Category: Family

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I am no artist!

It’s no secret… I’m not an artist nor am I gifted in arts.  So whenever Anna asks me to draw for her, I get stressed.  Today, she asked me, of all things, to draw panties!  And then ribbons!

There are two things she loves:  clothing and accessories!  😀  And she doesn’t just want one either!  She then wants me to draw several!   In this case, 16 panties, and about 50 or more ribbons!  😮  Yikes… But she loves to color them in!  So I have draw over and over, in different colors, the things she wants!  C’est la vie, n’est-ce pas?  I try to remind myself that these are the moments to cherish… and that she just loves it when I do this for her!  It’s one of her love languages!  🙂

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Shanna’s Pizza Parlor

We go to the county library nearby about once a week…
There, the kids, mostly Anna, pick out books to read.  Well, somehow, she discovered Shanna, a very outspoken and creative girl. The book character, not a real person!    In this particular book, Shanna offers all kinds of strange combinations of toppings for the pizza… it’s actually quite gross combo… even Anna agreed! 

When I asked her what she wanted on her pizza, she went on all over in terms of the toppings.  On top of that, she started asking if you could put non-food stuff on the pizza!!    In the end, I loved the book for encouraging the kids like Anna to think beyond the typical… beyond the average, and teaching her to think outside the box.

You see, when I was in my 20s thinking of what I wanted my kids to learn, I wanted one of those to be for my kids to be able to learn to be both expressive and creative.  I didn’t want my kids to grow up stuck inside the box, per se.  I’m glad she’s way out of the box!    She’s so imaginative… makes me proud.

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Bubba Shrimp

I never did well in Biology class in high school.  That fermedahyde smell killed me.  Well, I got to re-affirm that today.  Soojin wanted some tempura-style shrimps.  There must’ve been at least a hundred there!

Don’t forget… I don’t do shell fish… to say the least.  So I start taking the shells off… man, is the smell bad!!  I started to get nautious… wanted to throw up… Then Soojin tells me that I have gut out the black nervous systems!    The whole process must’ve taken about an hour!  Sheesh…  At this point, I’m half the time holding my breath.  Nauseated beyond despair…

Soojin got the batch ready… dip it in flour first, then egg, and then the bread powder.  After another half hour of frying and taking in the stink, I am ready to barf!  I seriously had to go to Wal Mart and get Sweppes Ginger Ale, the best retail-brand ginger ale money can buy! 

I’m feeling much better now… but the place is still striken with the funky bubba shrimp smell!  At least Anna and JJ enjoyed it!

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Technological Family

Wow… you should’ve seen us today… the kids were watching Dora the Explorer and Blue’s Clues on TV (via DVD player), mom was watching “Seven Princesses”, a Korean drama via the Internet on KBS website, and I was watching “The 4400” on my Cowon A2!    I was so proud of my nerdy family!!  Hee hee hee…

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Ah the perils of parenthood… decisions decision, decisions!!

I hated it when my father couldn’t make it to anything… be it our sports events, let alone spend more time with us.  He was always busy, and he had “good excuses” too… after all, he was a pastor!  Though I somewhat understood the price of being a PK (Pastor’s Kid), I had told myself that I would never let my kids pay the “price of ministry”.  Well, I’m not a pastor but here I am in the perils of things…

Soojin has been very brave and has been taking the kids to Young Nak’s VBS (Vacation Bible Study).  Someday, Pathways will have our own… but till then, this will do.  Well, tomorrow night is special.  Instead of typical 1 to 4 pm meeting time, tomorrow is from 3 to 9 pm!  And get this, the children are doing some kind of presentation at 7 pm or so!!  So I was at a dilemma of things…  It is someone’s special dinner that it coincides with! 

I was arguing with myself on what to do… but I came back to that decision one more time… that I would not let my kids suffer, especially at such young and tender age.  Anna already showed me some of the motions to a song that they will be doing tomorrow!  Ah…

So I am sorry that I won’t make the dinner…  Learning to put my kids first is turning out to be quite a difficult process!

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The Cost of Inconvenience

Well, my mother-in-law is leaving to go back to Korea tomorrow.  It’s a mixed feeling really personally.  As some (mostly guys ) suggested, it has been a bit … inconvenient past near 3 months.  Having to keep an eye out to make sure I don’t do stupid things or say stupid things to her most of the time…

We’ve had “mild” clashes having different minds and all… but overall, it’s been anything but bad.  Awesome food.  Kids love her to death.  Soojin’s happy (most of the time).  So what if it’s slightly inconvenient?!  I almost thought that if she didn’t mind this place, I would ask her to just *GASP* live with us! 

But alas, she hates it here, not the kids or us, just being so… displaced.  She misses seeing people on the street and not being able to go around as she pleases.  Oh well… The tough part is in the (coming) separation.

Just last night as she tried to explain to my daughter how she will be returning to Korea, Anna told her to “just go and sleep for a day and come back with lots of presents.”    When she figures out that she won’t return for at least a year (if not more), she’s gonna be devastated.  Not to mention even JJ will miss her… 

And don’t even get me started on Soojin!  She already started crying…   Sheesh… crying is my sheer weakness.  Sad faces and tears just make me weak…  I guess it’s my version of kryptonite.  Please pray for Soojin to be strong, to keep God in her focus.  But what will make it even tougher is that I will be gone too from Wednesday thru Friday night.  I will be joining our church’s (Pathways Church) mission team to go to near New Orleans to help rebuild and clean up the neighbors near us.    So she will be by herself trying to play with kids who have been spoiled (in a good sense) by their grandma.

Ah… the perils of humanity… is only to draw closer to another human.  Why?  Because the fear of attachment (and separation) is what we fear…    I will end this entry with the quote from old Monkees’ song, “Daydream Believer“. 

Cheer up, sleepy jean.
Oh, what can it mean.
To a daydream believer
And a homecoming queen.

Cheer up Soojin.