Happy New Year

Happy New Year, Everyone!!!

Quick Update

These past couple months have been a whirlwind, so I'll try to do brief summaries! But first, I'd like to publically thank Micah for carrying the full load of updating this blog while I've been so busy! Just one of the many things he carried while I focused on school! That's really been the story of his life since we've been here! He's my hero!
November was packed full of open-houses and programs and presentations! I'll mostly tell you all about these things in person, 'cause it would take too long to write about! But, suffice it to say that November was a really important month for the life of my program. Many of you know (I think!) that I've been really involved in establishing a bilingual program at the 1st grade level for my school. In November, we held an open-house for all the teachers in our school. Many of the teachers were skeptical of the program and its benefits, as well as how it affects the well-being of our students. This was our opportunity to show them that it does work and that they too can help facilitate a program like this. All I'll say about it here is that it went GREAT!!!
Next, we held a Thanksgiving Festival in which my whole class and their families got together to eat a traditional American Thanksgiving meal. After the meal there were student presentations, part of which included an oral presentation given by each student. They shared what they were thankful for. As a surprise, at the end my Korean co-teacher got up and shared why she was thankful, and I got up and shared in Korean why I was thankful! I was really intimidated to speak Korean in front of native speakers! Parents were really happy though, and everything went off without a hitch!
Ok, fast-forward now, past the English teachers' TG meal, past our friends moving back to the States, past the English teachers' Christmas dinner, past all of our staff Christmas gatherings, past all of the last week of school activities - you have now arrived at Christmas day:) We spent the morning opening presents sent from our families, which was a blast! We also read about the first Christmas together and thanked God for sending us Christ. At 2:00 there was a special Christmas service at our church, then at 4:00 we were picked up by a Korean family who whisked us away to their lovely home for a lovely Christmas dinner and wonderful fellowship together. We talked and ate and looked at pictures and ate and talked and just in general had a fabulous time together! They have 2 really neat kids (a boy and a girl), and had many stories to tell us of their missionary experience in Albania. We didn't leave their house till after midnight! We couldn't believe how quickly the time had passed! By the time we got back home, we were just overwhelmed by how rich we felt. God has blessed us so much, all along He has taken care of every detail of our lives.
It's now midnight, here, and I could write more, but I know that the later it gets, the less sense I'll be making:) We're looking forward to spending a few days in Japan in January, then we just have a couple of weeks till school starts up again - then a couple more weeks and we'll be home again! We are really looking forward to being back in Pittsburg! Love you all! Thanks for reading this hastily written blog post! We'll try to post more soon, and we'll be sure to include pictures! Love, Sarah

Advent 4: If Only In My Dreams

This was our Christmas feast on Sunday. Strawberries, Domino's Pizza, Spaghetti, and our choice of ten different pieces of cake. We chose the one with the giant curls of chocolate. Hayoung is eating crust. We partook of this feast at our Vineyard meeting. It was a great time. We did a gift exchange, complete with the ability to steal gifts from others. I stole a $50 gift certificate to a restaurant in Seoul and Sarah stole some jars of hot tea mix. It looks like giant jars of jam, but you mix it with hot water to make tea. When they lit candles in the cake and we started singing "Happy Birthday", I thought someone had remembered my birthday after all, but we just sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. I felt silly for hoping.
We also just received two boxes in the mail from our families. Thanks families! We opened our birthday stuff, but we're saving our Christmas stuff for Friday. (Okay, Thursday night...okay I opened mine and rewrapped them, don't tell Sarah).

I leave you with the last few verses of the story of Jesus birth in Luke. His advent. The greatest thing that has ever happened! We know why He advented and that is cause for celebration!

Luke 2:13-20 New American Standard Bible

13And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14"Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."
15When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, "Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us."
16So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger.
17When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.
18And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.
19But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.
20The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

"I'll Be Home For Christmas" keeps running through my head.

Happy Christmas Everybody!

Advent 3 (or Don't Give Your Blog Posts More Than One Title).

Luke 2: 8-12 There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, "Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you're to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger." The Message

This morning, I have the task of sharing a sermonette with the 5th and 6th grade students. I'll be talking about the difference between Saint Nicholas (the real, Christian man that lived a life that reflected Jesus), and Santa Claus (the imagined, secular elf-man that didn't actually live at all). It's sad to watch the secularization of Christmas. The transformation of Saint Nicholas was much like what still goes on today. They removed all symbols of Christianity, made him fat, and called him Santa. Saint Nicholas is said to have been quiet and humble in his giving. Santa is always yelling HO HO HO! and shows up with jingle bells and livestock on your roof! Not quiet, not humble, not Christ-like.

Let's live lives that point back to Jesus.

