Disney's English Days

Last fall, UCF sent me an email about a summer English teaching program at Walt Disney World. Sounded fun! So I interviewed, had great dialogue with the Director, and waited for a hiring phone call. (EVERYTHING in ESL is enrollment-based, I’m learning…) For months, I stayed in touch with the Director, but was met with unpromising news.

On one unsuspecting Monday in July, my phone rang. “Hi Rebecca, this is Jean ….yada yada yada….can you start Wednesday?” YES! YES! YES!

For the next six weeks, I had a blast teaching English to middle school and high school students visiting Orlando for a two-week English language learning program. They spent two days a week studying English, and the remaining days participated in backstage Disney educational programs. They stayed on Disney property and our language classroom was in Epcot! (Perks for the teachers: backstage passes!)

My students were from Italy, China, Turkey, Brazil, Japan, and the Dominican Republic. I must admit, teaching wealthy kids visiting Disney without their parents was quite challenging… but I learned a lot and had a phenomenal experience.

The graduation ceremony was held on the water with the Epcot ball in the background. After some speeches and a presentation of certificates, we had an ice cream party and watched the fireworks!

My Chinese students singing a song for us.

The Italians singing us their national anthem....they were SO into it!

One of my students, Sarah, from Italy.

Hanging out in Epcot before graduation with my honey! We love going to the parks together and being kids again. :)

With a couple of my teacher colleagues, Elyse & Cassidy. Fun times!

quick quick update

I know, I know! How many months has it been??! Here's a little of what's to come....


The last 3 months....

--3 amazingly wonderful wedding showers
--FUN FUN wedding planning
--the best day of my life: 9.13.08
--beautiful honeymoon on a cruise in Alaska
--moving in and setting up our new home (and unpacking wedding gifts!)
--trip to Baltimore to celebrate with the Yoon family / second reception
--starting a new job as an English teacher
--taking my dreaded comprehensive exam to graduate from my UCF masters program
--getting close to UCF graduation! (one month to go)
--getting ready to welcome my first (blood) nephew to the Hansen clan in February!


more posts coming from the new Yoon family..... i promise! :)

my stud and his new toy

Thanks to Uncle Sam, Joe got his wedding gift early!

the i-got-a-new-grill inaugural steak dinner was quite tasty, too!

Barbies

I have about a thousand projects I'd like to do before moving to Joe's place...you know, cleaning out stuff, reorganizing, giving stuff away, etc. Since my parents are away this week, and I have the whole house to mess up, I decided this was a good time to start.

My first project: cleaning out 2 tubs of pictures and three tubs of childhood things. I haven't gotten to the pictures yet ( I have a feeling it will take a while...), but last night I had the best time looking through some of the toys and such I saved from when I was a kid!

Let me tell you...I LOVED playing with Barbies. In fact, I probably played with Barbies, without telling anyone, until I was about 14 years old! I will defend myself by adamantly claiming that the last few years of said play-time was not really playing with the Barbies themselves, but I would set up these elaborate Barbie homes that would overtake half my room. (I loved decorating even then!) Lets rephrase that: they were elaborate Barbie mansions - dining room, kitchen, outdoor patio, living room, family room, library, multiple bedrooms (not sure if they ever used the restroom or not). But by the time I finished setting up the home, I would be totally over it and on to something else.

Anyway -- last night, I found all my old barbies, 80s wicker Barbie furniture, the plastic accessories (food, TVs, radios, etc), and the most hilarious 80s and early 90s Barbie clothes! I wish I had kept my cars - I had two: a white rabbit and a hot pink Mercedes. :) Don't know what happened to those. ( my cousin had a huuuge Barbie RV that I would play with whenever I would visit my grandmother)

It was so fun to look through everything; I had a huge smile on my face. Good memories.

I was telling Joe about it later and he asked if I was going to pull everything out for my nieces. I said "No - I'm saving them for our kids!" (sorry girls) Can't wait to pass along the fun. :)

What was your favorite play time as a kid?

Save the Date!!

We're getting married!!!

9.13.08

need a pic?

wedding planning update!

I could spend hours perusing wedding websites. I'll stop short of saying I've actually spent hours doing so, but I'll admit, it's close. I love reading about brides' choices in colors, venues, amazing finds!

