Ew finals

So in an effort to blog more I thought I would share this quote from a book that, of course, I am just beginning to read the night before my final.

This quote is from a book on the spirituality of Jesus and specifically from a chapter on evangelism,

"Our proclamation must be centered on the kingdom. That kingdom is one of mercy, justice, and righteousness. It is a kingdom where God reigns supreme and where his people honestly seek to live in genuine harmony with God, one another, and the world around them. This is the kingdom that Jesus was passionate to preach. He did not come to design a privatized, gnostic religion, where salvation is about the acquisition of Bible knowledge. Rather, he came to fashion a community of redeemed people in the new covenant. That work continues today just as it did two millenia ago, and if we are to imitate Jesus' spirituality, we must become people who are passionate about spreading the news of what God continues to do in the world. So preach the Gospel. And by all means, use words." 
(From The Spirituality of Jesus by Leslie T. Hardin pp. 166)

curious to know what you people think of this...Also, this is one of my favorite songs right now that kind of reminds me of this. I love it!

Sunday nights

So Sunday nights used to be like the worst night of the week for me. After a great weekend you have to gear yourself back up for another week and it just stinks. I hate that because Sunday is supposed to be a day of reflecting on God's goodness and resting in His presence. And yeah, usually Sundays aren't that way for me. I remember once in college when I was sad on a Sunday night my dad told me he used to get the "Sunday blues" when he was in med school. That totally resonated with me and actually made me feel better.   But tonight I am just so thankful for what the Lord has been doing that I had to write about it. And I think the biggest thing I'm thinking tonight is that God is good even when I don't feel like He's doing anything. When I am at my worst, He is still good. And I forget that until I experience it again and then I say I won't forget again. But I do.

So anyway, we are moving to Capitol Hill (yay!) For those of you who don't live in Denver (probably everyone reading this?) Capitol Hill is a really neat area close to the state capitol building downtown. We are super excited to be able to live closer to Jin's school and to be able to be in a fun community with other people our age. And we are living above a Panera...wins all around :) We have also started to get more involved in our church and its been fun!

God has been providing in some pretty obvious ways lately, but the most encouraging thing is that He's been there all along. He has walked with me through the loneliness of the past few months, but the thing is he's been with me my whole life. And He knows all my stuff and still continues to walk with me through it. I guess the biggest thing I've been learning lately is about living in truth. Living in the truth that I have issues. Yeah, I do. That's a fact. But the crazy thing is that God wants to get into those issues with me and bring me to greater healing. Wow. And He might even use me as a counselor as He works in other people's issues. What a huge blessing. These are just my ramblings but I hope it is encouraging to you guys wherever you are at in life. He knows you and He loves you.

So I'm not 100% sure of the historical context of this verse (seminary makes you realize how important that actually is :) but I know God speaks through His Word and this verse means a lot to me right now.

Jeremiah 31:3  the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.


The verses after this talk about Israel returning from exile and not that Denver is exile by any means ;) but it is far away from what used to be home and can be pretty lonely at times. I find a lot of hope in reading about God's love for the Israelites recorded in the Bible. And the Israelites mess up all the time, but the story of God's faithfulness throughout the entire Bible is just amazing. And I'm finally starting to realize how unbelievable it is that I get to be a part of it. Somehow looking at the bigger story makes me understand my stuff just a little bit better. Crazy. 


Here's a random picture of us to make this blog post more interesting. Its from Atlantic Beach, NC. What a fun day that was :) except please excuse my wierd bang situation...it was windy i guess. 

Phase 2?

So this blog seems to kind of come and go. But my mom suggested that I start up again and I thought it was a good idea. So here we are. Update: we live in Denver, Colorado now. We've been here for almost 5 months now and we really like it! We made it through the winter and now we finally get to experience the best part of living in Colorado...the summers!!  :)

Anyway, these past few months have been some of the most challenging but also the most exciting. We have moved away from everything familiar (again??) this time to the great Rocky Mountains. God has provided for us in so many ways and I'm still marveling at the fact that we can just pick up and start a life in a random place. If you know me at all you know I am horrible with transitions (maybe God is trying to teach me something??) but we are slowly adjusting to life here. Its definitely hard being so far away from family and friends but we are racking up those frequent flier miles!!

Another update: I finally started my Masters of Counseling at Denver Seminary and it most definitely has been a challenge. But I'm hoping that I have moved out of the "What the heck am I doing?" stage (I hear its normal...?) into the "Wow, this is hard but I think I can actually make it through" stage. I'm pretty sure I will still have plenty of those moments but for now I'm encouraged. I especially love my New Testament class with Dr. Smith. My views on Jesus and the Bible have already been radically challenged but I love it. Studying Jesus in his historical Jewish context has changed my perspective so much. And of course studying what he actually said definitely helps. I've been convicted of my blind acceptance of this assumed knowledge that I have of Jesus and his teachings and been forced to take a sincere look at who he really was and what he really said. I'm thankful to be in a place that fosters this kind of growth. 

Jin will be starting his Masters of Accounting this fall at University of Colorado Denver. I'm so proud of him for working hard and providing for our family these past few months and I'm excited for him to get to pursue this dream. Looks like we will be spending the next few years on the Denver coffee shop tour, maybe Jin will even start liking coffee? 

Anyway, hopefully I can keep this blogging thing up!  I promise to do my best to make it interesting and not just a boring life update every few months. We are on a crazy journey just like all of you and I want to share the thoughts and experiences along the way. Today I realized again how thankful I am for technology that allows us to keep up with everyone we love. Seriously, it makes things so much easier. We love and miss everyone!

Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.

-Emily (& Jin)

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!