Advent 2: Electric Boogaloo

Advent also means arrival. We celebrate advent because of the advent of Christ. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Luke 2: 6-7

6While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth.
7And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (New American Standard Bible).

Saturday was flurrious. I'm not sure if there is a scale by which one can judge the level of snowfall, but as I walked into the wind, it felt like a blizzard. It was the first snow of the year and it was beautiful if somewhat shortlived.

Happy Advent Pt. I

I believe it was Merriam, or was it Webster?, who penned the definition of Advent - the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas and observed by some Christians as a season of prayer and fasting.

Luke 2: 1-5

1-5About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant. ~The Message

Birthday Girls

Hayoung, Kate, and Sarah all have November birthdays! These pictures are from Hayoung's birthday party. Kate and Hayoung are wearing hanbok. Sarah is wearing a fuchsia scarf.

Wacky Products

These are some wacky products that we just couldn't pass up. The first one is Melon Latte. There is no coffee involved. It is just some sort of disgusting combination of melon and milk. The back of the bottle (which is clear, not white) says, "What happens when melon meets milk." There is no question mark. It's a statement. As in, this is what happens when melon meets milk... Micah tosses his cookies.

The other, less milky, picture is *drumroll please* Jelly Belly bodywash. We have watermelon, blueberry, and very cherry. The wackiest part about it is that it's edible! Just kidding, don't eat it. It tastes like soap. We didn't go to the store seeking jelly bean bodywash. It just sorta jumped out at us. It was only about 99 cents per bottle. As you can see, we got one of each flavor.

It says belly on the bottle, but I think you can use it on everything.

Take a Picture, It'll Last Longer

Sweet November

Today is a wonderful, cool November day. It actually felt like winter this morning! Right now the sun is starting to get lower in the sky, and it's shining through the leaves setting them all aflame with autumn glory.

We've been enjoying our time off with home-made soup and good books. In addition to enjoying soup, we've also been enjoying some delicious home-made chocolate-chip cookies that Micah made! You have no idea! Chocolate chip cookies are a rarity around here! Micah managed to bring some chocolate chips back with him after his recent visit home.

Earlier today, as we were looking out our front window, what should appear but a little black squirrel! It was so cute - it looked so different from other squirrels that we're used to seeing. In addition to being black, it also had longer-than-usual ears that pointed straight up with fuzzy fur on the tips, and it had a white belly. I will hopefully be able to post a picture of it.

It's hard to believe that we're so close to coming home. I still remember so vividly our first night spent here - all the raw emotion, the overwhelming "newness" of everything, and the weighty realization that we were going to be living here! Away from all we'd ever known! This was not just going to be a vacation. And now...we're reaching the end of it. Right now I'm just trying to process why it was that God brought us here - I think only He'll know for awhile. I know that He has done something in us concerning our faith in Him and in our relationship with each other. And our view of the world has changed. It seems...bigger? I don't know...I think this one will take a while to summarize too. And yet, one fact remains - God's kingdom's culture is universal. If it were not, in fact, there's no way we could have made it this far. It has been God's people that have encouraged, strengthened, and upheld us while we've been here. And I know it's not just about us - at all actually- but I'm so thankful that God's plan does include our sanctification. One of our biggest desires right now is to correctly discern God's will for our lives so that we can be fully obedient to Him. We've got ideas of our next step, but God is truly the one that determines it. Hope this post finds you all in good health in every way. Love you, Sarah

Squirrel Friend:)

Picture of our apartment and hillPicture of distant city landscape with mountain and clouds

Seventh Inning Stretch

We are watching the World Series on Friday morning. This is odd for two reasons. We usually work on Friday and the World Series is played at night. I am not complaining. I'm excited to have a chance to see some of the games and we're really excited to get another break from school. We are not excited about the fact that there 40 or 50 kids that are infected with the H1N1 virus. The school has been closed down. We will have three days off. Today, Monday, and Tuesday. We will head back to work on Wednesday and the students will come back on Thursday. This gives me plenty of time to work even more on wedding pictures!

I'll leave you with some of the video clips I shot while I was in Pittsburg.

I Miss You Already

What a whirlwind! Last week, I left our school at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. My flight left four hours later after a long bus ride, a re-entry fee of about $30, and a three minute train ride connecting the airport to the distant terminal. I boarded the aircraft bound for home. I was still in contact with my bride via text messaging. I informed her of my first of many bits of mercy: I had two seats to myself for the entire flight to San Francisco! I owned those seats. Sometimes I sat in one, sometimes I sat in the other. Sometimes I put my feet up in one and laid across the other with my back against the window like I was king of United Airlines. I listened to one set of headphones while watching the movie on the other screen. I basically did whatever I wanted. It was so choice!

