February has been a bit of blur of activity!  The boys have been busy with books and work. I took a class entitled Foundations of Women’s Ordination with the Nazarene Bible College, and I have done various things at church including Children's Church, attending a board meeting and our teachers meeting, and even a read-aloud seminar. Did you know that there are denominations that have grown out of Methodism that are quite positive about ordaining women? But let’s start with the boys… 

Let’s start with Justin. My first son has had some go-rounds during this break. When he finished SuNeung (Korean Scholastic Aptitude Test) he threw away a huge number of books and proceeded to spend most of his time on the PlayStation. Which game? I am not even sure of the name, but I do know there were guns involved. Fast forward to three months later, and he has changed quite a bit. He got a full-time job making walnut cookies, leaving at 7:15 in the morning. He comes home around 3:00 or 4:00 depending on how busy it is. 

He is also excited about going to university!  Wednesday night I saw him sitting on the floor with his new Ipad. He was loving it. Justin was connecting some other items he had bought, and he was playing with different apps. Later on at supper, he was making jokes with his father, carrying on like an adult. It is almost like he is ready to be sent off to university! 

Aidan has also grown. He is entering middle school, and this child loves to study! He and Jordan go to a Study Room in the mornings from 10:00 to 11:30. He also is okay with sitting at his desk in the afternoons for about three hours. I do take Aidan and Jordan swimming so they do get some exercise and to just contrast all the sitting that is going on.
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We do read-alouds as well. This week, we were reading another book from the rather endearing Mr. Putter and Tabby series and Mercy Watson, a fun and ridiculous story about a pet pig and her adventures by Kate DiCamillo. Aidan was refusing to come down from the bunk bed, so I held up the book from where I was sitting on the floor.  I heard Aidan speak very slowly…

“‘Have some more, dear,’ Mrs. Watson said in her sleep. ‘Eat up, yum, yum.” 

And then this: “Mom, What does yum, yum mean?”

“That is similar to ‘it’s delicious’. Mercy Watson sure does love toast with butter on it.”

He seemed satisfied, and he continued to read. When we were finished he said, “Mom, I want some yum, yum food!”

He proceeded to the kitchen to make noodles, and I reflected on the fact that Mercy and Aidan were not that different in wanting to eat yum, yum food. 

And now to Jordan who is a little under the weather today. This one has discovered the glory of the bigger screens! He inherited Aidan’s laptop the cascade of moving devices caused by my husband’s purchase of an Ipad for Justin. Justin gave his laptop to Aidan, and Aidan gave his laptop to Jordan. Jordan still has a small, hand-held unit. 

We were dancing to Sing, Sing, Sing, a rather simple worship song that we are using for Children’s Church. He enjoyed watching the video on that big screen and dancing to it. I was pleased.

I just want to say that it is awesome when all three of my children are progressing in behavior. It means that some of what my husband and I are doing is working!

My last little piece is about the class I was taking from the Nazarene Bible College. We read an amazing book entitled Emboldened by Tara Beth Leach. In it, she calls the church to be the church. Women can be called by the Holy Spirit to pastor. This actually goes back to John Wesley and Holiness Movement in the 18th Century. I know he was open to women in ministry due to being raised by a mother who taught all of her children about the Bible. I know he changed his mind about women being ordained about half way through his life. I know that Phoebe Palmer wrote The Promise of the Father, a theological piece on Acts 2 about how the Holy Spirit came down.

And this is where I will leave you today. The Holy Spirit changes things. He changes you, and he changes me. He has changed by children, and he continues to change children around the world through prayer and reading of God’s word. Be faithful to what God is calling you to do.

Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
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Mercy Watson to the         Mr. Putter and Tabby          The Captain of the                  Rescue                       Turn the Page                     Storm

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. 

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!