Where did we go?

Ok I am actually embarrassed to blog again...its been a MONTH since I got on here. Wow. But seriously the last month has flown by! We had Columbus Day weekend which is a big weekend here at the KOA. We had lots of fun activities and a long weekend due to everything being closed on Monday. Fun fact: Texas doesn't celebrate Columbus Day as a holiday anymore so I had no idea that most of the US gets out of school and work on this holiday. Just another thing I've learned while coming up with some kids trivia :)

The rest of October has been spent planning for our Haunted Halloween Fest. During the last three weekends of the season, the KOA has Halloween themed weekends and we are going all out! Most of my time has been spent working on the "Haunted Hospital". If you knew me as a child, then you know that I am NOT a huge fan of Halloween. I never watch scary movies, and I have NEVER been to a haunted house in my life. Confession: I never even watched Hocus Pocus all the way through until this year. And here I am planning a Haunted Hospital. Well, I have to tell you that I kind of like it. Its fun to be creative and think of crazy ways to scare people. But, I haven't gone crazy or anything, so don't worry. I still refuse to watch Paranormal Activity 3.

This weekend is the last Halloween weekend and the last weekend that the Newburgh KOA will be open this year. We will be spending the next few days packing up our camper and hitting the road early Sunday morning. It has been quite an experience living here in New York and I'm so thankful that we got the chance to do it. After 2 1/2 years of long distance dating, it has been so wonderful to be able to spend so much time together. We definitely needed this time away to begin our marriage. We have learned to live simply and just enjoy each other. We joke that we have been on the senior citizens tour but its kind of true! Our days off are in the middle of the work week so a couple of weeks ago we hung out with the retired crowd at the Niagara Falls Casino and had dinner at 4:30 at the Cracker Barrel. We were just disappointed we couldn't get a senior discount.

Speaking of days off, we have loved being able to travel in the middle of the week. Several weeks ago we went to Connecticut to see some great friends. We stopped in Mystic, CT and ate at the famous Mystic Pizza and got to see the drawbridge. The next week we went to Pennsylvania for the Global Aid Network volunteer packing event. That was so much fun, we got to catch up with some friends and pack oatmeal to be shipped overseas to hungry families. We also had Chick Fil A for the first time in months! So happy! Last week Cathleen from Summershine came to visit us and we went back to New York City for our final goodbye. We didn't get to go into the city as much as we thought we would but we enjoyed the three times we went. We had such a great time with Cathleen and we are excited about the future of the Summershine program at Newburgh KOA.

So yes, New York, its been wonderful. We have loved being able to travel and experience new places. We have loved the delicious apples and beautiful fall leaves. We have loved meeting all the families at the KOA. But Colorado, here we come! 

Road Trip!!

Today is September 23. I can't believe its already the end of September. Only 6 more weekends (counting this one) left in Plattekill, NY. I have to say that number excites me. We have absolutely loved being up here at the KOA but I am really excited about what is ahead. We have already started planning our huge 3000+ mile road trip to our new home in Denver, Colorado. Here's a little preview. Once we leave here we will be heading to Williamsburg, VA to stay with some very dear friends, Debbie and Tex McKinnon. Then we will head to North Carolina for a few days to visit Goldsboro and Chapel Hill, so if you are in the area we want to see you! Then we head to Jacksonville, FL to go on a short cruise to the BAHAMAS!! We found a cheap cruise that just happened to be right on our way home ;) so we are making it a birthday celebration for 24 years of Jin Kook Lee's life. Birthdays are fun when you are married because you get gifts too! Then we head to Dallas, Texas (YAY!) with a short stopover to get some beignets in New Orleans.

Once we are in Dallas, we aren't sure how long we are staying, there's just so much to do! We started making a list of all the places and things we want to do in North Carolina and Dallas and it turned out to be mostly restaurants. Fujis, Bojangles, Chuys, Chick Fila, Hibachi San (Yeah its at the North Park Food Court...) are at the top of the list. We aren't starving up here or anything but lets just say that the highlight of our day off is driving 30 minutes to the Popeye's in the neighboring town. And I love Popeyes but I want some waffle fries! So yeah, that is our road trip, people and food. We can't wait!. We are so excited to see our friends and family, we really have missed you all so much!

