The Roberts in Korea

old memories with a friend

Becca came back "home" to Korea for Christmas Break this year and she brought her boyfriend, Cody, with her.  It was Cody's first time to visit Korea and it was fun for Becca to show him around  a little bit of the country of South Korea and specifically, "her" town of Daejeon.

On one of the days of Christmas break Becca took Cody to see her old high school.  It is located in the O Jung Dong part of the city at the "old" TCIS campus site.  TCIS now has a new campus located in the Techno Valley part of the city of Daejeon.  A university nows owns and runs the land and the buildings where the old TCIS campus used to be.

It was fun for all of us to walk around the old campus and relive some good memories.  We all spent six years of our lives living, working and playing at that old campus.

Becca showed Cody the old TCIS gymnasium where she "dominated" the court in both basketball and volleyball.  They stood together on the "grand staircase"--a notable gathering place on the campus.  And they peeked inside the school atrium to see the dragon mascot emblem still roaring in glossy black on the tile floor.  It was a great day for all of us and fun time for Becca to share some old memories with a friend.

 

Christmas Morning 2013

On Christmas morning we slowly woke up and gathered for a time of opening presents.  It was our privilege to have not four, but five stockings hanging in our living room this year--and Santa filled them all!

Cody was with us in South Korea this year for Christmas morning.  We had a great time opening gifts, ooohing and aaahing over new clothes and enjoying the time together.

Some of the highlights of the morning were Dina's new red vest, Cody and Becca's joint gifts (from Ryan and Dina) of gift certificates to eat out and go out to the movies and the biggie . . . Sarah got a plane ticket to New Zealand to visit her dear friends Anna, Emily and all of the Moimoi family.

The gifts to give and receive with/from one another were a treat, but the real blessing was the chance to share the event and the celebration of Christmas morning together.

Christmas Eve 2013

Christmas Eve this year was doubly special because Becca and Cody flew into Korea on Christmas Eve.  Dina, Sarah and I (Ryan) took a call van to the airport to meet them and we all rode back to Daejeon together. 

On the way back we stopped and gave Cody a little bit of the Korean rest stop experience.

When we got to Daejeon we immediately went to Jaeyoung's restaurant, Azuma Kimbap.  It has become a special tradition for us here in Korea to celebrate Christmas Eve at Jaeyoung's place. 

The Millers met us at Azuma Kimbap and we enjoyed a grand time of hanging out with friends, eating Korean food and singing some Christmas songs and carols together.

Here is Jaeyoung singing "Silver Bells":

 

Becca's roommate

Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?  –C .S. Lewis

It has been fun having Becca home for Christmas Break.  She is having such a great time in college and has made so many wonderful friends.  One of those friends is her roommate, Liv.  Here are some pics that I borrowed off of Facebook of Becca and Liv.

 

hanging with our college kid

We splurged and boarded a plane to spend 72 hours in Idaho with our college kid.  It was a priceless time.  We so enjoyed the chance to hangout with Becca and her friend Cody.  It was fun to hear Becca sing in her college choirs, to see her dorm room for this year, to meet some of her college friends and to share dinners out and coffee and treats together at the Flying M.  It was good to hear the laugher of both Becca and Sarah coming from the backseat of the car.  They say that nothing is ever perfect, but our visit with Becca at NNU was close.  We are thankful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our 25th NNU Reunion

Last week Sarah, Dina and I (Ryan) jumped on a plane and flew to Idaho to do three things: attend Dina's and Ryan's 25th reunion gathering at Northwest Nazarene University (NNU), participate in the 100th  year celebration activities at NNU and (most importantly) spend some time with Becca, our very own NNU student.

We were on the ground in Nampa for three days and due to the International Date Line we were in the air for three days too.  It was a fast and furious trip, but worth every minute (and dollar). We had a blast.

Our time at NNU was filled with good memories, reconnecting with old friends and some new experiences.  At the Educator's Breakfast we enjoyed talking with fellow classmates and seeing some of our favorite professors (like Mr. Thompson).

It was fun to sit in the stands with Becca and Cody at the Homecoming basketball game against Point Loma.  It was a close game, but NNU lost (bummer).  Sarah enjoyed the game, hanging out with her friends Alexandra and Danika and immersing herself in the "college experience."  Sarah stayed with Becca (and Alexandra) in the dorm each night that we were there in Idaho.

Becca is singing in two choirs at NNU-the Northwesterners and Crusader Choir-and it was our joy to get to see and hear her and her friends sing four times during our visit to NNU.

Our 1988  reunion dinner and gathering was fun.  There was a great turnout for the event and it was good to see and reconnect with some familiar (and not so familiar) faces (of course we looked the same, haven't changed a bit).  It was good to reflect on shared life experiences of 25 years years ago and celebrate God's blessings to each one of us over the years since.

The NNU Centennial Celebration culminated with a concert on Saturday night featuring Michael W. Smith.  He was accompanied by the Boise Philharmonic Orchestra and a 300 voice choir composed of NNU alumni and students.  It was a grand and memorable event.  We are thankful to God to have had the opportunity to spend the time with friends and with Becca at NNU.

 

Becca's Busyness

It is hard to keep up with Becca when she is 6000 miles away from us.  Thank goodness for Skype and Facebook.  It appears that she is keeping busy this  year at college.  She is singing in a couple of choirs, taking lots of classes and doing a field experience in an elementary classroom. 

She is also having some fun with her friends.  The TWIRP event was just held at the college and it involves dramatic invitations to the event, themed costumes at the event and a lot of fun.  From the pics and reports it seems that Becca is having a fun year.  I included some pics I borrowed from Facebook.

 

 

 

back in school

 

  Becca finished up her summer of traveling in Covenant and then enjoyed a few days in Wyoming with her friend, Cody.  She enjoyed riding horses, shooting guns  and relaxing while in Wyoming.  After her time in Wyoming Becca moved back into the college dorm and is back to school.  Becca will be a sophomore this year.  The night before the first day of classes the school hosted an all school bonfire and Becca got photographed roasting a marshmellow.  (I stole all these photos from Facebook.)  It is fun to keep up with Becca.

Becca--the traveler

We haven't seen much of Becca this summer.  Her summer job as a member of the NNU Covenant Group has kept her busy.  She has been singing and playing keyboard in churches and leading worship and engaging with junior high and senior high students at church camps in Oregon and Washington. 

We have missed hanging out with Becca this summer, but we are glad she has had a good summer with Covenant.  In mid June we attended a Covenant concert in Yakima and gave Becca a ride back to Nampa with us on her day off so she could attend the wedding of some of her college friends.  At the wedding she got to see Brittney and Adam and Cody, and many others.  That was our last chance to see Becca until Christmas. 

We miss her, but are keeping in touch via Facebook and Skype.  I (Ryan) wanted to include her in our summer blog posts so I "borrowed" some of these pictures from Facebook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

grandpa and grandma in CDA

We spent a couple of days in Coeur d' alene with Tom and Carol Cuffe.  Becca was in town with Covenant.  Becca and Sarah had a great time hanging out with their grandparents--playing cards, talking and shopping.  We had a good visit.