Dust off your George Foreman...

Ok, so I'm one of those people who have a George Foreman grill. My parents loved theirs, so I bought a small one at the Thrift Store on base for $5. I've used it to make hamburgers and hot dogs (because for most of our time here we were not permitted to use our grill on our patio). However, we eat those things on RARE occations (no pun intended) so the poor GF grill hardly ever got used. This is a travisty when considering the lack of kitchen space I lived with in the last apartment--how could I justify keeping it if I never used it? This is why it ended up in the Thrift Store to begin with...

Recently, Jeremy redeemed the GF. When his parents were here, he had me toast his sandwich in it. The combo of toasted homemade bread, hot meat and melted cheese has transformed my lunchtime experience. It is hard to make a sandwich now without using good ol' George's help! Today's tasty creation: Ham, pepperoni, mozzerella, lettuce, tomato, mustard. Yummy!

Not your ordinary Wheat Thin

Most of the Christian world has heard of the Five Love Languages. If you haven't, shoot me an email and I'll explain (laurabethrhodes@gmail.com). My love language is acts of service and quality time. (With my family I'm more physical touch in giving love, but I'm not so touchy-feely with anyone outside of my family.) I'm actively working on words of encouragement--that's a big one for Jeremy. So what does that leave out of my realm? Gift giving. I'm just terrible at gift giving. It's just not something I think about. It's like that part of my brain (or heart or whatever) didn't develop properly or something. And everytime I get a gift, I think about how awesome it is to get said gift and I realize how much I want to develop this part of my person.

I'm surrounded by gift-givers. One of my dearest, dearest friends from college (the prayers of which are one of the big reason why Jeremy & I got together...) just sent me a package. Sandals for Hannah, because I can't buy them here (literally, they don't sell her wee size 4s ANYWHERE in Korea). A birthday present for me, Jeremy, and Hannah (yes, all three of us change over our ages in August). A card for our anniversary (homemade, no doubt, although I haven't opened any of these things yet because she wants me to wait until the appropriate days). And then two boxes of Sundried Tomato & Basil Wheat Thins. Why are these such a cool thing? One: when we were in college, we were both study FANATICS! We would study together with a pot of coffee and either box of wheat thins or a bag of popcorn. (Man, the memories. I still miss college. I digree...) Two: I can't buy these new kind of Wheat Thins in Korea. So, the combo of these two things, in addition to the fact that she bought TWO boxes, made me so excited that I started eating them as soon as I opened her package!

I blogged that another dear friend sent a package last month. My friend from Kosova sent me an AWESOME necklace that I wore today. My running partner is a gift-giver. The dear MOPS friend is a gift-giver (and keeps saying how she loves the present she got Hannah for her birthday...). And here I am. Surrounded by wonderful friends with whom I don't speak the same language. They inspire me. They convict me. And unless the Holy Spirit changes me, there is no way in this world I'll be able to think like them! Oh the road of personal growth!

(ps--thanks Mar!)

Napping

I've never been a big fan of naps. When Jeremy & I first got married (read: all of our marriage), he had to basically force me to nap. For the first couple of years I would get irritated with my recreational napping husband who would gladly waste a perfectly good day napping on the couch. I suppose it's part of my go, go, go nature to not want to slow down and "miss out" by having to take a nap. Even though my attitude about napping has gotten better, I'm still not a recreational napper. I don't take naps just for the fun of it. I take naps because if I don't, my capacity for Holiness flies out the window and it is all I can do to be polite let alone nice.

That being said, if I DO take a nap, I want to be able to sleep until I wake myself up. This makes Sundays the absolute BEST time for naps--I don't have to wake myself up before Hannah gets up because when she wakes up, Jeremy takes care of her. (Minimum nap time is always 45 minutes, with 1.5 hours being optimal.) This pregnancy has really put me in bed once a day--a situation I'm ready to be finished with--even with a good night's sleep. For various reasons, I got less than six hours of sleep for the past two nights, so I was actually thrilled with the potential to not only catch up on sleep but to not have to worry about Hannah. Let's introduce the Air Force into this equation. Just thirty minutes into what had the potential for a 2.5 hour nap, Jeremy gets recalled for the exercise. So, I get a kiss on the cheek to wake me up and tell me that he is leaving for the next four plus hours (aka I'll be home after Hannah goes to bed) and that Hannah is awake in her crib. So, here I am. By myself with a cranky child and the potential for a health-restoring nap through out the window. Go Air Force.

What a week!

Since my last posting I have been to the DMZ (demilitarized zone) that separates North and South Korea, said goodbye to my in-laws after a 15 day visit, work at the Hospitality House ministry we go to, had someone over for dinner on Sunday, worked on some tax returns, took care of a teething child, played catch-up from my in-law's visit, and had an ice cream party with Jeremy's coworkers. I don't know how some of you gals do it--all of your life events and still get things posted on your blogs. Maybe I will, someday, get to that point? I would like to! I would like to stay caught up on all my blog reading, too. I think my daily naps have really interfered with my productivity...I suppose that is to be expected for someone making a person :) What's funny is that I think of things throughout the day that I would love to blog about--the O'Reilly factor's segment on the decline of marriage and children because our society is secularized and admittedly too selfish to work hard at their marriages and deny themselves vacations in order to have children. Or the war in Lebanon and the end-times implication of Russia and China's involvement with Iran and North Korea. Or the book on Heaven that I'm reading that has opened my imagination to all the really cool things that Heaven could really been like. Or how Hannah started panting like a dog yesterday even though we don't have a dog...but for now I'll chat briefly about Jeremy's coworkers...

