We have been here a month and a half already! Time flies. We are still loving it. But I just wanted to update you on what our kids are doing.
Ezekiel is having a great time here. He can now respond “Anyongaseyo!” to people that greet him and we are working on “Gamsamnida!” for when he receives one of the many gifts from strangers. He is growing up so fast and his answer changes daily about whether or not he will please Mommy and just stay little forever. He is now completely taking himself to the bathroom, wiping, and then rolling up the toilet paper so his little sister doesn’t destroy it. He is very proud of his big boy underwear. He speaks in complete sentences (every English teacher’s dream!–J/K) and asks to call people on Skype by name. Grammy and Papa Bear come in first with “”Du-in and Mea’in” coming in second and “Nina” and Papap making a close third. Your chats with us really mean a lot to him. He has been talking a lot lately about his “friend Isaac.” It’s so cool to me to see what his memory is capable of. He is learning daily. We are still working on the ABCs and when we count, for some reason the 4 is always missing…He asks for Dakgalbi constantly, though I suspect that has to do with some fatherly influence. He loves making tunnels out of cardboard boxes and playing with Mr. Potato Head– especially since Daddy helps Mr. Potato Head come to life. He is a great big brother and he and Cadence are best friends. He has a new love for peanut butter and jelly which he constantly asks for if Dakgalbi is out of the question. He wants to help with everything, which of course includes things that are better left unhelped by a two year old. But I can always count on him to help carry the vacuum cleane, and he loves to help me hang and put away laundry.
Cadence was having trouble adjusting at first. For a while she was the biggest grouch-baby ever. I think just the combination of not having Mommy all day, not in her normal sleep pattern, nursing less, teething and growing was just too much for the poor girl. She is doing better but still has some grouchy days. But don’t all girls?? She is eating tons of foods and loving it. She loves eggs and bananas and sweet potatoes and french toast–but she won’t turn anything down. She is growing so fast! Since we have been here she said her first word, “Mama” (which I was pleased about, but David is holding out for the next one), gotten four teeth, and started walking. It has been quite a productive month for this 10 month old! She loves her big brother and no one can make her laugh like he can. But already she is capable of deception. Sometimes when we put them to sleep at night, they don’t fall right to sleep and instead stay up and giggle. When we go in to regulate, she runs back to her spot and lays down like, “What? I was here the whole time!”
David is doing a fabulous job with them. I was jokingly worried I would come home to soiled and underfed children, but he is doing an amazing job, teaching them things I probably woudn’t have thought of. I love seeing them meet the standard he sets for them. And I love seeing how patient and gentle he has become with them. It makes me fall in love with him all over again! I love that our kids are forming such a good relationship with him. They adore David. There is still a piece of me that is glad that Ezekiel asks me every morning not to go to work. But I am so happy he has such a good time with David. And Cadence is content to go to David at any time. She is definitely Daddy’s girl, and she trusts him completely .
I have been thinking a lot about trust.
Here all Koreans bow when greeting each other. There’s the bow, the big bow, and the BIG bow. The bow is for people you are friends with. It is mostly the neck that bends. The big bow is for people older than you or strangers. This one involves a very slight bend at the waist. The BIG bow is pretty much never used because it is so formal. I used it once when I was making fun of some of my teacher friends at the school. You put your hands over your belly button (ladies right hand on top, gentlemen left on top) and bow 90 degrees. In any form of the bow, the eyes are lowered to the ground.
I noticed in myself that I never lower my eyes. I find myself still trying to look at the person I am supposedly honoring! Why? I was thinking about how vulnerable this display of honor and respect makes a person. And how in America it is easy to be suspicious of people. How easy it is to not trust people, even if they have done nothing to lose it. Perhaps I have trouble trusting here as well? In reality, Korea is in a time where it is much safer than most places in America, and in my conscious mind I do not feel unsafe here. But for some reason I don’t find it natural to lower my eyes when I bow. It’s almost as if I’m watching to make sure the person isn’t trying to trick me somehow.
Unfortunately I am finding this to be true in the way I “honor” God, too. Out loud, and even to myself, I repeat over and over that I trust Him completely with every aspect of my life. But sadly the reality is that when I bow to Him, I am still peeking to make sure He isn’t intending to trick me. That He knows what He’s doing. As if my own idea about what He should do makes more sense than His.
In His Word, He says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”-Jeremiah 29:11 His plans are to give me a future and a hope!
Proverbs 19:21–”There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the LORD’s counsel—that will stand.” I want to let go of my own “plans” and lean more on His counsel.
Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 7:11) I want to have childlike faith. I want to live life as a trusting child of God.
Matthew 7:11 says, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” I can see in Cadence and Ezekiel that they trust their earthly Daddy to give them good gifts. I can trust that my Heavenly Daddy will do even more for me.
I don’t need to peek when I bow to Him. I can know like Cadence knows about David, that He will hold me and protect me and give me good things.
I wanna be Daddy’s Girl.
those are 2 super cute kids :)