Wendy West

I know an incredible lady. Her name is Wendy West. Let me tell you about her. She moved to Korea in 2003 with five kids--the two youngest were 3 month old twins! If you are a regular reader of my blog, you probably know that everyone at Osan Air Base works INSANE hours, which means she was by herself all day long with five kids day after day after day (nope, folks, they don't get weekends off here...). Because the kids didn't see their dad very often, she started homeschooling to give them a more flexible schedule. Outside of her home, she coordinated all of the salads and desserts for the Hospitality House (a role that I took over from her) and she personally made six dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies every week (sometimes at 2am!).

Flash forward to the present. Wendy and her crew live in Denver, but she still keeps tabs on her Osan friends. She knew that this is the last weekend that our dear friends Becca and Britt Mooney will be at the House (they have been the directors since February 2005). So what does Wendy do? She makes cookies and mails them to Korea, praying that they get here in time. And they do! I picked them up from the Post Office just six hours before the beginning of our last meeting with the Mooneys.

Christ has commanded that we live a life of sacrifice, self-denial, and for Christ's desires rather than our own desires. Christ commanded that we take time from what we want to do to encourage people around the globe. There are many ways that we can spend our lives. Wendy obeys the command of Christ to selflessly live rather than seeking to fulfill her own pursuits. And she is a blessing to my heart.

Thank you, Wendy!!

I thought it was gone

I got to do some tax returns this past spring. I really enjoyed them, but getting them all done was kind of tricky while taking care of Hannah and the house. Today one of the ladies I did a return for stopped by. She is having problems with the IRS because the person who did her return for 2003 didn't know what they are doing. (Note: If you have more than just a W2, don't go to the VITA program on base. They just can't handle it.) So, I'll be doing three amended returns and writing a letter to the IRS. I'm THRILLED! It makes me want to read tax changes and take some Continuing Professional Education in taxes just so I know what is going on in the world of taxation. I wish this would just die off so I wouldn't have to deal with these frustrated desires anymore. Not that I'm discontent with being at home with Hannah. But sometimes my brain just gets so excited to do what my brain really enjoys doing rather than what my heart enjoys doing. Who knows what God has in store for the future! I must stay ever ready for whatever opportunities come my way! :)

I did it!

In less than six weeks time, I have started and finished a scrapbook on hiking!! I'm SO EXCITED!! Now, I haven't touched the rest of my projects. The list is still rather long. But, one big "I wish I could...." can now be scratched off! YEAH!! It is my hope (and this shouldn't be a surprise to my mom-in-law who is reading this blog) that while my in laws are here that they will be able to entertain Hannah so that I can work on her scrapbook. (I ran out of pages for it and I'm waiting for them to arrive in my in-law's suitcases on Thursday, Korea time.) We plan to do some Korean activities every other day and then have a "down day" every other day. I know that they are really coming to play with Hannah, so I might as well take advantage of it! We can't believe that they will be here to visit this week! Yeah! I'll have pictures of grandparents to post this week!

The Next Big Milestone

Yes, just in time for Father's Day, Hannah took her first "steps" last Friday evening. She can walk two or three steps by herself now! It's so cool!! She will stand against the couch, walk two steps and then lunge her body into our arms. Or, we will walk with her holding our fingers and then let go and she'll continue for two or three steps. It is quite a "step" of boldness for her. She thinks it is the MOST FUN thing to do. She just giggles and smiles and gets VERY excited. I can't wait until she can walk! Going to the playground just isn't fun with a kid who can't walk. And we haven't ventured to the swimming pool because of that, either. I just don't enjoy leaning over and walking her around everywhere. (Does that make me a selfish mom?)

Scrapbook geeks rejoice with me! I inked up her feet and made footprints to put into her scrapbook to show the size of her feet when she took her first steps. It was a MESS, but it will be so fun to have in the book!

Mommy Munchies

I know you have been there. If you are an at-home mom (or even if you have had an extended period at home), you have had one of those days where you just can't stop eating. Or, at least, you can't stop your desire to eat. It doesn't matter what--just something. And because you are "at home" there is an endless supply of things to eat!

