Clear the Stage

What has my life become? I made a list this week. Of 12 things I wanted to accomplish by 2012, and I had every intention of writing a blog about that list. Now, I sit here reflecting on that list, and I realize that every single thing on there is completely meaningless and unnecessary. Don't drink soda. Find ingredients for new recipes. Keep my desk clean and organized. To most people, this may seem like a completely normal list of things to do, but to me, it's just another sign showing me who I am choosing to be. Not a single thing on that list had to do with my relationship with Christ. And, unfortunately, that reflects who I have become. I am an avoider. I try to shove my problems, you know the real, deep down problems that reflect my character, away by doing meaningless thing like making a list of things I won't accomplish, watching tv shows that take me to another world, trying to find new recipes and things I want to buy. I hide from myself until I can't hide anymore. Until I am so exhausted from hiding that I start to blame others. I have idols that I need to get rid of. I try to tell myself that I'm like this because I'm in another country. That's an excuse. If Paul can praise God from prison, why can't I praise him here? Just because I don't have church or I'm not surrounded by Godly people 24/7 isn't a reason for me to let it slide. That's just an excuse. I am tired of hiding. I am tired of lying to myself. I am tired of pretending that everything is ok. It's not ok. And it starts with me making a decision. A decision to praise God no matter where I am, to put him ahead of all those meaningless things I find so important at the moment. I have so much more to live for than meaningless things.

Ecclesiastes 1:14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

I am making a choice to praise God, throw out my list of 12 things by 2012, and center my life on the meaningful rather than the meaningless. I have so much more to live for.

Anything I put before my God is an idol.
Anything I want with all my heart is an idol.
Anything I can't stop thinking of is an idol.
Anything that I give all my love is an idol.
We must not worship something that's not even worth it.
Clear the stage and make some space for the one who deserves it.

Tuesday's Top Ten

I really want to start something weekly because I need to stay more committed to blogging. I've been thinking about doing this for a while, so now I'm going to get it started.

This week's Top Ten will be from Pinterest. My top ten picks for Fall.

I love this wreath. I wish I could make something like it, but I wouldn't even begin to know where 


















to find this stuff.

Source: Uploaded by user via Sarah on Pinterest

Caramel Apple Pie

Hallow-Rita. This would be great for a Halloween party.

Source: kirbiecravings.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I also like this wreath, and it doesn't seem too hard to make.

Source: southernlovely.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: kirbiecravings.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Cute idea.. Especially with kids someday

Source: thehighheeledhostess.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Sarah on Pinterest

My mom just sent Teaven and I a box with candy corn and candy pumpkins. I can't wait to eat it.

Source: whitney05.hubpages.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I am one of those people who wants to have a party with friends for  every holiday, so every time I see an idea, I have to save it.

Source: ourbestbites.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: images.search.yahoo.com via Sarah on Pinterest

We're a family...

...and you're one of us now.

Teaven and I would love to introduce you to the newest member of our family, Sader Barnum. He is clumsy and timid now that he has such a big place to live in. He loves to snuggle, and he pees everywhere. He chases invisible monsters and love Teaven's feet. He howls when he is lonely and hates the newness of walking outside. He is stinkin adorable, and we love him already.

Clothes Envy

I have clothes envy. Real bad. I long to go shopping and buy new clothes that fit my body to perfection. If you have known me for a long time, you know I have always hated, or maybe loathed would be a better word, cold weather. If you don't believe me, check out this post I made last year.

However, once again, living in Korea has made me change my outlook on a few things. I am now beginning to enjoy the cool weather. Unfortunately, with this new love comes a longing to buy new clothes suited for this weather. Unfortunately, living in Texas my whole life has caused my view of seasons to be tainted, which means that I do not have enough clothes for warm weather. Therefore, in my opinion, I'm going to freeze. So, I will just post some pictures of the clothes I wish to have, and you can dream right along with me of feeling warm, fashionable, and confident.

I love this color scheme.

I want these.

I want a long pea coat.

