Good news and GREAT Joy

Not only have I taken a blogging hiatus, but I have also have taken a photo hiatus. I have no pictures to share with you over the holidays here in Korea. But, I hope that your Christmas was as joyful as mine. I spent mine with friends that have become family in South Korea.

Christmas Eve Mary, Derek, Chris and I went to Dongsan Church for a Christmas Eve service. The church is HUGE - maybe a couple thousand people at the service?!? Almost every song was in Korean, except Derek and his friends singing Joyful, Joyful. They rocked the sanctuary. It blew my mind how many children's choirs the church had. My favorite part was the songs performed by the special needs choirs. It was very touching and reminded me that Christmas is about loving each other, not just twinkling lights.

After church we made our way back to mine and Amanda's apartment. Thanks to mom's AMAZING CHRISTMAS PACKAGE we had a Christmas tree with decorations and lights to stuff our presents under. With many snacks and chocolate covered raisins, we began a game of NERTS (I'm intentionally spelling it wrong as every time I mention it I get random emails from the national nerts association. I have no idea how they know, but I think they might have spy satellites floating around picking up the best players.) AMANDA dominated the game. For an experienced player it was humbling. It was really fun to enjoy each other and spend time talking and laughing. Brian made a Christmas playlist, Chris serenaded us with the guitar and spontaneous lyrics, Derek provided the best chips on the face of the earth and the girls just enjoyed it all. We settled down and watched Elf later on. For some things, you just have to be there. It was a really good time.

We had Christmas dinner at church - turkey and all of the normal Korean food minus the Kimchi. It was raining when we went into church and misty most of the day. I spent the rest of the day with Derek and had an amazing Christmas. Not once did I think that I would rather be anywhere else. It was a great day spent with great people.

Not to leave Santa out of the story...Santa visited me by way of the United States Postal Service. He brought me a ITOUCH! I'm still learning how to work it, but it comes in really handy at work to tune out screaming children, has a map of the Seoul metro and tells me the weather so I know when it is going to snow. Speaking of - it snowed on Christmas and this past weekend. I dropped down on the sidewalk and made a snow angel. It was great. Scottie sent his mom (my dog, by the way) mittens, a hat and scarf. What a sweet boy. Hummmmm...where as fruit cake is always a plentiful gift, this year mine was socks!!!! I LOVE SOCKS! Especially the fuzzy kind, so it was a really gooooood Christmas.

PS: Amanda and I have a "pet." We think it is a mouse. Not sure. But, we hear scampering feet in the walls and ceiling each night. --- What to do?? ---

I have a lot of news about future plans that I'm working on. I will try to keep this a bit more updated and let you in on what I have in mind. (Teaser alert!)

His love and mine...

I have taken a blogging hiatus - sorry about that. Top New Stories from the other side of the world:

-The pipes were frozen most of the last week and the the beginning of this week. It was so cold I could see my breath in my classroom, the toilets did not flush (gross), there was not any water = general insanity. I could not feel my feet even though I was wearing 4 pairs of socks. Today - it is a warm day outside, so the school has heated a bit.

-12 of us went into Seoul this past weekend to see the Korean National Ballet's performance of the Nutcracker. It was different from what I have seen before, but no doubt, the KNB is very talented. We dined at Tony Roma's prior to the ballet. Really good food. The general review was that Nancy's husband was sleeping soundly by the first 10 minutes. Brian cried. Cam laughed out loud and I chuckled at the vibrant response by the audience during curtain calls. Synchronized clapping at the ballet?!? A quick drop-in at Starbucks for some hot chocolate and we called it a night. Great times...

-I received not one, but 2 packages from my mom today! One I can't open until Santa comes. The other was full of Christmas decorations and, YEP, a CHRISTMAS TREE. Mom did not leave Jesus out of the season - SHE SENT A NATIVITY SCENE, too. Almond joys, candy canes, Hershey's kisses and the limited edition white fudge covered oreos! I think Santa really does exist - real name: Annette Bozeman - aka Mom.

-YOUNG JOO IS HERE! Young is visiting Korea over the holiday's. I took him out to dinner to grab some curry and showed him my mad guitar skills thanks to my great guitar teacher! Young was impressed! He's joining our Bible study this week. I'm really thankful to have him here and to share Korea with him. Plus - we can call the dawgs together.

-AVATAR: Great movie. Really enjoyed it. Really want to go to New Zealand even more. I have never had such an interactive seat before. In the big fight scenes, my seat would vibrate to match the music - really cool, but completely unexpected. I thought only Disney did stuff like that. Makes the movie experience much cooler.

My heart goes out to you guys. I miss you. I am happy and enjoying the holiday's here. More to come.