-~*~-Thailand Here We Come-~*~-

Bye bye loved ones! 

We are off to Thailand! 

See you in 16 days!

Pray for safety and purpose! 

His love and ours,

D&A

Chicken Pot Pie

Anlee's Chicken Pot Pie with Crust

Ingredients:

2 medium sized chicken breasts

1/4 teaspoon thyme

2 & 1/2 cup milk (reduced fat)

1 & 1/2 cup chopped carrot

1 medium sized onion

1 can peas with carrots

1 can mixed veggies

1/4 cup flour

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 & 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:
Brown diced chicken in pan with oil. Add fresh onions, carrots and thyme. Season with coarse salt and pepper. Cook until tender (8-10 minutes). Add flour, stirring continuously for 1 minute. Gradually add milk. (Sauce will thicken.) Add canned vegetables. Add lime juice to finish. Let sit over low heat while you make the crust.  After you make the crust, pour mixture into casserole dish.

Crust: 

 (You can buy prepackaged pie crusts, but we don't have that luxioury here, so I had to make my own.) 

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

2 Tablespoons butter (separate) 

1/3 cup milk

1/8 pinch of salt

Directions: 
Combine all ingredients. Form into a ball. Flour your working surface and pat out. Will not be perfect. It will separate on you. Don't worry. Place over pie mix in casserole dish. Brush butter or egg white on top of crust. Put in the oven at 200 degrees C (or 400 degrees F) for 20-30 minutes - golden brown.

Finished product! Yummy

We liked it so much, I made it again the next night! If you try it out, let me know what you think! 

Oh, and I made this in a toaster oven, so hope it comes out the same with a real oven! 

Sending you our love from a blessed home,

D&A

Gone With The Wind

YES! What better way to celebrate (yes, we really celebrate our monthly anniversary's) our 5 month wedding anniversary than to watch Gone With The Wind?!?! You know you have a man who loves you when he sits down not only willingly, but excitedly, to watch Rhett and Scarlett love and learn for nearly 4 hours!

I grew up about a 30 minute drive from where the famous classic was filmed. Full of Georgia's history and old traditions, the movie reminds me of home. As a kid I watched the movie with my great-grandmother who once told me that while in Atlanta for the movie premier in 1939, Clark Gable bought her an ice-cream cone at a Soda Fountain. I've been watching and reciting lines along with this movie for longer than I can remember! I once dressed as Scarlett for Halloween one year wearing her famous green dress that she wears to the Wilkes BBQ.

[Spoiler alert if you haven't seen the movie...]
Watching it with the hubby is now my favorite! He even said he would watch it again! Towards the end he asked me, "Who are you rooting for, because I'm rooting for him [Rhett]." I said, "You root for both of them, TOGETHER!"Once he saw the finale, he said, "You mean it's a love story where they don't end up together?" I think it earned his respect for being more realistic.

While watching the movie, we ate some yummy chicken pot pie! I'll post the recipe later today. It is going down as my most successful "from scratch" recipe yet! We stuffed ourselves!

Much love from a very cold, but very happy Fekkes Family! 6 days to Thailand!

We finally found the culprit!

Not our wall...compliments of Google for a visual.

For those of you who know us and have been following our blog for a while, you know that when we came back to Korea after the summer, we were plagued with sickness: colds, headaches, lethargy, trouble sleeping, over-sleeping, etc...

A couple of weeks ago, we were having a mega "spring cleaning" when Derek spied a pretty nasty surprise - MOLD!!! All of our windows trays were engrossed in green/brown mold! We immediately began searching the rest of the house and found some more in our music room. But, we tag-teamed the mold and demolished it!

We were having another mega cleaning day today in preparation for our trip to Thailand when low and behold....MOLD! OH NO! We moved a dresser away from the wall to clean the dust and...words can't fully describe, but I'll attempt...

green, brown, yellow mold not only growing on the wallpaper, but growing OFF of the wallpaper! Drops of water condensation and what looked like fur! GROSS!