But, we still have 6 weeks left here. So, not to get a head of myself, I'll blog later about what we've been up to lately.

 

Autumn, are you here?

I say "Autumn" because "Fall" looked weird with a comma after it. Not to sound like an expert writer, or a vocab snob. Even though my husband makes fun of some words I use (for example "creme rinse", "fish crackers", and "coming attractions"), Autumn is not one of those.

So yes, we are excited for Fall to get here! It has been raining non-stop for the past week so that has cooled the weather down quite a bit. Kids are back in school so things have slowed down at the campground as well. For some reason, (crazy, I know?) I have been in the mood to cook! I actually love to cook, I just never have the patience or the budget to follow a recipe. However, I found this awesome website called "CrockPot Girls" and I wanted to try out a few of their recipes. But what started it all was making my mom's chicken tortilla soup.This is one of Jin's favorite meals so I wanted to try it out. He had to work a few hours later than me so I had a lovely afternoon grocery shopping and cooking up this delicious fall meal. Here's the basic recipe.

1. 2-3 thawed chicken breasts
2. 1 onion
3. chili powder
4. 1 can of Rotel
5. mild salsa
6. 1 avocado
7. shredded cheese
8. tortilla chips

And, I think that's it. Mom, please correct me if I missed something. So here's what you do. Cook the chicken with the onions in the crock pot for about 4 hours. Then take the chicken and onions out (leaving the broth) to cut them into little pieces. Add Rotel, a couple shakes of chili powder, the salsa, (I also added some taco sauce because I wanted to get rid of it), and you can add a can of chicken broth if there isn't enough. I had to. Then let it simmer in the crock pot for another hour or so. Then you are ready to serve! Pour into bowls and add shredded cheese, cut up avocado, and tortilla chips. I also made some yummy cornbread to crumble into my soup but Jin thought that was weird. Its up to you! 

So that was Monday night. Tuesday night was a taco party at the camp ground. Wednesday and Thursdays are our days off so I decided to try out the crock pot girls' recipes. Wednesday was Beef Tips over Rice. It was delicious. SO easy and it was yummy!! Tasted like pot roast. Next time I want to add some vegetables. 

Thursday night I made Chicken Fettuccini. It was good too and very easy. I added some white wine and garlic to this recipe and then grilled portobello mushrooms on the side. It was delicious! So as you can see by these uber-simple recipes, I am an average cook at best. But I'm having fun! And, I got the October edition of Everyday with Rachel Ray. The cover had pumpkins on it and I couldn't resist. Here's what I'm thinking about trying next week: Turkey Chili, and "Gobble it up" Chicken and Corn soup. I'll let you know how it goes! 

On another note, it has been exactly 3 weeks since Jin had his accident. He's been walking with the boot every now and then and we head back to the orthopedic doctor on Wednesday for an update. Hopefully he will tell him he can start walking without the crutches! 

I leave you with this verse. Something I've been learning this week. 

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Irene

At approximately 6:05 am August 28, 2011 a huge tree fell on one of our power lines. Of course it was the only tree that fell on the whole campground...but whatever we are out of power for the next few days. The power company estimates 7-10 days. Please no.

So today is Day 2 and we learning how to deal. But in an effort to look on the bright side, here are a few things that we are thankful for right now.

1. Panera Bread free Wifi. 
2. Propane 
3. Cooking on a campfire
4. Beautiful weather (this is not sarcasm, Irene brought fall weather to the Hudson Valley and its wonderful!)
5. Buckets, who knew rain water could be useful?
6. Time off of work to spend together
7. Time off of work to look for apartments in Denver!!
8. Time off of work to watch Bones season 5

These past few months have definitely been about learning to adjust. One thing after another. But as we were cleaning the camper this morning, I had a thought. God must be preparing us for something. Something crazy and unpredictable probably. It is a huge dream of ours to live overseas, probably in Asia somewhere so if this is preparation for that then I think I can go without washing my hair for a few days. Who knows what God is up to but we are continually learning to trust Him more! 

