Revisiting New Year's Resolutions

I am a big fan of making New Year's Resolutions.  So I thought I would check-in and see how I am doing.  (aka I can not even remember all the resolutions I made this year).  The pictures in this post do not have anything to do with my New Year's Resolutions, I just thought you might like to see some of my favorite Korean pictures :)

• Physical: Run a marathon.  
• Preferably in 3 hours and 59 minutes or less.
• Update :: I attempted to run a marathon.  It was not even close to being under 4 hours.  I did not meet this goal in 2012, but this is a life goal of mine, so I still have time to accomplish it (assuming that I live a long life.)

I love spring!

• Emotional:  Set healthy boundaries, mainly in the time management area of my life.  
• This means one free "night" a week.  One night that has nothing on the schedule.
• Update :: Ian and I do try to schedule one "free night" each week and it is heaven.  I love knowing that I can come home and do whatever.  I am also trying to limit how much time I spend on Facebook.  I am trying to only get once a day.

• Mental: Read books and Blog
• I will read my fair share of novels this year for fun, but I want to read 2 "deep" books.  Right now I am thinking one of them will be Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.
• I want to post on my blog twice a week.  I also want to devote January to updating my blog and finishing up the posts that were scheduled for 2011, but I did not get completely done.
• Update :: I started Mere Christianity, but I have not finished it.  I have read Practical Theology for Women and On the Incarnation.  I am hoping to finish Mere Christianity and maybe read one more book of depth this year.  Also, you can tell be glancing through the blog, that I have not been posting twice a week.  I really want to record life in here in Korea.  So hopefully I can spend some time planning out blog posts and capturing memories here.

• Spiritual: I want to delve deeper into the Spiritual Disciplines.
• Ian and I have purposed to read the entire Bible in 52 weeks (as of right now, I am not sure if this is going to happen or not, but we will at least give it a try!)
• My verses for 2012 are from Ezekiel 36:25-27, "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command."  I added the bold part.  I love these verses.  God has been convicting me of how hard my heart can be in some areas of my life.  I want a soft heart. 

Update :: As you can see, I am rockin' the Bible reading.  I want to see how close to the end I can get by the time we leave Korea.  I did not foresee being this far ahead.  Praise God.  God is still working on my heart (as he will be for the rest of my life.)









• Marriage: I want to pray for Ian more.
• I am going to try to use my 30 minute walk to and from school to pray for my amazing husband.  
• Update :: Fail.  I do not pray while I am walking to or from school.  I think about 9283423094 other things, but prayer never seems to be one of them.  And when I ride my bike, I mainly think about getting to school in one piece.  I would say that Ian and I are praying together more consistently.  I need to find some time in my day to pray for Ian.  So if you have any good ideas, let me know :)

Hopefully my update at the end of the year will be full of triumph (insert me humming Victory Through Jesus). 

New Year's Resolution

I have set some goals for 2012.  I know, I know, you are just dying to know what they are.

May I rant for one moment about resolutions?  If you don't want to listen to my rant, just scroll down.  If you make a resolution that is great.  But if you make an objective, specific, measurable resolution - that is much better (in my opinion, but then again everything on this blog is my opinion).

• Physical: Run a marathon.  
• Preferably in 3 hours and 59 minutes or less.
• Emotional:  Set healthy boundaries, mainly in the time management area of my life.  
• This means one free "night" a week.  One night that has nothing on the schedule.
• Mental: Read books and blog
• I will read my fair share of novels this year for fun, but I want to read 2 "deep" books.  Right now I am thinking one of them will be Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.
• I want to post on my blog twice a week.  I also want to devote January to updating my blog and finishing up the posts that were scheduled for 2011, but I did not get completely done.
• Spiritual: I want to delve deeper into the Spiritual Disciplines.
• Ian and I have purposed to read the entire Bible in 52 weeks (as of right now, I am not sure if this is going to happen or not, but we will at least give it a try!)
• My verses for 2012 are from Ezekiel 36:25-27, "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command."  I added the bold part.  I love these verses.  God has been convicting me of how hard my heart can be in some areas of my life.  I want a soft heart.
• Marriage: I want to pray for Ian more.
• I am going to try to use my 30 minute walk to and from school to pray for my amazing husband.  

Ian and I have hammered out some other goals we have for our marriage, friendships, and community but we can save those for a later date.

"Say-hey-bok ma-knee pa-duh-say-yo"  That is what I say in my brain to say "Happy New Year"  (it does not translate anything close to happy new year, but it what Koreans say this time of year.  It really means many blessings, or have a lot of luck or something along those lines).