 Thanks to a very thoughtful gift from a co-teacher of Anlee's, we ran for the mold remover, Anlee put on her rubber gloves and attacked the mold infestation! Derek shouted that's why we can't sleep! That's why were are always sick! But, haha mold! Take that. We have demolished you again, and this time we called our Landlord. You will not be returning because now we know how to keep you away! FREEZE TO DEATH! Yep, the cure for mold growth is ventilation of the freezing (7 degrees Fahrenheit) cold air circling through our apartment! No worries,  now we will only catch colds instead of all the other symptoms we used to have.

Now the mega session is over, the mold is gone and we are going to enjoy our triumph with some homemade chicken pot pie...stay tuned for the recipe and the verdict...success or failure!

Snow to Sun in 9 days

What a blessing!!! In 9 days we are trading in the snowy mountains, the icy streets and the sliding buses for some sunny rays, ancient temples and tropical waters! 

Today's forecast in Korea calls for temperatures hovering around 9 degrees. Tomorrow's high is 8 with a low of -2. (I don't want to describe the wind chill.) Snow today, snow tomorrow, and snow 5 days from now. 
Today's forecast in Thailand calls for temperatures between 68 and 78! YES PLEASE! Sunshine, sunshine, sunshine!

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the snow! I even like the cold (minus toes that want to fall off)! Snow turns this country into a beautiful winter wonderland. It's more appealing, welcoming and homey with everyone walking around in their layers. You also get to know the people around you more intimately. This morning on the bus, we were packed together so tightly that I was actually TOO hot (mostly from having every part of my body touched by the 80 people packed onto the bus with me.) I can even handle the frigid wind, which sometimes causes me to question my adoration of the snow. 

BUT I'M STILL A PRODUCT OF GEORGIA! I love the SUN! I even like it when it's blinding my eyes! I'll take it! I'll take it's warmth and ability to change my skin from this glaring white to bronzed beauty. I'm excited to see trees with green and flowers in bloom! Oh yeah, and we are excited to explore this new country!

Purposefully, we haven't made too many plans for what we will do in Thailand. We are going with only a couple of nights reserved at hotels in the hope that we can explore together and find those amazing and special places off the beaten track. 

Speaking of, yesterday I came across a place where you can go and feed baby and adult tigers with Thai monks! SIGN ME UP PLEASE! All I can think about is playing and feeding the beautiful tigers at the monastery! You remember being asked when you were little, "If you could be any animal, what would you be?" Well, I always said a lion or tiger! Now I get to play with one! 

...A couple of years ago, I traveled throughout Europe with my two best friends. We had a blast, but we learned one very important lesson...traveling teaches and tests friendships. We came away loving each other more deeply. (I'm leaving out some of the testaments of how that came about.) I've treasured traveling with the people I love as it's a great opportunity to know them better and learn about God's creation and yourselves with new eyes. So, I'm excited beyond words to travel with Derek, my best friend. We are different in many ways (Anlee likes to go, go, go and Derek likes to take it easy), but the beauty that God has revealed to us in bringing us together to share life has me pumped up! Look for pictures of us - Derek under an umbrella and Anlee under the sun! 

Thailand here we come!

After the fire

Hey friends and family...I'm calling out for prayer over one of my students. After the fire, she was released to go home without seeing a doctor. This student has asthma. I took the day off yesterday, but after coming in to work today, I was told that she was taken to the hospital shortly after getting home and is still in the hospital today. Could you guys lift her up in prayer! Thanks all!

And could you pray over the leadership at my school to make wise decisions concerning our students and staff.

His love and mine,
Anlee

Why I'm Thankful For My Dad

My Dad - smoke eater

Parents teach us a lot of things, some that we think we will never use. A weird or funny quirk that you never understood about your parents begins to make more sense as you grow up and realize that that particular quirk was filled with love. You begin to understand why your parents did the things they did and why they always repeated themselves. You might have screamed "I've heard it for the 100th time," but oh how precious it is when you can recall word-for-word the important things that they say. For example...