Are you so inclined?

Either way -- for the next several months, I'm afraid this blog may be all about weddings. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

here we go...


So, lets start this update with the stressful aspect of my planning. Gratefully, it's a short list.
Two points:
1. date
2. reception venue

It took several weeks to line up a date that worked for everyone. We wanted to get married in 2008, but believe it or not, there are already loads of calendar items to consider for the fall. Push the wedding back? No way! How about...bump the wedding up? :) So we did. To September 13th.

yay! a date! Then...the reception site wasn't available. Joe called about 8 other possibilities, and none were open on 9.13. Bump it up again? My mom pleaded with us to not give her a heart attack.

So...we'll keep you updated. The current situation is that we have two possibilities with many considerations. Hopefully, a decision will be made by the end of the week.

Meanwhile... the rest of the planning is creating a world of fun and excitement for me! I love it. And I'm checking things off the list left and right!

--My dress and veil are currently being worked on, and I should have my first fitting next week.
--Found some super comfy shoes. Who knew Naturalizer could make cute white sandals?
--Dillards scored a major point by offering cute cute flower girl dresses for a fraction of bridal shop prices. done!
--Found a new favorite friend: Sean at The Printing Shop. Recommended an art store, where I found the most perfect paper to use for invitations! So thrilled for these!
--think: dark yet brilliant blue dresses, black sashes, black suits, and a white wedding dress. wahoo! makes me giddy with excitement.
--b.maid dresses are on the way
--Mom found an amazing dress! so glad!
--secured a good friend to be our photographer - so grateful he'll be a part of our day!

Still much more to go...
--reception site final choice
--food
--flowers
--cake

How's that for a whirlwind? I'll keep you updated!

the proposal!

Thursday, May 15

I awoke to a text message from Joe, followed by a phone call. He was unusually alert for that time in the morning, sounded really excited to get to work, and was even on his way into the office a half-hour early! I wanted to go back to sleep, after having stayed up until 3ish finishing a paper, but his excitement really awakened me. "You're going on vacation today!" he said. He seemed more thrilled than I! We talked about my schedule for the day, which included swinging by RTS on the way out of town to finish a take-home exam. "How long will that take?" he asked. "I don't know, no more than 2 hours."

So I was out of bed in minutes, tidying up my work inbox for the week and packing my bags. I was expecting to have 2 days to myself at the beach, so I packed like a champ with books, stamping supplies, magazines, etc. (never got used, not a last one of them :) I talked to Joe maybe 2 more times before finally settling down with my take-home exam at RTS. He was persistent in asking "how long will your exam take? When do you think you'll be heading to New Smyrna?" It never got to the point of annoying, but I definitely noticed he asked me so many times! I finished the exam 3 hours later (yikes), did a little jig, and was on the road to my final destination!! I have grown up loving my mom's family's beachhouse in New Smyrna Beach; I've always said that when I cross the bridge to beachside living, my soul knows it's time to rest and I breathe a big sigh of relief. And NSB did not disappoint this day either!

I drove up to the house, texted Joe that I had arrived, grabbed a few things, and went inside. The main living space is on the second floor, so that's where I headed first. Wow! -opened the curtains and the beach looked glorious! The phone rang and it was Joe. "I'm here!" I said excitedly. He said he was so glad I made it and asked how the weather was. I walked out onto the deck overlooking the beach and started telling him how it felt, "it's a little overcast, but feels great! I definitely want to take a walk first before I do anything else!" He responded, "a walk on the beach sounds so nice, I wish I could walk with you." Not thinking much of it, I said, "yes, honey, that does sound wonderful."

"Well....come downstairs!!!" WHAT?! His head popped up from the stairs leading down to the beach.... my eyes bugged out... is that my joe?!?! I could not even begin to grasp the fact that he was standing down there, right in front of me! I kept saying silly things like 'is that really you' and 'what are you doing here' and 'don't you have small group tonight', while he was still coaching me to come downstairs.

(the view from where I was standing on the deck, looking down to the stairs where Joe emerged)

Let me tell you, I RAN downstairs.

