언어 학습 - Learning the Language

Since Josiah and Naomi are Korean we feel very strongly about them learning the language. Of course that means Greg and I have to learn Korean too. Last week we got our Rosetta Stone Korean Level 1 in the mail and have started working our way through the program. I have to admit, I am scared to even attempt this, but I need to for my children. Josiah has done the lesson 1 for 4 days now and is learning fairly quickly. I am not surprised.
The program is very interesting. It is total immersion. There are no English characters or spoken word in the program. We can choose to learn just to speak or we can learn to speak and read at the same time. Reading is a little too daunting for me since everything is in Hangul, but Greg is doing both. Since Josiah is learning to read in English I didn't think he should be doing Hangul at this point. It is going to be a long road, but hopefully worth it in the end.

Shameless Plug!

At the marriage conference that we went to in Utah, there was a well stocked bookstore in which I spent a great deal of time. I had to cut my buying list down from about 20 books to only3 books and a Christmas nativity scene. I got out for only $60 which is really good for me. I just love books and can't keep from buying them.

So, we have been home for a couple of weeks now and just today opened the nativity scene to take a closer look. It is called, "What God Wants For Christmas" by Family Life. In the box is a pop up manger scene, 7 gift boxes and a book with poems that tell the Christmas story. In each box is a different character from the story. Each day you tell one part of the story and open one box. The angel Gabriel is the first box that is opened and he takes you through the rest of the story asking probing questions in a way that young children can understand. It promotes discussion about Jesus and why He was born. The first 6 boxes are characters from the nativity scene and in the 7th box is a surprise. It is a mirror! As your children looks into the box and sees themselves looking back an opportunity is created to share the gospel message with them and to make it personal. There is material at the end of the book of poems that guides you through explaining salvation with your child in a way that is easily understood by little ones. I love this nativity scene and am so excited to make it a new tradition this Christmas.

The Best Gift Ever

The other night I put Josiah to bed which is usually Daddy's job. I have to admit I was not overjoyed to be spending time with him at bed time because Josiah has a very hard time listening to me when he is very tired. Daddy is far better skilled at calming him before bed and talking to him about his day. For some reason that is just good Josiah and Daddy time. For what ever reason it was that I was putting him to bed, I was not having a joyful moment.
We got through all the getting ready for bed stuff like brushing teeth and going potty without too many arguments and then we sat down on the bed for story time. I was tired so I told Josiah we would only be doing one story tonight and that it would be his Bible story. He complained a little, but I insisted.
I picked up his Bible and started to read. I do not remember the story we read, but in the becoming a man of God section, it talked about receiving gifts and it asked what was one of the best gifts he had ever gotten.
My sweet little boy looked me in the eye and said, "I think the best gift I ever got was my mommy!"
Boy can we be humbled by our children so quickly. I felt terrible for not wanting to spend this precious time with my son and then was blessed so much by his loving attitude.
Our conversation did not end there. We continued on to talk about God's gift to us. We talked about Jesus, God's son, coming to earth to die on the cross to save us from our sins. He had several questions about sin and about salvation and how that really happens. I told him that we have all sinned and that we cannot make it right with God except by asking Jesus to be our saviour. When we do that Jesus comes into our heart and lives there.
Josiah asked me, "is Jesus in my heart?" I said no I don't think so and that for Him to come into our heart we have to ask Him to and that we have to believe that He died to save our sins. Then he said, "let's do that right now!"
So, we did and I really don't know how much he understands, but the Lord knows his heart and we will keep praying for him and talking to him about salvation.
The next morning he came running into the bedroom to ask me if Jesus was still in his heart. Every day since he has told me that he just wants to tell Jesus that he loves Him.
My heart is joyful and I have learned from my son this week that I should cherish every moment with him since I never know what I might miss.

Naomi Gets a Hair Cut

Yes the little girl got her first hair cut. It doesn't look much different, but is a little staighter in the back.

A Weekend To Remember - WOW!

Last week Thursday Greg and I got on a plane headed for Park City Utah for some much needed time away and to a marriage retreat. Why Utah? you ask. We wanted to get out of town, away from the distractions of life and enjoy God's creation in the mountains. Park City was an excellent choice.
Thursday evening we walked around Park City enjoying the old town and the beauty of the surrounding Wasatch mountains. We had dinner at a very nice Asian Grill called Wahso. The atmosphere was wonderful. We were seated in our own little dining room and our waiter was very attentive, but not intrusive. I had for the first time ever a Ahi tuna and mango tartare. I also had fresh green papaya summer rolls and Tom Kha Ghai (a Tai soup). It was all incredibly tasty. Greg had the Korean barbecued salmon and the coconut creme brule.
Friday we got up early and headed for the mountain peaks. We drove through the mountains for several hours stopping to see various sites. The highlights of the day were a beautiful waterfall that we stopped at and the rough, 4x4 road that we took in our little 2 door Pontiac rental. Greg just kept saying on the way up that he was glad the off roding was my idea and not his. Another highlight was the short hike we took to some very pretty lakes.
We got back to the hotel at about 2pm, went swimming and then got ready for dinner. We ate at a place called Grub Steak, which was good but not as good as Wahso.

