Honestly Honest

I have been nominated for the Honest Scrapper blogger award by my dear and wonderful friend: Abby. It took me awhile to pen all of my scattered thoughts, but here is the fruition of much thought. The goal of this blog is to tell you: "10 honest things about me that you possibly do not know."I hopelessly tried to think of some things that not everybody knows about me...It was a fun but long process. I am a very wordy writer, bear with me...


1. I have always been fearful of leaving people out or of losing friends. I know these two things are not the same thing but I thought they should both be stated together. I don’t know what it is about leaving people out, but I can’t stand it. I kick myself every time it happens and could have been avoided. I even feel awkward about telling people activities I’ve done with other people, even if I was invited and it would have been inappropriate for me to invite them. Maybe it’s because I was brought up in a very large family, and it was easy to get left out of certain activities. At any party or social function I go to, I can’t stand watching the wallflower sit by themselves in the corner, I have to go over there and talk to them and at least try to get them involved. I try my best to not leave out friends in certain situations. I’m afraid of losing friends because for one: My friends mean the world to me and, secondly: I can’t bare the thought of emotionally letting go of someone who I care so deeply for, that’s why death is hard for me to deal with; thirdly: I have this weird sense of abandonment. I’ve had this fear ever since I was a child. I guess it’s more a fear of being alone…probably because you can’t really ever be alone while being raised with two sisters and four brothers.2. I have always over-committed myself to too many activities. In high school, I played 5 different sports including: volleyball, basketball, swimming and diving, cross-country, and track and field. I was part of the National Honors Society, Secretary of S.A.D.D, a member of Key Club, a heavily enthused and involved artist, a straight A student, a mentor/leader in J.H.(Junior High) Impact, went on mission trips, and competed in writing, art, and math competitions. In college, I took being over-committed to a new, steadfast level. I played college volleyball, coached club volleyball, was the Treasurer of Student Government, volunteered for the Special Olympics and Habitat for Humanity, was the Secretary of the Student Education Association, was the only student on the academic committee at DBU, was a Freshman Welcome Leader(SWAT), an officer in Alpha Sigma Omega, was a part of the honor’s society: Alpha Chi, was a Community Assistant(RA), a YoungLife leader, was a part of the International Student Ministry… I could keep going, yet I still had a good social life. I wish I hadn’t stretched myself so thin, but I met so many amazing people through it and established unforgettable memories! This is me in college, in an airport, during a mission trip.
3. I hate it when people want to talk ONLY about themselves ALL the time, I mean EVERY time you talk to them. I’m not talking about something that occurs occasionally, but constantly. They have no interest in what you have to say or what is going on in your life. They just HAVE to air their own opinions no matter what and sometimes even when you weren’t even talking to them. A true friendship goes both ways and is not one sided. I’ve had to pray for patience with this in the workplace.4. I’m STILL a cookie or sweet monster… ever since I was a very small child, I would quietly creep into the kitchen to steal cookies or fudge my mom had just made. I became very talented at hiding cookies and filching sweets! It was almost a game for me! Even now, I sneak into the kitchen stealthily, now, to take cookies out of the cabinet so that Grant doesn’t see me. However, I can’t tell you how many times he has caught me red handed or with chocolate on my face! I love me some chocolate chip cookies or really anything sweet!5. I’ve always wanted to do something amazing in the athletic world, hence why I played college sports and played as many sports as possible in high school. When I was 9 years old, I religiously watched women’s gymnastics in vain hopes of becoming a gymnastics star. I was a fanatical gymnast and was deeply committed to long hours of competitive gymnastics until I wanted to live a “normal” life and stopped gymnastics altogether. I then delved into other sports. While in high school, I dreamed of competing in a decathlon: which included my track and field strengths: high jump, hurdles, long jump… I was even recruited to compete on the college level in decathlons but decided to do volleyball instead. I also dreamed of becoming a competitive pole-vaulter. In high school, pole-vaulting for girls had just become a real event for girls and I quickly became an avid pole-vaulter. I foolishly once dreamed of becoming a professional boxer, considering the fact that I always enjoyed fist fighting with my brothers and my now husband. This is a picture of my favorite female athlete: Babe Didrickson Zaharias. She was amazing and inspirational!
6. I don’t like the fact that people who are considered beautiful get preferential treatment compared to those people who appear to the world as dismantled and hideous and get treated as less of people. I think some of the most gorgeous people in this world are people who have no worldly beauty or are mentally handicapped. I have seen the most gorgeous people in the world competing in the Special Olympics. The beauty of this world is only temporary and does not last. I have even felt uncomfortable when that kind of preferential treatment has been given to me and my friends. I don’t think it’s fair or right. Just because somebody is pretty on the external doesn’t mean that they are beautiful on the inside, which is what truly matters more!7. I don’t have comebacks… or at least any good ones! When Grant and I play fight, my best comeback is “Be Quiet” or “Shut-up!” That’s all I’ve got! It’s pretty ridiculous! It was the same when I was growing up, I could never really put somebody down verbally, so I guess I used my fists instead!8. This one is quite silly, I’m pre-warning you! As I grew up, I always hated my curves. I grew fast. I was lanky in junior high but somehow had womanly, child-bearing hips. I hated it because I could never get rid of them, even if I wanted to! And I couldn’t find clothes that fit well because while the rest of my body was very thin, I had very curvy hips. Nothing fit quite right! I’m starting to finally grow into them and see them as beautiful! 9. I have an extremely wild imagination… almost as good as Peter Pan! I imagine things, still that most adults have a hard time seeing. Which is probably why I love teaching kindergarten and “Finding Neverland” is one of my all-time favorite movies! Kindergartener’s imaginations are still fresh, innocent, and kicking! I hope I don’t ever lose that. Even though it is really easy to lose your child-like imagination in a world full of negativity, deadlines, and harsh realities.
10. I’ve never been considered “normal” and have never been able to just fit in one group which is probably why my friends are very diverse and come from a strange variety of different backgrounds. In college, I hung out with the jocks, the goodie-two shoes, the popular crowd, and the artsy crowd. I have always felt that besides my family and some close friends that I have been and am usually misunderstood. Many people in my life have called me “weird” but I like to take that as a compliment and consider myself unique.I now nominate Jillian and Alicia to do this honest blog!