Today was one of those days for me. Of course, circumstances ALWAYS play a part in the mommy munchies. Hannah has been grumpy with another cold (I think she is allergic to the new apartment) and hasn't been sleeping well. Today she decided not to nap well, either. I, on the other hand, was napping quite beautifully every time she woke me up. All day I would stare at the clock and wait until the next momentous occasion in our day--feed Hannah breakfast and wait for her morning nap; Hannah wakes up and we wait until lunch time; after lunch we wait until it's time for our inspection for our other apartment; After she "naps," then comes the really hard part of the day--the gap between the afternoon nap and dinner. There is nothing to do but sit around an munch. (Let me caveat that statement with this comment: there is PLENTY to do, but Hannah hasn't figured out how to play when she knows that I'm in the room. Because in our last house we were rarely in same room together and now we are in a big open room, this has caused a bit of an issue and prevents me from getting much done, as of yet.)

I digress. After Hannah woke up from her nap I attempted to take a new friend to McDonald's off base for a 35 cent ice cream cone (ok, so it's a 300 Won ice cream cone, but that's the equivalent). She couldn't go with me, but we chatted for about 20 minutes. (I AM making attempts to talk on the phone!) After hanging up the phone I KNEW I needed to leave my apartment so I did what most moms at Osan do--took a walk to the Post Office. While there I got the BEST thing in the WORLD--I surprise package!!! I can tell you that there is nothing that can compare to getting a package in the mail. Yes, it was fun in the states, but packages are now filled with things that we CAN'T buy here. Not only was it a surprise package, but my dear friend went crazy with the stuff she got the Rhodes Family. It seemed like I just kept pulling out more and more fun things! At one put I said out loud "Wow, you went crazy!" At that moment I pulled out a magazine that had a note on it that said, and I quote "I know, I went CRAZY, but I had so much fun!" It was GREAT!! At the same time, there was another mommy at the Post Office who was escaping her world of toddlerhood, too. So, we went to the BX (which is attached to the Post Office), bought a coke and talked for 45 minutes. It was neat because she just moved here and lives right under my apartment.

And so, all of this happened because of the Mommy Munchies. If I knew such fun things would happen every time I got (and tried to fight) the munchies, I would pray for them everyday!

Life Changing Dates

I told someone recently that I never fully lived out the saying "you make time for the things that are important" until after I became a mom. Not that I'm any more busy now than before Hannah came along (in some ways I'm LESS busy), but I feel that with my "age" I've come to better understand what is important and to LIVE that way.

I don't know if I've written about "date night" yet. Even if I have, it is worth mentioning again. In the midst of my husband's CHAOTIC work schedule, he takes off from work early on Thursdays (between 5:30 and 6:00) and spends the entire evening with me. God bless Amber Divers for volunteering to babysit each week for us! We knew when we first got married that we needed to have a weekly date night. We didn't make it a priority during our tour in Montana. We always let "ministry" and other related church things crowd out our time together. Shame on us. We are almost three months into our weekly date night, and it has been the best thing that we have ever done. Tonight was a $5 trip to Baskin Robbins with some fries from Charlie's Steakery thrown in for good measure. Talking, walking around the base, eating ice cream, being out of the house and TOGETHER. It was great.

And then there are my weekly Ro-tic dates on Sunday nights. For those who don't know about these special dates, they are "romantic" dates without the "man". They are rotic dates. On Sunday evenings I runaway to a coffeeshop and spend a couple of hours with the other love of my life--Jesus. Just me, him, one of the best lattes in the world (yes, in Korea!), my Bible, and my journal. (Well, I bring my calendar, too, to lookover my upcoming week.) I just don't know how I lived without these two dates each week. I'm a different woman. I'm a better wife, mother, and daughter of God. Praise God for His provision! He knows exactly what I need!

The Move

Well, we are in our new house. It is amazing to think that we were in our last house approx. 13 months and we'll be in this house approx. 12 months. Weird. I feel like I live in America now!!! It is SO COOL!!! I have space for everything we brought with us--plus the three pieces of furniture we bought--without feeling cramped. Did I mention the dishwasher?? YIPPY!!!