He greeted me with a kiss and I knew. This was it!

So we sat down on the stairs leading down to the beach, and while the wind was blowing in our hair and the waves were crashing about 20 feet away, Joe gifted me with a beautiful speech about our relationship and why he loves me. And then he asked me to MARRY him!! I couldn't believe it. I'd been waiting for this moment maybe all of my life, and it turned out to be more perfect than I could ever have imagined.



After several yeses and squeals and kisses, he promptly apologized for all the lying and deception he had authored over the last several months. HA. Poor guy hated living a secret life. But I really had no idea! He confessed to several "remember this? well, I was really doing this." (I thought he had been watching an unusually high volume of TV lately!)


It was absolutely blissful! He presented me with a stunning ring! And we talked for a long time and then he prayed for us. I might have opened one eye once or twice during the prayer to peek at the diamond on my hand (!). Yes, it's really there!



Joe came back on Friday and we had an amazing day just the two of us. Once my parents arrived on Friday night, we talked wedding for 3 1/2 hours straight before we all collapsed in bed. My brother and his family arrived on Saturday and we all had a wonderful weekend celebrating God's goodness to us!

We feel exceedingly blessed and are grateful for your excitement with us!!

--pause--

I'm on a little break this week...I'm dying to blog about going green, but I don't even have the time to think on anything but exams!

Papers, exams, and vacation coming...

Be back soon!

time out: a quote from my reading

Time out: I know I owe you a post on "going green", which I'm quite eager to write about, but in the essense of time, today's post is an excerpt from my reading.

This is from the book The Sermon on the Mount / The Character of a Disciple by Daniel Doriani. pg 166-7

"To love God with the mind means, third, to speak about money in ways that reiterate his truth. For example, we should not start to make our financial decisions with "Can we afford it?" Instead, we should ask, "Does this glorify God? Does it make me a better servant?" Parents must especially take care not to answer their children's petitions for toys and games simply by declaring, "We can't afford it." Those four words end the conversation very effectively at some ages and keep parents from seeming insensitive. But the subliminal message is, "The adults don't make the decisions in this family, money does." When we make decisions, we should let God and his law have the final word, not money."

This struck a chord within me... How much my mind needs to be re-wired when it comes to money! I've been pondering recently the degree to which I'm affected by marketing, advertising, and our generally extraodinarily materialistic society. It's scary. Growing up in my community/culture has programmed me to think, act, and make decisions according to a particular financial worldview. Eww, it's not pretty. It's not Christlike. It's not a Kingdom-minded perspective.

This is one of my "character-goals" for the summer: to take a hard look at my spending THOUGHT-life. I'm not a big spender these days; I am, in fact, a very poor student. But this is a good time to examine the deeper issue of my attitude towards all-things-money. What do I covet? What kind of lifestyle do my spending habits perpetuate? What triggers in me a desire to spend money? What do I really need and what I do try to slide into that category unnecessarily? When my sister-in-law Ashlee was here a couple of weeks ago, she was a good accountability in conversation to stop myself and say, "I don't need a new pair of black sandals, just because my flat, casual pair that I wear with everything is falling apart." Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. :) My flip flops or dressy sandals will do just fine, won't they?

This is just one example of the many ways I see my ungodly thoughts influencing ungodly spending. I'm not against a new pair of sandals (a girl LOVES her shoes!!). I'm against anything but God driving my decision making, all the way down to how I spend money. (almost wrote my money...but i'm not sure that's true either! ugh, i've got a lot of growing to do)

May His Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven - starting in me!

Black Bean Burritos

During the month of April, I took part in a pilot mentoring program through my church called Recipes for Life. In short, a group of older and younger women met on Tuesday nights to share a meal, study the Scriptures, and share our lives. I got to know some new friends and learned tons of new recipes!

I'm in this strange stage of life (short-lived, I pray:) between not really being single and not being married yet. For you ladies out there: I'm sure you'll understand. Although I've always loved anything at home, I find myself more excited than ever to cook, clean, decorate, garden and generally take care of a home. And I also am being drawn to older married women who can teach me the art of being a good wife. So -- this mentoring program was for me!

