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

Levi in the Hospital

On the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend we boarded the KTX Bullet Train and headed for Seoul.  We made the trek to vist Levi Miller in the hospital.  Levi hurt his knee a few weeks ago and had surgery to repair the injury on the day before Thanksgiving.  The surgery went well and he spent a few days resting and recoving in the hospital--except when we were there.  Upon our arrival in his hospital room we woke him up and kept him awake for most of the afternoon.  We did slip away for some Mexican Food at "On the Border," but we returned with chips and salsa for Levi.  It was a fun trip to Seoul.

Levi is now home from the hospital and well on his way to recovery.

Catching Up With Summer

Yipes!  I (Ryan) have been lazy (notice the "two" SeaWorld seals in the picture-I'm the one in the back). Our blog needs to be updated with all of our summer adventures.  Every year we make our blog into a book at the end of the month of July.  (Yes, it is true, we make a book using blurb.com)  We have a book for each year that we have lived in South Korea.  This year's book will be the fifth one on the shelf.  We make multiple copies of the books--one for each of our daughters and one for the coffee table.  They make great scrapbooks/memory books.

Bear with us as we catch up on our blogging with a few posts and pictures from our summer in the good old USA.

The Real Beauty

India is a unique and beautiful place.  Of course, the real beauty is realized in the people of India.  We have some amazing friends in that part of the world.  There were eighteen of us on our school service team from South Korea and it was our privilege to spend a week making friends with the over one hundred kids living at the children's home.

  Dina spent the week hugging and holding all of the little ones and she did a lot of teaching.  She is a great teacher! 

Sarah carried a myriad of little ones around on her hip all week.  She sat and talked with the the older children and enjoyed a lot of laughter and fun with Aliba.  He is a wild and crazy little guy.  

Becca hung out with lots of kids throughout the week, but one of her special friends was Simba.  This picture is of Becca and Simba in the area where he keeps his "locker."  The kids at the home don't have rooms.  They keep their things in a bucket or in a box on a shelf.  Becca and Simba were looking through some of his keepsakes, momentos and treasures...that's what friend do. 

I (Ryan) was glad to hang out with my buddies, Raja and Yung Mat.  They are precious young men who serve as Godly, male role models to the rest of the children at the home.  What a blessing it was for us to spend Spring Break with our precious and beautiful friends.

Perspective in India

Sorry for the lag in blog posts.  It is time to resume what we (the Roberts) consider to be our digital scrapbook.  (Did you know that we turn each year's worth of blog posts into a book using Blurb?)

A look through the pictures from our most recent Spring Break trip to India gives us cause to laugh, cry, reminsce and be thankful.  It affords us a bit of of much needed perspective.

The following are some photos of the children's home that we visited in India. Over 100 children live in this place.  They are cared for by 3 adults.  They have their water shipped in via a tank pulled by a tractor.  (All of the wells on the property have dried up.)  The children water the plants on the grounds by hand.  They do their own laundry, by hand.  They hang out their own laundry to dry in the hot sun.  The children wash up each day via buckets showers, in the open area between the two buildings.  The only toilets they use are out houses. 

During the days the children's home offers schooling to not only the children residing there, but also to the children that live nearby the school.  The motorcycle picture is one where a grandfather is picking up his grandchildren from school.

The conditions in India are amazingly difficult.  However, even more amazing are the elements of joy and gratitude that resonate out of the hearts and lives of the people at the children's home.  In the midst of so much scarcity is found abundance.

LASA 2011--Bangalore

Two weeks ago we went on a Love All Serve All (LASA) service trip sponsored by Taejon Christian International School.  We were a part of a team of five adults and thirteen students (Dina was the team leader) that spent a week at a children's home in Bangalore, India.

We spent a treasured week playing with kids, teaching kids, singing songs, laughing with and loving kids.  This video is a glimpse of our trip.  Earlier today we shared the video and testimonials about the trip in our high school chapel gatherings.  There are no words to describe the week.  It was a life changer.

 

Sapphire Celebration

 

 

Marriage is the union of
A greater sum than two in love.
Relatives are made by vows,
Relating endless fields and plows.
In bringing families together,
A million lives are changed forever.
Go then in joy, yourselves to please:
Each love shapes many destinies.

            by Nicholas Gordon

 

 

Today Robin and Leona Roberts have been married for 45 years.  Let us all celebrate!  Their marriage and lasting commitment to one another is a great blessing that ripples out beyond them to their children, grandchildren, relatives, friends and future generations.

 

Dear Mom and Dad,

You are an inspiration.  Thanks for your love and dedication to one another over the past 45 years.  Your marriage and commitment affords all of us a glimpse of the precious and glorious covenant love of God. 

As you have committed to and invested in your relationship with one another you have positively shaped the lives and destinies of those around you.  I am so proud of you and I thank God for you.

Love,
Ryan

ICEC Music/Worship

During the Thursday and Friday of what was for many, "Thanksgiving Break," the faculty and staff of TCIS and GSIS has the opportunity to attend the International Christian Educators Conference (ICEC) in Suwon, South Korea.  The international conference is sponsored by the Asssociation of Christian Schools International (ACSI) and is an educational conference that is held every two years that assists numerous Christian schools throughout the East Asia and Austral-Asia region of the world.  Two years ago I (Ryan) attended this conference in Hong Kong.

This year's ICEC conference was hosted by Central Christian Academy (CCA) and Gyonggi Suwon International School (TCIS's sister school).  Dr. Penland (our headmaster) and Dr. Kim from CCA were the coordinators and hosts for the event.  It was a grand time filled with inspiring and informative presentations and lots of good interaction between the 900 Christian educators that were in attendance.

Dr. Penland asked me (Ryan) to put together a team and lead the music and worship portion of the conference.  It was a distinct privilege for me to participate in the conference in this way.  I pulled together a team a folks from GSIS and TCIS (of course I had my buddy George Zickefoose play the drums--he is the best) and we went for it.  It was a blast and exists as a precious memory.  Here is a short video clip of one of the services:

Guests!

Last weekend we enjoyed a visit from the Gestrin family from Eagle, Idaho.  Bruce and Barb Gestrin and their son Tyler were visiting South Korea and they came down to Daejeon for a couple of days to visit us.  It was fun seeing them.  We took them to Jaeyoung's for some "authentic" Korean food and showed them around Daejeon a bit.

They spent half a day visiting TCIS and enjoyed taking in the sights and the story of our school.  It was great to have the Gestrins as our "guests."

Research Man from Jerome

This is a picture of St. Jerome.  In some places on the Internet this picture is titled, "Research Man."  For four days last week I was the "Research Man from Jerome". . . Jerome, Idaho that is.

I (Ryan) took some personal days away from work and the family and did some work on my Doctor of Ministry project thesis.  I spent four days holed up in a hotel in Seoul.  I spent the better part of the time sitting at the desk in my hotel room writing and wrestling with my paper.  I only left my room for two reasons:  Starbucks coffee and food.

Speaking of food, I ventured into a little place near my hotel for lunch one day and was pleasantly surprised by the Korean cuisine.  It was some of the best Korean food that I have eaten in the five years that I have lived in this county.  Needless to say, I visited the restaurant a "few" more times during my four days of writing.

Oh, the paper?  I made some serious gains.  I wrote and submitted an entire chapter as a result of the time away and I only have two more chapters to go.  I feel good about where I am going in the paper and feel confident that I can submit a completed rough draft to my professor by mid-December.