The Korean workers were really nice and, in general, did a good job. Unforuntately, they broke a piece off of Hannah's crib and took a big chunk off of my hope chest. Hannah is "sleeping" in her pack 'n play for the time being. She is having a bit of trouble with the move. This morning she woke up at 2am and just looked around like "ok, some of this stuff looks familiar, but where am I???" Since she isn't in her crib, she isn't napping well, which doesn't advance my cause much at all. But, since when is it about me? One of my wise friends told me that you truly learn servanthood when you have a baby.

So, we are about 80% unpacked and so very, very thankful for this opportunity to live in an American apartment AND to move before my inlaws come to visit. Yeay! Visitors!! I can't wait for them to come!!

Yucky PCSing

For my non-military friends, to PCS is the military term for moving (permanent change of station). In Korea, 85% of the base is here without their families and are only here for one year. So, once a year, 85% of the base, at minimum, leaves. The other 15% of the base is here with their families (called an "accompanied tour")and they are only here for two years (unless you are the Powells--but I'm glad you got to stay for longer, Terri!) So, when you factor in the change over in accompanied members, about 92% of the base leaves each year. At our last duty station, the majority of the community was non-military. Of our English speaking friends in Korea, there are only two families who LIVE in Korea on a long term basis. The rest are missionaries here with the Christian school, and they have two year contracts, so their turn over is as bad as the military.

All of this background is to tell you about the current state of my life--upheaval. In the period of one month, one of my two mentors left me, one of my friends I do weekly lunch with left, and one of my dearest friends is leaving. Of the rest of my close friends, over half are in the states for two months of visiting family. It is crazy. Two of Jeremy's bosses and all 14 of his coworkers are leaving in the next two months. We are moving into a different apartment. All of this together makes me feel like this next year will be almost a completely different tour than the last year was. It is so strange. Normally, we moves somewhere, get settled, and ride out our three (or four) years in a state of relative normalacy. If there is a "normal" here, I don't think it lasts for more than a month! He he he :)

In related news, we ARE moving tomorrow!!! YEAH!! I'm so paranoid about the Koreans packing my stuff and moving it out of my window (on the third floor) that I feel like I've taken half of my stuff over there myself. Just this morning I was getting the willies just thinking about some strange man packing all of my clothes (especially my underwear...) and I may move some of that over today, too! By the time they get here tomorrow, they won't have anything left but my furniture! Please pray that my cough (or piano, or computer desk, or _______, or ______, or____) doesn't fall off and smash to smithereens onto the ground below. Eck!

Opinions

Recently someone told me that "you are entitled to your opinion, I am entitled to my opinion." That was their way of saying "I think you are wrong, but believe it if you want to. If I let you believe what you want to believe then you can't try to change the way I believe." What a load of crap! Where do we get the idea that we are "entitled to our opinions"?? As far as I can tell, the Bible is the authority on Truth. If your "opinions" are supported by scripture, then they are not opinions but rather you are thinking Truth. If your "opinions" are not supported by scripture than you are wrong.

Somehow in the midst of the relativism of our society, people really do believe that they can think however they want to. This bothers me. Does it bother you? Just curious.

Interesting thoughts

I have really enjoyed the thoughts everyone has had on my last blog. I have definitely been thinking about it a lot. This entire topic has challenged a lot of my thinking. Maybe it's done the same for you! Here are some of my "final thoughts" (Do I sound like Bill O'Reilly??)

I used to think that if I were taking birth control and God wanted me to have another baby that I would just get pregnant. I thought that was the rule of His Sovereignty. Now I feel like He has given us choices in the matter of children. Although there are many "contraceptive failures" that result in pregnancies, I can no longer believe that every child that God would like to be born is actually born on this earth. The Bible says that children are a blessing from the Lord. How I say that God will FORCE blessings on everyone who didn't want them? It is a sobering thought to me. I like the idea that God would just automatically trump me when I wasn't doing what He thought was best. He gives me the choice. I can choose what is sinful. I can choose what is good. I can choose what is best.

Who am I to say what I can and can't handle? In almost every other area of my life, God forces me to go beyond what I can handle so that I will grow and depend on him more. He uses those situations for me to go beyond myself and really take hold of the power of His Personhood.

