My son Justin is pictured above. He is working with the sound team at church most Sundays.

There is a Bible Verse about hard work that is worth mentioning. “A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied." Proverbs 13:4

It may be difficult to teach children the value of discipline and hard and work, but it does have its rewards! 

Justin, my eldest son, came home from school last week with two awards. It was a pleasant surprise for this parent! He and his friends got a bronze medal for an English project where they interview yours truly about Sejong High School. The other project was more individual. He received a silver medal for creating an anti-smoking poster. Apparently, my child’s artistic talents are starting to blossom! And Daddy rewarded him with fried chicken as a late night snack.

The English project that he and his friends won for was something! I remember the day they interviewed me. I was simply asked to say, “Tell me about your school, Justin! I want to learn about your school!” It was one of those days where I had many small things to do and I was a little annoyed because it was an unusual request. The rest of the video is Justin and his friend walking around school showing anyone who was watching the video the buildings. The English was quite good even if my initial question was more than a little awkward!

Jordan also did some great work at school. He and his classmates put together a multicultural show for parents last Wednesday morning. They all prepared little dance numbers! Jordan was wearing a Chinese traditional hat and I was genuinely wondering what they were going to do before they started dancing to ‘Kung Fu Fighting’. His friends and he were reasonably coordinated as they performed it and the parents broke out into laughter when they heard the song. 

The other song that the whole class performed was ‘Jumbo’. It’s an African song that has a Korean counterpart. While they were performing I understood why I had heard him humming the song so many times at home. While they were doing it, I could hear many of them singing. And, of course, they broke out into hysterical laughter when it was all done! I commend the teacher for pushing all those second-graders to perform so well. I will remember that day for a long time!

Aidan and Jordan go to Taekwondo every night at 7:00. When they have worked hard, the teacher gives them tickets. These tickets are 10 points, 50 points, and 100 points. Aidan was pleased as pie to receive a ticket for 50 points last week. It was the same night that they all received chicken from Daddy so all was well with the world!

Hard work and perseverance are difficult things to teach. Each boy was able to show some aspect of perseverance last week and I was very proud of them all!

“A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied." Proverbs 13: 4

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Advent begins on Sunday. They boys looks forward to the little chocolate gifts in the Advent Calendar but I look forward to the read-alouds!

My family will be reading Ann Voskamp's The Wonder of the Greatest Gift along with other holiday favorites. This year I will wrap up books for them to choose, two or three, and we will read that book in the evening. We will light candles, read The Wonder of the Greatest Gift, hang an ornament on the tree, and read the book they have chosen. I look forward to this bonding time with the boys!

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For those of you who are curious, there has been a delay with the book I’m publishing. The Giver: The Life of Jesus and the Book of Acts (Fifty Sermons for Children) will be published in January. I am still very excited about the book!  I hope you will be too! 

The boys and I are on vacation! Last week, we went to Elior Camp in Tae-an. This is fairly close to the beach which is great except that it rained a little too much! But the boys enjoyed playing with their friends and I enjoyed listening to sermons related to being children of God. 

Children of God was the theme of this camp. I was in charge of the Bible verses that needed to be memorized before meals. Four days of memorizing verses for breakfast, lunch, and supper does take it's toll on people. Near the end of the last day, the Koreans were more than a little weary from everything and I did extend some grace their way. They were just required to read those verses. It's biblical to give grace, don't you think?

As I meditated on the verses, the theme of suffering kept appearing. After we have suffered a little while, we will enjoy the fellowship and grace that Christ extends and become children of God. We are children of God.

It was good to see old faces and I enjoyed the new people I met. We went swimming on the second day out in the ocean. I remember I was having trouble going completely under water. I was a child playing in front of my maker. I remember taking a nap that afternoon. It was only about twenty minutes but it felt good. I felt like I was being taken care of. God was there. I walked home with two African students. One was from Swaziland and the other was from South Africa. I loved listening to their accented as they compared notes on what had gone on that afternoon. The one was giving the other a hard time about finding a boyfriend. "My mother said that I should study. Don't look around for boys. You can look for a boy back home!" I remembering things that they were just so young and full of life. Children of God.