Beautifully Broken

Word of advice to all who read: If you are a small Asian man, do not play basketball against 3 large African American men.  Why? Let this picture show:



So, 2 days ago I was monitoring the Jumping Pillow, basketball court, miniature golf and the pedal carts when 3 campers asked me if I wanted to play basketball with them.  Of course, wanting to show off my SKILLS, I kindly accepted their offer and hit the courts.  After ballin' them up in the first game, they desired a rematch.  I hesitated (my lovely wife brought me some Korean soup for lunch), but decided to get some more W's for the ole B-ball belt.  BUT, instead of getting some more W's, I got some more broken bones on the broken bone belt.  Worst belt ever.  I went up for a rebound, and landed on my ankle...

Emily rushed me to the nearest hospital, St. Luke's hospital in Newburgh. We got put in a very small waiting room with many injured individuals.  I pulled out my iPhone and checked in through foursquare and Facebook and started the long waiting process.

4 hours later...

After some X-rays and waiting, the PA finally told us that I had a chip fracture and that a part of my bone on my ankle broke off and is floating around down there.  He put a half casty thing around my ankle and gave me some crutches and I was on my way.  Sometime this week I will be heading over to an orthopedist to confirm my diagnosis, but either way 4 to 6 weeks on crutches.

Anyways, enough about me.  Emily is currently making play doh with some kids. Okay, bye!

-Jin

Rainy day blues?

Well, we have been a little slack on the posts lately. Sometimes its hard to know what to write. So I'll just write and see what happens. Yesterday Jin and I had the day off together. It was our first day off where we didn't have any plans. We decided to go to Woodbury Commons which is a huge outlet mall about 30 minutes away. We had fun walking around looking at all the different stores and only came away with a bag from Gap, necessities of course. Outlet malls really aren't that good of a deal unless you find a really good sale. But its still fun to look around. Then it started pouring so we went home. We ate some leftover pizza for lunch (you wouldn't believe how much pizza we have eaten since we moved here, literally a pizza restaurant on every corner) and then decided to watch one episode of Bones. Well next thing we knew it was 1 AM and we finished season 3. We took a short break to make chicken enchiladas for dinner. It was a fun day to to be married and spend time together. Makes me thankful for this time in our lives, nothing to do except work and spend time together. And write thank you notes...which is what I am doing today before I go in to work at 3.

On another note, we are officially staying in NY until October 31. Jin will be doing activities full time and I will be working in the store! We are really excited to be here and I am especially excited to be here during the fall. Fall is hands down my favorite season and I can't wait to experience it in the northeast. God has been teaching me a lot of about humility and pride these past few weeks. Jin and I both feel strongly that this is where God has placed us for this time and I know there are big lessons to be learned before we move on to the next step. I'm praying that God will break down the doors of my heart and teach me to be more like Him over these next few months.


 ⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
 ⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
   did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
   by taking the very nature of a servant,
   being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
   he humbled himself
   by becoming obedient to death—
      even death on a cross!
 ⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
   and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
   to the glory of God the Father

-Philippians 2: 5-11


Thanks for keeping up with us :) We miss all of our friends and family!

Checking into Boston

Question: Ever since Augustana came out with the song "Boston," how many people do you think quote their lyrics when they go to Boston?  I calculated 1/5. I was that one out of five.

So, if you don't follow me on google+, facebook, or most especially foursquare, then you didn't see my 10+ check-ins in the great city of Boston, Massachusetts.  I was able to check in these many times because Emily and I were actually in Boston! Our Boston journey started when Emily and I just got off work at about 5:30 and were jokingly discussing a spontaneous trip to Canada.  Well we realized that Canada was too far so after searching on Google maps we realized Boston was the closest city that we would want to travel to. So we packed our stuff in 10 minutes and hit the road. On the way we went to the best Wendy's ever in Connecticut and found a Red Roof Inn for a solid $59 a night. We stayed the night and headed to our first Ivy League University together.  HA-Vad.  I have to tell you that Boston drivers are some of the craziest drivers I've encountered.  They honk their horns for no apparent reason.  They make their own lanes.  They like to drive a foot away from your car.  And they are just so grumpy.  No offense to anyone from Boston.  So, after just driving minutes in Cambridge, we decided to park and take public transportation the rest of the day.  Not to mention, public parking is atrociously expensive.  After giving away half our savings (exaggeration) in parking fees, we enjoyed the rich IQ land of Harvard University.  It was nice.  Reminded me of a fancier, but not as cool, Chapel Hill.  After slipping in and out of tour groups on the Harvard campus, we got on the subway to a lovely park called Boston Common.

