Luke and Kayun

The other night we had to bid farewell to these lovely people, who have walked alongside us for three years now at our Church. I am thankful for the memories we shared with them, including watching them be Mary and Joseph in our Christmas pageant (perhaps the first Japanese/Korean Mary and Joseph ever) and many long talks with Kayun about Art and Korean life. Kayun has helped out in the church Nursery and been so sweet to our little boys.  They are very loved by all of us and now we say goodbye as they are moving to the other side of the world.  Good bye Luke and Kayun you will be loved and missed!  

Uncle Isaac and his darling Bride

I apologize for the bold, ugly print at the top of this page.  I wanted to share these lovely photos before I had time to fix the header.  Here is Uncle Isaac and Elizabeth Jean on their wedding day in July.  I hope you enjoy this sneak preview that I should have shared with you months ago.  

The great haircut

Isaiah's Birthday

 Isaiah's' Birthday Message

Dear Isaiah,

I am sure when you walk through the door after work today, you will not be receiving what I had you would recieve. I am sure that you will find a pile of cotton balls on the floor, and someone will  be coloring the walls with a permanent marker. There will  be piles of dishes that I was not able to clean. The dinner that I lovingly spent the last three hours cooking (while warding off small hands) is not even close to coming together. There are probably onion skins in the Salad. Actually, I know there are onion skins in the Salad. And as I frantically sit down to write this card to you, our youngest son is climbing over me trying to take this pen away from me and crying because he wants to color with it, and I am sure you will walk in on me writing it because you are about to get home.  But I want you to know that I love you and I am so very glad you were born. I am very glad you were born in October, because October is the best month to be born in.I know, because I was born in October. This is a special day and I hope you enjoy it for all its worth. One day in the future I will not have to return twice to the grocery store with two small children to get all the ingredients for your special meal. I will not have small hands helping me. I will have all the food ready on the table, and I will be dressed nice and pretty and the mounds of laundry will be folded. I will have had time to get out of my sweatpants and into something a little bit more presentable. You will walk in the door and smile, and be at peace. But for now, we should live in the moment and fully enjoy the children running around bare bottomed, because they won't be cute forever.

Love always,

JoAnna

Good Grief

"Grief drives men into habits of serious reflection, sharpness and understanding, and softens the heart; it compels them to arouse their reason, to assert its empire over their passions, propensities and prejudices; to elevate them to a superiority over all human events.....and the great question occurs what is the origin, what is the final cause of Evil?"

-John Adams

"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done."

-1 Corinthians 7:10-11

The Last of our Great Harvest

Today we tore down our tomato plants.  Where once there were piles and piles of intertwined vines filled with beautiful ripe red cherry tomatoes, now there is an empty lot of deep brown earth, waiting for a new crop of winter vegetables.

The cherry tomatoes were the glory of our our world for a short season. Every afternoon the entire family went out into the yard and excitedly picked a new barrel of them, then brought them into the kitchen and scratched our heads as to what to do with them. Our glory tomato days are over, and we must move on.

Here is the end of our sloppy wet garden, and the start of a new winter garden:

So I want to be a fifties housewife

After spending a wonderful cozy Saturday morning watching "Leave it to Beaver" with my children, (and a few other fifties sitcoms) here are some of the wonderful advantages of being a 50's housewife:

1.  You get to wear pretty dresses all day, which flatter your perfect figure.
2.  Your dresses conveniently never get dirty from the labors of child rearing/home-making.
3.  You get to live in a big, beautiful house, with a good yard.
4.  You can get your hair professionally done every morning.
5.  You get to have retro-furniture without having to pay retro-furniture prices.
4.  You get to cook on a stove that was made in the 50's, and it wouldn't be over fifty years old!
5.  Your husband is amazing. He is well respected by everyone in the community, even his children!  (Not that my own non-fifties husband isn't amazing but I am just sayin)
6.  You get to hire a maid to do most of your housework.
7.  The most naughty thing your children conceive of doing is bringing home a baby alligator and try to raise it in secret, therefore they steal food from your fridge to feed the alligator.
8.  Your husband is successful, and you can afford a big beautiful house without having two incomes.
9.  You don't have an out of your house job, and yet you have a maid do a majority of your cleaning.
10.  Since you don't have a job, and someone else does most of the cleaning, you get to do tea with your friends every day.
12. You might suddenly look around and discover that your children are missing.  No worries, they probably just went downtown to buy candy alone.
13. There are no computers, internet, and very little amount of television.  Your children spend their days inventing things and playing in their neighbors yards.
12.  Because there is no media, you don't have to worry at all about what kinds of creepy things they might accidentally see on T.V. or on their cell phones.
13.  It is acceptable and common practice to greet your new neighbors with flowers and other nice things.
14. Your neighbors all know and like each other.
15.  Your conflicts are minimal, and when they occur they always get resolved within 30 minutes, with a giant family hug.
16.  You get to serve your family delicious food while your husband reads the paper.  Food which your maid probably fixed up, leaving you with only the responsibility of stirring the pot every now and then, thus allowing you to save the energy up to serve your family with a warm, kind loving glow and a big smile on your face.