When I landed in San Francisco, I had plenty of time to go through customs and be singled out for a thorough check of all four of my bags. I had so much time, in fact, that I was even cooperative. My connecting flight was not scheduled to depart until around 1:11 p.m. and I had arrived at 7:49 a.m. For those of you who are not constantly calculating time changes, the first flight lasted 10 and a half hours. I didn’t run through the airport, I walked calmly, staring at all the other travelers and avoiding the ones that sneezed or coughed or generally looked suspect. I am glad now that I did not run. It was 1 in the morning according to my mind and body (Korea time). My flight did not leave at 1:11 p.m. It did not leave at 2:11. It was closer to 5 p.m. in California before I finally headed to Kansas. That means I spent from my 1 a.m. to my 9 a.m. in an airport without sleeping except for a few accidental moments. Once again, however, I was given two seats for the price of one. No one sat by me on the way to Kansas either! When I finally landed in K.C., I think it was about 9 p.m. My mom had arrived at the airport at around 4:30 or 5:00 to make it in plenty of time for my original 6 or 6:30 arrival. I wasn’t the only one spending large chunks of time in airports. I would like everyone to know that I could not have made this trip if it had not been for my mom. She wasn’t just my chauffeur to and from the airport. She was my room and board, my ride anywhere in Kansas or Missouri, and she was my moral support. Thanks mom!

Needless to say, (why do we even have this saying? it’s used right before you say something, if it were really needless to say, wouldn’t we just refrain from saying it?) I was extremely tired. I didn’t sleep much in the 25 hours that I had been traveling. After a long, hot, much needed shower… I slept. I slept the sleep of the innocent, for thirty minutes. I jolted awake due to some unidentified noise with my fatigued heart racing. I fell asleep again and didn’t wake up again for another 3 1/2 hours. It was strange, no matter how tired I was, I couldn’t sleep more than about 4 hours each night. Friday night, I made sure to get at least 6 hours to prepare for the wedding.

Typing of the wedding, it was the reason I had flown 7000 miles. Jonathan and Katie Sperry. It was such an amazing wedding! I don’t think I would have been so excited if I hadn’t known that it would be amazing. I’m glad that I was able to capture so much of the feeling and excitement and emotion of the day. It was truly an honor and a privilege to be able to do this wedding. It was such a great experience. Not only was I able to witness and record the joining of the lives of two close friends, but the images I have captured will also be the basis of the launch of my new photography studio. I will be creating a new website and blog that is devoted to my new venture and J&K’s wedding images will be the visual cornerstone. Jonathan and Katie, thank you for giving me this opportunity. You guys so totally rock.

As I mentioned on Sunday morning, I was asked numerous times about Sarah. She seems to have come through the ordeal of being without me quite well. (almost too well). I was also questioned many times about how I was handling the jet lag. I will tell you now, the Sarah lag was much more brutal.

A quick note about my return journey: After being dropped off at my gate in Kansas City, I was informed that the plane couldn’t leave due to weather in San Francisco. (something about a low ceiling). They did remind us that the same weather would probably delay our connecting flights in San Fran, so don’t worry about missing them. No such luck. Do you ever pray and ask God for something and then give Him some options as to how He can accomplish it? Why do we do this? He’s God! His ways are so far above our ways. After waiting for two hours (the amount of time my layover in S.F. should have been) I boarded the plane in K.C. and began to pray that I made the connecting flight. Option one was that God could just make the plane late because of the “low ceiling” like my first flight. I think option two was that I made the flight by the skin of my teeth. (gross). I was not only asking God for something, but telling Him how. I’m glad God doesn’t have to do what we say. His ideas are usually way cooler. In this case, the board said that the flight to Korea had left about 45 minutes before we landed in San Francisco. Then, after a long ordeal of traipsing from one end of the airport to the other, the plane seemed to magically reappear at one of the gates and they let us on almost two hours after it had supposedly flown away. The plane had experienced some sort of malfunction with the fuel system that had to be taken care of before it could leave. God is awesome! They came all the way back to a gate and reopened the flight to let ten of us on. I made it back to my girl at about 9:15 p.m. on Tuesday night. I lost a day in the air, but I’ll find it again when we come home!

Thank you all for reading this way too long post. I hope it’s not too rambly. I have some great images from my trip and some even better memories. I will see everyone soon and I promise to bring Sarah next time.

p.s. - Special thanks to Chip for the use of Ellen’s car. It was a tremendous help!