Here's one of my favorite new recipes that I've made maybe 3 times in the last two weeks. :) It's so easy, cheap, fast, and a real winner! Thank you Lou Jones for sharing.

Black Bean Burritos

2 green onions
1 clove garlic, minced
I T. vegetable oil
1 can black beans, drained
1 jar salsa
1 t. chili powder
1 1/2 C. mild cheddar cheese, shredded
4 tortillas (soft taco size)

In a large skillet, cook green onions and garlic in oil for 2 minutes. Add beans, 1/4 C. salsa, and chili powder and heat through. Remove from heat and stir in 1 C. cheese. Spread black bean mixture down center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in a lightly greased baking dish. Spoon additional salsa over top of tortillas and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes OR cover with plastic and microwave for 3-5 minutes. You may wish to top with sour cream or cilantro to serve. YUM!

This recipe makes 4 burritos, but it doubles or even triples very easily!

PS...the Jones family particularly likes this meal because it's meatless. But Joe prefers it with chicken. :) I used just one boneless chicken breast and it was sufficient.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, Oh God!

"Divine omniscience affords no comfort to the ungodly mind, but to the child of God it overflows with consolation. God is always thinking upon us, never turns aside His mind from us, has us always before His eyes; and this is precisely as we would have it, for it would be dreadful to exist for a moment beyond the observation of our heavenly Father. His thoughts are always tender, loving, wise, prudent, far-reaching, and they bring to us countless benefits: hence, it is a choice delight to remember them...

Dear reader, is this precious to you? then hold to it...The Lord lives and thinks upon us, this is a truth far too precious for us to be lightly robbed of it..."


-excerpt from Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, April 30.
Title is from Psalm 139:17

some thoughts...and posts to come

So...it's been a while. After a long absence in posting, isn't it hard to know what to say? I figured I might sum up a few things I've been thinking about lately....

1. Great words from Spurgeon about how wonderfully thoughtful God is toward us! Future post on this.

2. I love cooking; it's so fun. Due to my current schedule, I've taken up cooking all weekend to supply meals for the week. And I am digging it right now. :) Post on recipes forthcoming.

3. My current schedule, as previously discussed, is about to change... I cannot believe this semester is nearly over! (2 wks to go) It's been a dream come true to be a full-time student again, take part in other activities my work schedule prohibited, and to take a break from being a working woman. :) The Lord has been so incredibly good to fulfill this dream...I still can't believe I'm living it! Thank you, Lord!!

It's been a fantastic semester on campus, and now I move into a time of personal study as I finish up my degrees. I'll primarily be taking virtual classes now through December.

4. To completely change the subject...I've been thinking a lot about how exactly I can "go green"? Maybe I'll save this discussion for another post, because I feel like I have a lot to say. Hmmm...sorry for the teaser, but I'm going to wait. And I want your input!

5. Joe is the best! I'm crazy about him!

That's all. Have a nice day. :) Thank you for reading.

Congrats Chris and Hae

Last Saturday, Joe and I celebrated the marriage of Dr. and Mrs. Chris Lee! Chris and Haley are both members of Joe's small group, so it was a special treat to celebrate all together, and most of the small group was actually a part of the ceremony. God's blessings on your marriage!!




We had so much fun at the reception - thank goodness they put our table in the corner! Here's most of the small group....Martin, Joe, Haley, Chris, Danny, and Eric.

20 years

Yesterday, April 10, marked 20 years of walking with Jesus!

It is pure joy to remember the early days, even though I was only 6. I remember making the decision that I wanted to be fully Christ's - body, soul, and mind. Knowing that I could no longer rest on the faith of my parents, yet thankful for their teaching, by His grace and in faith I pledged to be a covenant keeper.

Wow...20 years!

I have to admit that I felt a moment of sadness yesterday, wishing I had "more to show" for 20 years of growth in my spiritual walk. I guess I imagined I would feel different. But the Lord in his mercy reached down in to my soul and reminded me right then that we've had an amazing 20 years! Despite great sin, sadness, tilling of the soul of my heart, and the pain of the heat peeling back the dross, there have been glorious times of worship and service to my King, moments of grace when I cannot deny His perfect leading in my life, awe-inspiring times of learning new truth, and a constant assurance of His presence with me day by day. The memories are a flood of joy!