Who wouldn't want to be a stay at home 50's housewife?

Guess who???

Can you guess who all these little boys are?  Let me give you a few hints: there are eleven of them.  They all share the same grandparents....that's right these are the James Cousins!  They are finally together, and here they are all lining up for a family picture, with their fun t-shirts that "Cowboy Cool" made them.  Can you believe that all of these children plus eleven adults spent nine days in an A framed cabin cabin together? And no one ran off into the woods screaming? Look!  Some of us are even still able to laugh and smile.  What a Miracle. "With God all things are possible."

We've been gone

Hello.  It has been a while. But I am here, and  I wanted to share something with you:  You see, me and my family, we went away for a while. Far far away we went. Not only were we gone from our home, our friends, our garden and our Church, but there was also an inescapable void in the universe.  This James completely disappeared from any technological connectivity. Yes, my friends.  That really means what you think it doe: No you tube.   No cell phones.  No internet at all, not even google. Nothing. What are we without all of these things?

I would like to share with you, reader, what I experienced during this painful withdraw.  I would like to tell you about all the things I missed out on, while traipsing through the wilderness, completely and utterly..... unconnected. (Gasp!!!)

And what, I wonder did I miss out on?  Well, let me tell you:

-I missed out on SO many weird tips for stay at home moms to loose weight.

-I missed out on seeing what many of my friends and acquaintances ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

-I missed out on seeing our president, caught in every imaginable expression known to mankind.

-I missed out on the warmth and glow of a computer screen.

-I missed out on lots of exercise for my fingers, particularly my index finger. Sadly, that finger has grown weak from misuse.  It can no longer type the way it used to.

-I missed out on seeing my husbands face glowing in all sorts of shapes and colors, as I listened to the sound of Marge Simpson's voice saying "Homey......." over and over again.

-I missed out on being informed that a thunderstorm was coming.

-I missed lots of very useful parenting advice on yahoo news.  Lets just face it.  How can we parent properly without the advice of yahoo news?

-I missed out on lots of what I termed: "News."

-I missed out on the opportunity to share every moment I experience with everyone I have ever known.

-And finally, and perhaps most tragically, I missed out on being able turn to Google for all the answers in life. Because of this, I fear that I may have missed out on the meaning of life altogether.  For at least three weeks.

Lo and behold, we are back.  I did not know it, but all of these things were patiently waiting for my return. Hello internet world......

Mr. Happy Fan

Here is the story of Mr. Happy fan:

Once upon a time, there was a little boy in the land of Oregon who was terrified of the ceiling fan in his bedroom.  Every night he cried and begged to not have to go to bed and face the ceiling fan, and sometimes kept his mommy and daddy up for hours and hours because he was very worried that the fan would harm him.

One day,  however, along came "Mr Happy Fan."  Mr. Happy fan is a white oscillating fan that stands about four feet high.  He has a red face that is made out of construction paper, with a golden smile and hair made out of string.  He was lovingly crafted by the little boy's father, in an attempt to help him overcome his fear of fans.

Mr. happy face has a big golden smile, which never fades even under the most oppressive of circumstances, such as little boys yelling really loudly into his face. He loves everyone.  He watches you all night as you sleep. He will stop anyone that tries to harm you, including the ceiling fan, and he will do it with a huge smile on his face. He never stops smiling. He is, undoubtedly extremely creepy.

But Mr. Creepy Happy fan has saved the little boy's mommy and daddy from going crazy because of lack of sleep. The little boy does not find the fan to be creepy. He helped the little boy to realize that fans are not inherently evil, and that some of them are quite nice.  The little boy now lays awake in bed at night saying "The fan is not going to hurt me.  He is a nice fan." Mommy and Daddy are very glad that Mr. Happy Fan has helped him overcome his fear.

Six years

We've been married six years, as of Saturday.

I spent a good part of the day on Saturday watching him build rock statues in a river, about an hour and a half away from town.  He was so giddy like a little boy, splashing around, so proud of his creations.  I enjoyed watching him.  Its like having a third son, only I can watch him play with delight at a distance with without having to keep him from danger. Sort of.

It was a good day, and I will share more with you soon.

Mother's Day 2013

I am backtracking.  Mother's Day 2013.  Its funny how it turned into a day of treats for the children!  I don't mind.

Summertime fun

Our delightful Greek pic-nic, with some friends (not pictured)