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...

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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