The second day in Korea -the Quilt Museum, the Cathedral and the Seoul Tower.

We fell asleep really early our first night in Korea, so we were up bright and early the next morning....to go to Starbucks!  Elisabeth was going to meet a friend and I was going to the textile museum that I had researched.  We had been on the subway the day before and it seemed fairly easy to navigate.

Elisabeth had calculus homework and had to do that....

but I got to knit and drink coffee until it was time to go.

Bulgogi Burrito!  Talk about fusion food!

After a while, Elisabeth took off to see her friend and I got on the subway to go to the Textile and Quilt Museum.  The pictures on the website looked beautiful.  I am really interested in weaving and textile arts..less interested in quilts but I wanted to see this museum.  I got off at the subway exit where the directions said to...and saw nothing that looked like a museum or a sign pointing to one.  Most of the signs for tourist type things are fairly small and brown.  They are in Korean and English but a little hard to see.  I walked up and down the street and finally stepped into a little deli for possibly the worst sandwich ever.  I asked the woman sitting next to me if she spoke English and knew where the museum was.  She shook her head no and then looked it up for me on her I-phone.  No success.  I thanked here, walked outside and saw the sign for the museum across the street!  As I walked up the hill, I saw these, but fortunately I had all ready eaten a 90% mayonnaise sandwich.

I wasn't even in the university part of town!

I also passed by these kimchi pots.  They have similar pots in China that are used to pickle cabbage (but it's not kimchi) and I desperately want one.  Hint, hint to my husband.

When I got to the entrance of the museum, it was dark.  A nice man came out, turned the lights on and let me in for about the equivalent of $8.00.   The museum wasn't what I expected but what was there was lovely.

They had beautiful dolls in elaborate hanboks.  Click to make bigger.

The quilts were modern and amazing. 

However, what the what?  Amish quilts in Korea?  Say it isn't so!

Sadly my camera died before I could take pictures of children's hanboks done in fantastic quilt patterns.

After this, I headed up to the Catholic Cathedral where I sat and watched  a priest prep younger priest on holy week services.  There was a choir practicing in the loft and it was a lovely hour to reflect.  To sit in an actual church building and see clergy means so much when you live in a country where that is not a usual thing!

Happy, laughing nuns.

Exterior

Choir loft.

Later in the afternoon, Elisabeth and I met up and went to the art museum (which was a little disappointing).  Then we had dinner (I had bibimbap which is my favorite Korean meal...I ate it every day we were there).  Then we took the subway south and headed up the Seoul Tower.  It was fantastic- cable car half way and then go up the elevator.

View of Seoul.

View towards our city.

The tower itself-one of the best things we did in Seoul.

Korea- the first day.

Elisabeth and I flew to Korea last Tuesday, thanks to the generosity of some friends and some Christmas gifts. We stayed at a small hostel that was a little out of the way but clean and comfortable.

Our first afternoon there, I happened to see a sign that said "Foreign Missionary Cemetery."  So we headed over and took a look.

It was really quite moving to see the graves of the many who had sacrificed so much for their faith and chosen to be buried in their adopted country.  Occasionally, there would be small signs with stories of the families and their work- teaching, preaching, medical work and more.

Some of the graves.

Particularly moving were the children's graves.  What a hard thing to leave your child's resting place behind.

We saw many beautiful things in Korea but this was powerfully moving to me.

Small things.

One of my favorite Bible verses comes from 1 Thessalonians 4:11  Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you.  I love the idea of the quiet life, the minding  of my own business and working with my hands.  A quiet life for me means regulation silence and reflection, reading, good music, good food with friends.  It means trying to have a schedule that is not hectic, sleeping enough, talking with my family enough.  I was reminded of my need for sleep this week when I went out of town for some teacher training.  I fell dead asleep before 9:30 every night and slept soundly until around 6:00.  That tells me I need more sleep.  I spent time catching up on reading for my book club and studying for my women's Bible study.  That kind of quiet time is so crucial.
Minding my own business means not being more aware of others faults than my own, believing in the best of others.  I love this quote "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a fierce battle"   Philo of Alexandria. People hide pain and hurt under smiles and lies.  Criticism and accusation show a lack of grace and a lack of understanding of the gospel...or basic human values.
Do the work of your hands - do what you are called to do.  Do what gives you great joy.  The work of your hands can be your job or other things.  I love to knit.  I love to make soup.  I love to make muffins.  I love this kind of work of my hands.
I've recently discovered more of the poetry of e.e. cummings and this one really stood out to me today.  It is just so lovely. 

I am a little church by e.e.cummings

 i am a little church(no great cathedral)

far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities

-i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,

i am not sorry when sun and rain make april

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;

my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving

(finding and losing and laughing and crying)children

whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing

birth and glory and death and resurrection:

over my sleeping self float flaming symbols

of hope,and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

i am a little church(far from the frantic

world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature

-i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;

i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to

merciful Him Whose only now is forever:

standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence

(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)

We received some unexpected, joyful news yesterday.  We can not share it yet publicly.  But keep us in your thoughts and prayers. 

Bad Blogger update.