When I was younger my dad, the fireman, would wake my brothers and I up in the middle of the night - winter, spring, summer or fall - to drill us on fire safety. I remember having to crawl down the stairs to his battery operated siren or on one occasion having to repel out the second story window of our house to rendezvous at the meeting point at the end of our driveway. I remember "stop, drop and roll," "don't use water on a burn," "get low to the ground in smoke," "use the palm of your hand to feel if a closed door is hot or not (there are less nerves in the palm of your hand)," and "don't panic, breathe naturally." I remember my dad being so passionate about fire safety that he (out of all the dads in elementary and middle school) HE was the dad that taught all of my classmates about fire safety and evacuation plans. He would come to school dressed in his gear and teach the students to put batteries in their smoke detectors, how to climb down fire stairwells, how to fall if you needed to from upper stories, how to crawl, etc. Needless to say, my brain feels like an experienced smoke eater (aka, fireman). Not really understanding why we had to drill so frequently..."I get it already,"... I am now so thankful!

Yesterday, we had a fire at my high school. Thanks to my dad's relentless training, I felt able to handle the situation as best I could. I focused on my "training" or "upbringing" and the fact that I was responsible for getting my students out of the classroom safely. Thankfully, I only had three students and two teachers in my classroom.

My school is comprised of three buildings: A, B and C. My classroom is in Building A - where the fire broke out. We are currently teaching Winter Camp at my school, so only 700 students were in the building instead of 2,500. Building A is five stories tall. My classroom is on the 4th floor. The rest of my hall was deserted since the third grade classrooms are empty during camp. Most other students were on the second floor of Buildings A and B. Those in B were not effected by the fire. The fire broke on on the second floor of Building A. (My building.) My students and I were playing a game of Scrabble when we heard the first fire alarm. I asked what the sound was, having never heard it before. It definitely wasn't as loud as the alarms in America. My co-teachers advised me that it was the fire alarm and that a student probably pulled it as a prank. We continued our game until we heard screaming voices come over the intercom. I don't speak Korean, but I perfectly understand the words that came out of the speakers - EVACUATE! FIRE! The only male student in my classroom rushed to the door to open it when a cloud of smoke filled my classroom. My brain automatically adjusted to take control of the situation and responsibility for getting us out. The smoke was pitch black so I knew we had a fire in the building, but not where. Never having been informed of a fire safety plan, I did what I thought was best. I lead the students to the stairwell away from the smoke. By the time we got to the stairwell, we couldn't see. It was like walking around in your house at night. I felt the doors and walls for heat. Not finding any, we went down one level to the third floor. More smoke was filling that level. I wasn't sure if we should go down again. After looking for flames and seeing no signs of them, we cracked a window and began calling for help. I had those with me get down on the ground, (always get low in a fire, smoke rises). I decided to go down the stairwell to the second floor, feeling for heat as I went. I couldn't see, but I had my dad's voice in my head and knowledge that I have Jesus in my heart. I stayed low and called for help. I went past the second floor, which had the most smoke, and heard a voice coming from the first floor. I saw doors open and light. I climbed back up and got my students and brought them down. We all came out black in the face, covered by smoke, but we came out. Seeing snow and sunshine and feeling the below freezing temperatures was so welcoming! We came out to see the rest of our school evacuated on the football field. My students were rattled, but they are made of strong stock. They adjusted and listened to instructions. Other students, however, did not. They were trying to get back in the school to "see what was going on." Teachers were in shock and didn't know what to do. There wasn't a system in place that accounted for the students so I began yelling in a mixture of Korean and English, rounding up the students. Dad, you would be proud! The humor in this is that each time a student saw my face they would laugh. I had a black face with a very nice black mustache going into my nose.