Along this vain is the classic debate of "faith versus wisdom." Are we exercising faith by allowing God to truly provide for all of our needs, like He promises to do in Philipians, or are we be wise to seek to take care of our family, like He mentions in Proverbs? Am I being wise by not having too many kids because I don't think I can "handle" them or am I not living out of an attitude of faith?

These questions then bring up what Paul deems in Romans as the "measure of faith given to us." God has given each of us a different measure of faith. Some of us have more faith about finances. Some have more faith about how God will raise our kids in such a wicked world. Others have more faith about how God wants to build the number of kids in our family. We each must live according to the measure of faith that God has given us. Because, ultimately, the thing that matters is whether we are living out of faith (and thus, pleasing God the only way we can) and being obedient. That is what we have to answer to when we reach heaven. I don't believe that God will judge us on whether or not we used birth control UNLESS He has prompted you to NOT use birth control and you disobeyed. Or, if He directed you to use birth control and you were rebellious.

The long and short of what the author was trying to convey: we, as a people, as the Body of Christ in general, feel that we have some type of "say" in how many kids we have. We have no say. We have no rights. It's not up to us. We were bought with a price and our bodies--and our lives and our families--are not up to us to decide what to do with our how to grow. We, as a collective people, feel that we can plan our children around our own timetables of what is good and convenient. We think we can decide the number of kids we have based on the amount of space we want to have in our houses and the kinds of vacations that we want to take each year (because we think that it is our right to have a vacation each year. Where is that in scripture?). We have lost sight of why we are to have children. Malachi 2:15 says that one of the very purposes of marriage is to "raise Godly offspring." Children are disciples. They will mimic our lives of faith more than any other person possibly could because they are with us day in and day out. Through our children we advance the Kingdom of God in a way that we cannot do by any other means. The author thus challenges us, as a Body, to think about how we think. And if this blog is any indication, I think she has done just that!

Controversial question

I'm reading the book "Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. It is a great book. Good foundational stuff with lots of scripture. Anyway, there is one "lie" she confronts (out of the forty she talks about) that says "It's up to us to determine the size of our family." She states that God is the giver of life. Satan hates life and seeks to destroy life in any way possible. This includes, she states, stana's attempt to discourage childbearing. She accurately quotes Malachi 2:15 that the purpose of the marital union is to raise Godly offspring. But--and here is the "controversial" part-- she saiys that "unwittingly, millions of Christian women and couples have helped to further satan's attempts to limit human reproduction and thereby destroy life" by limiting the sizes of their families. She states that, basically, we should not play God and dictate to Him how many children we will have. Rather, we should surrender our bodies to God (because He bought them) and allow him to bless us with as many children as He deems appropriate.

Here's my thoughts...I know some women who have never used birth control and who have two children. I know some women who have never used birth control and have ten children. So, to say that if one doesn't use birth control that they will have a bushel of children is not necessarily true. And, if God desires to bring children into the world, who are we to say "no, God, I would rather you didn't." Yes, there are times that children are born despite preventative measures, but I don't think this is the rule of how God operates. Because God says that children are a blessing from Him, He isn't always going to "force" those blessings on us.

All this is to say that I'm still unsure about all of this. It seems kind of radical for me to think that birth control is actually taking control away from God. In many cases, it seems like wisdom, especially for those who are newly married. But, if a couple is too unstable to have kids, who is to say that they are stable enough to be married??

Thoughts?

Gotta love the Air Force

This past weekend was really crazy for us. We were told on Friday that the Air Force could move us early--they would be here on Saturday! So, after Jeremy got the key to the new apartment we started packing up our kitchen stuff (which I would rather break than allow someone else to break) and our food stuff (which they won't move). We spent almost four hours working on this--and tearing up our house in the process--before we got a call telling us "I'm sorry, the person who arranged your move for tomorrow was unauthorized to do so. You aren't moving until July 31st!" So, we spent a good portion of this weekend trying to take advantage of having the key to the other apartment and moving some things out of the house so that we have more space when Jeremy's parents get here. And the cleaning! There was so much cleaning in my house to be done as a result of all of this. It was very frustrating. By the General's orders, we aren't allow to move ourselves in, so we have a key to two apartments and can't live in the one that we want to be in! I would love for God to provide a miracle and get us into the apartment before Jeremy's parents get here. Prayers? I would appreciate them!!