I taught a short lesson on Zaccheus to the children. They were running around and screaming quite a bit, including Aidan and Jordan! I was trying to teach them a song about Zaccheus and how much he had changed. He did a 180 turn around. That short tax collector was changed by that encounter with Jesus up in the tree. He went from bad to good. He was darkness and became light. He stopped stealing money and probably returned quite a bit of it. Zaccheus was a child of God. 

We wandered in the sand-dunes the following day before it rained. We were dressed in white so it was easy to spot everyone. Jordan, of course, slowed right down until we were close to being dead last. I remember seeing pockets of white and looking out over the ocean. It really was amazing. I had this great picture of what the Red Sea must have looked like right after the big miracle where the waters parted. We then started moving through 'the wilderness'. Sand-dunes just covered the area and I was paying attention to all the flowers that were popping up everywhere. 'The wilderness' really was beautiful. And right on the edge of the sand-dunes were trees. A forest of trees to get lost in. It was a lovely hour where I felt like an Israelite. We wandered, we walked, we enjoyed, we complained. We did everything the Israelites did. 

I also remember the drinks the ladies bought immediately following this. It had started to rain just as we finished and I remember thinking that it was just interesting timing. As we tucked into a small convenience store, the ladies went looking for ice coffee and drinks for the children. Very thirsty children of God. 

This was the theme for the week extending all the way into Sunday night's prayer time. (We pray together as a family every Sunday around 8:00 pm!). Jordan thanked God for lemonade after the English Sunday School was finished! He also thanked God for his brothers and his mom and Dad. Aidan was a little more serious in thanking God for lemonade and lunch. Please notice the L's in that last sentence. He also was thanked God for family and prayed for mommy and daddy. Justin also thanked God for his shoes! And he prayed for God's blessing on our family. 

They are a mischievous bunch but they are my family and I love them all, including that the big one! (Yes, Daddy!) We are all children of God. 

June 25 is the day the war ended in Korea.  Those who remember celebrate that day.  It is also the day that Justin was born. 

I remember that eventful day quite well. We had gone to the doctor to make sure everything was alright. The nurse was able to check my blood pressure and other things were normal. She said come back in one month. I was back in less than a day!

Hansung had gone to work, and I was exercising. I kept running to the bathroom and wondered why and I  remember feeling pain in my back. It was happening! I called Hansung and told him. He said "Mumuma" on the phone and told me he was coming. He also called Pastor Bill from the church to give me a ride. 

I remember thinking that the back pain hurt a lot. I just didn't have anything in me. Then Pastor Bill showed up. He helped down the stairs and into the car. And off to the clinic we went!

When we arrived, they checked everything. I was poked and prodded. I remember the doctor said "Rapid progress". It was then that Hansung arrived at the clinic. This was good for me.

I remember walking up and down as the pain got stronger and stronger. Hansung didn't really know what to do to make me feel better. I thought taking a shower would help. We had planned for a water birth. Why not? I thought to myself.

The water was like a sting ray on my back! That didn't help at all.

I walked around some more. Two nurses told me to come to them. I obediently did what they asked. 

I remember being propped up and thinking that it was all very weird and how very, very tired I was. The nurses were talking to teach other. And then they were talking to me. 

Someone was telling me to push through the blur. I pushed and the other nurse pushed on my stomach. I remember the calmness after that. I was so tired and the baby, dear little Justin, was fine.

He was so little. And I was so tired. I closed my eyes almost immediately. 

They took me to my room and I slept for quite a while. I remember when the nurse came in and gave me my son. What a beautiful little thing he was! I remember the angels came knocking on the door after that. I felt like one was watching us as we looked at each other. 

