Pizza Hut and Parties

On Susanna's actual birthday, I took her and Caroline to Pizza Hut for supper. The pizza was very good, although they did put sweet potato in our cheese-stuffed crust. We also got Mountain Dew (quite rare around here). It's nice in Korea because you only have to order one drink to share with three people - and free refills, too!

We walked to Pizza Hut; here is a picture on the sidewalk with a giant sycamore and the lights of the city in the background.

They even bring you three straws :)

Saturday, we again used a birthday as an excuse to have all the high schoolers over. We played Ultimate Frisbee for a little while, but I think we've decided our competitive love for sports is not generally shared by the people here. We had fun playing games, though. Generally, I think Koreans just go to a movie or karoke room for birthday celebrations so I often wonder what they think of our "wild" parties.

The funniest comment all day was a question about how many bones Susanna has broken. "Susanna, how many foot fingers have you broken?"

Gabe tries to pass a pretzel over to Byong-kyu's straw

Dress-up relay: I wasn't sure how this would work with 20 high schoolers, but it ended up being highly entertaining

Cute hat, Gabe

Susanna and Stephen would both make great runway models.

Tae-yoeng

Singing together. Dad shared "Take Me Home Country Roads" with them. Not sure what they thought :)

The usual group shot

Susanna Frances

Susanna, from the Hebrew word "lily"

Though we sometimes tease Susanna as being the "black sheep" of the family for having brown hair, she is probably the farthest from that. Perhaps she gets her sweetness from her namesake, our grandma Frances. Susanna is probably the most capable 15 year-old I know; she could do a much better job running a household than a lot of grown-up women out there! She does so much for our family, and we could not survive without her help. Not to mention that she's the one who makes sure the whole family wakes up every morning (usually a thankless job). But, just because she's great on the home front, don't underestimate her athletic skills. Every since Susanna was running around on a soccer field with her older siblings at the age of 8, she's been amazing people with her prowess. (And making her older sister wish it was easier to keep up with her...)

Please keep Susanna in your prayers as she battles her scoliosis. It's difficult to have to wear a brace 23 hours a day especially for someone as athletic as she is. She has a wonderful spirit about it though, and is a godly example to the rest of us of rejoicing in all circumstances!

Happy Birthday, Susanna - we love you and thank God for you!

Everyday Life

Throughout this first month of co-ops, we are giving an overview of why we even study subjects like history. (Some of you might say, "Good question!") This Thursday's theme was, "All History Points to Christ" so several groups performed skits on types of Christ.

Abraham preparing to sacrifice a rather happy Isaac

Acting out the Old Testament sacrificial system - with Tigger and a teddy bear
Notice the lone blonde head

We kids took a break from studies on Friday afternoon to play a little basketball with the Sumralls. Our family enjoys sports, but just because we enjoy them does not mean we are particularly gifted. Us + basketball = entertainment. (Gabe wryly remarked that if we didn't want to get hit in the head with the ball, the safest place to stand was directly UNDER the net, where the ball was in no danger of going!)

Something tells me this isn't exactly the proper form when shooting the ball?

Knock-out (Yep, I'm NOT wearing long pants!)

Angie and Julie are the referees

Susanna is one of the best players on the field - every guy, including the coach here, has to use all their skills when challenging her. But, put her in front of a basketball net...

What We're Up To These Days...

1. The Sumrall family returned to Korea last Friday night. That doubles the number of American families living over here with us.

2. We taught our final Family Sunday School class the last week of February. (Family Sunday School is a time when our family teaches character and parent training for those interested in home schooling or just about to begin.) We had a record amount of turn outs this past month.

3. Co-ops began! We are leading a high school co-op and a middle school co-op; the Sumralls are leading two elementary co-ops.

4. The high school guys have recently started playing basketball together every Monday morning. One girl goes so Dad decided it was a good idea for me to go, too. The complication? I have a slight problem with the whole getting-the-ball-in-the-net thing which is rather important in the game of basketball.

5. My personal favorite: spring must be coming because the weather is finally warming up. "Warm" meaning I don't have to worry about frostbite just going down to check the mail.

Window cleaning in Korea - sitting on a rope swing hanging over the side of a 20-story apartment building.

Kimchi being fermented in the dead of winter - on the very top of our apartment building. You have to crawl out on the roof where we have discovered these jars

An apartment guard sweeping the sidewalk as the snow falls

Some of our Family Sunday School crowd

The high schoolers started out the semester with a presentation on the names of God as we introduced the theme, "God is sovereign over history"

The basketball gang - all sweaty after the game (Well, at least, I was sweaty after running around after the ball, hoping I was doing the right thing.)

We're still working on keeping our fingers out of the electrical outlets...