts about leading and teaching different groups, but was definitely impressed with his ability to explain his problem easily at such a young age.  

This Friday he goes on his first leadership training program.  He and other class captains will spend time with teachers and other leaders and learn some better ways of leading their classes.  I'm all ears for this because I could definitely use the inspiration myself.

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Justin is just about to finish another round of exams.  I have watched him studying in his room quite frequently over the past month.  The tribulations of middle school seem to fall off of his shoulders easily. (Should I be worried that this kid just doesn't stress out at all?)

He continues to have a great sense of humor.  Getting me to laugh or even giggle can be a struggle on most days.  But he manages this quite well.  He has wit and humor on the best and worst of days.  I am blessed to have him as a son.

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I spent about 40 000 won (about $45) on a garden for this spring. We have lettuce and mainly herbs growing in pots and containers on our balcony. Things are starting to grow.

i love the effect that care for the garden has on the boys! They learn to consistently take care of something and we all benefit. The garden grows just as the children do!

Aidan's birthday was last week and our little boy was privileged enough to celebrate twice! We went to his favorite restaurant for a meal where he ordered a plate and ribs and could hardly finish it. Over the weekend, we took four of his friends to McDonalds for lunch and then ice skating in the afternoon! He had wanted to go back to the ice skating rink since December when we went with a friend from church. The day was completed with us trying to light the candles outside. It was really fun for Aidan who was highly amused by not being able to light the candles!

In other news Aidan became the class captain! He campaigned and gave a speech, and the kids in his class voted for him. He was excited and took great pride in it.

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Jordan had an interesting meal the other night. A bowl of pasta sat in front of him for about 5 minutes with no tomato sauce. He just looks at the tomato sauce and refuses to eat whenever I serve it. This time he decided to add parmesan cheese. When I wasn't looking, he also added chocolate sprinkles from the pantry. I smiled when I saw it and told him he had to eat his creation.

"Isn't my creation beautiful?"

"Yes, it is! And you have to eat it."

He took a few enthusiastic spoonfuls with Justin and Aidan making incredible funny faces. It took about 20 more minutes before I heard, "I'm full!"

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Jordan also had a little run in with the law while we were shopping a few weeks ago.  We were in the car when I heard from the back seat, "Mommy, I took something from the Homeplus." 

​Aidan confirmed this with, "Jordan stole a spinner from the Homeplus!" a little too enthusiastically!

I, of course, freaked out from the front seat. "Jordan show me what you took!" He obediently produces the toy in front of my eyes.  "Jordan, the police station is very close! I think you should tell the police what you did!" 

Jordan started screaming and yelling, "I'm scared they will put me in jail!"

"We are going back to Homeplus first and you are going to give back the spinner. Maybe they won't make you go to the police."

"Okay."

So, we drove back and went to customer service. Jordan cried as he said in Korean that he had taken the spinner. The woman who was listening to this handled it well. She just smiled and said it was okay. Jordan looked relieved when he realized he did not have to go to the police station!  

I'm hoping the whole episode made a deep impression and he will never consider stealing again.

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Justin continues to have an incredible sense of humor and really is continuing to mature as person.  I can count on him to lighten my day with a joke, a wise crack or a hug for Mom.  (Which is great for a teenage boy!)

I woke him up on a Saturday around 8 am because I knew he was supposed to go volunteer at a soup kitchen but he didn’t tell me he was supposed to catch the bus. 

“Justin, what time are you supposed to go to the soup kitchen this morning?”

He sleepily replied, “8:30 or 9:30” and rolled over with his eyes closed.

i was about to get into the shower when he came and knocked on the door. “I’m supposed to be there by 8:30, so can I shower first? Thanks Mom for checking on me.”

Yes, I let him shower first and he managed to get out of the house on time!

It's the middle of January with record low temperatures here in Jochiwon.  The kids, the students, the parents, and the adults all want to hibernate.  This morning I enjoyed watching Jordan go from sleeping with out any covers to wrapping himself in the covers and pulling them over his head!  It was adorable up until the point where his brothers came in and tried to wake him up.  He even said, "Do I really have to get up?  This bed is soft and cozy and the air is cold!"  In many ways, I concur.

