We're still here!

Hello again... it's been awhile! I have often sat down to write about something only to decide I was tired or got distracted by something else I've had to get done. This week and last week have been ridiculously busy, as I've been working 5am-5pm shifts plus an extra hour or two following that. It has been fun, but more challenging than I'm used to - which is a good thing! I'm learning a lot, that's for sure.

The other thing that has kept us busy is what I like to call 'adult parties'. Will and I started this trend when I decided our apartment looked 'homy' enough for me to want to host. We decided to try out our hosting skills by inviting several of the Lts I work with over for lasagna and board games. There were 12 of us, and it was a great time - we played pictionary, boys vs. girls (guess who won? :-)). The lasagna got rave reviews (my dad's recipe), and it was the perfect amount. We had salad and pie as well, and all received compliments. Everybody agreed that events like that have to continue, and the next week our friends Tom and Katie had everyone over for scrabble and homemade pizza, but it turned out to be socializing and homemade pizza. That was another fun evening. Hopefully, this trend will continue, and everyone living off base in apartments will take turns hosting.

This coming weekend, Will is headed to DC for a wedding (our best man is getting married, and Will is a groomsman). I am staying behind to have an intense 4-day writing session. This is also keeping me busy - I'm working on my masters, and I have to write a research paper by the 18th. I finished the first part for a grade a few weeks ago, but I haven't been able to work on it because of how much it has picked up at work these two weeks. A 4-day weekend, followed by a 2 1/2-day week, will be a much-needed break for all of us.

We had considered the possibility of my going to the states with Will, but decided it wasn't worth the money and using up my last 5 days of leave for the year. Instead, we're planning to spend a long weekend in October hiding on a little island in Thailand. I'm looking forward to it!

While Will is in DC, he will also be getting some things accomplished. He'll ship his Corolla to Korea (literally on a ship... it will take a few months to arrive), and hopefully send our new mattress (see post below) via air cargo.

All summer our church was having VBS on Sundays, and it's been a whole lot of fun. Since all of us who could run a traditional week-long VBS work all the time, they stretched it out over a few months and only did the activities on Sundays. I didn't help out other than buying some of the snacks for the kids, but they did have adult VBS sessions. These were focused on the books 'For Women Only' (about men) and 'For Men Only' (about women). They are truly excellent books, written to explain the inner workings of the opposite sex, based on hundreds of surveys and scientific research. They are very accurate, and it was incredible to discover that something I thought was natural and normal, most guys don't even think about, and vice versa. I knew some of it, but hearing both books taught to a mixed audience highlighted how true the findings were; everyone was surprised at one point or another and we all were enlightened. It's interesting how much we assume guys should know about women, and how much we don't know about men! The authors are Christians, and they highlighted the findings with Bible truth, demonstrating that God made us this way - and many of the traits unique to men or women are found in Bible characters. We learned once again that we are different, it is wonderful, and our Lord is so good as to make us perfect for what we are uniquely called to be and do! Men and women truly do complete and complement each other.

Last weekend, we went up to Seoul to see Cats, the musical. I've always wanted to see it, since I watched it on PBS as a girl, and it was wonderful. Even though we miscalculated the subway ride and arrived 20min late, and had seats in the very back row because we bought the tickets too late, it was an awesome show. The theater was fairly new, and every seat in the house had a good view. The acting was a lot of fun, and of course the music is wonderful. We bought the soundtrack and the dvd, I'm sure we'll enjoy them!

As we left the theater, a stage had been set up in the courtyard and a free concert was beginning. We stayed just to see what it was, and it turned out to be really neat. A group of guys played percussion instruments, a combination of drums, xylophone, marimba, glockenspiel, and piano. They were excellent musicians and great performers. We ended up getting sandwiches from a stand and sitting at tables in the courtyard until the end of the show. It was a very pleasant day!

So. I think that about covers the month we've been absent from the blog... sorry if it's too long, though those of you who used to get my emails should be used to this! I hope you are all enjoying fall weather (ours should be starting soon - it's still too humid and hot most days), and are doing well.