At Boston Common, we started the Freedom Trail.  The Freedom Trail, if you never heard of it, takes you about 3 miles around Boston highlighting historical events that occurred there.  Apparently a lot of historical events occurred in Boston. The Boston Tea Party.  The Boston Massacre.  The Boston Market (I love history).  We enjoyed all of it.  After walking several hours, gaining a new perspective on history, we made a stop at the North End.  We entered Italy and ate some amazing pizza.  Walked over to the land of bank robbers (Charlestown).  Took a subway back to HA-Vad and headed home.  It was an amazing day, full of spontaneity, excitement, and good food.  If you like history, a city that is big with a small town feel, Chapel Hill, smart people, and Boston Market, Emily and I highly recommend a trip to Boston.  We give it a 5/5.  I think I'll go to Boston.

-Jin

Reconciled

So if you are friends with Jin on Facebook you know that we went to Boston yesterday. He checked in everywhere. But I'm going to let him post about that. It was a great day!!

So something we haven't written about yet is the ministry side of our jobs. Obviously as Christians every moment should be ministry, especially interacting with non-believers, but something cool that we get to do each week is Chapel Service. Its nothing fancy, Jin plays 2 worship songs on the guitar and either he or I will share our testimony. This past week, I shared my testimony. We had several families show up, 2 in particular that we had been getting to know so it was really fun to see them show up to Chapel.

So this week I shared about how I didn't have a clear understanding of who God was for many years but when I got to college I began to understand Grace and what it meant to be a child of God. But as I was preparing for this time it was interesting because I still don't fully comprehend how the God of the universe could love me and accept me as His child. I don't think I ever will until I get to heaven.  Here is a really great article that Matt Chandler tweeted last night about this very topic. It really encouraged me and I hope it does you too!! God's grace changes everything and when I'm not focusing on that truth I lose sight of who I am. This past year was hard, for many reasons but I think a lot was due to the fact that I lost sight of this very truth. When you aren't constantly filling your mind with truth you begin to believe lots of lies about God and His character. That can turn even the most joyful person into a very unhappy person. I am thankful for all of the wonderful people in my life that put up with me this past year and I am thankful that God is in the business of reconciling sinners.

So I got my Bible out this morning and decided to find some specific scriptures that speak about God's grace and our new identity. Well that's what most of the new testament is about haha but here are just a few that spoke to me.

Ephesians 1: 3-9 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us^[a] for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood,the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known^[b] to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ

Ephesians 2:1-5 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body^[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴But^[b]God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved—


Colossians 1:21-22 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²²he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

Anyway, this is turning into a long post but just some things the Lord has been teaching me lately. Please pray for us as we seek to be authentic pictures of God's grace with the people that we meet in New York.

PS I chopped all my hair off today. I feel like the old me again :)

concrete jungle where dreams are made, oh

New York City. We love you. Yesterday we took the official Newburgh/New York City North KOA Big Apple Tour. We left the campground at 7:30 AM and returned around 7:30 PM. It was a great day! 

After one episode of Bones and a quick nap, we drove through the Lincoln Tunnel into New York City. So our first stop was the Statue of Liberty. We took a ferry out to "Liberty Island" and walked around at the base of the Statue of Liberty. It was really cool reading about the construction of the statue and what was going on during that time period. Then we got back on the ferry which stopped at Ellis Island but we didn't have time to get off. But, after reading about it we really want to go back there. 

After a break for lunch our tour guide drove us around the city and shared different facts with us. I usually hate tours but this was really cool. He told us some really random things about the city that you wouldn't know visiting by yourself. 

