They Say That Her Heart Shrunk Three Sizes That Day

We'll get back to that title in a bit.

This post has a LOT of pictures, none of which have anything to do with me turning into the grinch on Christmas Eve. We'll get back to that in a bit.

We continued our advent calendar this month with so much Gingerbread, that it was coming out of my pores. We made over 100 cookies for single airmen in Joe's unit. We also made a bunch of cookies for some friends. And we also had some friends over and made some more cookies. Mmmmmmmmm, gingerbread - one of my favorite Christmas traditions.
But I guess all the cookies weren't enough, because then we made a gingerbread house. I've bought gingerbread house kits in the past, but this year I decided I might as well make one from scratch. It was WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY harder than I ever imagined (much respect for those who do these for competitions), but I think it turned out pretty good, and Cora had fun decorating it with me (nope, the other kids weren't interested after all the cookies they decorated).

I even put in "glass" windows with crushed up Lifesavers.

Here is Alex's personal creation that he made in Madelyn's class. Unfortunately, Madelyn accidently left hers at school:(

We made some stars.

Cora had a Christmas piano recital. She also played for the Children's Sacrament Meeting Program this year.

We had our branch Christmas party, combined with the Korean ward that shares our building. There was your typical turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, etc., but there was also kimbap, chop chae, bindaeduk, kimchi, chopsticks, etc.:)

The primary sang a couple of songs (my kids are in there somewhere).

And then Santa showed up......

....."I know that's not the REAL Santa Mom," said Madelyn. To which I replied, "I know it's not, but he IS a real Santa HELPER." Then I saw the light go on in her eyes, and she ran to get into line;)


We went with our Seoul Searchers group to the Hilton hotel in downtown Seoul, and had a look at their fabulous train setup, and other Christmas decor.
It was kind of funny to see the staff react to a LARGE group of American kids descending upon the scene. There were several of them hovering around while we were there.....I'd be nervous too. But I think we left without causing any destruction;)

Cora's favorite was seeing Santa taking off at the airport.

The hotel had a HUGE Christmas tree, and it was on a revolving platform. Beautiful.

Look what else I found there, posed atop a Gingerbread house. I guess this kind of Santa is more popular in Korea than I thought.

And not to be outdone by the effeminate Santa, they had this great display of Santas from around the world.

Really cool.......and kind of weird, since they had these gems mixed in with the bunch (read their signs).

My favorite was the "Santa Skis to reach remote." Huh? And, if you're a mother, I'm sure you will appreciate the fact that as we were leaving the Hilton my kids had the audacity to say, "Is that all?" Oh brother.

And now we come to today - Christmas Eve. It started out about as good as it could have. The kids didn't wake us up too early. We woke up to snow on the ground and I took the kids out to play.

No, we don't have a sled. Yes, we used cardboard. No, we don't have any really good hills in our apartment complex. Yes, we had fun anyway.

When we got back we Skyped with family and had pizza for lunch. We went to base to get a few last minute things for tomorrow. We came home and just enjoyed the rest of the evening......until it was time for the advent calendar. The advent calendar, which has brought us so much joy this season. Yes, that advent calendar. I decided that we would try something out that, surprisingly, we have never done before with our kids - Act out the Nativity story. Nope, we've never done that, and for that very reason I should have had very LOW expectations. But I didn't. I thought it would be a very sweet and reverent way to do the Christmas story. Nothing fancy or elaborate - no costumes or lines - just me reading the story from the scriptures, and them role playing the parts. Simple, right? Well, needless to say, it did not turn out the way that I had envisioned, and then I ruined Christmas Eve! Stink! Stank! Stunk! Yep, killed it dead in 5 seconds flat. My children hurt my feelings (newsflash kids - yes, your mother is a real person with real feelings), and I got really ticked off and totally lost it, and then I ran away to my bedroom, and then I felt horrible and cried a lot (see, feelings....and yep, I'm trying to hold it in right now too). In the end, I finally got myself together, asked for forgiveness, spread some love, and sent them to bed with good feelings. I guess my heart grew back.

