Cousins

This is a picture of my cousins from my Dad's side of the family taken from this summer in Destin, Florida! I'm the oldest which means I sometimes feel like auntie Jess. :)

I LOVE MY FAMILY!



Photos were done by the lovely Brad and Sundra Paul with Ananchel Photography. And thanks to Grandma with her handy dandy new scanner, she sent this to me this morning. Thanks grandma!

Enjoy <3

Don't Worry - BE HAPPY!

"In every life we have some trouble, but when you worry you make it double. Don't worry. Be happy."

Bobby McFerrin (1950 – )
American music artist
10-time Grammy Award winner

Vocabulary Testing & Wondergirls

This week we've had vocabulary testing. Upon grading one of my student's tests this evening I came upon an unusual definition of the word provided.

The word: Important (adjective)

His response: You go girl~! Nobody~~

The "Nobody" he's referring to (if I just HAD to guess) the very popular hit song by the Wondergirls.

It brought a smile to my face. Kids are so funny! Here's the hit song for you. And in case you're wondering... YES! I do SO enjoy K-Pop music. :)

Now introducing 'Nobody' (translation included) by none other than THE WONDERGIRLS!!! Enjoy!

Gee Gee Gee Gee Baby Baby Baby

I have to admit... these catchy K-Pop tunes are not only a hit with the kids I teach, but you hear this song along with a few others EVERYWHERE!

This is a girl band called Girls' Generation. Enjoy!

The moral of the story is...

DON'T FORGET TO LOCK YOUR DOORS!

That's the moral.... now here's the story:

So after an exhausting (yet great) Wednesday was coming to a close, I was washing my face and realized there's something wrong with my left eye. There's like a little flap of skin that seems to be lifting around the bottom of my iris.

With that, I spent some time in prayer, texted my doctor to have him call me in the morning ASAP and decided getting some rest would be the best idea. (I, feeling extremely happy to be doing this at 12 a.m. was pretty stoked)

I was in a peaceful slumber UNTIL....

I hear something downstairs in my apartment. (I have a loft upstairs where I sleep).

I say "Hello" in kind of that 'I feel crazy for even saying something because someone's probably not even there' kind of way.

Except there WAS someone. A man. In my apartment. In the middle of the night. Fear and adrenaline surged through my body immediately when I realized the situation at hand, so I don't quite remember the mumbled, accented english this Korean man spoke.

I started yelling immediately "GET OUT! GET OUT! GETTTT OUUUUUTTTTT!" I heard the door open and close. But for some reason I had a feeling he didn't actually leave. "Was there two of them?" I thought. And then YES my suspicions were true; he didn't leave. I hear his cell phone ring! So then I start screaming "GET OUT" at this point and absolutely screaming it as loud as I can possibly muster.

Eventually the door opened again and closed. I immediately called my coworker Austin (who lives two doors town) and plead inside my head during the ring tone hoping he's in his apartment. SUCCESS! He answered and came over and checked out my apartment. Then I looked down at my entry way and ask him. "Are those your shoes" to which he replies: no..... THE BAD GUY LEFT HIS SHOES IN MY APARTMENT!!!

Assuming that he's just some drunk Joe with no intention of really hurting me, I decide to throw his shoes out in the hallway for him to pick up later. Austin texted me about 20 minutes later to confirm he found the guy, who was really drunk, really scared and also really sorry.

Finally.... peace of mind......... until:

My (now) locked door was violently shaken by someone obviously wanting to come in. Not at peace anymore. So I called Austin (once again) and had him come over. He didn't see anyone this time but offered to sleep on my floor in case something happened again.

Now, you might be asking "JESS! Why didn't you lock your door?!" Well.... at around midnight, I decided to make myself a grilled cheese. Grilled cheese is not complete without ketchup to dip it in. So, you see, I went to the grocery store for KETCHUP and when I came back, forgot to lock my door. I know, kudos to me.

Still.... A pretty scary experience.

Now, if only I didn't have that late night craving for a grilled cheese...

Drawing encouragement

I listened to a sermon by the always insightful John Piper on 1 Samuel 1:1-25 and have been able to draw some encouragement from this part of scripture as of late:

"If we died with him, we will also live with him;
If we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself."

- 2 Timothy 2:11-13

I can't say that I have been to a point where my faith has diminished; however, It's literally the prayer of my heart that I would remain FAITHFUL to God's purpose for my life: to love people as He loves me.

After the ski adventure...

So for an update real quick... the eyes are doing well. I experienced three days of horrible pain from the Lasek, but doing much better now. The eyesight is still pretty blurry, but is expected to get better in the next few weeks. Thanks to everyone for your continued prayer and support. It's so much appreciated!

Jeongdongjin

I never finished what happened a few weekends ago. Since we had a long weekend due to the Lunar New Year, after the ski trip Steph, Wayne, Chris and myself decided to take off and have an adventure of our own. And it was! It was great and really fun to travel so well with this group. We had no plan. No expectation.


So after a taxi cab ride later, we ended up in Jeongdongjin.


It's located near the eastern coast of Korea somewhat close to a beach called Sokcho that I visited in the summer. I was figuring it might be something really great. So after a few bus rides late at night, we found ourselves in a place not knowing exactly what to expect. So we found ourselves a 'love motel', got rid of our packs and headed out to see what this little town was all about. Most interesting, what was this huge cruise ship on the cliff for? To say the least, we were all excited to explore it the next morning...



We made our trek toward the cruise ship after a very hospitable stay at our motel. The owners were so sweet. We definitely have a place to stay next time we come back!

And what we found was BEAUTIFUL! I was amazed and couldn't believe I didn't try to spend my entire summer here!

We just had too much fun with the props as we neared the ship.

I wish I knew the idea behind the hands....

The ship is nothing but a hotel/resort.... as well as a Wedding Hall. We had a blast exploring the area and taking a look at everything. It would be a wonderful place to spend some time at during the summer months. The grass is dead and the palm trees are all bundled up for the winter, but hey, you get the idea ;)

This is the view from the top of the revolving restaurant/lounge at the very top of the ship. It really was stunning. God's creation is truly amazing :)


The tribute to one fantastic weekend. Thanks guys for the awesome memories.