Then we visited the Empire State Building. I couldn't help thinking about two of my favorite movies. Here's a tribute.

there we go....

first try

The view

Scared?

I'm high in the sky.

                                                         

 Then we went to Times Square. Bought a $3 hot dog that we were warned not to eat (something about violent diarrhea?? but we risked it. so far so good...) and got back on the bus to go home.

See you soon, NYC!

Emily's side of the story

So, you might be asking yourself. What took so long to post about my birthday? Well, we wanted to wait till it was funny...and then we got busy. So, yes, El Bracero was an interesting experience and yes I was very disappointed. But, a few days afterwards I can say its pretty funny. And the thing is, Jin was just being his adventurous self, something that I really love about him. When we sat down at the booth we were both just kind of looking at each other and Jin goes, "This is us, right?". At the time it made me really mad, but its true. Of course we tried El Bracero in Poughkeepsie, NY. That is what this time in our lives is all about, trying new things. And when you try new things sometimes you get El Bracero. But we got to go to Kobe hibachi steakhouse last night for birthday dinner part two. It was so yummy and totally made up for any disappointment from Thursday. So, its a great story and I'm 23.

Ok now for some more life updates. Jin and I have been working at the Newburgh/NYC North KOA for two weeks now and we love it! Here is what a typical week day looks like:

We wake up and eat breakfast and get ready for the day! Activities start at 10.

10:00 AM Flippy Floppy Soccer (giant soccer ball)
11:30 AM Whacky Mini Golf Tournament
Lunch break
2:00 PM Boondoggle (if you don't know what this is look it up, thank you Estes Park YMCA camp for teaching me this invaluable skill)
4:00 PM Firetruck Ride (the KOA has an old firetruck that we take kids on and drive them around the campground, we do this every day at 4:00)
5:00 PM Trivia night

In between these activities we are planning the schedule and coming up with ideas for the weekend or next week. The weekends are completely different. Each weekend has a theme and we plan activities around that. The KOA is packed and so things get a little crazy.

But during the week we are usually done by about 6, just in time for dinner and relaxing for the evening. Then we always watch one episode of Bones before we go to bed. Seriously, every night. We are what you would call addicted.

So this past weekend was Christmas in July. We decorated the campground for Christmas and even invited Santa Clause down from the North Pole. It was above 90 degrees the entire weekend but tons of fun!!

Ok and Food Challenge update: we are going to the store tonight...AFTER we eat our last dinner of spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, and canned corn. Yum. We decided to go tonight because we are going to New York City tomorrow and will be too exhausted when we get home. So we are kind of cheating but not really. I'm ready for some protein.

-Emily

El Bracero

If you didn't know, Emily just celebrated her 23rd birthday.  If you just realized this you should send her a text to wish her a happy belated birthday, she would very much appreciate it.  This was Emily's first birthday celebration as a married woman.  A celebration that would have to take place without her parents, her siblings, or her friends.  Only me.  Therefore, I knew this and I wanted to do a good job at being a man.  In order to be a good man, according to "God's Gift to Women" by Eric Ludy, you have to be in charge.  You have to plan out the evening without telling her anything.  You got to blindfold her and move her from place to place in a romantic way so that she feels like (and knows) you put a lot of thought into it.  So, that is what I decided to do (minus the blindfold).

Disclaimer: I truly had the best intentions.

So, one thing Emily and I both really enjoy is Tex-Mex.  I used to think that Mexican food tasted the same from North Carolina to Texas, but that was soon erased as we made trip after trip to Chuy's, my Mexican heaven (it's a restaurant if you haven't heard of it, not really heaven).  Since Emily and I both enjoy eating Tex-Mex, I thought that it would be a good idea to find a great authentic Mexican restaurant around here for us to share some romantic tortilla chips over.

Yelp did a fine job of finding a 4.5 star reviewed restaurant in a little, quaint town of Poughkeepsie, New York (http://www.yelp.com/biz/el-bracero-mexican-restrnt-inc-poughkeepsie).  I ignored the only one $ sign stating the price and figured this place was a very nice, clean, authentic, beautiful, wonderful place to take my wife of 3 weeks for her birthday dinner, but boy was I wrong.