Maybe it's not such a coincidence that I've been thinking a LOT about Mary, the mother of Jesus this month - a LOT. I can't help but wonder what kind of a mother she was. I mean, I know that Jesus was perfect, but Mary wasn't, right? Did she ever have days where she would just lose it? I don't know, but I'm sure that she had worries about being the mother of the Son of God - that, like so many other mothers, she might have had feelings of guilt, inadequacy, regrets even. I'm sure that she made mistakes, and had to ask for forgiveness. I love this song sung by Amy Grant - Mary's song.

Do you wonder
As you watch my face
If a wiser one, should have had my place
But I offer all I am
For the mercy of your plan
Help me be strong...
Breath of Heaven
Hold me together
Be forever near me
Breath of Heaven

I know how amazing my children are
- precious spirits entrusted to me by my Heavenly Father - and sometimes I worry that I'm screwing it all up. So, I'm offering all I am, and I'm just praying for Heaven to hold me together. I know that they'll be fine, and I'll be fine too. I am soooooo grateful to be there mother. I'm so grateful for Mary and the courage she had to accept the role that she did. Motherhood is already a huge responsiblity without the added knowledge that you're raising the Savior of the World.

It's still a mystery to me
How His infant eyes have seen the dawn of time
How His ears have heard an angel's symphony
But still Mary had to rock her Savior to sleep

That's another great song sung by Joy Williams - it's getting me weepy all over again.

Anyway, I hope that your holidays have less drama, that you cherish your little ones, and that you all have a very Merry Christmas! (p.s. I will be posting our Christmas card and letter on here tomorrow - better late than never)

Children, and Field Trips, and Cadavers, Oh My!

Cora's 5th grade class had a field trip that I chaperoned last week. It was the traveling exhibit Body World's, which was showing here at the War Memorial.
I had been interested in seeing this exhibit, so I was glad I got to go. It is a cross between an educational and an artistic exhibit. Honestly, it is not for everyone. Some of the kids, and some of the chaperones had a hard time being there, and rushed through to get to the end. The kids in my group did well though, and I talked to them about the things we saw in a scientific way - as opposed to just saying eeewwwwww to everything;) I can't say the same thing for the class of Korean teen-age boys there, who aslo kept trying to touch the bodies (not everything was behind a glass case). I had to tell them off a couple times - I don't know if they spoke any English, but they got my message!;)

The problem I had with the exhibit came at the very end, and was something I was not expecting. There was a section that was blocked off, with a guard standing in front of it, and only adults could go in. I didn't got in, but let's just say it was right next to the display of reproductive organs. Yes, they had a male and female body in there in a sexual position. This was totally crossing the line for me. I mean, I know that all the bodies used in this exhibit have been donated specifically for this exhibit (apparantly there's no shortage of people who want to do this), but I can't help wonder if these two people knew what they were signing up for. One of the main criticisms that people have of this exhibit is that it is not reverent towards the human body or to the deceased. Also, that it is really more of a commercial endeavor, rather than an educational one. Up until the end, I did not really agree with that assessment, but at the end......well, I don't know. I'm pretty sure when they made that specific display, they didn't have education in mind. Stupid people, and there stupid dirty minds.

I'm curious what everybody's thought are on this exhibit, as a whole, and if you'd go to see it if you had the opportunity.

Anyway, afterwards we had lunch. It was fun watching Cora with all her friends. Cora had a bit of a struggle making friends this year, which was something entirely new to her. She was feeling quite lonely, and not enjoying her recess time because she had nobody to play with. I kept encouraging her, but it was hard for a while. Thankfully, she has made friends now, and is enjoying 5th grade more and more. It has been a great year for her so far, and she has a fabulous teacher.

12 Days of Christmas Only Gets You Half-Way There

So, I bought this cute advent calendar/house from Target a few years ago.

Every year at Christmas, I get it out, and plan on putting candy and fun activities in it for my kids all month long. Every year it remains an empty and useless Christmas decoration, eliciting unwanted questions from my children about why we never use it. BUT! this year I have triumphed over my laziness and lack of creativity. This year the kids have taken turns each day, opening the little doors to discover candy and slips of paper with well-thought-out and/or spontaneous activities and crafts......and my kids are LOVING it:) We are half-way to Christmas, so I will go ahead and share some of the fun things we've done already this season.