So there you go. I gave you just a taste of what I've been envisioning. I've visited the Old Navy website almost everyday for the last week, and guess what?! They just got international shipping! Exciting right? Yeah, it is... for people who are loaded and can afford to spend $100 on shipping. hah what a joke. So, I will continue dreaming and praying that when Teaven and I go to Seoul tomorrow I can find something that fits me. If you don't know, Korean people are very tiny, and my big booty won't fit into their clothes. lol. 

Let the Rain Fall Down

Some days I just want to stay in bed all day and watch movies. Today is one of those days. For one, it's a cold, rainy day, the perfect weather to stay curled up under blankets in comfy clothes. Recently, I've decided I need to have "lazy days". Without the occasional lazy day, I can become quite the crabby person.  Of course, I can't blame my crabbiness completely on my lack of being lazy. How awful does that sound?

It's these kind of days that remind me of all those count downs I've had in the past. How many days until Thanksgiving break? How many days until Christmas? Days when I just want to write blogs, look at pinterest, and play games with my class because I don't feel like teaching.

Being in Korea has taught me some stuff about those count downs I used to have.. in my planner, on my blog, in a facebook status... always somewhere in the back of my mind I could tell myself that I only have so many days left. However, now that I have a job I actually love, which just so happens to not have many long breaks to look forward to, I can actually see that I don't always need to be looking forward to the future. Sure, I will always be a dreamer, but at times like these, I need to learn to be content with the here and now, thankful for where I am and what I am doing instead of longing for something far off in the distance.

P.S. 1 more day until a 3 day weekend. :)

Christmas, really?

It's only September, and I'm already thinking about Christmas. Now, for those of you that think I am crazy, let me explain myself a bit. First of all, I'm from Texas and have lived there my entire life. So, when I think weather in September, I think hot with maybe the slightest hint of a cool breeze at night. Seriously, I just looked up the weather there, and they still have temperatures in the high 90s everyday. Well, the weather here in Chungju is a good 25-30 degrees cooler. So, naturally, my first reaction when I step outside and need a cardigan to walk to school is to think Christmas is coming because the weather has finally started to get cooler. So, here I am, still 3 months away from Christmas and already dreaming about how I will be able to decorate our apartment to make it as Christmasy as possible. Of course, I can also say that I have an excuse for thinking ahead because anything I may need to decorate will probably have to come from home. Hence, I have to order stuff on the internet or have my mom buy something and mail it to me. We'll see just how crazy Teaven will let me be. :)

Unfortunately, the thought of Christmas this year brings a hint of sadness because it is the first Christmas I will spend away from my family back home. However, Teaven is my family now, and I am determined to make it great no matter how hard that will be. Thankfully, Christmas this year is on a Sunday, so we don't have to go to work. I'd be quite disappointed if I had to work on Christmas.

I'm sure if the weather warms up again, my thoughts of Christmas will slowly fade away...

Life's a Daring Adventure

Oh man, I have so much to update you on that I don't even know where to begin. Last Sunday Teaven and I went to Seoul since we had to leave from the airport early Monday morning. We took a train from Chungju to Seoul, and then we took a taxi to a motel. The motel he took us to was.... interesting. The room wasn't that bad, but the bathroom was horrible. The toilet didn't work, so it smelled like a port-o-potty. Yuck. lol. Thankfully, we didn't spend much time there because we were so busy exploring Seoul. We took a cable car to the top of Seoul Tower. It was so neat up there. There are millions of "love locks" that people have written on about the people they love and placed them along the rails. Teaven had a specific place in mind for our locks where no one would ever cover them up. Every time he held out the camera for the picture, I had a mini heart attack thinking it could fall down the mountain. When we finished with the locks, we took the elevator to the top of the tower where they have all of these points that show you what you are facing and how far that place is from you.

Then, we went to a place called Itaewon, which is near the military base. We walked around a lot of shops, and many people came up to Teaven and asked if he wanted a custom-made suit. Then we decided we were hungry, and guess what we found! Taco Bell! I knew there was one there, but we hadn't seen it, so I figured we wouldn't be able to find it. For this girl who misses Mexican food, it was delicious. Teaven was not as enthused. We finished there and hailed a taxi. We were attempting to go to a movie theater, but the taxi driver had no idea what we were talking about. He had to pull over and ask these girls on the side of the road. They pointed us in the direction of the I-Park mall, and we appreciate their decision. This mall is HUGE! Each floor was dedicated to something different. Teaven found a video game and was able to successfully get a haircut. We enjoyed walking around the mall, and when we finally got to the floor with the movie theater, they didn't have any new American movies so we called it a night. 

