The Been Briefing

well, i'm back in suji... jeju was a marvelous time. lauren must be credited for taking most of the pictures (as her digital camera and photography skills are far superior to mine). i i will try and post pictures soon.

i did want to show you my new dryer: ^-^ the floor. since korean custom asks that we leave shoes at the front door, my floor stays relatively clean (apart from the annoyingly consistent dust bunnies, which i faithfully sweep or wipe up).... and so i have a clean conscience about using this method during the cold months. drying outside takes 2-3x longer and they are stiffer in texture.

i dearly love a cup of coffee or tea and a book. currently i'm reading a biography of amy carmichael, which my dear sister rebekah sent me. i have begun taking it with me when i go to work out, and i read it on the bike. the beautiful coffee mug is a gift from my beloved bonquisha. bon bon, i use it all the time!
and here is my christmas stocking (from lauren). it's just too cute to put away, so i've still got it hanging on my bathroom door. :)

and not to forget my christmas tree... still standing (or shall i say 'leaning'?) in the corner of my room. it stands a whole 8 inches tall.... and i'm prodigiously proud of it. it reminds me of my family's christmas tree from the christmas of 2001 - the year of the fire, the rental house, rebekah's wedding preparations, and one of josh's hospitalizations. what a difficult time that was! anyway... we had a mini christmas tree that year, and i think we still have it back at home. such a vivid reminder of what is important in our lives. Jesus... and those He has given us to love and serve. :)

last week, in honor of solal (the chinese new year), ERC held a competition for all the kids in the 6:40 and 8:00 classes learning a song by Westlife called My Love. honestly, i'd never heard of the group before, much less the song, but by the end of the week i think i could have sung the song backwards and forwards in my sleep. here are the kids all crammed in my room practicing the lyrics, with the song blasting from a burned CD playing on my laptop. what fun!

and here is a present from

amy in my first class: three different types of wafers. they remind me of some i had in slovakia. yummy!

some of the kids love my hair. they are amazed at all the twists and "curls," even when i tell them it takes me a whole 2 minutes to pull it up. :)

the pictures from this past weekend at jeju will take up a whole other post, so i wanted to fill you in on everything else... the superfluous, yet fun, details.

a good deal has been changing with my classes. wendy has moved up to my first class, and i am so encouraged by her progress. many of the children in my second class are advancing enough that mrs. kim and i have spoken of gradually "graduating" them to my first class. caleb continues to improve both in heart and academics. he is becoming one of my dearest children. when we had a new student (tony) come into my second class today, i encouraged all of my kids to be kind and loving to tony. throughout the class i saw caleb trying to be the bigger brother and show tony the ropes ("here, only english! you listen to miss ruth and then write the words down," etc..). he even gave tony a piece of gum. i was so proud of him, and told him so. what is so interesting is that his (caleb's) older brother stephen is absolutely uncontrollable. the other teachers don't want to take him, and gina (stephen's current teacher) has been known to walk out of the room in distress "i just can't control him!" ... but i just look at caleb and remember how uncontrollable he was 5 months ago. now that wild, undisciplined and rebellious little one is showing love and kindness to others, staying behind to finish his homework early, and improving his handwriting because he knows i'll tell him to rewrite it and rewrite it again until he gets it right. he's learning! and when i see the change, i can only praise God. He has worked a miracle in this boy's life... as for tony, we'll have to see if he can stick it out in my class. he didn't say a word during the class and seemed rather subdued compared to the impudent behavior i have usually seen in him in the lobby.

my step 3 has also undergone a most dramatic change in the past few weeks. one of the students from esther's class (the highest level taught by a korean teacher, level 10) graduated to come to my class: gabriella. she's a dear heart with a teachable spirit. there's definitely room to grow, but she's got the right stuff to make it, i think. she made student #6. annie and jackie are middle school students, and i hope they will continue beyond their winter vacation. in the past two days i have gotten two younger boys - both having learned english overseas. one boy, alex, spent 7 years in texas, but he's still only 9 or 10 years old. he might be a little young to be in my class. another - justin - just came today for the first time. he lived in singapore for 4 years and seems to be a most capable young man (11 or 12 years old). anyway, i'm curious to see what the dynamics are going to be like with 4 boys and 4 girls ages 9-14.

please be praying that the Lord would be present in my classes, filling me with His Spirit, giving me wisdom in how i teach, and drawing all my students to Himself. may they know Him! pray for love, peace, and order to reign. pray my children's hearts will be softened towards me and one another, and that they will desire to learn english and that indeed they will progress rapidly. pray for life, joy, and the freedom of Christ to be there.