Nativity scene made out of legos. A few things I love about this include 1) the wise men's hats are a turban, a construction workers hard hat (and the body of a sumo wrestler), and the hood from a dementor. 2) The angel has the hair of Lucious Malfoy, but the face of Professor Sprout. 3) The shepard is holding an oar. 4) The stable has Christmas lights (thanks to Cora).

Making (and hanging) snowflakes and a paper chain garland.

Using Crayola window markers to decorate our outside.

Christmas rag wreath.

If you know us at all, you know that we make Christmas tree ornaments EVERY year. This year we made snowmen out of our fingerprints on plastic bulbs (no easily-broken-bulbs for me, thank you very much).

Christmas story-time at the library with the wives of some high falutin-tooten 4-star generals;) General Thurman's wife (in red) was actually a really great story teller, even though some of the kids there were being loud and rude, and their parents weren't even trying to control them.

After story-time, they handed each of the kids these cool balls - here is Madelyn with her best friend Lyric, showing off theirs.

Then we had the tree lighting ceremony for our housing complex...

with hot chocolate...
and Santa showed up on a firetruck. We didn't actually stay for pictures with Santa, because we knew that it wasn't really the REAL Santa, but just a Santa helper;)

JT and Madelyn also sang with their classes at Dragon Hill Lodge (the fancy-shmancy hotel on base here). Madelyn is the only one looking at the camera in this picture.

JT is the only one NOT looking at the camera in this picture.

JT's class performance was the most entertaining one we've ever seen. Luckily, they did it again the next day at their winter festival, and I got some of it on video, which I will share down below. I also love the Christmas decorations they put out at the Dragon Hill every year, complete with a Santa that appears to be very comfortable with his feminine side (there's another one in my blog header) - either that, or I imagine he's really turning it on for Mrs. Claus;) Cora just thinks he's drunk.....I don't think she knows Santa very well.

For the past several years (I think it started not long after I got married), I have received a whole, or part of a nativity set every year for my birthday, which is at the beginning of the Christmas season. I have had my eye an one particular set for the past couple of years since we've been in Korea. I hadn't gotten it in previous years because it was kind of pricey, but this year I REALLY wanted it, especially since it's our last year here. I still almost talked myself out of it, but thankfully Joe went and got it for me anyway:) I LOVE IT!!!

We have also had plenty of hot cocoa, hot cider, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, Christmas movies and Christmas music. I am looking forward to the second half of our Christmas season ever so much.

Random and Thankful

1. I used an online name generator to find out what my roller derby name would be. It was Whip It. That's totally lame. So I found a different name generator, and it came up with Anarchy Ruthless. That's a keeper. The question is, will I ever actually be on a roller derby team?! Sadly, the answer is probably no. Did you know that my grandma (mom's mom) was on a roller derby team? I don't know what her name was, but I need to find out as soon as possible.

2. Do you know what I like? I like women who get natural white streaks in their hair, like Stacy London. I think that is so darn cool. Maybe some of those women don't like it. Maybe they think, "Oh great, I can't just go grey like a normal person - I'm a skunk." I say, skunk it up ladies. I wish my hair would do that. And you know what? I think it is just a little bit. Maybe it's my imagination, but then again, maybe my mind is more powerful than I ever imagined and I'm generating my own white streak. I made Joe take a look, and he confirmed it for me.

3. JT got a late birthday package from his grandparents the other day - a T-shirt and a 10 dollar bill. He took the package into his bedroom so he could change into the T-shirt. A minute later he came out of his bedroom, COMPLETELY FREAKING OUT because he had lost his 10 dollar bill, ALREADY!!! But Joe quickly spotted it.....flapping around on the back of JT's head, stuck there with a piece of tape from the packaging. It was pretty funny;)

4. We sing a song to the children every night before they go to bed - usually a primary song. One night, a few years ago, we were singing "I wonder when He comes again". Joe was tired, and in a bit of a daze that night. When we got towards the end of the song, Joe sang, "I'm sure He'll call his little ones, to gather 'round His tree (instead of knee)." We were all rolling on the floor with laughter, and tears were streaming down my face. We still crack up when we sing that song.

