For our heart rejoices in Him,

Because we trust in His holy name.

~ Psalm 33,21

Jody and I had a wonderful Saturday this past weekend. We celebrated 6 months of marriage with.... MEXICAN FOOD! From some friends we learned that the only On the Border restaurant in Asia is in Sinchon, about an hour and a half trek from Suji in northern Seoul. Jody felt strongly enough that the trip was necessary, and it was totally worth-it! We had a great time.

Jody and I are doing well and praising God for His goodness to us. We love being married and are beginning to see the wisdom in our choice of Korea for our first year of marriage. The life of a foreigner here is free from the many distractions of life in America. This has strengthened us, I think, and enabled us to pray about and think about what we want to do next. The brainstorming has already begun!

We love you all (family and friends)! Keep in touch, please!!!!

Lunar New Year Adventures....

The Lunar New Year is a big holiday in all of Asia (February 6-8). As lowly hogwan (academy) teachers, Jody and I only got 5 days off (weekend included); nevertheless, the days were greatly appreciated. We decided to hang out with friends from church and go to a ski/snowboarding resort north of Seoul.

Overall, we discovered that Jody is a fast and determined learner, who became quite skilled in snowboarding within two days.... and I do not care for snowboarding really at all! So after a session of bumps and bruises, I stayed inside and read and slept. It was marvelous.

Enjoy the pictures!

our hostel

chilling in our room

off to the sauna ... where we sat in clay ovens and baked for a while. ha!

joseph and michelle, who have sadly already left for south africa!

.withfriends.

i am behind on pictures, i know. bear with me. i get them up when i can. and the suspense makes them all the better, right? because i know you check this blog on a daily basis and bite your nails, eagerly anticipating the new postings. ha!

a few weeks ago jo and i met up with some friends and went ice skating. it was cold and the ice was terrible, but we had fun. sadly jo couldn't skate long. the biggest shoe size was 11, and jo is most definitely a 12. ahh the joys of being in an asian country, where our normal is their XXL.

i loved how dana got the kiddie skates. ahahaha!

dan and carrie

chris and dana

after the skating, we grabbed some dinner and went back to dan and carrie's place for some episodes of the office. it was my first time watching the show, and i realized all too quickly that it specializes in my least favorite form of comedy: embarrassment.

Myeongdong

Jody and I took a trip into Seoul a few weekends ago. We visited an area well known for its' fashion - Myeongdong - to see if we could find the GAP and any good boot stores. We found GAP but no boots. Alas.. Here are a few shots from our day.

a typical stand, selling dried squid legs and other unknown sea objects

do you need a hug?

the busy streets of myeongdong

koreans are such suckers for shopping

hey everybody!! sorry for the silence. jody and i are great... just wanted to write a short update so you guys know we're not dead. :)

highlights from the past month:

1) ruth's advanced kids finished little house on the prairie!!! they are now working on farmer boy and learning even MORE vocabulary. :)

2) jody is learning to work with his bosses and co-workers, slowly but surely. (no fist-fights yet. woohoo.)

3) we had a 5 day break for the lunar new year. we went with some church friends to a ski/snowboarding resort and had fun. (i.e. jody got good at snowboarding and ruth slept and read. it was fabulous.)

4) ruth started helping out with the little children at church on sunday (once? twice? a month). lots of activity! lots of korean and english spoken. but new friendships are being made and more opportunities to serve arise.

5) jody started helping with the soundboard at church during the service. he did pretty well for his first service, and we're excited to see how good he can get.

6)jody finished the month of january intensives - working split shifts - successfully and is now back to working similar hours with ruth (roughly 2/3-10pm). we're both happy to have the same schedule once again!

7) we went to itaewon again and met jody's cousin mckenzie and her husband sam, who is here in korea with the military. it was great to connect with new family so far away from home!

8) a package from jody's mom arrived - full of candy, girl scout cookies, some clothes for ruth and new croc shoes for jody. we love packages. passionately.

9) we are very interested in the political race back home. so is the rest of the world. koreans have decided (based on no real knowledge, i am positive) that obama is the best. 


what is the feel back home? major controversy?

pictures will come soon! 
love to you all.

Ringing in 2008!!

Rather than going into Seoul to see the fireworks at City Hall... which would have just been too much for a weekday night, Jody and I decided to join friends right here in Suji. New friends from church, Brad and Belle opened up their new apartment for some fun and games and food to ring in the New Year. It was a relaxing, fun night with mostly friends from church. We were daring and made the trek over on our scooter. It was cold cold cold, but we survived and had fun!

Happy New Year!

the group... sorry for the bad lighting. the camera was acting up.

carrie and dan buller

chris and dana sikkens. i love these guys!

us!

brad and belle

lynn and veronica

chad, our drummer and a very funny guy.

Happy New Year, friends!

May God bless you all as you start 2008. May you know what it is to walk in relationship with Your Creator, to know Him, to hear His voice, and to see the eternal fruit that comes from walking with Him.

We love you all! Stay in touch.

Hillary's Goodbye Gathering

A dear friend and one of Jody's co-workers from his old school, Hillary, left Korea in December. Here are some pictures from the night before her flight. Everybody gathered at her apartment, which is actually Jody's old apartment, to say goodbye and get last-minute things moved out. It was a fun night.... lots of laughs and even SNOW! We had a grand snowball fight in which we found out that Chris McCarthy has very bad aim.

We miss Hillary very much. She went back home to Texas and we are excited to know where God takes her next.

danielle's blurry face, hillary, and christan

chris and jody goofing off

chris and jody. they look great.

a nice shot of alex's backside... i was going for jody... haha

alex, chris' wife. great face!

christan, danielle, and hillary

jody. nice popped collar.