Poughkeepsie is about 30 minutes from the KOA, crossing over the Hudson River and through many small upstate New York towns.  The best part of the night and I believe Emily would agree on this, was probably the scenic drive to the infamous "El Bracero."  Arriving at the restaurant, the first signs of turning back was it was sandwiched in between a Dollar General and the Salvation Army.  Don't get me wrong, I love those places, but it was the sign of what was to come.  As we entered, we were greeted by loud Mexican music blaring, angry stares by 15 hispanic men, and no smile from our hostess.

 We sat down in the corner as we were given menus taped together with the description of bracero on the cover (if you were interested: a Mexican laborer permitted to enter the United States and work for a limited period of time, especially in agriculture).  This was not the best start to a romantic birthday dinner.  I'm going to skip the deets, but here is what went wrong: expectations.  Emily expected a nice, clean restaurant.  I gave her "El Bracero." Very good, decent, appropriate expectations for your birthday dinner.  But I wanted to do something adventurous and different and it was a terrible idea. I don't have any words to defend myself in this, just that I had the best intentions.  After dinner, we ended up getting some ice cream at Mary Jane's Dairy Bar and Emily accidentally dropped half of her ice cream in the trash can.  It was a tough night for us both.

Moral of the story: If you want to be romantic, go somewhere that is safe.  Go to Olive Garden.  Go to the Cheesecake Factory.  Go to Maggiano's   Don't use yelp as a reference.  Don't choose El Bracero.  Don't ask me for advice.

But, to make it all better, we went to Kobe's Hibachi and Sushi Restaurant yesterday and it was delicious. YUM!

-Jin

Food Challenge

So to add to the last post, Jin and I have set ourselves up with a little "Food Challenge." Think Food Network. Here's how it works: we went to the grocery store last Monday night and bought as much food as we thought we would need  for a while. But, this being the first time we ever really grocery shopped together, we probably didn't do the best job. Well now its the next Wednesday and we have decided to make ourselves finish everything we have before we go to the store again. Our goal is Tuesday. Disclaimer: we bought some more bread on Monday. But besides that we haven't been back the store. Here's what we had for dinner last night: Beef stew casserole. My mother is probably gagging right now. (remember the tater tot casserole???) Anyway, I used this can of Campbell's beef stew that was left in our kitchen from the guy who was here before us (As in before we got here, not last year) along with some rice and ground turkey and mozzarella cheese. Jin said he liked it and even had it for lunch today but one serving was enough for me. I will spare you a picture. It actually looks grosser than it tastes, it wasn't that bad but it looked disgusting. 

So, tonight as we were clocking out the girls that work at the registration desk invited us to order pizza with them. I admit that in that moment I was ready to give up on the food challenge altogether but Jin stayed strong. We came home and actually had a lovely dinner. Frozen steak (Mike leftover) grilled on the open fire with spaghetti, and broccoli. It was actually delicious. 

So here's what we have left....can we make it? You decide.

1. Pesto sauce
2. 1/4 box of Spaghetti noodles
3. 1 1/2 jars of spaghetti sauce
4. 3/4 a jar of salsa
5. some ham slices (also leftover from the guy before us, his name is Mike)
6. 3 slices of colby jack cheese
7. american cheese (Mike leftover)
8. 1 Orange that Jin forgot he bought and was waiting for me to eat
9. Butter
10. 1/2 a quart of 2% milk
11. 1 box of Lucky Charms (my mother will also gag over our choice of sugar cereal)
12. 9 chewy bars
13. 1 box of Mac and Cheese (Mike leftover)
14. 1 1/2 package of Shake and Bake Chicken seasoning (notice we don't have any chicken left)
15. Olive oil
16. 2 cans of corn (Mike leftover)
17. 3 cans of green beans (Mike leftover)
18. 1 lean cuisine
19. 14 fruit snack pouches (100% vitamin C!!)
20. 1/4 a package of oreos
21. 1 more chunky soup
22. 4 Ramen noodles
23. Potato chips (1/2 a bag)
24. Tortilla chips (1/2 a bag)
25. 1 loaf of White bread (sorry Mom again, it was only $1)

Now, 25 items this may look like a lot but its not. Especially with our only meat being sliced ham that doesn't expire until 2013. Who knows what tomorrow dinner looks like but its all part of the adventure. 