Our friends from Montana know that we love to have people over to our house. We were really unable to do that for a variety of reasons until last month when we moved into our new apartment. We celebrated our move by having the Lieutenants and Captains from Jeremy's sqadron over for chicken enchiladas. There were 13 people that came over. This month we celebrated National Ice Cream Day by having an ice cream sundae party last night. It was so much fun (and a lot less work!). Schedule conflicts cut into our number, but there were still nine of us enjoying the delicious cold dessert. Two of his coworkers stayed until 11pm! (On a work night!) We were so involved with church in Montana that we didn't have a lot of time to cultivate relationships with people Jeremy or I worked with. It is a huge regret of mine. But, we learn from our past (or at least, we should) and it is now a monthly thing to have the CGOs over. Next month: wings and homemade Mac 'n Cheese.

The Sequel

That's what we are calling the next addition to the Rhodes household--the Sequel. Kind of catchy name, isn't it? Yep, Jeremy & I are joining the ranks of the two children families! Our due date is January 27th, which is one day shy of exactly 18 months from Hannah's due date. As many of you know, Hannah was 11 days late, so I'm preparing myself for a February delivery date. Kind of crazy, huh? Two kids! My dad always said that one out of every twelve babies are Korean babies. Now I'll have two of them :) My dear friend Katie and I got to experience our first round of pregnancies together--our daughters are two weeks apart to the day. God thought it would be pretty funny if our second children were close in age, too. Congratulations Katie & Mike!!

Romantic Getaway

Yes, you read it right--Romantic WITH the man! Jeremy's parents volunteered to watch Hannah Sunday & Monday so that we can run away to the Dragon Hill. We are beyond excited. We will be leaving Sunday morning after breakfast, doing a little shopping, having lunch, and then checking into our room for 24 hours of fun, naps, reading, more fun, eating in the hotel, sleeping, more fun, breakfast, another nap, and finally heading to the chiropractor. Who could ask for more?!?! Happy Early Anniversary to us!! (Our actual anniversary is Aug. 19th, but Jeremy's parents will be long gone by then!!) I can already tell you it will be SPECTACULAR. Can you tell that I'm excited!?!

Psychotic Communist Dictators

I'm sure you have all heard by now (unless you live under a rock) that the North Koreans have been launching nuclear missile rockets out into the Sea of Japan. As far as anyone can tell, there haven't been any signs of WMD, and the launching appears to be testing of the rockets rather than an attempt to destroy anything or anyone. However, I live in South Korea, so this news seems pretty important to me. We (military dependents) are told as soon as we step foot onto the peninsula that we could, at any time, be evacuated from the country if there was risk of war or a threat to our safety. There are reasons why that only 390 military members are allowed to bring their families here. Within thirty days of arriving in country, we are required to fill out tons of paperwork and collect all important documentation so that we can, at a moment's notice, leave the country with a 66lb limit of luggage that must include three days of water and food, blankets, clothes, and all important papers. In light of the political climate right now, I have been a little on my toes about having to be evacuated. I just updated files on my computer with important financial info and backed it up to our external hard drive so that I can pack the hard drive and take it with me in case of said evacuation. There hasn't been talk of sending us out of the country. In fact, it is probably safer to be in S. Korea than to be in the Western US because the missiles are going westward, not southward. At any rate, I thought you might find it interesting to know what I've been spending the last hour of my life doing--preparing for an emergency evacuation from my house due to a communist dictator. It's so crazy. Is this really my life??

Daejeon Beach!

Many of you may remember the crazy things that happened to me last July when I went to Daejeon Beach. If not, the brief summary is: Two flat tires, me 38 weeks pregnant, Becca 32 weeks pregnant, riding in a van on a Korean interstate while being towed by a tow truck.

This beach trip was, thankfully, not as eventful. After being the mom of the crew and packing for two hours, Jeremy, his mom, his dad, Hannah, and I loaded up our car and headed to Daejeon. Our friends Nicole, Becca, and Micah were in the car in front of us. We had a GREAT time! The weather was wonderful, the kids were great, and no one got sunburned! Hannah has decided that she likes the ocean now, as long as she isn't standing by herself. I think the waves coming in are a bit intimidating to someone less than 2.5 feet tall!

Yes, my inlaws, Amy & Scott Rhodes, are here. It has been a very FAST five days of hanging out with our live-in babysitters :) Jeremy had to work the first two days of their visit (surprise, surprise) but he has been able to take the 3rd & 4th off. He has four days off next week, too, which the most vacation he has taken since Hannah was born.