During class last Monday, my professor was lecturing on the consequences of sin. As believers, we've been set free from the eternal consequences of sin, yet we're still living among them, and quite honestly, we often confuse ourselves and live as if they really apply to us as well. I was particularly impacted by the lecture/discussion on the believer's fight with indwelling sin. Swain said he remembers believing as a child that growing more and more like Jesus meant gaining more and more victory in perfectionism. He always imagined that sanctification had an end on earth; you know, like those little old ladies in church every Sunday no longer fight with their sinful nature. Sound familiar? Without a doubt, I believed that too! Clearly, I still wrestle with these thoughts. Where I expected to be at this point in my walk is far from the instense struggles I'm feeling today.

But....there is good news. As a consequence of the Spirit’s indwelling presence, we have been engaged in an internal battle with our sinful nature. What, when, where is triumph? Most poignant to me was this point: we measure triumph by engagement in the fight, not by evidence of total conquest.

Whew~ There is freedom in truth! I know that 1) total conquest will only come in the next life, and 2) faith is not passive; faith is actively engaged in sanctification. But it's a beautifully ironic truth that the battle raging so real inside of me does not mean that God is not keeping His promise to sanctify me, grow me, develop me into a true Christ-image. Even though I'm tempted to feel like it, I'm not losing the fight against my sinful nature. Rather, it is this very battle that evidences His work in my life, His keeping of those promises. I am triumphant through faith: fully involved in the battle against my sinful nature and fully calling upon Jesus as the only true eternal Victor.

So encouraging in the deepest part of me!

And so, I celebrate 20 years of this glorious road. I am a daughter of the Most High King. I am a co-heir with Jesus of the riches of this King. I am pursued, loved, adopted. I sit at the King's table every single day! He might be busy, but the King still delights in sitting by the waters in the coolness of the end of the day, and just...talking. The King is pleased to hear my praises and worship of Him like a fine aroma. He overwhelmingly and abundantly provides for me; He has given me all things. Yes. This is the place I've called home for 20 years.

When I'm tempted to live outside the beauty of that castle, with thoughts, feelings, and actions that are of the world outside... When the enemy within tells me that it can't really be that good, so stop living like it... I feel so encouarged to take up that fight with rejoicing. No more sadness that I'm still fighting. Lord, give me 20 more years of battle, and more! YOU have already gained the victory - I'm yours!

Happy Birthday to me! :)

Stamping

Last Saturday, I spent all afternoon watching movies and making cards! I stamped for 5 hours and had over a dozen cards to show for it. It was so much fun!! Call me if you want to join me next time. :) Here are a few samples of my favorite cards.

spring break

A very welcome spring break was had by all RTSers a couple of weeks ago. Oh, how I love spring break! Don't you think the working world should have a spring break too?

Well, it was a great week off from my regular schedule, even though I worked a great deal at PI and around the house. But on Friday, Noriko and I spent a girly day including lunch, a movie, and coffee! Loved it.

yum! We lunched at Harmoni on Edgewater Drive...quite possibly my favorite restaurant in Orlando!

Adventure in Africa!

I'm so excited for my big bro, Nels! He's headed to Africa today on a project with Overland Missions!!

About a month ago, Nels and his family attended a commissioning service for Overland Mission's first long-term folks. This organization mostly focuses on short-term ministry projects among the most remote villages in Africa. But it was exciting to be sending out LT-ers.

At this service, Nels learned that Overland Missions has been building a logistical base camp as a terminal for their bush expeditions of evangelism and pastoral support. Nels casually mentioned that he would be happy to serve them through help creating some design concepts and presentation artwork. By the end of the night, they decided Nels really needed to visit the site in order to best represent the style of architecture as well as the environment and landscaping.

Today, Nels is boarding a plane to join a small team meeting at the logistical center to evaluate and plan for the upcoming construction. So quick...so amazing...so exciting!

This opportunity came to Nels and his family during the same weekend as some other difficult family news, which made Africa such a blessing for them. It was something to look forward to, a beacon of hope that God gives His best to His children and is sovereignly working out His plan.