-Emily

Banquet Meals

My professional husband evaluation: Men and women are different.  Different people are different. I'm different from Emily. How did I come with that profound conclusion you may be asking yourself.  Well, let me tell you.

Well like Emily recently posted, we both deal with situations differently  Whenever Emily has an excessive amount of mosquito bites, she will take a great deal of effort to heal herself and work towards healthiness.  While I on the other hand will throw away any kind of advice to not scratch them and itch away till the blood reigns king (graphic).  I will never put any kind of bug spray on myself.  I will not buy Benedryl.  I will not put anti-itch cream on it.  That's not how I roll.  This could also be could because I am very cheap.  Stingy.  Frugal.  Economically savvy.  Whatever you want to call it.  This leads me to another way Emily and I are very different.

Banquet meals.  Yes, banquet meals.  Shall I say it again? Banquet meals.  If you don't know what banquet meals are, then you are probably more like Emily than I am in this area.  Banquet meals can be purchased at Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Kroger, Walmart and even at your local Dollar Tree (yes, the dollar tree.) I prefer to buy them at Walmart because they are 88 cents there.  They are a decently satisfying microwavable meal that will keep the money in your pocket while killing you in the process, and I love them.  Yes, I love them so much that I spent all summer eating them for lunch and dinner.  I didn't eat them for breakfast because I didn't eat breakfast.  If I happened to eat breakfast, it was filled with banquet deliciousness.  But for some reason, Emily doesn't like me eating banquet meals.  Even more so, she doesn't like eating them.  This leads us to difference number dos.  Emily and I have very different eating habits.  I would love to spend our marriage eating banquet meals, easy mac, totino's pizza and little microwavable chimichangas.  While, Emily on the other hand would prefer to buy fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, and your occasional Smart Choice frozen meals.  This has led to a great dilemma in the Lee family.  But of course, no banquet meals are found in our camper's freezer.  No Totino's pizzas are present here.  None of my favorite chimichangas are heating in the microwave.  The reason for this is not because I have given up these great foods to satisfy Emily.  It is because I want to grow old.  I don't want to die at 35 from a heart attack.  I don't like high cholesterol.  I want to have children and see them go to college and get married.  I want to be married to Emily for 60+ years.  And I know banquet meals will stand in my way.

So, what I am trying to say is Emily and I are different. And its a great thing.  It's a life saving thing.  Without our differences, who knows where I'll be.  I love my wife.  Cheese.

-Jin

The mosquito incident

Before I tell the mosquito incident, I want to make one disclaimer. Jin is a wonderful husband for more than two reasons. But I will say that he is doing the dishes right now as I type this :) Since we got here, he has done the dishes for every single meal. And he cleaned the hair out of the shower drain with a coat hanger.

Ok back to the mosquitoes.So Saturday nights we show a movie here at the KOA, we have a huge blow up screen and everyone sets up chairs in the field and watches a movie under the stars. Its lots of fun. This past saturday (the first time we have done this...) I came after getting off at the jumping pillow. We sat behind the screen and watched Cars backwards and ate dinner. After about 30 minutes I started getting very itchy around my ankles. I went home to get the bug spray and after thoroughly coating my legs and everything and everyone within reach, I thought I was ok. The next morning I woke up with about 35 huge red welts on the back of both of my legs. It was disgusting. Well, I always like to make a big deal about any injury/medical issue that I have. I want you to look at it and talk to me about it. Tell me that its getting better. Tell me how bad it is. Just make a big deal about it. Some call it hypochondria.

"Jin, I just want you to look at my legs. Look how terrible that is."

"Ok, will you look at my legs. They itch SOO bad."

"Hold on, I have to put more hydrocortisone cream on my legs before we go."

