When I Look Into Your Eyes

As a parent, I do think one of the most beautiful things I see in my children when I look at their physical appearance is their eyes. Each of them have their own looks, but all three of them share blue eyes. Beautiful, blue eyes.

Miriam's blue eyes

I remember when Miriam was born and I saw her eyes. I was so excited to see that she had gotten my eye color. That is something that all 3 kids share from me. Blue eyes only run in my family, not their daddy's family. Miriam's eyes seem to be the bluest of our children. I love her eyes. With her fair skin, her beautiful blue eyes just seem to say so much when you look at them.

 

Levi Paul's gray-blue eyes

It's amazing how the eyes are the one thing that can connect us to others, even if we don't speak the same language. Think about it: when we talk to people, we look into their eyes. When you first look at somebody, you look at their eyes. The Koreans love to see blue eyes, especially in children. Levi Paul's eyes are a gray-blue. His are darker than Miriam's. Chris has hazel eyes, so while Levi Paul's eyes are still blue, they have a grayish color to them.

Naomi's blue eyes

Just like her sister, Naomi's eyes say so much about her. Just like her brother, she has the darker blue eyes, but not as much gray as Levi Paul has. When I am sitting with her and she's being quite, I can just stare into her eyes and it seems that we have this conversation just by looking at each other. 

As a mother, one of the best things ever is when your newborn child finally "connects" with you. It's through the eyes that this happens. It's when you're sitting there, holding them in your arms and you are just staring at them. Maybe they are getting a bottle or nursing, or you're just sitting there holding them..and then all of a sudden, they lock eyes with you. It's at that moment that time stops. Everything around you doesn't seem to matter-it's as if your ears shut off and you just take in that moment when those beautiful eyes look into yours as if to say "I know your my mommy. I know you love me and I know you will take care of me." That moment is a feeling I will never forget that happened with each of my blessings.

"The eyes are the window to the soul." -old proverb

I Like Books

I like books
I really do.

 

 Books with stories
And pictures, too.

 Books of birds
And things that grow.

 Books of people
We should know.

 Books of animals
And places, too.

I like books
I really do!

UCC

 This is the church we have been attending since getting here. I can't say that we are really involved in the church (for numerous reasons), but it's been a great church for us here in S. Korea. The church is on the 3rd floor of a building.

During the first part of the worship service, the kids stay with us. We sing several songs and the kids will sit and listen. Miriam sings the songs she knows, Levi Paul is either listening, drawing on paper or talking out loud. I usually hold Naomi and she bounces up and down and smiles at the people behind us. :-)  Then the kids head to children's church and we sing some more. We will sing all songs in English and some of the songs (especially the hymns), they alternate different verses singing them in English or Korean (as shown in the picture above). Whatever language is at the top, that is what is sung for that verse. I like that we can still know what is being sung since the other language is under the one being sung.

Let me say that my kids LOVE the children's church. They sing songs together and then go to their classrooms, being separated by age. Levi Paul has a hard time being separated from us if he can't sit near Miriam during their singing portion. That boy sure does love his sister and wants to sit by her, and of course she doesn't want him sitting by her because she wants her friends to sit by her. I am thankful for the children's program because each Sunday on the way home, Miriam and Levi Paul will tell us what they learned about. :-)

The pastor of the church is originally from Alabama. The sermons are spoken in English. During the times of prayer, it is spoken in English. When the announcements are made, if it is really important they will be done in Korean also. The majority of the people that have positions in the church (music, pastor/assistant pastor, children's ministry, etc) are all teachers and administrators at the local christian school, which was started after a chaplain in the Army asked for a school for dependent children. The church is connected to the school. The church reaches out to the community-the local Koreans, the soldiers and their families and to any other person that has come over to Korea for jobs. It is a great church!

Here is Naomi after church last week. It was the first week that she didn't cry when I dropped her off in the nursery. She still held on to me for dear life when I tried to hand her over, but she didn't cry! Of course she is all smiles when I get her.

Uijeongbu Community Church is where we are supposed to be in the season of our life (living in Korea in Uijeongbu). One of the neat things is that the girl I marched beside in marching band at Liberty University lives here and goes to the church (we lost contact after my semester on campus is 1998 and I had not clue she lived here and we have reconnected since moving here), a good number of the people in the church went to Liberty, another grew up near where Chris grew up in Virginia, an assistant pastor came here from Fairbanks, AK and knows our pastor and church back there and spoke highly it, which just made us smile, and we have met some other military families there. I am thankful for the chance to worship with others (Korean, Americans, Africans and others from other countries) for the short time while living here. The family of God is spread all around the world! It is great being with brothers and sisters in Christ while worshiping our Lord and Savior on Sundays!

