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! 

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?