5. You know that weird trend of planking that seems to be petering out (I think)? Well, Madelyn does that in her sleep. The scene - you're watching a movie together as a family, and the little kids fall asleep before it's even over. When the movie ends, you have to carry them to their beds. You pick them up and they are limp, dead weight. They might curl up a little in your arms, snuggling up to you. That's not Madelyn. Every time we pick her up when she's asleep, she

immediately goes stiff and straight as a board. It's kind of like doing "petrificus totalus" on her. It's weird, and very funny.

6. Cora ran for Vice President this month. I was NEVER that brave, and we are very proud of her. She didn't win. She was a little disappointed that she didn't win, but she was more upset about WHY the victorious candidates won their votes. You see, all the candidates made a campaign video, which was shown to all the students before they voted. They instructions were very clear (no false promises for one thing), and each speech was supposed to be approved by a teacher. Cora's speech was about helping to prevent bullying in the school. Another girl in Cora's class (trying for president) talked about helping to clean up the school. Cora's teacher approved both of these speeches, but turned down one girl who tried to say, "I'll vote for you if you vote for me." The candidates who actually won made promises like taking everyone to Everland, getting new science books for everyone, and having the kids teach the teachers. The teachers who approved their speeches told them that as long as they said, "I'll try..." instead of "I will..." then it was okay. I guess this is a good lesson for her about life not always being fair....and about real life politics?;)

7. Alex has this thing with colors. He calls red "fire", he calls blue "water", he calls purple "strawberry" (not sure about that one), etc. - he never just calls them red, blue, purple, etc., but what he associates the color with.

8. I got rear-ended the other day. Nothing bad. We were stopped at a red light, and I guess the lady's foot slipped or something, and she bumped into the back of me (it was another American woman from base). Our car already has a plethora of scrapes and dings that we have acquired here in Korea, and we knew that would happen coming here -it's inevitable. We got out of our cars, and the first thing I said was, "As long as there's no major damage, I don't care." We looked at our cars, and really, I was just looking to make sure a tail light wasn't broken or anything, which it wasn't. If there had been a new scrape on the bumper, I probably wouldn't have been able to tell anyway. I told her it looked fine, and I watched her face changed from scared and anxious to relieved and grateful - it was a nice thing to see, and it made me glad that it was ME that she had bumped into (as opposed to someone else) for a couple of reasons. 1) Since we were both Americans, we could communicate, and not have to involve a third party to translate. 2) Some people would have made an issue over even a miniscule scratch, which would have completely ruined that ladies whole day, and that would be sad.

9. Happy Thanksgiving, even if it is a little late. To me, Thanksgiving has always been, and always will be about two things. The first is extended family. It is nice to spend it with friends, or missionaries, or other acquaintences.....but it just isn't the same without family, ya know? Since we've never lived near family the whole time we've been married, this makes things a little complicated. Out of 13 Thanksgivings together with Joe, we have only spent 3 of them together with family. Wow. The second thing that makes Thanksgiving special for me, is that it is the day we start our Christmas Season. Since we have had to do most of our Thanksgivings alone, we have started our own traditions. After we have our big meal, then we put up the Christmas tree and other decorations while watching "It's a Wonderful Life". After that, it's pretty much non-stop Christmas until Christmas Day! So even though we miss our families terribly, we are still able to enjoy our Thanksgivings every year. This year we made some fun Thanksgiving pictures, and Cora made her first pies.