Running Frigid...

So being a Texas girl, born and raised, I've never truly encountered a cold winter... until now.

It has been an eye-opener, from blazing hot hand-warmers to 4 layers of clothing, to Cabbage Patch Kid-like rosy cheeks to having snow freeze on my eyelashes. Thank goodness for a great husband and family members who bought and/or sent warm jackets and long johns.
I've started training for my first marathon since mid-November. I will be running the Seoul Marathon in March. It has been an extremely good experience thus far. I am up to running 14 miles now. I have been cautiously careful with my shins, since I am severely prone to getting shin splints. My poor cross-country coach would pick me up and carry me after each cross-country meet, not because I asked but because of the fact that he could see the profusion of pain that I was in with each step.

I got an amazing pedometer watch from the Boatwrights for Christmas. It has served me quite well. Pre-watch, I had been running almost double of what I was supposed to have been running. I was trying to keep a 10 minute mile pace without using a pedometer, however, I had actually been running between a 7 and 8 minute mile each time I ran.

It has been kind of a culture shock running in Korea. First of all, most Koreans don't run. Walking is very common. Secondly, there are not many Americans(or giants) in our particular city. Thirdly, of all of the runners I've seen in Korea they are not typically female. So, I'm kind of an enigma. I jokingly told Grant the other day before I headed out for my run that I was going to count how many people who either laughed at me or stared at me like I was some kind of freak. I counted about 15. In addition, many children laugh at me or shyly try to say hi and then laugh and run off! Older men like to give me a thumbs up and laugh at themselves for having the guts to do so. Koreans are kind of shy in many ways.

Bottom line: I'm really enjoying running but am getting sick of the cold. I hate the fact that the first 10 minutes of my run(it seems like a really long time), I'm fighting off the cold, and wishing I was somewhere warmer. I know the weather could be drastically worse, but I'm still trying hard to adapt.

We are doing well, Grant is progressing and will go back to work next week. Thank you for your prayers!

The Next: New Kids on the Block

So...I was never a real big fan of the band: New Kids on the Block, but I was shockingly amused the other day when I was flipping through the channels on the tube and saw this music video. These are the prettiest Asian boys that I have ever seen, they are so pretty that they look like girls. I needed a good laugh and this video definitely sufficed! Skip past the first 30 seconds to see these pretty boys.

Life or Something Like It...

The past two weeks have been filled with great joy, relief, healing, and deep pain. 

Grant had his surgery and everything went swimmingly well. Grant's Korean doctor described the surgery as "excellent." In addition, the surgery cost almost half of what we were originally told that it would cost. What an answered prayer! I had been praying about that the previous week. Grant's tingling in his leg and back pain have completely diminished and gone away. He just has a little vertigo when he gets up to walk around but that is also starting to decrease as well. Thank you so very much for all of your prayers.  Here is a picture of Grant looking up the results of the world of college football. As you can see, he is already feeling much better.

 On a most somber and grave note, just the other day, my family was shocked to lose one of our dear family members: my cousin Kevin. He was one of the most individualistic and unique people I

 have ever known. He was creative, funny, very intelligent, amazingly wonderful with kids, and an exceptional writer.  He will be greatly missed!

Please be praying for my family and his immediate family as we try to sort

through everything during this tumultuous time. 

Life is so precious and often times unexpectedly short. We don't know when our day is to go home. May we live each day as if it were our last... Blessings to you all. 