Our Weekend to Remember Conference started Friday night at 7pm and went on through the rest of the weekend.
These are some of the things I learned this weekend:

"What if marriage is about more than just your happiness?"

• Marriage is more significant than you may have thought.
• Marriage was designed by God and is defined by God.
• Marriage is the center of God's purpose for mankind.

The purpose of marriage is to first and foremost to mirror God's image (Gen 1:27 )
Our marriage should be a picture of the relationship between Christ and his church.

Next it is to mutually complete one another (to experience companionship). Marriage was designed by God as the first social institution and it is the priority relationship of the family.

Marriage is also designed so that you can multiply a Godly legacy. This could be in the form of biological or adopted children

We should see our marriages as a spiritual discipline and laboratory to cultivate the image of Christ in one another (Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas)

I learned that my husband is a gift from God and to treat him in any other way other than with respect and love is directly telling God that His gift was not good enough (reject the gift - reject the giver).

The conference had several projects that we were required to complete on our own and as a couple that were so helpful and a great part of the weekend. We were so very impressed with the quality of the weekend that we have signed up to promote weekends like this through Family life. We have a promotion code that will give anyone who registers for a conference in the next year using our code an $80 per couple savings on the registration fees. I would highly recommend this to all my friends and family.

There is a conference in Louisville, KY starting Oct 31st and one in Milwaukee, WI starting the weekend of Nov 14th. If you are interested in registering with our code please leave me a comment and I will get the code to you.

Vacation

Greg is on vacation this week and we have some fun with the kids. On Saturday we went to Marengo Caves in Marengo, IN. WE met up with a college friend who lives there and went through the Crystal Palace tour. I thought it was beautiful. Naomi didn't much like the fact that she had to be carried the whole time and Josiah was scared because it was too dark. He told me that he never wants to do that again. After the caves we went to JoAnn's house for the afternoon. Josiah and Noah get a long great so we all had a grand time. We got home just in time for bed time.

Sunday as many of you already know we had hurricane strength winds in Louisville. Ike hit us, but not as hard as those on the coast. WE had no rain, just wind and a ton of damage. around us. We were lucky not to loose power or to have much damage to our house. All around us though was a mess. Josiah has been out of school all week because of the storm and the lack of power at many area schools.

Monday we stayed close to home because of all the craziness around us. Yesterday we went to the Louisville Science Museum and had the whole place to ourselves. I guess many people thought they were out of power and just didn't go out. The kids had a lot of fun playing with all the hands on exhibits.

Tomorrow Greg and I leave for Park City, Utah. We are going to a Family Life - Weekend to Remember conference. The conference starts Friday night so we are going to tour the town on Thursday and Friday morning. Grandma and Grandpa are coming to stay with Josiah and Naomi. I am a little concerned about leaving Naomi over night with anyone at this point, but I think she will be OK.

My Day Off

On Friday last week Greg stayed home from work and I had the day off. We told the kids that Daddy was staying at home and that Mommy was going to work. The day stared out great with both children sleeping until 7:30am. I rolled out of bed at 8am and showered and ate breakfast. After that I left the house and camped out at Barnes and Noble for most of the morning.

I am working on 3 seminars for our adoption ministry at church and I have not had a minute to work on them at home. I spent all morning working on them. I got one on race and adoption completed and am 1/3 of the way through a seminar on grief and loss from the adoptees perspective. The 3rd seminar I will be doing is on attachment, but I haven't started that one yet.

While I was at the book store I found a new Bible for Josiah that I really like. It is called the "Little Boys Bible Storybook for Mothers and Sons." The stories are written in a way that little boys can understand and there is a page after each story called Becoming a Man of God and A Mother's Touch. These two pages help a parent discuss important Godly character traits with their son.

After spending time at the book store writing I went grocery shopping by myself, which is a new experience for me. I was surprised at how much quicker I got things done. I got home about 3pm and went upstairs and lay on the bed for an hour. It was great. Greg made dinner and we all went to play mini golf at Renaissance Fun Park. We had a good day.