It's so hard to say goodbye

The end of another school year is upon us which is exciting and hard at the same time. We celebrate completing another successful year of school and rejoice vacation is here but our hearts are heavy as we say goodbye to many people who will not be returning to TCIS next year. This is the hardest part of living in an international community. Each year we send our friends off into a new adventure while gaining a new set of friend who will join us in the fall. This year is a tough year for our family as many in our close circle of friends are living. HEre are just a few of our dear friends we will miss next year.

Liz- Sadly we are seeing her go off to that awful light blue school to become an awesome principal! At least that light blue school keeps her near Raleigh so we can see her each summer.

My God-ordained Sarah for my time in Korea is off for a new adventure in Uganda! (God always gives me awesome Sarah friends.)

Nikole and John are headed back to America to have a precious little girl that we are bummed about not getting to meet this year and off to begin seminary. My baking buddy, friend, great babysitters, and Zachary's sword fighting partner will be greatly missed.

Our good-byes to Brian and Julie are not for good as we are shipping them off to join my sister in Mali to teach the doctor's kids for a year.

We have many more friends that are leaving this year but I didn't get pictures of them :(. We love you all and will miss you dearly. Thankfully, I have a very optimistic son who reminds me that we don't have to miss them because we can talk to them on the computer. SOOOO thankful we live in the day and age of awesome technology.

Noodles

Leftovers

Even leftover chocolate fondue is OH SO GOOD!

LOST Finale and Fondue

Each week we get together with a group of friends to watch LOST. For the finale, we decided to have a fondue party. We had a spread of food and it was absolutely delicious! I don't know what we enjoyed more LOST or the fondue!

Yes, Shelby Grace, it is that good!

Zachary got to watch a movie in his room while we watched LOST but Shelby Grace had to join for a little bit before bedtime. Aren't they adorable?

Seth Buddy's 5th Birthday

We got to celebrate Zachary's best buddy Seth's 5th birthday this weekend. His Spiderman themed party took us out to Techno Valley park, somewhere we had never been. We played on the park, the skate park, and played Spidey games. It was a fun day!Happy Birthday Seth!

Shelby Grace kept pushing her cart over the grate. Her whole body would vibrate. Too funny!

Zachary and Seth ride their scooters down the skate ramp.

Daddy gets in on the fun

The Love Boat

Best wishes for our dear friends, Christine and Scottie as they prepare to be joined together in marriage. Can't wait for that special day this summer!

My cake for Christine's bridal shower at school.

Waffle Fest

During our time at TCIS, one of our highlights of the month is Waffle Fest, our dinners with the single staff at our school. Sometimes we have have had French Toast Fest instead of waffles but the evening of fun remains the same. We provide waffles or french toast with a plethora of toppings in exchange for fellowship with an awesome group of people. On Wednesday we had our last Waffle Fest for the school year. Many of our original waffle fest attendees are moving on this year to a new place. We will miss them dearly and remember fondly of the times we have had them in our home. To celebrate the end of the year, we had rainbow colored waffles as well as chocolate waffles. What a delicious end of the year!

Zachary and Shelby Grace also enjoy Waffle Fest nights. What can be better than being the center of attention of a group of adults? Wednesday was not a night to disappoint. They were quiet the entertainment for the evening. The two of them enjoyed showing of their tricks with Zachary's laundry hamper. They were quite a hilarious site.

Two more weeks and a large group from our Korea family will move on and in two months, a new group with take their place. Even though new people will arrive, they can't fill the holes left behind by our dear friends who leave us but only create a new space in our family. This is the hardest part of international living. We are so thankful for our waffle fest friends and wish the best for those leaving TCIS this year. We love you all! Come back for waffles anytime!

Seoul for a Day

Thanks to our wonderful friend Anna, Patrick and I had the opportunity for a day for ourselves up in Seoul. We were going to get a whole weekend away but since Shelby Grace got sick again, we only went away for the day. We got to visit the Gyeongbok palace in Seoul, primary palace for the Chuson Dynasty. It is hard to imagine that these beautiful, green grounds are in the middle of a busy metropolitan city with the subway running right underneath.

Ancient Korean architecture is beautiful and the painting is so precise and detailed. I am amazed at the intricate designs that are all identical.

This shows reality of the new and the old mixed together.

After shopping in the foreginer sections of town and scoring some Fritos and DelMonte green beans, we searched for the new On the Border in a section of Seoul called Apgujeong. This is a fairly new On the Border and it took us a long time to find. Mostly because it is as small as an average Korean restaurant on a back alley of a neighborhood. We didn't think we would ever find it. There were maybe a total of 15 tables in the whole restaurant but it still tasted oh so good!

Check out the back road it's on.

The search was well worth the prize of dinner at the end.

Our balcony swimming pool

We were housebound last weekend thanks to another ear infection for Shelby Grace. When she was feeling better, we were getting a little stir crazy so we created our own swimming pool on our apartment balcony. It's not very large, the balcony or the pool, but they didn't care. They were playing with water and having a good 'ole time. I so enjoy watching Shelby Grace and Zachary play together. They sure do love each other.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

God's Beautiful Creation