The Small Things

The longer I live my life, the more often I notice how much the small things, that seem so trivial sometimes, hurt us or bless us the most. For example, the other day while I was running an older Korean man told me good morning. It just about made my day considering the fact that a lot of Koreans, outside of our school, seem fearful to speak to us. Also, while in class the other day, Sally, one of our kindergarteners, answered one of the questions correctly so I was going to give her a sticker, instead of walking up to me to receive her sticker she gleefully smiled and jubilantly skipped to where I was. Or while I was running, I felt the purest joy just from watching snowflakes flutter down and get stuck in my eyelashes (I'm pretty sure people were laughing at me on this day because it was frigidly cold, snowing and I was smiling like I had never seen snow before). In addition, a small piece of Grant's disc has been extruding into his sciatic nerve. It's a small part of the body that can cause a terrible amount of pain if everything is not in place. Moreover, the preciousness of getting to hold Grant's hand and how it reminds me of how dumb some of our arguments and disagreements are, especially since they are usually about small things that don't even matter. Also, this past month Grant and I received a package from his parents full of goodies that we don't get the privilege of having while over here. It included a very sweet note, pancake mix, syrup(which is suprisingly hard to find over here), nutella(which I pretty much died out of pure exhilaration when I saw it), oatmeal, and many other things. We felt like it was Christmas when we opened the box. Sorry, one more thing that has just melted my heart this month is getting to see my almost one-year old niece blow kisses to me through Skype. These small things don't seem like much to others, but they mean the world to me. The small things make the big difference, just like the small things we do to help others can effect other's lives in monumental ways.

Speaking of Grant, he is having surgery on his back on 12/09/08, around 12 am your time. The doctors are going to be using a laser to eliminate the part of the disc that is basically pinching his sciatic nerve and causing him great pain. Please be praying for guidance and wisdom as the doctors perform this surgery. It is a non-invasive surgery that requires only 5 days of recovery as opposed to open back surgery which had been suggested to us at the onset of Grant's back pain. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind considering the fact that we have been to at least 5 different hospitals and conversed with 6 or more doctors about Grant's predicament. Through much prayer, many advisers, and much thought we decided to go with the laser surgery. Plus, the cost to do the surgery over here is a third of how much it would cost to have it done in the US. God is in control, and we have faith that this is the right choice to make.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our teaching and the kids even more than before. I feel as if we finally got in the right groove of things at our jobs. Our students feel much more comfortable and open to us, and we are continually striving to find new, creative ways to teach them.

Our November was a busy one filled with going to Cheonon once and Seoul twice. We met up with a
married couple that Grant had met at A&M, in Seoul. It was my first time to meet them. They are both from Texas and are teaching in South Korea. It was such a wonderful delight and a very refreshing experience to get to talk to fellow Texans of like-mindedness. We also discovered that I went to high school with their brother-in-law. It is truly a small world. Too bad they are both leaving in February.

Our Thanksgiving was delightful. We had a Thanksgiving dinner with our fellow American teachers from Florida. We had chicken(since Turkey is around $80 here) sweet potatoes(I'm typically not a big fan of sweet potatoes, but their sweet potatoes here are downright amazing), mashed potatoes, broccoli and cheese casserole(which I made), butter rolls, and some cranberry dressing. It was definitely not the same as home, but it was as close as we could get. We really missed everyone. When I got home the night of Thanksgiving, I tried to call some friends and family, but too much sadness, I could not reach anyone. I definitely shed some tears at not being able to reach anybody.

The colors of fall were quite vivid and gorgeous here! No wonder they consider fall to be one of their most beautiful seasons! Winter, on the other hand, has been quite an experience for a Texas girl like me. I've never been so cold in my life. Grant was so sweet that he bought me the best jacket I could have ever asked for. It is a very warm, bright green North Face jacket. He does a good job of taking care of me.





We love y'all so very much!

Tricky Treats

On Friday, our kindergarteners dressed up for Halloween. We took two buses to their houses where our students got the chance to practice using their English in front of some of their parents and grandparents.

It was downright precious. I've never been a big fan of Halloween, and my family never celebrated it growing up, however, I do enjoy dressing up. It was a blast to see our kiddos so excited and dressed so cutely. It was probably one of my favorite days thus far with the kids.

Well, Grant and I didn't exactly bring costumes with us to South Korea so we improvised and used what he had. Grant decided to be Indiana Jones with the amazing hat that Autumn got for him in Australia. I didn't bring a cool hat, so I dug through my suitcases and decided I would be a pirate. I used my bathing suit sarong as my hairpiece. Hey, it worked, didn't it?

We are still enjoying Korea but are becoming more accustomed and aware of cultural differences. It has been a learning experience. I went to E-Mart today and finally discovered and accrued all of the food products I need to make some Korean dishes. I'm really excited about making some Jap Chae tomorrow! I hope Grant enjoys it! We haven't been able to really cook since we've been here because we can't read Korean, and it has been hard to distinguish what is what. I'll let you all know how the cooking goes... Sa Rang Hae Yo

Zany 80's Video

I hope some of you can appreciate how ridiculously corny this video is. It's on the edge of being retarded...ok....some might consider it to be so.

I promise it gets better...or cheesier. Make sure you watch after the credits for a surprise ending.
This is what Grant and I practice every morning before we go to school...just in case...