Did you make any resolutions?  What are they?

Book Review

image courtesy Google Images

I finished one of my favorite 4th grade books last night.  If you have a 4th grade, go to the library and find this book for him or her.  Or if you are an adult and like children's literature, go to the library and find this book to read.  My 4th grade teacher was so great!  She would read books aloud to us (usually after lunch).  We read some of the Red Wall series (by Brian Jacques) and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg.

When we were in America this summer, I went through some of my books.  I have three children at my school that are from America but living in Korea for a year to learn English.  I wanted to bring some books back for them.  I knew that From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler would be a good one to bring back with me.  I decided to read it again - just for kicks.  It is delightful.  Now that I am an adult, I read it pretty quickly.  The basic plot line is siblings run away from home to an art museum in New York.  They have quite the adventure.  If you ever come across this book, read it.  

1 week down, 16 more to go :)

Woohoo! First week of second semester is done! I just have to sit at my desk for three more hours and then it is the weekend. This week has kicked my butt. I feel like I could sleep for 12 hours tonight.

I have 3 blog posts in the works...just need to add in some photos and then they will be ready for you!

In the meantime, I wanted to share a gold nugget that I found. If you go here, you can pick a book & chapter of the Bible. Then look for the little icon that looks like a volume control. If you scroll your mouse over it, it will say, "listen to {whatever book and chapter you choose}" Click it.

Yes, you can listen to the Bible for free! How good is God! I listened to the whole book of John while packing up our apartment before we moved. I like to listen to Psalms while I am cooking. (yes, I know the book is called Psalm, but it sounds better if you say Psalms). Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

p.s. This does not take place of daily Bible study (in my life at least)

freak.out.

BAHHHHHHH!

Ya'll I have to run a marathon in 5 days.  I am freaking out.  I wish it was tomorrow.  I just want it to be done. 

Bahhhhhhhhhh!

I just had another freak out moment.  This potentially might be the longest week of my week.  Well, the week of my wedding was actually the longest week of my life. 

bah!  I have to run 26.2 miles, that is 42 km.  bah!

Moving on...I finished reading this "book".  Black Heels to Tractor Wheels is by Ree D, the Pioneer woman.  According to her the story is about, "the bodice-ripping saga of how I met and married my husband. What started out as a few paragraphs turned into a forty-plus chapter online serial, which concludes on our wedding day..."

I really enjoyed reading this story.  I especially liked that the "chapters" were short.  I could take a break at school and read one and then get back to work.  I also like that since this was from the Pioneer Woman's blog, it was free!  You know how I love free.  Thank you Pioneer Woman for writing this story.  It provided me with many hours of entertainment. 

Did you know that I have to run a marathon in 5 days? 

Did you know that yesterday I was making the bed and I was humming?  I like to hum, especially while I do household tasks.  Anywho, my amazing husband chimed in singing.  Minor detail: he started singing a different song than I was humming.  Another minor detail: he thought it was the same song.

Then I sang him the song that I was humming.  He did not know the song!  He did not know it!   Important detail: the song was, "Up from the Grave He Arose!"  How can you be a son of a pastor and not know that song?  How?  We sang it every Easter forever.  It is like not knowing "Joy to the World" sigh.  I am trying to listen to the song right now, but there are some lovely F16s buzzing by (the joys of living 15 ft from an air force base...)

So, there may be an Easter song countdown (I need a more catchy title) coming your way.  I love Easter music!  Love it!  I sing it all during Lent. 

What is your favorite Easter song?    Did you know that I am running a marathon on Saturday? 

Book Review #4

I had some quality time to read this weekend.  While running 19 miles this Saturday, I developed a nice blood blister.  I never get blood blisters EVER.  This is the second one I have gotten in the last few days.  yuck-o!  Anywho, I finished reading Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters (long title I know!) by Tim Keller.  Go find the book and read it.  It is really good.   I will give you a summary: We all have idols in our lives.  We might not see them, they may be buried deep, but they are there.  Idols enslave.  Idols are not necessarily bad things.  They may be good things that we make the ultimate thing.

I think my favorite part of the book is the chapter that talks about Jonah.  Do you know how the story of Jonah ends?  If you do not, go read it.  Somehow, I always just think about Jonah and the whale and that is about all.  It is important to know the ending of the story as well.