The fire department arrived and found the fire in an empty classroom. Thank Jesus no students were in there. My principals were restoring order at this point and accounting for the students and teachers. Less than 30 minutes after the fire (10 of which we were in the smoke filled halls), we were ordered to return to class and teach! This is the point in which I felt shock. Not from the smoke. Not from the fire. But from being ordered to go back and teach. I wanted my students and teachers to be checked for smoke inhalation damage. I wanted to be checked. We had no idea what had burned. The smoke could have been toxic. Why wasn't anyone thinking this through? The students were sent back to the black dusted classrooms and asked to resume lessons. I stood in the middle of this, shaking my head until someone heard me. My co-teachers were wonderful. They stayed with me making sure I had a clear interpretation of what was going on. They heard me out and "my dad's voice in my head" and asked the vice-principal to listen to me. He did. He decided not too long after that to send all the students home. They had to clean the school and shut off the power to Building A. I fought hard for my students to see a doctor. For whatever reasons, they decided not to. I, however,  (who had almost called in sick before the fire because of a sore throat),  wasn't breathing very well after the smoke and wanted to see a doctor. I called my dad after talking to Derek and asked him what I should do. He explained to me that if wires were burning it would have put out toxic smoke. Enough said, I went to the hospital. Derek joined me. My doctor spoke amazing English, talked to Derek and gave me an oxygen treatment. I'm fine, just have a sore throat. I'm taking the day off of work today, resting and processing the incident. School is back in session as of this morning.

I went to see the classroom that the fire destroyed. It was charred and melted. I'm so thankful for the protection of Jesus over this school. I'm thankful that no one was hurt!! And I'm thankful for everything that my dad said "100 times!" I'm proud of my dad for what he does in his work! I had no idea that Korea would make me a smoke eater like him!

Thanks Dad. I love you, peaches. 
Happy 50th birthday today!!!!!

Ice skates and Icicle

New Years Day - 2011

Derek planned a "top-secret" date for New Years Day...he and another of our friends, Adam, planned to take Melidy (Adam's fiance) and I ice-skating in Seoul. Unfortunately, Anlee is not very good at accepting secrets and Derek is really bad at lying. Derek ended up confessing the secret and Melidy, smart lady that she is, ended up guessing the big plan. Regardless, we enjoyed our New Years Celebration. 

The Fekkes' began the morning at McDonald's, breakfast of champions. It might not sound so appealing for you guys back at home, but it is definitely a 5-STAR experience for us! Hotcakes and hashbrowns! Yummy. 

We jumped on the train in temperatures hovering around 20 degrees and made our way to Itaewon. Thanks to the best parents in the world, Derek enjoyed using his Christmas present from mom and dad - a gift certificate to WHAT THE BOOK, our favorite bookstore. 

This is Derek in a bookstore:

...browses the shelves...picks out a book..takes the book to the computer...looks it up on Amazon...reads the reviews...5 Stars is a winner...checks his mental archive of books his dad suggests...if they are compatible, then they are a winner...

The best part of this is seeing how happy he is when he gets to call home and share his finds with his Dad! Anlee's favorite part is stamping Derek's books with Derek's letterpress. 

After a hot chocolate at Starbucks and enjoying reading the introductions to all our new books (which will need an extra suitcase to make it home in), we enjoyed a light snack at Taco Bell. We know this sounds unhealthy and maybe even boring...but, it's a feast. Trust us!

The reason that ice skating is such a big and amazing date for us: one year ago Derek asked Anlee to be his girlfriend. In asking, he also said he would like to take her ice skating. Anlee said YES as you know, but when it came time to go ice skating, Derek was really, really sick. So, they had to postpone. All things in their right time, right! Well, that's what we think. We had an amazing date in the heart of Seoul, City Hall. The sky scrapers towered over the rink, the palace next door was covered in snow, we were shivering so fast we were able to stay warm AND IT ONLY COST 1,000W ($0.75)!

I spy a BUNNY!