10. I GRADUATED FROM BYU!!!!!!! Officially, graduation day is in December, but still...... You can call me Doctor Liddell now. I mean, I didn't get a PhD or anything, but you can call me that if you want to;) [insert best infomercial voice here] You TOO can earn your Bachelors degree in only 18 years! Just follow these simple steps. 1) Get started early, right out of highschool 2) Go non-stop for the first 2 years and get your Associates degree - good job! 3) Take a semester off, and then go on a mission - excellent 4) Take a couple of semesters here and there, interspersed with moves, traveling, and a variety of jobs 5) Get married (Woooohooooo!).... 6) to someone who joins the military, and.... 7) commense moving A LOT, all over 8) Get inspired by a good friend (thanks Missy), and lots of support (Joe - my biggest fan), and start an independent study program 9) Keep busy with the moves, having babies, and BUSY callings at church - slow and steady wins the race 10) finish things up, and get that dang piece of paper!:)

Huff and Puff

Korea loves exercise. It just seems to be a part of the culture here to stay active and fit, your WHOLE life. And they seem to really like to do things together - you'll see big groups of people (often older people) hiking together, or biking together....or bathing together (wait, that's a whole different post).

An interesting side note here, Koreans are extremely careful when it comes to the sun - they don't try to get tan, like us stupid Americans;) So even though they are outside exercising a lot, they cover up - long pants, long sleeve shirts, gloves, hats/visors or parasols, and even partial or full face masks. Even in the middle of August, when I am DYING from the heat and humidity, they are bundled up this way, and exercising out in the sun.

Anyway, back to the whole exercise thing, there are gyms everywhere here, walking and biking paths everywhere (with bikes to rent), hiking trails everywhere, and outdoor exercise equipment EVERYWHERE. The last one is the most Korean, I think - something you definitely don't see in the States.

There is always exercise equipment at parks

At apartment complexes

All along the river where I go running

And even just in random places on the side of the road (look to the left, under the trees)

I like how the equipment at our apartment complex has instructions in Korean AND English. You've GOT to read this one - the whole thing.
Hucklebones - it cracks me up every time:)

Some of the equipment is familiar, but some is very.....interesting. Here's a video of Cora, demonstrating some of the machines.

The Great Wall of Korea?

Yesterday the kids were out of school, Joe had a day off, and it was perfect weather for an outing. We went to Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon. It was built in the late 18th century, in anticipation of moving the capital from Seoul to Suwon. We chose the walking tour (to do on our own), not realizing just how large of an area it covers. There was a trolly tour, which we later tried to take, but it was too late in the day. So we actually only ended up seeing a very small part of it - in the picture below I'm pointing to just below where we got to from our starting point, which was by the knuckle of my pointing finger.....so, about a fifth of the area. We had a good time anyway.....well, most of us;) The coolest part of this to me is the very long wall that encircles the whole thing. I don't know if I'll ever get to the Great Wall of China, so I guess this will have to do;) It is, after all, a UNESCO World Heritage Site!
In addition to the wall, there are secret gates

Cross-bow platforms


Observation Towers

Here's the view (pieced together) from that observation tower

Parks

Command Posts

And the main 4 gates - this is the East one from inside

And from the outside

There is a replica of one of these gates in the War Memorial which we have seen several times, so it was cool to see it for real.

This trip was actually a last minute thing, so we only had a few hours there. I'd love to go back and see the rest of the stuff on that map (they've got a museum, an art gallery, martial arts performances and guard ceremonies, and you can do archery), but my family might have had their fill of the place already - party poopers;)

Halloween: Edition 2011

Whatever happened to good old family themed Halloweens? Oh yeah, my kids grew up and got minds of their own:) Oh well, at least sometimes I can still get Joe to match with me. This year, Medusa and Zeus?...I forgot to specify which Roman God he was;)
This year, all of our costumes were recycled from previous years. Well, Joe and I had never worn these costumes before, but they were bought last year. Alex was a ninja, with some great moves....I could barely get him to stop moving to take this picture.

J.T. was Harry Potter. Had to convince him to have the scar, so as not to be some random Griffendor boy....which would have been fine too.

Cora was a vampire. The dripping blood was VERY important to her;)

And I saved Madelyn for last, because this truly is the saddest looking Sleeping Beauty costume of all time.....but don't tell her that, because she liked it;) The wig WAS very cute, and was actually new, but after being abused for about a week, it looked like this. Oh, and the dress wasn't the real sleeping beauty dress (because we couldn't find it in our house), and it was too short, and she was wearing black pants underneath it. Overall, it was pretty hilarious. Love that girl!