Here is a quote from the book that really challenged me, "Idols cannot simply be removed. They must be replaced. If you only try to uproot them, they grow back; but they can be supplanted. By what? By God himself, of course. But by God we do not mean a general belief in his existence. Most people have that, yet their souls are riddled with idols. What we need is a living encounter with God."

Do you know what holiday is celebrated on March 14 in Korea?  It is not pi day (sadly).  Tune in next time to see what it is!

The Last Day of...

Well it is the last day of February AND it is the last day of desk warming.  Bittersweet.  I think I could be a professional desk warmer.  I rock at it.  So far in the few hours I have been here today I have sipped on my coffee, checked my email, listened to my Daddio-in-law's sermon, chatted with my college roommate, did a Sudoku, caught up what is really happening in the world (I wasted a bunch of time on Facebook) and checked out my sister-in-law's pics from her recent trip (with my brother of course!)  I feel so productive.  On the docket for this afternoon is 1.) look up the definition for docket 2.) cross stitch 3.) make a meal plan for the week 4.) make a grocery list (I love grocery shopping!  love.it.)  I do think I might cry whenever we get back to the States and I walk down the cereal aisle.  What a day of rejoicing that will be!

I read a book this weekend.  Honestly, I was a little disappointed.  It was too emotional draining for me.  I felt like I got run over by a semi when I got done and it was fictional.  All of that for emotion for fake people.  It talked a lot about Christmas in America too (Christmas in America = longing for an oven).  However, I still think that Lauraine Snelling is a great author.  She has written a book in my top 5 of all time favorite books.  Better luck next time?  I hope so.

Did you know that Koreans love karaoke?  true story.  They love it!  It is called the Noribang (nori = sing and bang = room however do not confuse bang with bbang.  bbang = bread so nori bbang = singing bread)  I "got" to go to the Noribang this weekend.  So this is how it works.  You pay for hour, then you get to go in a little room (over sized closet) and you get to karaoke to your hearts content.  awesome.  Nope - no singing from this girl (or my amazing husband).  One nice thing is to only have to sing in front of the people you came with instead of, well, everyone.

While I am rambling about my weekend, just thought I would tell you that my amazing husband made me pancakes this weekend.  We topped them with strawberries.  Delicious!  He also took me to Paris Baguette from some mocha cream bread.  He is such a good guy.  The end!

Book Review # 2

It has been an epic day at school (not really).  The 6th graders graduated today.  Koreans really get into graduations.  Flower bouquets appear, speeches are given, photo videos are made etc.  My favorite flower bouquet was the one with fiber optics coming out of the flowers.  It was quite special.

The last book I have finished reading is: Teaching in a Distant Classroom: Crossing Borders for Global Transformation by Michael Romanowski and Teri McCarthy.  I got this book for a wedding gift, but had put off reading it for a few months.  I regret that choice.  It is so helpful in understanding living/teaching overseas!  Since I was an education major in college some of the book was a review for me, but some information provided was incredibly helpful (Did you know that people who teach overseas usually require 1 to 3 more hours of sleep per night?  Is that why I have been so tired?)  The authors also included personal stories of incidents that happened while they were teaching overseas.  I appreciated the chapters on culture shock and how to deal with seemingly odd parts of different cultures.  If you are headed overseas to teach, this is a definite must read!

Book Review

Vacation is over.  I am back at school.  Desk-warming.  (I am bored out of my mind.)  I thought to myself, "Self, you should write a blog post."  Then I thought, "what am I going to write about?  How I watched youtube videos all day yesterday (too boring)?  How my school has no water because the pipes are frozen? (summed up in one sentence)"  Then I thought, "ding! ding! ding!  I can ramble about the recent books I have read!"

Thank you brother-in-law and sister-in-law for a good read!

Love and War by John and Stasi Eldridge
This was the first marriage book I read since getting married.  (As of right now, I have read more marriage books before I was married.)  I was so glad that I read it!  Two BIG points that I took from the book are:

1.) The devil does not want my marriage to succeed.  (why had I not pondered this one before?)

2.) ∴ (this is the symbol for "therefore" for all of you who have not spent hours writing proofs during college math classes) my amazing husband and I need to implement prayer into every aspect of our marriage (I knew this one, but it was a good reminder.)

I have also read 4 fiction books in the last week (sometimes I read books to fast).  You can read about them here.

If you have any books laying around your house that you think I would find interesting, mail them to me (please!).  Or if you have any suggestions as to what I should read, let me know!  I finally have time to utilize a library and there is no English library to be found.  Isn't that the way life works?