Pray for Nels! And pray for Ashlee as this is the longest they've been apart in 6 years of marriage. I'm so thrilled for them to be a part of this adventure!!

Home with Jesus

I loved Jim Britton. He was one of my heros. With all of the PI family, I mourn his loss in our midst but rejoice that he is with Jesus face to face!

Jim exclaimed the joy of the Lord with every kind word, every backrub, every genuine "how are you?", and every email he sent overseas. He was loved the world-over because of the way he passed along the love of Christ.

Truly, truly.......well done, good and faithful servant!

tried, true, and oh so sweet

I'm sure I've posted this sometime before, but the following is really, truly my favorite song ever. Each time I listen to it, I hear something new that touches my soul.

Jesus, I am Resting, Resting

Jesus I am resting, resting in the joy of what Thou art
I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart!
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee, as Thy beauty fills my soul
For by Thy transforming power, Thou hast made me whole

O how great thy lovingkindness: vaster, broader than the sea!
O how marvelous thy goodness lavished all on me!
Yes, I rest in thee, Beloved, Know what wealth of grace is thine,
Know thy certainty of promise and have made it mine.

Simply trusting thee, Lord Jesus, I behold thee as thou art,
And thy love, so pure, so changeless, satisfies my heart;
Satisfies its deepest longings; meets, supplies its every need,
Compasseth me round with blessings: Thine is love indeed.

Ever lift thy face upon me as I work and wait for thee;
Resting 'neath thy smile, Lord Jesus, earth's dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father's glory, Sunshine of my Father's face,
Keep me ever trusting, resting, fill me with thy grace.


I first came to love this song in Japan, a time of explosive growth in my walk with Christ. But I feel like I'm still on the quest to truly rest in the joy of what He is! Can you actively...rest? Well, that's me. My prayer is that we will all be continually finding out the greatness of His tender, loving heart!