"Do you think my mosquito bites are getting better?"

You get the idea. Now this is perfectly normal for me. Maybe its growing up as a doctors kid. My dad was always ready with a diagnosis for my latest problem.

Jin, on the other hand, doesn't feel the need to discuss every bodily injury at length the way I do. I could tell he was getting a little sick of my ranting but I kept on going. On Sunday I stopped every KOA employee I saw and asked them if they thought it was chiggers or mosquitoes. Even campers were giving me advice. Jin listened to my whining patiently but without much comment. I also wanted to buy every kind of itch medicine they sold at Walmart and the KOA store. "Just in case its chiggers too..."  Finally, Jin had had it and looked up chiggers on the internet. He informed me that it was not chiggers and that my explanation that "Chiggers burrow inside your skin and live there" was in fact, false. He told me that they were just mosquito bites. You can probably guess where this is going. This is one situation where we fed right into the old marriage stereotype. Men are practical and women are emotional. By looking up chiggers on the internet, Jin was sympathizing with me and trying to help me. But I just wanted him to say, "I'm sorry I know that is very painful and uncomfortable. I hope you feel better." Don't tell me I'm wrong...even if I am so very obviously wrong. So, after seeing how ridiculous we were being, we both apologized and went to Wal Mart to buy benedryl.

-Emily

Squiggly

I'm pretty new at this blogging thing.  If you checked my profile you might have seen that I created another blog at one point in my life called "Second Life."  In the header it describes why I call it that, but I don't think it really makes sense.  

Really my main point is, Emily and I have made a deal.  We cannot say anything critical or negative about one another's posts.  Only positive feedback is allowed.  This is actually mainly for me, because Emily is much better at blogging than I am, so I am very insecure in my blogging ability.  I am a newb blogger and I'll admit it.  Newb should not have red squiggly lines underneath it.  It is a word.  Squiggly's a word.  I don't think you should blog about squiggly being a word, but I just did.  

So, as most of you probably know, Emily and I have been married for 2 weeks, 3 days and 3 hours.  We have traveled the seas from place to place and have landed in a cozy little camper an hour from New York City.  I have to say, being married has been an amazing thing thus far. It's the best thing that's happened to me.  It's like if I was Jordan Hill's brother and won the world championship in Pokemon in Hawaii....but better (I think only 3 or 4 people will get this reference and they may never read this so I should probably take out this inside joke, but I won't and Emily can't say anything negative about this because of the pact explained above).  But anyways, I would like to offer you words of wisdom I have learned from being a professional husband (2 weeks plus certifies you as a professional according to wikipedia).  5 tips to being a great husband:

1) Wash the dishes as often as possible.

2) Shower daily. 

Okay, I just got stuck at 2.  Does that make me a bad husband? Naw. That is all for now, hopefully I will finish this list.

Disclaimer: If you don't like my sense of humor, just read Emily's posts.  

God Speed to All

-Jin

From Dallas to Mexico to North Carolina to New York

So, who are we? Jin and Emily Lee. The LEE family. We just got married and moved across the country to work with Summershine, a Christian resort staffing ministry. What does that mean? We are living in an RV on a campground planning activities for families while sharing who God is with them. We've been here for about a week and we are exhausted but happy :)

But...to back up a little bit. Our story is a bit of a crazy one. It all began in a little town called Seoul, Korea. Jin Lee was born. Fast forward 20ish years to Santa Cruz, California. We met on a Campus Crusade for Christ summer project there in California and a few months later began dating long distance (North Carolina to Texas...are you keeping track of all these states??) 2 years later Jin moved to Texas and on July 1, 2011 we became Jin and Emily Lee. 

So here we are. This past week at the campground has been quite exciting. We moved in to our new home, unpacked and started work. Here are a few pics so you can "watch the movie" of our lives. More like a slideshow really. 

Before our first day of work. Free pancakes!

Our kitchen.

Our living room/dining room. Besides the 1980's upholstery its great!

I also work at the "Jumping Pillow"...craziness

Our sweet new friend Noah. He is like a mini-Jin, no joke. 

Ok more to come soon!!