Home Safe

Hey, I just wanted to let you all know that Micah made it back safe and sound. I for one am ecstatic! All of his flights were delayed a couple of hours and he is pretty exhausted, but other than that, he's doing great and is all in one piece! Thanks to everyone for taking such great care of him! Love you, Sarah

로그인

That's what my log in button looks like :) It doesn't just mean "log in", if you read the sounds it says "log in." Konglish. Sometimes all of our websites just switch over to the Korean version without us telling it to. Just an amusing prelude to my post, random, I know:)
Micah is now on his way to all of you wonderful people in Pittsburg. I already miss him! But, I'm having dinner tonight with Kyunghee, my co-teacher/mother in Korea, and I've had at least 2 other offers to hang out with people on Thursday and Friday, so hopefully I won't have time to be too lonely.
We're still having a swine-flu craze going on here. We've had some more cases at our school, but haven't closed down so far. They did shut down one of the 2nd grade classes that had like 10 kids out sick! But only one of those has had a confirmed case of swine flu, the others are still waiting to hear. Other than that, things have been nice and calm here:) We had dinner with Kevin and Kate the other night and captured some adorable videos of Hayoung (their daughter) that I would like to share with you. Hopefully I can find and upload them. Love you all - take care of my husband for me! And congratulations Jonathan and Katie! It blows my mind to think that you guys aren't little kids anymore! Yer gettin' married! (sniff*sniff)
Love,
Sarah

Ok, so we only had one video, but below are some pictures too:)

Here, she's trying to make a heart shape with her hands - a popular Korean picture pose.

No Words, Just Emotions

Lazy Saturday

Hello, everybody! We're comin' at you live from our living room! It's Saturday afternoon, the windows are open and the weather is beautiful. Sarah is reading something about Anne of Seven Gables or some such thing. I have been studying the photography bidness and we are both enjoying a sunny, serene Saturday. Sarah will be going to the school for a special classroom presentation for parents at 5:00. I think I'll take my camera out on the town. I've been taking a lot of pictures lately. You might be surprised at all the new uploads on flickr. Hint, hint. Hopefully, after tonight, there will be more.

I'm getting even more excited about the wedding in October. I just read some tips on staying healthy on the plane. I'll be wearing a mask and wiping everything down with antibacterial gels. I need to purchase a new neck pillow also. I wonder if they would let me on the flight with a full bio hazard suit. That would so totally rock.

Can you believe that we've been here for 19 1/2 months? Just yesterday I actually had a small feeling of panic that I would leave some sort of job unfinished here. Most of our Korea prayers lately have been about making sure we don't sell the experience short. We don't want to waste the last 4-5 months pining away for home. On the other hand, I don't think we'll see all the implications of this thing until we are home for a while. God is awesome!

Love,

Micah

When Pigs Flu

Swine flu. Yes, it has finally become much more real to us. We've been hearing of nearby schools that have had to close down because of it, and then this afternoon we received our own little announcement that our school must close down. I'm not sure what the protocol is in schools Stateside, but here if there is even one case of it, the whole school must close down for a week. We have our 1st reported case of it. Luckily it's just the one case, and hopefully it will be the last. We are fortunately able to do internet classes, so us closing down won't affect our vacation time (as was first thought), and other than not meeting in the classroom, the school schedule will pretty much continue on as usual. We just stocked up on groceries and are planning to lay low for the next week.
On a positive note, something miraculous has happened to me (literally:) When I was 17 I was diagnosed with a hiatal hernia. As the years have progressed it has begun to bother me more and more. One morning a couple months ago I woke up with severe chest pains (from all the acid coming up) and had to see the doctor. He gave me a stronger prescription and sent me on my way. I've been trying to keep the prescription filled and avoid spicy and acidic food. Two weeks ago I found out that a father of one of my students is a specialist for this kind of thing. I went to see him and he told me that he wanted to do an endoscopy to see what was going on. The appointment was set for a Saturday morning (this past one). On Tuesdays, my school has morning devotion time. During this last week's devotions, all of my co-workers prayed for me, and my stomach felt much better the rest of the week. I went to the hospital on Saturday for the endoscopy. When I awoke from the procedure I was told that the doctor found NO traces of the hernia and that there was no damage to my esophagus or my stomach! All I could do was smile and say, "What!?!" I can still hardly believe it! I've been living pain-free for about a week now, and I see no reason why I won't continue:) I don't know what they prayed that Tuesday (since it was all in Korean), but whatever it was, God heard and He answered. I am so thankful!
I'm not really sure how to close a post like this, I just hope it will encourage people to not quit praying and to know that God really does hear us when we pray...and He cares. Love, Sarah
By the way, I came up with the title after Sarah wrote the post. ~Micah

We Miss Amy

Amy was with us for about ten days. It felt like ten minutes. We miss you, Amy.

100 Posts!!!

In celebration of our hundredth post, I have chosen a plethora of pictures for your viewing pleasure.