Lights of Life, 2011

The annual light show celebrating Christmas at Life Chiropractic College was better than ever this year. They did some construction and made more places to walk and enjoy the lights. They also moved the petting zoo to the front. The animals were so tame and seemed to enjoy the attention.

Lisa Returns from NYC

Lisa has been away in New York City visiting her Aunt and Uncle and cousins.  It was about a 10 day trip.  During her absence, we had David and Daniel visit.  Now David and Daniel head home, and Lisa comes back.  I'm taking a lot of trips to the airport, lately.  

 

 

Relatives Arrive

This should be different.  We are so used to hosting unrelated students, but this winter we are welcoming Duk-Sun's niece, Jungheui (Christina), and her six year old daughter, Nari to stay with us.  Trouble is, since they are an adult and a child, they need their own bedroom.  But we don't have an extra one.  The solution?  We rented our kind neighbor's garage apartment for them.  That way, they can sleep and bathe there and spend their daytime hours here at our house.

We are all happy to have Christina and Nari with us this winter.    

Getting to Know Each Other

Gyeongmin, whom we will call Charlie from now on, is adjusting to life at the Spillers' house just fine.  Here he is with his new roommate, Stephen.  Yes, they are arm wrestling!  When girls get new roommates, they paint each other's fingernails, but with boys, arm wrestling is the preferred activity.  Who won?  Neither.  It was a tie.  

 

Update on Davd and Daniel

David and Daniel spent a few days with us Christmas week. It was good to see them.

David is studying at a Catholic school in Columbia, S.C. When he finishes, he'll go back in time to complete his senior year in Korea, and from there he plans on attending a university there that requires fluent English.

Daniel started with us back in 2009, and for the past couple of years, he's been studying nearby at Dominion Christian High School.  He plans on attending university here in the U.S.  Since he's close, we like to have him over as often as we can.  Naomi is particularly fond of Daniel.    

 

GyeongMin and Jiye Arrive!

For the next 60 days or so, we'll host GyeongMin and Jiye.  GyeongMin is Max's older brother, and Jiye is Max and GyeongMin's cousin.

So far we have been helping them get over their jet lag.  The tendancy to want to sleep all day and be awake all night is common for teenagers anyway, but imagine when they travel on an airplane half way around the world and night is day and vice-versa!  We had to have the boys get some "fresh air" to help GyeongMin stay awake.  We'll work on some English nicknames for them, so their names may change in a future post.

We are happy to have them here.  It looks like we'll have a good time together helping them learn English while they are here.

Heidi's Departure Day

See the photos.  We are sad to see Heidi go.  She will be missed by all of us.  We hope to see her back as soon as she can come again.   On the way home, we swung by Super H Mart to get some groceries.

Venison Chlli with the Connolly's

With Heidi's days in the States numbered, our neighbors, the Connolly's simply had to have us over for one more time with Heidi.  They fed us venison chili in their newly remodeled kitchen that they designed and constructed themselves.  They had ordered the cabinets and appliances from Ikea, but they did all the wiring, plumbing and installations themselves.  They are so handy!  The chili was so good!  I think several of us ate too much.  Heidi also had some friends over for a stay over that night, so it was quite a lively farewell party.

A Walk Through the Woods

We recently finished reading a childhood biography of Daniel Boone.  So when we took a hike though the woods where there were no trails, they imagined they were pioneer explorers as we crossed creeks, climbed over dead trees and forged trails to get to the park near our house via "the back way".  I love my little explorers!

Riding Lessons at Ellen's

We are so blessed because our neighbor Julia introduced us to Ellen Heath.  Ellen has the time and the horses to take Heidi and Lisa to the next level in their training.  Like Julia, she gives the girls plenty of smiles and encouragement and instruction as they increase their skill at riding.  And Mrs. Heath says that Heidi and Lisa are a couple of her best students because they listen well and focus on their riding so well.  They didn't take their lesson for granted.  She was so sad saying bye to Heidi after their last lesson together.   I'm sure Heidi will miss those Saturday mornings at Mrs. Heath's.