Grace's Baptism

November 21, 2010

Grace was baptized at Anchor Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky, in accordance to the Holy Spirit calling her to do so.  It was an incredibly special day for all of us. 

 Daddy helping her get zipped up

 She's ready!

 With Pastor Paul Sisk

(the man who started it all by marrying David and I)

 After stating that she believes that Jesus is the Son of God and declaring that she has received Him into her heart as her Lord and Savior.  

The congregation was impressed that she answered Pastor's questions so audibly and with no hesitation.

 

"I baptize you, my little sister..."

 

"We are buried with Christ,

 

and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life."

 She was not shy at all about looking into the congregation.

We had some very special people there to help us celebrate Grace's decision.  David's side of the family had come out for Dad's memorial service and to help us get everything moved out of the house and set up for a garage sale.

 The Samuelson cousins

Chad, Erik, Tristan, Chase, Emily and Grace

 Uncle Dick (Dad's brother) and Aunt Joan

 

Grandma Judi
 

Grandma Dawn

(Anchor is her (and now our) church)

 and of course, Pastor Paul

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture with one of my best friends (from my youth group days), Melanie, and her family.  Melanie, and her husband Nathan, have been a huge part of my life - they are just wonderful, God fearing people who have set a great example for me and for many others.  It seems they are always at the important events in our lives, and this was no exception.

After church we headed out to lunch to further celebrate our little girl.

 

The gift she received from Uncle Dick and Aunt Joan

Talk about a "God thing":  Grace had actually seen this Precious Moments figure in our PX at Camp Humphreys and said that she wanted it, but Dick and Joan had no idea of this when they purchased it for her.

 From Grandma Judi

 From Mom and Dad

The cross has John 3:16 on it.  You ask Grace what the most important verse in the Bible is and she recites John 3:16.

 Apparently all the commotion over his sister was just too much for Tristan to handle, and we soon found him bellied up to the bar...  :)

Thankfully he was just watching football and not ordering a drink.

Thanks to all of you who helped play a part in Grace's special day, we were so glad so many of you were here to witness her decision!

Dad's Memorial

November 19, 2010

We had a very nice memorial service for my father, with some very kind words spoken by his brother, Dick, by my mom, and by David.  David shared some stories about my dad that none of us knew - things that I will cherish, as it made me realize what a great man my father was and what a great legacy he left behind.

 These are flowers from David's work in Korea.

 These are some of our favorite photos of my dad.  He was notorious for taking horrible pictures, so the good ones we have we are so thankful for!

 The physical memorial honoring my dad's life.

The picture on the left is of him and his middle brother, Dick; the next picture is of my dad when he made Chief; the hat is his Master Chief's hat; and the shadow box is what he received at his retirement that includes brass plates with all of his duty stations engraved on them, his medals, and a flag that had flown over the Capitol Building; and finally, his Customs badge is in the glass paperweight with the blue background.

It was a very nice tribute to my father and his life.  Thank you to all who were able to join us for this celebration of my father's life.  It meant the world to us that you were there.

Baptism Preparation

November 17, 2010

While we were in Lexington, we took the opportunity to have Grace baptized.  She has been telling us that she had accepted Christ some time ago.  I had a hard time with this initially because she is so young, but then the realization that her accepting Christ as her Lord and Savior was not my decision.  She initially said that she wasn't ready to be baptized, so David and I didn't push it, especially since David wasn't around to witness it.  I had mentioned that she could be baptized at our church when she was ready, or if we went back to Kentucky some time she could be baptized at Grandma's church by the pastor who married David and I.  She thought that was a pretty good idea.

So, we spoke with Pastor Paul after we got to Lexington, and he agreed to talk with Grace and determine whether or not he felt she was ready to be baptized.  We met at Mom's house one evening, and Pastor decided that she was truly ready and then we met with him again at the church so he could walk her through what they would be doing that following Sunday.

 Sizing her up for her baptismal gown

 There is a huge cross window that overlooks the main intersection on the corner the church is on.

Pastor held her up in this window so she could look out to see where she was.  I would have loved to be on the outside of that window when he lifted her up! 

I will forever see my little angel standing in that window when we drive by.

 He talked and walked her through every detail, even showing her where the water line was on the baptismal and where it would come on her.

 Explaining to her that we look to the East because that is where Jesus will come from when he returns.

Pastor was wonderful in both of his meetings with Grace, leaving no detail untold, and no question unanswered.  It made my heart smile being there with her as she spoke with him.  It's hard to believe that she has such a heart for Jesus at such a young age, but there's no longer any question in my mind that the Holy Spirit led her to these decisions and she knows exactly what she is doing.

Seoul Grand Park Zoo

 October 24, 2010


As we knew our warm days were coming to an end, we decided to head back up to Seoul Grand Park and go to the zoo.  It was perfect timing as the leaves were gorgeous throughout the park.  Since it's been a good 10 years since I've seen a change of seasons, it was spectacular to me.

 The fountain at the entrance to Seoul Grand Park

 This huge tiger is at the main entrance to the zoo

My new favorite animal

 "Nature's first green is gold..."

 Lazy rhino

 I don't know who is more interested in who.

 We had fun watching these two play

I think these bears were trained to pose for the camera!

And this guy was just comfy.

 These were huge double-dipped corn dogs

We all enjoyed our day.  It was a long walk around the zoo, but a beautiful day to do it.

Halloween

October 29, 2010

Some of our Halloween activities included:

Painting paper bag pumpkins at home,

 making paper plate jack-o-lanterns,

Tristan had a Halloween party at his preschool.  They made:

 sugar cookies,

 painted mini-pumpkins,

had a parade through the halls,

 decorated their sugar cookies, or should I say, ate a good portion of the frosting...

Then we went over to Grace's school and joined in on her party.

 A really creative mom made up these decorations.

 and they had tons of treats.

 This is Grace's teacher who made her Rainbow Fish costume.

 Grace is Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and Tristan was a pirate and had one of David's favorite childhood books, Pirates in the Park.

They had a storybook parade through housing.  All the children were to dress up as a storybook character and bring their book.  Grace insisted that her brother walk with her in the parade. 

Though we didn't do any trick-or-treating on the 31st, the kids still had a good time at their parties.

Market Day

Time to play a little catch up on my blog!  I haven't been real motivated to do much of anything lately, so now that a good bit of the Christmas baking and wrapping is done, I'll see if I can't fill you in on the goings on around here the last few months. 

October 23, 2010 
Every 5 days, our little town of Anjung-ri has market day.  Every once in a while (it never fails that I have gone to the grocery store in the last day or two and we don't need any produce) we'll venture into the 'ville and see what the locals have for sale.  Here's a smattering of what they have to offer:

A large variety of fruits and vegetables

  

Gobs of garlic, ginger and dried peppers.

(Those are dining tables in the background)

 

Crabs,

 

and fresh fish, 

 which they will fillet for you.