Run Your Own Race!

How often do we feel like we have to compete with others? I know I'm guilty of it quite often. I read this fabulous post over at Owlhaven that I just loved. I love the picture it paints of laundry and laundry issues, but I also think it speaks so perfectly of how one should "Run Your Own Race*!" Focus on God, where God has put you in life, where God leads you. He is perfect. His will is perfect. His plan is perfect. Most of the rest is fluff.

*I think the line comes from Seabiscuit.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9a

Out of Two Boys' Mouths

Half-What?? Isaac recently stated that he is half-Korean, half-American, and half-human.

Does Birth Order Matter? Overheard in the car last February: "Isaac, why won't you hold hands with me? Maybe because I came out of Mommy first. If you came out of Mommy first, you would be in Kindergarten."

Sidenote: Apparently, having observed my Dearest and I holding hands, Ethan thought it should be duplicated by him and his brother.

The Difference Between Boys & Girls:
According to Isaac, girls have long hair and are shorter than boys.
According to Ethan, they are opposites.

Wonderful Friends

I had some awesome help on Monday! Sure elevating the foot isn't easy with two boys to teach, three to feed, trying to run the house and trying to get to the dr's but great friends make it easier.

My next door neighbor drove me to my dr's appt and a friend from church came to my house to watch my boys, feed them, mop my floor, do my dishes, laundry, and vacuum. How blessed I am! Wonderful friends are a great gift from God.


BTW, so far, my foot isn't fractured - just sprained. No word from the dr yet about possible fracture.

Phone Conversations... in Two Different Languages

Since I've been injured, my Grandmother (who speaks very little English) called me today to see how I was holding up while teaching, cooking, cleaning, and basically being a Mom. She heard the boys chatting in the background and asked to speak with them.

Now, my boys don't speak any Korean, except perhaps food items or I love you or yes and no. My grandmother says limited phrases in English like "I love you" and if she hears you say, "hungry" it's over; the food starts to magically appear. Back to the phone - how could I say no to my grandma?

I handed the phone to Ethan first - here's what I heard: "Hello?"
"What?"
"Huh?"
"What?"
"I love you too, wong-halmoni."
"What? Isaac, she wants to talk to you now."

Here's what I heard from Isaac's mouth: "Hi! Are you doing anything special today?"
"Mom is teaching us how to make chocolate chip cookies today, wong-halamoni!" - not a typo, that's the way he pronounces it.
"Ethan and I are going to go outside to play after we make cookies."
"I think we're going to get some ice cream with our warm-ooey-gooey cookies!"
"I love you, wong-halamoni!!"

After this, I got the phone back and my grandmother says to me, "I wish I could understand what the boys were saying, even just a little bit!"

Friday - Feb 9th: It Sounded Like a Good Idea at the Time!

We have been needing to get out of the house and have the boys burn off some of the never-ending energy. We could enjoy the frigid, below 0 windchills so I thought, "I could take the boys ice skating! They'd love it! There's an indoor ice rink not too far from us! Let's go!" Found out that there's homeschool open ice time on Friday afternoon, from 1 - 3 pm so our plans were set and now, we needed to get everything done by Friday lunch time.

We set a fairly good pace, got everything done and were waiting for one of my Close To My Heart "sisters" to come by and pick up some cardstock. She and her daughter came over; the children played and Lori and I chatted. I mentioned our plans to her and she says, "You know Lisa (another CTMH "sister") taught skating and competed." I had forgotten about that. On a whim (not really a whim, but totally a God thing!) I called her up and she agreed to help teach my kids to skate. Have I mentioned that my boys don't know how to ice skate and I was so excited about being back on skates after 7 years that I thought I could take them? On my own? HAHA! What was I thinking??

We all got to the rink, got skates and Isaac took to standing on them with great ease... not yet on the ice. Ethan had a bit of difficulty standing ... not yet on the ice. We practiced falling and Lisa told them, "To be a great skater, you have to fall a million times." Out on the ice we went.

Lisa took Ethan, and taught him out to balance, march, and look ahead instead of looking at his feet. I took Isaac and tried to teach him the same. HA! I ended up skating a bit, holding him in front of me, with him coasting between my feet. Do you know how hard it is to keep yourself up on the ice, along with a 45 lb boy? yikes. Ethan was doing so well with Lisa -- marching along and when he fell, he got right back up. Way to go, Ethan!!

Isaac had some lessons with Lisa, Ethan came and marched with me. Then, Ethan fell. I coasted to him and tried to maneuver around him, as to prevent crashing into him. Well, this move works really well when both of your feet go the correct way and follow your body, but in my case, my right foot decided to groove to it's own rhythm. I twisted my ankle and fell on it, then heard a huge pop. Not fun. I got off the ice with the help of Lisa and a God-placed home-schooled gal who was there with her friends. Thank God that other homeschooled gal was there and that I decided to call my friend Lisa at the last minute.

Bottom line, it's sprained. Nothing broken. Possible fracture but there's too much swelling to tell now. I need follow up x-rays in a couple of days. I'm in an aircast and on crutches for a few days. I'm sure I'm a sight to behold, not in a good way, either. Apparently, my maneuverability on crutches makes my Dearest a bit nervous. I am "right-footed" and that's the foot with the injured ankle; it's hard to think "left-footed." Does such a thing exist?? The boys have not openly laughed at me on crutches, but I suspect they are viewing it with some humor. For now, I guess I rest, ice, compress, and elevate... and get waited on. For a few days at least.