Melidy and Adam joining us for a group date!

The gang!

 We seriously couldn't ask for better friends. These are the go-to's here in Korea. They guide us, love us, keep us accountable, encourage us, and celebrate the joy we have in Christ together! We love them!

Just in case you are wondering, those are matching jackets!

Engagement photo for Adam and Melidy

Steam in Seoul with a beautiful waterfall and Christmas decorations. Mostly covered with ice this time of year.

What is this?? Icicle on the stream

The stream in the city

Saying goodbye

Young, Anlee and Derek's last night together

Anlee's friend from college came to visit his home-country for a month over the Christmas holiday. Young is still in school working on his Masters at the University of Georgia, but managed a trip back to Korea. Young was also a guest at our wedding back in August.

Young's claim to fame is: He was the first person to suggest that Derek was going to be Anlee's future husband. A skype conversation between Anlee and Young Anlee's third week in Korea went something like this:

Anlee: Hey Young, I met this really amazing guy here [Derek]. We are getting to be close friends. He's full on for Christ. 
Young: I'm just going to say it. You probably just met your husband. I wouldn't doubt it.

Oh how thankful I am that he was RIGHT!

Young is an adventurer! After he left us in cold Korea, he flew to Germany, took a train to Switzerland and went skiing on a budget in the Alps. This is after he took a train to Prague just for the heck of it!
We miss you already YOUNG! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

Happy New Year (translation)

Happy New Year Friends and Family! 

We pray that all of you will know his Joy and Peace throughout this year! 

This cake was given to us by our dear friend Micah. 

Our New Years Bash involved just the two of us, reading, writing, and watching Friends together. We were definitely asleep well before midnight. New Year's seems to be the only holiday that Anlee doesn't freak out about and decorate the house for! She calls it her holiday to not have a holiday. 

Hope to see all of you guys in 2011!

What we are looking forward to:

Thailand Adventure

Family (Rickerson's and Fekkes') coming to visit us in Korea

Scotland

Celebrating a year of marriage

MOVING BACK TO AMERICA!!!!!!

Kitchenaid mixer and a real oven

The Washington Mountains

Friends and roadtrips

Bathtubs

A PUPPY

Getting involved in a church

Getting to know our families-in-law

Being godparents to Anlee's brother's son

Colin and Sarah's Wedding!!!!!! (YES for October!!)

Celebrating next New Year's with our family and friends

God's ministry in and through us! 

Below Frezzing

Anlee's school during our week long snow fest

The students managed to get a couple in the window of which the students inside promptly threw back out at them!

Seconds before he creamed another student with his over-sized snowball!

White-out! AMAZING! This is how our students began their winter vacation! Walking home in this!

My classroom heat definitely wasn't on on this day!

A week later and we are still covered with snow. Joining the party is snow's friend "ice." Ice enjoys hanging out and creating havoc on all the susceptible pedestrians. Ice likes to conceal himself on the roads making it impossible to see him before he sneakily slips you up! So far this year, the score is

Ice: 2  vs. Anlee: 2

I'm not going down this year ICE!

Unwrapping Christmas: cupcakes

Dessert for 90?!? Sure, no problem!

 After waking up with our friends Christmas morning, we all gathered together at Dongsan Church for our Christmas service and lunch. Anlee was asked by our pastor to help a couple of other ladies prepare dessert for 90 people! This might not seem like a big deal, but remember that we have a toaster oven that can only bake 6 cupcakes at a time. Anlee didn't sleep much the week leading up to this lunch, and by default Derek - her champion - didn't either. We both labored to get it done and enjoyed being creative and a bit sleep deprived in decorating each one. And how, you might ask, did we come by the ingredients? Our friends, James and Grace, bought us cake mixes at the Army Base in Seoul!

Carrot Cake!

Vanilla and Devil's Chocolate

Why not add a chocolate covered cherry? Thanks Mom!

German Chocolate!