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Fast forward sixteen years later. Justin is in his first year of high school. I never really wanted him to be in high school while we were in Korea, but he is in high school. He is studying many different things and doing projects. 

He is handsome. 

He is funny. He is fun-loving.

He is a bit of a goof-ball! He plays with people. He plays with me. He plays with his brothers. 

He is patient. Patient with his father. Patient with his mother. Patient with his brothers.

He is continuously on his phone until I tell him that he needs to get off. Can't win them all!

His father says he could do anything. He just needs to put his mind to it. 

He has decided that he wants to be a pilot. We talked about it last night actually.

I saluted him and asked if we were going to get a discount on our travel expenses. "I think so!" was his reply.

We all ate cake last night to celebrate his birthday. Happy Birthday Justin! For your mother, your sixteen years is a beautiful thing!

The LORD bless you, and keep you: The LORD make his face shine on you, and be gracious to you: The LORD lift up his countenance on you, and give you peace. Number 6:24-26
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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:23 ESV

He has Risen and spring is in bloom. We celebrated Easter Sunday in April and for the first time, I truly understood the beauty of "God is for us". God calls us to accept Christ as Lord and Savior. We come to a realization of our own depravity, our sin. We turn from that depravity to God. We repent and come to faith. The celebration at Easter is more profound then at Christmas. At Christmas, we understand that "God is with us". At Easter, we know that He loves us through the death and resurrection of Christ.

And through the resurrection of Christ and his love, we are aware of how all things grow. I am focusing on the fruit of the Spirit in this post as the boys are growing in these areas in different ways.

Jordan has had some amazing movements into love, joy, and peace.

He is a beautifully emotional boy who cries easily when he does something wrong. Perhaps it is his age, but I see him full of love for his family. Every Sunday night he thanks God for his family and has at least one story about a sweet or great food that he enjoyed over the week.

He expresses his love for family and his delight and joy in friends, food, and family relationships. He smiles delightfully when he talks about his seatmate at school. I still receive sweet expressions of love every evening and morning from this dear child.

He is learning peace. We spend quite a bit of time learning Bible verses from Sunday School during the week. He does this with great enthusiasm most of the time. 

(Jordan being delightfully mischievous!)


Aidan has been working on patience, kindness, and goodness.

This child has an unending amount of patience. He endures teasing from his older brother, and encourages his younger brother to try things when scared.

His endurance for kindness can be seen in his aptitude for service. He enjoys helping around the house. This past Saturday, he did one of Justin's chores. He took out the wet garbage and washed the pail. He returned it to the kitchen perfectly clean and proceeded to show me.

​He also continues to work on goodness through the memorization of Bible verses. This seems to come easily to him and has resulted in fewer emotional outbursts. 

Justin has started high school; he is learning faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

This is the child who had incredible hills and valleys of learning in middle and elementary school. He seems to be getting a grip on faithfulness. He is starting to understand commitment and what Eugene Peterson coined as 'a long obedience in the same direction'.

Faithfulness is becoming a habit! He is learning to breakdown his learning into manageable chunks that are done little by little over a long period of time. He will say, "I am angry" when something happens that he doesn't like, but he does this in his gentle and funny ways. 

Self control is an thing that many adults still aspire to. A little over a month ago, Justin expressed to me that he wanted to be like Aquaman. He wants that actor's build and particularly the long hair. "I am going to get a flat stomach Mom! Then, I am going to work on a six-pack!" Well, he has the flat stomach, and is working on the six-pack.

The fruits of the spirit are about growing in Christ, and they reflect growth in personality. I'm excited to see what will happen with their lives as they grow into who they are in Christ. 

The fruit of the spirit are about growing in Christ, and they reflect growth in personality. I'm excited to see what will happen with their lives as they grow into who they are in Christ. 

We all grow in the fruit of the Spirit. We are saved by God and then we grow into who he calls us to be, but we all grow into love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Which of these virtues are you contemplating lately? 

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Just one more shot that happened this morning! Too good not to post!

In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8 
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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