Last week was our first time back after missing 2 Sundays with colds and sickness. We won't be going tomorrow with all the snow we are getting (no snow tires and Koreans don't really prepare for snow here), so we are sad, but hopefully we will be back next Sunday again to worship!

I'll Think Twice Before I Try That!

One thing I have found since moving here is that Koreans love some strange and odd food. I just can't get over how different their food is from ours. Very few things are familiar. There are a lot of shops and restaurants that have American cuisine, but Korean cuisine is not like ours at all. 

I knew a lot about the Korean culture from reading about it and also from hearing from Chris what he experienced last time he was here. Since his last time here, many American places have opened: McDonald's, Papa Johns, Dominoes, Outback, KFC, pretzel places, coffee shops, waffle places (Koreans LOVE waffles apparently), hamburger places, etc. However, it's different. Dominoes is expensive (we're talking $35 for a pizza) and the pizza has odd stuff on it-corn, shrimp, even mayonnaise. McDonald's is okay, but the fries taste a little different and they have menu items that cater to Koreans, which is understandable. In Alaska and Hawaii, I remember their menus being a little different with local things that we don't have in the lower 48. I haven't been to Outback, but their steak is shipped in from Europe, so it is expensive. Want mexican? Sure! You can have that, except the menu has kimchi tacos and kimchi fajitas.

So when we go to the local places, I can't help but wonder what in the world Koreans like about some of their foods. 

Koreans have this thing called red bean paste. It is in everything!  From what I have gathered, it is some form of bean (Azuki beans). For sweet things, they cook it in honey and I just hate it. The texture and the thought of a bean being sweet just grosses me out! In our local cafe, it's mixed with cream and put into a sandwich. You find it fried in a type of pancake (think fair food) and sprinkled with sugar. It's made into a hot paste that is added to all kinds of meals. They love their red beans here!

 Wants some Cheetos? You can have those, but you won't find the type we have at home. We found these and actually really enjoyed them. They are not fried and they are not cheesy. They are sweet and from what we could figure, it's some sort of barbecue. It was light and there was no powder all over our fingers. The kids really loved them and want us to get them again! This small bag was $1.25. Expensive for such a small amount.

 We have also seen a lot of sweet potato stuff. The few times I've tried Korean food (I don't care for the smell or taste of 99% of what I've tried), sweet potatoes are always in it. They even make a purple sweet potato doughnut that looks like a small purple sweet potato! We haven't tried it. I don't care for doughnuts here in Korea. They don't use flour like we do (sandwiches like what we eat are very rare here), so any pastry out there has an different type of flavor. They also don't do "sweet". Their sweet stuff is not sweet by American standards. It has saved us a lot of money and calories since we don't purchase a lot of their desserts from the cafe' across the street from our apartment. :-) (That other thing in the picture to the right of the doughnut is 2 mini hotdogs in a bun, with ketchup on top and it just sits in the non-refrigerated section of the store. Something tells me that can't be safe!)

 I am afraid to try Korean restaurants. I can't read their menu, I don't know what they are serving me and I hate kimchi. Koreans eat it at every meal. There are over 100 types of kimchi and I have only liked maybe 2 I tried. I don't want to go into a restaurant and insult the owner when I don't eat what they put in front of me. Speaking of restaurants, or any other type of business actually, they are small mom & pop shops. Everything on this side of town where we live (the older area), is a small business. Businesses line the streets everywhere, people sit out on the side of the street selling things like light bulbs, bug and mouse traps, food...anything! There are also food trucks everywhere that sell things like rotisserie chickens, Korean foods and produce. The restaurants have pictures outside their doors to show you what they serve. You see a lot of seafood dishes and apparently Koreans love octopus (or squid if that's what it is). YUCK!  Oh, and their Korean-style fried chicken is really odd-chewy, crispy and slimy. Chris likes it, but I just can't handle it. It's just so different.

So these are the types of things that keep me from going out and trying new things. Chris has told me that I'm just a person that doesn't care for Korean foods and he is right. I am open to trying some things, but nearly everything I have tried is something I don't like. I do like a few things and I constantly just eat those over and over again. Chris always goes out and brings the food back home. He LOVES Korean food. LOVES! So, he gets what he wants (it's usually a very healthy, vegetable only filled food with lots of raw veggies that he brings home and it stinks!) and I heat  up something  like soup for the kids and me. 

