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. 

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!