A heart shaped Vanilla and Devil's food! Thanks for helping Nikia!

 

 

 

 

Anlee's favorite, the dark chocolate heart!

Not to brag, but, we didn't take any leftovers home. The cakes were demolished and the cupcakes were gone before the turkey! The other ladies made pumpkin fudge, chocolate fudge, Russian chocolate and other amazing treats! While we both are hoping to never have to make dessert on this scale again, it was really fun and satisfying to hear that our friends enjoyed it!

Unwrapping Christmas: parties

 Derek and Anlee's second annual foreigner Christmas party in Korea!!! SUCCESS! We, the Fekkes, were just beginning our romance last Christmas. This year, we occupied the "married couple's room...enter at your own risk" (caption from door sign created by Derek.) We had our amazing Bible Study friends over to our house where we enjoyed 5 kinds of dip, cupcakes, cake, carrots (healthy) and KETTLE CHIPS! Anlee made tattor-tot casserole. Nikia made home-made eggnog. Jayleen brought her famous choco bread and we all brought a sweet treat to put in each other's stockings!

Anlee's mom sent "Max" along with the "Grinch" to keep us company for Christmas

Keeping a close eye on him under the Christmas tree

Mom wanted us to start a new tradition of our own - reading Anlee's favorite Christmas book together

Another "Anlee" tradition - watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas on Christmas Eve

Max and his real-life pal, Jack

Adam - aka Mrs. Wrapping 2010

 Melidy had a great idea! She taped parts of the Christmas story on a box. Each of us took a turn unwrapping the box, finding and reading out loud the story as it unraveled.

Mels

Youngjoo - From America

How many people can you pack into a 2 bedroom Korean villa?

Who is that cuddling with the Grinch?? One more reason to love him!

Sleeping in on Christmas morning...at least we have floor heat!

 Annette, (Anlee's mom) sent us a Christmas package that thanks to some amazing postal workers arrived before Christmas. It was really sweet to see the generous and thoughtful gifts my family sent to Derek. We are family...not just the two of us, but all of us. This is going down as my  favorite Christmas memory - watching both of our families love our spouses and welcoming them into their lives.

 Thank you GOD for skype! We were able to skype with our families! Here is Anlee's mom, brother and Dad on Christmas. We were also able to skype with the Fekkes Family in WA! And, Anlee's brother in Kentucky. We were richly blessed in having good, long conversations with our family that made us feel near and not so far. We are really looking forward to sharing next Christmas together.

Anlee likes wrapping paper!

Snazzy shoes D!

A couple of days after Christmas, we received a package from our wonderful Fekkes parents. Derek got a gift certificate to the bookstore here in Seoul, of which he has already used. (He looked like a kid in a candy store - no legos, thank you. Only books! Oh I love my husband!!) And a lovely snow hat and scarf that is absolutely beautiful! I like my mother-in-law's taste! Oh and Dutch chocolate. Derek keeps reminding me that he doesn't like sweets, but he devoured his chocolate "F" in no time! (Thank you Mom and Dad!)

Pam and Rick gave us newlyweds a financial contribution for our trip to Thailand! We'll send you a postcard! (Thanks Dad and Pam!!)

After the gift festivities with our friends and family, we were off to church for lunch (stay tuned for coverage of that story). Desperately needing a nap after a week of going, going, going, we came home to enjoy each other and exchange gifts between the two of us. Derek gave Anlee My Life by Bill Clinton and a book on Christian counseling. Anlee gave Derek Orthodoxy by Chesterton and another theological book to enjoy. Derek got a sports coat and a short video of our 2010 year together. Anlee got a frame with our vows inside. It was a really sweet Christmas, one that we will never forget.

After everything had been unwrapped, we sat down and read the Christmas story together, remembering that no matter how amazing the package, how thoughtful the gift, how merry the season, we already have the most precious gift of all in Christ. We pray that all of you share in this gift with us! Merry Christmas!
His love and ours,
D&A