Koreans eat much healthier than Americans. The majority of them are very thin people and their diet is mostly veggies and rice...and then fish or pork. They have their foods, we have our foods. I just can't stomach the majority of their stuff. Sorry, Korea!

My Blessings

 Today is a day that I will focus on my blessings and not the other "things" that tend to weigh me down. These silly, precious kids are a true blessing and gift from God! I really don't know what I did before we had kids. It's like life didn't exist before Miriam came along. I mean, I know what I did and I had a ton of time on my hands, but goodness. That doesn't compare to the life I have now.

 Even on the bad days, they make me laugh. I love how silly they can be.These kids have their daddy's personality. They love to laugh, they love to make others laugh and they know they are funny. Miriam is just like her daddy in every way. She really is. Levi Paul is more quite and shy, but as seen in the picture above, he loves to make silly faces and he enjoys being funny. Look at Naomi's face in the picture...she is going to be our sarcastic one. I see it already!

 

 They have times when they are sad and upset, but that just gives me the chance to scoop them up in my arms and love on them even more! They argue and fight, they cry and complain, but who doesn't? The times of sadness and disobedience are very few and I'm thankful for that. I love how when they are upset, they run to us for love and when they are scared, they run to us for protection. There is no greater feeling in the world than to know that your child knows that you are the one that will help in times of need. I want my children to always know that they can come to me at any time they need, no matter what the problem and no matter what age they are.

 

 These kids have my heart. I would do anything for them. They are my life and I would die for them. What parent wouldn't? I am so blessed. The Lord gave these kids to us to raise and I am so thankful. I really can't put into words how thankful I am that He placed these children in our lives, so I won't try.

We make mistakes and being a parent is hard, but the rewards far outweigh the hard times. The giggles, the wet kisses, the "read me a story, Mommy", the toys all over the house, the squeals of excitement when their Daddy comes home, the moments of just having them come up and just wanting to be close-to just touch you, whether it be holding onto your leg while you fold clothes or climbing up and sitting right up against you as you talk on the phone or read an article and the endless "I love you, Mommy!"...that is what makes my world go round and I am so very thankful for these 3 blessings!

Lunar New Year

Friday was the Lunar New Year here. Chris was going to travel on the subway to meet up with someone near the airport in Seoul and was advised that is was not a good idea and that he should just stay put and that's exactly what we did. I taught Miriam in the morning and then we got out in the afternoon since it was quite warm (about 40 degrees). We just went for a walk around the neighborhood. It's been about a week since we got out and walked. It's just been way too chilly to get out. The wind, with the humidity, makes it nearly unbearable to get out with the kids sometimes.

Each time we go out, we see something new. There is just so much to see, we never see the same old things!

The picture above shows something that just drives me crazy and stresses me out! Koreans parks on both sides of the street (even double parking sometimes!) and don't obey traffic laws at all when it comes to parking. This street is narrow with cars parked like they are and the crazy thing is that we saw a city bus come through (at full speed) and it was so close to hitting the cars.

 

 Levi Paul enjoys the walks, even with the odd smells. Not to be ugly, but trash is just piled up outside of businesses. Even when it's cold outside, the trash smells. I can't imagine how bad it will smell with the heat in the summer!

 Just parking on the sidewalk. Why not?!

 The majority of the local businesses were closed while we were out. It was nice to get out and it not be too busy. Our "little" city has over 400,000 people in it and apparently we live in the quite area, which is not quite at all. The best thing though? We're making memories and we had a great little 45 minute walk in the middle of winter!

Here I Go Again On My Own

So, here I go again. Blogging on my own since Chris said he wanted nothing to do with it when I told him that political stuff couldn't be shared. Haha. I hope to blog as much as I did in Alaska, but things get busy around here with homeschooling and with 3 kids. I'm going to try though, just for you, Momma. :-)

Since we now live on the other side of the world, I figured it would be easiest to share with those that want to know what's going on, through blogging. I have been saving photos lately, just to share on the blog once I started it back up. So, when I get a chance, I will share them.

The picture below was taken a while back. It just shows what I see when I look out the window while folding clothes. No more stars at night; just a bunch of city lights and there is always traffic. I miss home...just the good 'ol U.S. For now though, this is home.