May these words encourage you in communion with Christ today. Happy Holy Week - lets celebrate what made this communion possible - praise Him!

~~~

(dear SB...what sweet fellowship we had over these words in Japan, which I often remember with teary eyes!)

weekend at the lakehouse

Happy Birthday Presidents Washington and Lincoln...we're celebrating at the Lakehouse! Thanks to a long weekend and the generosity of new friends, my family had a grand time in the North Florida woods on the shores of Lake George earlier this month. Oh my goodness, it was so much fun! Everyone was there, and we went fishing and four-wheeling, walked trails, played pool, watched movies, swam, explored the local area, and ate like champs! It was really fun to be together in the great outdoors!





So...funny story...the dirt bike just really didn't want to start, despite the valiant efforts of both Nels and Joe. But Joe wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. If you heard anyone say "where's joe?" ...you could pretty much bet he was in the garage working on the dirt bike. I was inside talking to Ashlee when I heard a noise, looked out the window, and saw Joe sitting up tall and proud on that bike, and flying by! :) I had a real good laugh.

Here's to an AMAZING year!!

This is a picture taken almost at the beginning of our relationship...giddy with excitement to be together and both about 20 pounds lighter! :)

A wonderfully surprising and beautiful year later... enjoying life and love!

Happy Valentines Day!

May you know today how deeply loved you are by the Father!

the King of Kings

your Creator

the One who holds all things in His hand

your Provider

your Lover

the One who longs to be your very best friend

the Holy One who reigns forever!

---HE has chosen YOU---

Relish in His love today!

And that Love has sent family and friends to demonstrate His kindness in so many different ways - I celebrate you all today!

hiking in florida

Joe recently found an extensive set of walking trails near his house, so we went to check them out a few Saturdays ago. We spent 3.5 hours in the park and only enjoyed the shortest trail! It was beautiful - fully shaded, in the backwoods of nature, sounded by lakes. Joe was determined to find an alligator, and I really wanted to meet a wild boar. Instead, we only found a few friendly deer. We're excited to go back and explore more!

Enjoying the lakes

We highly recommend Moss Park and the Split Oak Forest Trails! It was a great place to walk, talk, and enjoy being together.

for my global friends

My
country-hopping,
geography-mastering,
culture-loving,
multi-lingual
friends who have (or currently) live around the world will appreciate this picture...

Look what I found posted in all the bathroom stalls at the place where I teach English!

Generally, laughing out loud is not a typical, or even welcomed, noise to make in the bathroom...but i couldn't help myself...i think it was the mental picture that really made the laughter start...

Oh, how i love internationals!

a random splattering of pictures

because there haven't been any new pictures recently...here they are...

Isn't our God amazing?!

This picture was taken last December, as Joe and I were coming out of the grocery store. We were talking about work that day, what we were going to make for dinner, and all of life's perplexities. Suddenly, the Lord caught our attention with this magnificent display of His handiwork! We literally stood in the parking lot for about 5 minutes just gazing up at the sky, while the world continued to bustle around us.

Japanese food on New Years Eve - a family tradition

Joe and I attended a wedding of friends in early January. We emerged with several beautiful pics with Chloe Kim!

Such a good looking picture

Blue Man Group!

Blue Man Group just opened at Universal a few months ago..and I've been wanting to go since I first started seeing the billboards for this show! Former work colleagues of Joe's visited Orlando several weeks ago and invited us to join them for dinner at Hard Rock and then Blue Man Group. It was such a special treat from the Lord! I have to be honest...it's a bizarre show. It's unlike anything you've ever seen. It's hard to describe..except for FUN!

Oh yes...I had to get a pic with this very, very strange creature covered in blue

(don't his eyes hurt by the end of the night??)

chuckle of the day

I've been meaning to post this for a few days.... But I was listening to Steve Brown on the radio last week and he was responding to listeners' emails.

One said:
"Can you explain to me what modernity and postmodernity mean?"

Steve Brown started, "...well, no one knows for sure..."


I laughed out loud. The truth is, for all the books I've read and all the discussions I've had and all the seminar's I've attended on post-modernism...this is my same conclusion!

:)

a List

I'm a list maker. I l-o-v-e making lists. And I'm excited about life right now.

So here's my latest list: what I'm excited about in 2008.
(in no particular order, except for no.1)

1. Joe Yoon
2. starting full-time at RTS
3. helping dreams come true: connecting people with places overseas
4. my new Bible Study at church
5. seeing the sunshine! (a.k.a. not being in an office all day)
6. coffee breaks with friends
7. eating healthy and feeling good
8. cooking for joe
9. joe's new grill! which makes very very yummy pork tenderloin
10. working out at UCF's gym
11. teaching english and building relationships
12. stamping and cardmaking
13. my birthday
14. not making much $$ and watching God provide :)
15. the blessing of a new computer for student life
16. watching my nieces grow up
17. welcoming a new niece or nephew in august! (on both sides...joe and me)
18. God's goodness. And faithfulness. And mercy over me.

Do as You have said

God's promises were never meant to be thrown aside as waste paper; He intended that they should be used. God's gold is not miser's money, but is minted to be traded with. Nothing pleases our Lord better than to see His promises put in circulation; He loves to see His children bring them up to Him, and say, "Lord, do as you have said!" We glorify God when we plead His promises. Do you think that God will be any the poorer for giving you the riches He has promised? Do you dream that He will be any the less holy for giving holiness to you? Do you imagine He will be any the less pure for washing you from your sins?

He has said, "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Faith lays hold upon the promise of pardon, and it does not dealy, saying "This is a precious promise, I wonder if it be true?" but it goes straight to the throne with it, and pleads, "Lord, here is the promise, 'Do as You have said.'" Our Lord replies, "Be it unto you even as you will." When a Christian grasps a promise, if he does not take it to God, he dishonors Him; but when he hastens to the throne of grace, and cries, "Lord, I have nothing to recommend me but this, 'You have said it;'" then his desire shall be granted.

Our heavenly Banker delights to cash His own notes. Never let the promise rust. Draw the word of promise out of its scabbard, and use it with holy violence. Think not that God will be troubled by your importunately reminding Him of His promises. He loves to hear the loud outcries of needy souls. It is His delight to bestow favors. He is more ready to hear than you are to ask. The sun is not weary of shining, nor the fountain of flowing. It is God's nature to keep His promises; therefore go at once to the throne with "Do as You have said."

Morning and Evening by Spurgeon :: January 15, morning.