​We had a delightful Christmas!  The boys almost enjoyed opening up a ton of books on Christmas morning, and they were even more thrilled with Safari Walkie Talkies, new devices, and a cold coffee drip for the big guy!  I, of course, pulled together a turkey dinner that took over three hours to put together from start to finish.  I made sure they ate leftovers for the rest the day and into New Years.  The beautiful thing about Christmas really is turkey leftovers!

The other beautiful part of the holiday was New Years Day.  We had quite the slow morning and afternoon doing very little.  About mid-afternoon, we went to KongJu to visit the bathhouses.  I delighted in this because I was alone for an hour without anyone asking for something or dropping something on the floor!  

The real highlight came afterwards when we drove to Outback Steak House for our New Years Supper! This supper had been months in the planning.  Justin had mentioned to Hansung back in the spring that he wanted to earn money and take everyone out on Christmas or New Years Day (he was remembering a Christmas dinner from many years ago when we only had one son!).  My husband promised to give Justin 100 000 won if he got 100 points on any test that he took this year.  Around midterms, Justin achieved the impossible and earned 100 points on the science section of his exams!  Justin proudly took that money and hid it away.  He also managed to get Aidan and Jordan in on the fun as well.  They had more than enough money to pay for everyone's meal!

Justin, of course, took great delight in the ribs that Outback Steakhouse is famous for.  Aidan was the real highlight to watch that night!  I thought the child's eyes were going to bug out of his head when he saw all the food that laid out in front of him.  He tasted absolutely everything which is something for a child who is rather picky.  He tried the chili and the mushroom soup starters, ate some of Jordan's fries, and ate a full plate of baby back ribs.  I don't think I had ever seen the child eat that much food ever!

A few days later, Aidan had a great scheme in his head that he asked his daddy about.  He has decided that he is going to save money to take the family on a trip.  He was asking about prices on airfare, accommodation, and food for traveling overseas.  This is still in its infancy stage, but I believe he will make a trip to Japan happen sometime in the not so distant future!

We moved through Thanksgiving last weekend and had a glorious time setting up the tree on Friday night.  I totally enjoyed watching the boys quibble over what ornaments go on the tree.  We had one short burst of snow a little over a week ago to get everyone into the spirit of the season!

Jordan continues to grow in every way imaginable, ask amazing questions, and make cute comments.  Here is one of our interactions from this month.

"Look Mom!  I'm perfect.  There is no cough here!"

"Jordan, you are perfectly cute! Not perfectly healthy!"

"Will I ever be perfectly healthy?"

"If you eat all your fruits and vegetables and all your supper, you could be perfectly healthy?"

"Okay! I'll think about it.  Can I have some chocolate?"

Ironies abound here with this beautiful boy!

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This really is a very Korean pose of Jordan at KNU New Kids (Children's Ministry) at our church.  

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My teenager continues to grow in humor and stature.  He is definitely taller than me now and looks the part of one of the pretty boys we see here on Korean television.

He looks the part a little too well.  We were in a restaurant on Sunday and the waitresses were teasing him.  They were asking if he had been on TV recently.  He blushed at this.  He actually turned beet-red when the waitresses and a few of the people we were sitting with starting to comment to actually say "Pretty Boy" right in front of him.  I tried to get to ease the moment for him, but they just kept saying "Handsome!" 

I reminded him when we get home that "Handsome is as handsome does!"  I was encouraging him to study for his exams which start at the beginning of next week.

The shot below is one taken at the University I teach at earlier in November.  He wasn't thrilled that I took this picture because he wasn't smiling. A great profile though!

Aidan continues to be my child who just wants to be the good kid in the family.  Whenever I am angry or upset with the something in general or with the boys specifically, he will ask, "But, Mom, I'm good, right?  I didn't make you angry?"

99% of the time he hasn't done anything wrong except maybe be ten minutes late for our afternoon tea.  (Yes, this child continues to love afternoon tea time but without the cookies!).  
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