Life hasn't been very dramatic or unusual lately so I haven't had much to blog about.  Plus our internet has been sketchy and uploading pictures has been slooooow.
So a few things that have been happening.

I am in a book club where we read classic literature.  We met a few weeks ago to discuss our latest books (Love in the Time of Cholera and The Movie Goer).  None of us were all that enthusiastic about either of them but the little guy thought they were cool.

Our next book is Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now.  I started it last week and so far am really liking it.  However, I keep envisioning the Downton Abbey characters in my head as I read.  It's about the same time period and some of the same issues.

I was recently in a city a few hours from us.  While walking down the street, I was greeted by this  little guy.

Being a dog in China is a pretty good gig.

I saw this on the wall of a Chinese school.

Character is higher than intellect.  I love this, especially in this land that worships the mind.

So what is up with us in the next few months?

Well, thanks to the generosity of a gift given to us last summer and some Christmas gifts, Elisabeth and I are heading to Korea on Tuesday for Spring Break.  I hope to meet up with some old students and Elisabeth hopes to meet some friends from the international school.  We will mostly be in Seoul and want to see all the sights.  Korea is about an hour from us by air and we are so excited to finally see it.  Sadly, Paul can not go with us because of his work.  China is not on Spring Break!

We are in the process of trying to envision what our life will be like in the future.  Elisabeth will go off to college....sad and wonderful at the same time.  Despite our efforts to have our foster son declared adoptable, it seems that his life will be in China.  We do not believe that international adoption is the only answer for orphan issues.   A loving Chinese family can provide a secure environment for him also.  We are heartbroken to have to give him up but we think that it is in his best interest to bond with a long term Chinese family.  We have no guarantee that he will ever be declared adoptable even though we strongly believe that he is a great candidate for adoption.  Therefore, we do not think that staying with us longer is best for him.  It would be cruel to be with us or several years, only to have us return to the US and have to give him up at a later age.  

So please pray for and with us as we search for the right family for him.  We weep every day at the thought o of not having him but we want what is best for him.  It's a hard reality.

What have we learned?

Sitting in a pile of laundry.

We have had our little guy for a year and 8 months now.  We "forget" that he has Down Syndrome.  We don't see the physical differences and the cognitive delays.  He is just our little guy to us....

But this morning, I found myself googling "Discipline and Down Syndrome."  He is two...oh so very two.  But also so very 15 months...and 18 months.  His development is all over the place.  

So he grabs our hair and we tell him no....and show him how to touch hair gently.  He laughs and pulls again.

He doesn't want the food we give him, so he spits it out and throws it on the ground.

We need to be aware that he has Down Syndrome...not that he is Down Syndrome!  He is more like us than different.  But the way he learns and processes is different than a typical child.

We have learned a lot...but still have far to go.

Ordinary Life in an extraordinary place.

On most days, our lives are very ordinary.  We get up, we eat breakfast, we go to various schools and jobs.

Well, some of us do.  Others get to stay home and read books in bed.

Or love on his stuffed lion.  The other morning I woke up to the sound of him singing and rocking one of his stuffed bears.  It was such a sweet and tender moment.

Practicing walking behind his new walking toy.

Our friend gave our little guy these vocabulary cards.  Some are wonderfully Chinese in flavor.

Some...let's just say that we aren't sure these are necessary for his vocabulary development.

Traditional shape of a Chinese snowman.

We finally got some real snow....in March!

I've been knitting this beautiful bamboo silk shawl.  Ironically, the yarn was made in China but I bought it in the US.  However, I am going to rip it out and start again.  I made a mistake in the texture pattern across the top and the longer the shawl gets, the more it bugs me.  Oh, knitting.  Hours of knitting, minutes of ripping.

Socks that are almost done. Note to self..even when your gauge is correct, it may be wise to go down a size when you make socks.

A friend of mine gave me tons of scrap yarn.  So I got out big needles and just knit in seed stitch until  each color until it was gone.  I had the green for another project.  It still needs an attached i-cord edge but it's a nice little lap blanket for Elisabeth.

Every Friday, the middle schoolers have help teams, where they do project for the school or community.  I formed a knitting team to do charity knitting for the community.  I taught 14 middle school students how to knit!  Right now, they are knitting squares that will be stitched together to make a blanket for a local foster family. This picture is about half the group knitting. It is school policy not to show faces of students on the internet.

The squares so far.  They will be stitched into a blanket.

I went shopping on my way home from work and got all of this for about $10.00.

As I was washing the lettuce, I noticed this on the dish soap.

Click on the picture...it's kumquat scent!  With oranges on the container.  Totally cracked me up.

She is the real deal.

This year Elisabeth and two friends are organizing World Vision's 30 Hour Famine.  After spending one summer in the high mountains of Yunnan, building roads by hand and helping in villages.....after going to the Phillipines twice to work in an orphanage and now returning this summer to work with teen girls...after laying down her rights to let our little guy live in our home...I'd say her heart is for the poor and disenfranchised.  We are proud of her.
If you'd like to help her raise money to feed two children for a year, click on the link below or copy and paste. Links are also on our Facebook pages if you know us that way. We appreciate it.  World Vision is a reputable organization that we trust.
http://support.worldvision.org/site/TR?px=1157144&fr_id=1610&pg=personal