The Roberts in Korea

remember...

We never know how things will turn out.

If you are looking ahead to 2012 and worrying or wondering about the future, you are wasting your time.  You would do well to stop ruminating over the unknown and start remembering the work of God in your life over this past year.

God is constantly imploring his followers to remember...

"Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm." Deuteronomy 5:15

"Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years,..."  Deuteronomy 8:2

“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel." Malachi 4:4

[Jesus says] "Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?" Matthew 16:9

"Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel,..." 2 Timothy 2:8

"And he [Jesus] took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19

Sitting here at my cluttered desk on New Year's Eve 2011 I am remembering...

...that my sister has a new kidney.

...that God has done the impossible at our school (TCIS).

...that I have lived another year with my precious wife and two wonderful daughters.

...that I have enjoyed a year of good health.

...that I have friends and family who are growing in their walk with the Lord.

I can't do justice to these rememberings.  In print they look so clean, simple and easy, but you know as well as I do that life is messy.  With the good comes the bad and amazingly, in God's economy, out of the bad God brings good.  This is where remembering really makes a difference.

We never know how things will turn out, but that is ok.  We don't need to know the future. We just need to remember how God has worked over the days and months of 2011.  We need to allow his faithfulness in the past to speak words of hope into our future.

Remember...God loves you.

Happy New Year

This Place

Here are a couple of pictures of this place (South Korea) that we live in.  It is amazing how we so quickly take for granted all that is around us.  The city of Daejeon is a very nice place to live in South Korea.  It is a big city (1.5 million people), complete with a wonderful mass transit system (taxis, trains, subways and buses), but it still has a small town feel.  Mountains, hiking trails, lakes and streams can be accessed within 30 minutes from the city and thanks to the Bullet Train, that runs right through Daejeon, we can go North to Seoul in 50 minutes and South to Busan in 90 minutes. 

There are lots of people in South Korea.  We were grumbling a bit about the traffic and the people the other day when we were Christmas shopping.  It didn't last long though as we remembered the great privilege it is for us to live in this unique place.

Christmas Fun

It was our privilege and opportunity to visit the Peace Village Orphanage for a time of Christmas fun this year.  The church we attend organized a trip to the orphanage.  Santa showed up and all of the kids at the orphanage recieved gifts.

Silver Bells 2011 by Jaeyoung

Here is a clip of our good friend singing "Silver Bells."  He has a beautiful voice, is a great guy, has a wonderful family and runs and owns an excellent Korean restaurant.

 

 

 

Snow!...finally

Up until Christmas Eve day it had been a cold and dry winter here in Daejeon, South Korea, but finally, it snowed.  Here are a couple of early morning shots from the front window and the back window of our 16th floor apartment.

Christmas Eve at Jaeyoung's

On Christmas Eve a large "Idaho" contingent gathered at Jaeyoung's restaurant for a time of great food, spirited singing and warm friendship.  The Zickefoose family, the Miller family, the Hill family (and Jennifer's parents--the Coles) and the Roberts family all spent Christmas Eve with Jaeyoung and his family at a little restaurant in the center of South Korea.  It was a time to treasure.  We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

Merry Christmas 2011

Here we are on Christmas morning wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas!  Our Christmas morning started early this year, but it wasn't because our children were eager to see what Santa left under the tree.  It was our privilege to lead the music and worship at church this morning so we were up early for the set up and preparation at church.  We opened gifts in the afternoon.  It was a treasured time--mostly because we were together as a family.

May you be blessed this Christmas with the realization that the God who came near did so out of love for you.

Amazed

This is really just an experimental post...I am experimenting with technology. I have an iPad and for the most part it is just a toy. I use it to read books (via Kindle), play games (Scrabble, Golf, Angry Birds), check Facebook and read my email. I recently purchased a Logitech keyboard for my iPad. It is a nice little unit that serves as a handy cover for the glass screen on the iPad and it doubles as a keyboard. I am typing this message on the "Bluetooth" Logitech keyboard.

I am a blogger (obviously) and I use Typepad as my blogging platform. I have a free application from Typepad on my iPhone for making blog posts from my phone. I have never done this because it just doesn't make sense...I don't want to type out a blog post using the tiny digital screen on my iPhone. It would take forever! (yes I am slow at sending text messages)

However, the Typepad iPhone application transferred over to my iPad. Now that I have this keyboard, I thought I would give the Typepad blogging application a try. The blogging application gave me an option to include a picture in my blog post or take a picture with my iPad to include in my post. Since I don't look too good today (if ever) I just took a picture of my Bible Memorization cards on my desk.

I have included that picture in my blog post. This technology is amazing. I thought that I would share my amazement with you.

The Happy Christmas Duck

In the midst of decorating our apartment for Christmas I noticed Dina carefully unwrapping and arranging on a shelf her intricate and beautiful collection of Precious Moments Christmas Ornaments.  As I watched Dina gingerly position each dated ornament in chronological order I noticed on the shelf above the Precious Moments display a sad little porceline duck that Sarah made a few years ago on a summertime pottery making excursion.  As I watched that little yellow duck gaze longingly at the glitz and glamor of the "Precious" ones,  I knew what needed to be done...

Sarah and I found some red paper, a few inches of white tape and a Q-tip and went to work.  We made that little yellow duck a Christmas hat that would make the Grinch jealous.  Now all eyes are on him and he isn't sad anymore--he's happy! 

Merry Christmas.

Decorating for Christmas

This is the first Christmas that we have spent at "home" in three years.  Two years ago we spent Christmas at an orphanage in India and last year we spent Christmas on the beach in Phuket, Thailand.  A few nights ago we pulled out the Christmas decorations and in twenty minutes we had the entire apartment decorated (I love it!).

Becca and Sarah took care of the tree, Dina took care of all the details like the Precious Moments Ornaments, the Nativity Scene and the other pretties around the apartment.  I (Ryan) took care of taking pictures, playing the music (Beach Boys Christmas Album) and pouring the eggnog (banana milk). 

Oh, and Sarah and I took care of the Happy Christmas Duck....stay tuned!