The next morning, we woke up super early to catch our flight to Japan. Yes, that's right. I said Japan. I believe I can officially call myself a world traveler now. To say this trip was chaotic would be an understatement. Our ticket said we were going to Fukuoka, Japan, and we thought it was just outside of Osaka, which is where we were supposed to be going. When we arrived at our gate, Teaven decided to look up how far away Fukuoka is from Osaka. To our surprise, Fukuoka is 8 hours away from Osaka, and we had a huge deadline to get our visas, so there would be absolutely no way we'd be able to take a train or anything from Fukuoka to Osaka. Insert freak out mode. I started to call the other teachers to see if they knew what was going on all the while we were walking around the airport trying to find somebody to talk to about getting our flight changed. When I got ahold of one of the foreign teachers, Mina, she told me should would call the boss. The boss had her cell phone turned off. All the later flights to Osaka were full. Insert super panic mode. What were we going to do? We had to be back at school on Wednesday and it took a day to get our visas. Finally, Mina called me and told me she reached the boss. Apparently, the boss purposely booked our flights for Fukuoka because the Korean consulate there is much easier to get to. Phew. Although we were upset that she didn't tell us, we were equally relieved that everything was worked out. So, we get to Fukuoka and talk to someone about how to get to the Korean consulate. They tell us which bus to take, and although there was no English, we successfully got off at the right bus stop. Unfortunately, the little paper the information guy gave us on how to get to the consulate failed to mention where to go after you get off the bus. So we spent the next 30 minutes trying to find someone who spoke English and could point us in the right direction. It's hot. We're sweaty  and lost. Finally, we found someone who showed us how to get there, and we even made it 30 minutes early. We went across the street to a convenient store, got some water, and sat in the air conditioning. During our wait, we met another teacher who was doing the same thing as us. It was fun to talk with her. Unlike the adventure of arriving at the Korean consulate, the visa process was painfully easy. Thank, God. All we had to do was drop off our paperwork and pick up our visas the next day.


        With that finished, we still had the whole day ahead of us, so we got back on the bus and headed to our hotel. Well, we thought we were headed to our hotel. Unlike American bus systems, Japanese buses do not go in loops, so a little down the road, we notice everyone getting off. Wait. Are we supposed to get off too? The bus driver motioned at us, and we knew that was our cue to pay our money and get off. Now, what? We have no idea where we are or how to get to where we need to go, so we walk into a building and notice that we are very close to the Fukuoka Tower. Might as well go to the top since we've got nothing better to do. The tower was nice, but not nearly as cool as Seoul Tower. From the top, we noticed that the beach was very close, so we went there next. We walked along the beach, and then decided to get a taxi to take us to our hotel since apparently we don't know how to use the bus system.
       After we checked into the hotel and ate dinner in the restaurant there, we walked to the mall down the street and explored a little more. We were very tired that night, so we picked up some ice cream and watched a movie in our hotel room. The next morning, we woke up early and picked up our visas. The day before we had seen a Hard Rock Cafe across the street from the consulate, and since we'd never been there before, we decided to give it a try. It was very good. Then we headed to the airport and waited for about 6 hours to get on our flight since we were out of money and things to do. Japan is an expensive country, especially compared to Korea. While there, we both realized how thankful we were to be living in Korea.
       And when we arrived back in Korea, we felt like we were coming home. You know that feeling you get when you've been on a road trip and you begin seeing things you recognize that tell you you are close to home. That's the feeling we got as we walked through the airport. I remember as a kid, I always knew I was home when we approached the big hill heading from Belton into Killeen. This feeling of relief washes over you and you look forward to sleeping in your own bed with all of the familiar surroundings. I never thought I'd feel that way about Korea so quickly, but I am so thankful I do. I love the little place we can call our home. I love the city we live in. I love the friends we are making and the place we work. Thank, God he knows what he's doing. :)