Valentine's Day

The year for Valentine's day my Mom and Lesley decided to have a "pink/red" dinner. So, they created a menu that was comprised of red food. We had BBQ Chicken, Mashed Potatoes (with red food coloring), red jello jigglers shaped in hearts, a red fruit salad (grapes, strawberries, apples), and pink lemonade. My Mom enjoys decorating and setting the stage so when we walked in everything looked great!

Kenan had a big role in helping to decorate. Here he is relaxing and waiting for everyone to come.

The main course was fun and delicious, but it had nothing on dessert. There was a whole array of desserts that were red and heart-shaped. They looked good and tasted delicious. Ethan particularly enjoyed the heart shaped, gluten-free cupcakes.

Entrepreneurialship -- Ice Sledding

Lesley, Joe, and Kenan came for a visit and one of the days that they we here we decided to go "ice sledding" Seriously the people who set this up are entrepreneurals. They took a rice field that wasn't currently being used to grow rice and every evening they cover it with water and make a large rink out of it.

They keep it nicely manicured and prep it every evening. They also have a little make-shift tent that they have put some heaters in and sell some snacks. The actual sledding occurs on a piece of wood set on two rails. You sit on this and you use two sticks with nails sticking out the bottom of them to push yourself around the rink. It was a lot of fun and everyone got the try it out. There were races, circles, and trains that had to be completed. I will say that was a unique experience, but a fun one!

Ski Day at Muju

As it is winter here, the next few post will represent some of the fun activities that we participate in during these months. One day over Christmas vacation we went to Muju a ski resort about 1 hour from Daejeon. My Mom was gracious enough to keep Ethan so that Darren and Kacy could ski and I could help Sara as she took her first ski lessons. That sure did make life much easier.

So, we got up early and headed down to Muji. Sara's lessons weren't until the afternoon so she and I headed to the sledding hill while Darren and Kacy hit the slopes. I was pretty sure I could take some good pictures of Sara sledding, until we got there and they said that it was "too scary" for her and I needed to go sledding with her. This was definitely not what I had in mind! :) However, off we went. Sara of course did not want to go on the smaller of the two hills so we did the "big hill" multiple times. I put on my brave coat and screamed the whole way down...Sara loved it.

After some lunch Sara had her first ski lesson. She did great and was on the lift and skiing down...instructor with her very quickly. The instructor came up to me about 2/3's of the way through and told me that Sara was doing great, but wouldn't stop...he said she likes speed. I was trying to explain to Sara how to stop when he said...she knows how to stop and can, but she won't...so then we had to have a lesson in obedience and not how to slow yourself down.

Snow Fun

As most winters come and go we have a few good snow days. Shortly after Christmas we got some snow here in Daejeon and the kids of course wanted to go out in it. So, the Hawkins came over and we ventured out into the cold for a little while. It really was Ethan's first knowledgeable experience with snow.

After a good little while in the snow we went back inside for some homemade hot chocolate, chilli, and bread. Nice way to warm up.

Jeju with the Girls

Our girls were 24 miles away from elite status.  Yup, that close.  I'm wondering if we couldn't just drive around the runway a few times but appears they actually want you to fly.  So we decided to kill 2 birds with one stone by having a little daddy/daughter trip to Jeju.  The girls were super excited and we had a great time. 

We got to see a large dual rotor helicopter land at the airport right before we took off.  I'm guessing it was a Chinook.  

The girls studied the map of Jeju to see where we were going.

3 of a kind...

The girls were way more excited about the Teddy Bear Museum than I was.  They had a good time checking out teddy bears in all sorts of settings and a variety of shapes and sizes.

We didn't eat at the Dunkin Donuts but took advantage of their props for a good picture!

The girls also got to go horseback riding on Jeju horses, which is a popular attraction on the island.  They were really hoping that would work out and they loved every minute of it.

We also had a Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum close so the girls got their first peak at some oddities.  I got lots of questions about all kinds of weird things during the visit and later like "was that real?"

The back of our hotel lead out to a beautiful bay.  It was quite nice and we had a good time exploring that as well.  It was too bad we had winter coats on instead of swimsuits.

Jeju is known as the "island of the gods" and these statues are famous as a Jeju icon that are found all over the island. 

It was a fun trip and it was good to spend some quality time with the girls!

Christmas 2011

Christmas marks that special time of year when we get together with family and friends and truly reflect and remember the amazing gift that God has given us. This year was just going to be the Hawkins and Price family in Korea, but an unexpected turn of events led my parents to stay and celebrate with us. The vacation started out with a 3-Kid simultaneous stomach bug, which left many down for a couple of days, but not too long! Once we recuperated from that it was time for the traditional Christmas activities. We made this video to document our events, but I will also list some of the traditions that we have embarked on as a family.

Christmas 2011 from Laura Price on Vimeo.

Price Traditions:

• Christmas Eve--Homemade GF Pizza's
• One present is opened on Christmas eve...it is usually something small that will entertain and hold them over until Christmas morning.
• Christmas Morning--Everyone has to stay in bed until 6:00 am
• We usually get up, open presents, skype with family and then get ready for the day
• Christmas dinner--inclusive of all the goodies occurs sometime throughout this day
• Christmas 2011 Special--Sunday Morning church in which our family lite the advent candle...it was not easy getting everything accomplished, dressed, and presentable to stand in front of the church...but we did it.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

For whatever reason, I have found particular meaning in the carol God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen this Christmas season.  At our schools, we have observed a great deal of turbulence in the organizations as both schools have separately faced circumstances that would forever change their mission and ethos.  The normal certainty of paychecks fell into question and the realization that we are in the palm of God's hand has been real to us in many ways.  It has been a great time to reflect on ministry, purpose, grace, hope, and faith.  As we worked feverishly at certain points for goals we didn't understand at the time, we now see how God used each step to draw a bigger vision than we ever imagined.

Having faith does not allow us the luxury of sitting back and lazily waiting on God.  It means we put our utmost effort forth, knowing it will still fall short.  We pray God will honor our work and solve the problems regardless of our shortcomings.  Or act according to His good, pleasing and perfect will in the situation.

As we faced so many issues on so many fronts this semester, they still pale in comparison with the spiritual condition that we face in this world.  Jesus bridges the gap.  When we live for Christ, we should be filled with comfort and joy because the problems of this world pale in comparison.

I have pasted the lyrics of the first few verses from God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen below.  May nothing you dismay and may you be filled with comfort and joy!

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas Day;
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray.

O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy,
O tidings of comfort and joy!

In Bethlehem, in Israel,
this blessèd Babe was born,
And laid within a manger
upon this blessèd morn;
The which His mother Mary
did nothing take in scorn.


From God our heavenly Father
A blessed angel came;
And unto certain shepherds
Brought tidings of the same;
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by name.


"Fear not, then," said the angel,
"Let nothing you affright;
This day is born a Savior
Of a pure virgin bright,
To free all those who trust in him
From Satan's power and might."