Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas, family and friends!

Last Christmas we were in San Antonio with my parents, enjoying the warm sunshine. Despite the fact that I was banned from roller coasters (you may recall my concussion and neck injury from last year), my family decided to go to Six Flags for Christmas. Luckily there is someone else in my family who never goes on the big, exciting rides: my mom. We went on the one ride that I could go on- the little train that goes around the whole park. We probably rode it about 500 times before Korben and the rest of my family were done. It was a very fun day and I enjoyed my mommy time. It is always a treat to spend the holidays with family!


Before we had left for Texas, Korben and I had waged war on the carpeting on our stairs. Vacuuming carpeted floors is bad enough, but trying to vacuum the stairs? Enough was enough. We ripped up the carpeting to take a peek at the wooden steps underneath. What we uncovered was a sight to see! Old, weak boards, almost rotting were now exposed. Dried-up glue down the middle and a mucus green painted trim on either sides of the steps provided the perfect accent. It was clear that we'd have to replace the stairs. But why stop there? We could knock down one of the walls so that our stairs would look into our living room! Demolition began and our living room soon had a large pile of pieces of drywall, old nails, and wooden boards. The beginning of Korben's year-long project had begun!

My school has a really neat partnership with a sister school in Korea. Korean students come and stay with families for a couple of weeks in January. Originally I hadn't signed Korben and I up to be one of the families because my neck injury caused me bouts of nausea and tiredness. The Korean students arrived and one of the girls needed to be placed with a new family. Korben and I got to host Fleta, a very sweet and shy Korean student who we came to adore!

We had a few hours to quickly clean up the wall rubble in our living room before she arrived at our house. I showed her the room she'd be staying in. We made pizzas and when she saw that Korben and I put Sriracha on our pizzas, she did likewise. With her first bite her eyes opened wide and she fanned her hand in front of her mouth. The first thing we learned about Fleta was that she hates spicy food!

Fleta went to school with me each day and would head off to her classroom. She would have a lot of fun and would tell me all about her day on our drives back home. I would ask her about life in South Korea, a country I've always wanted to visit. On one trip back home we were stopped by a construction crew. Fleta was amazed to see a lady wearing a brightly colored vest holding a stop sign in the middle of the road.

"Don't you have people who do that in Korea?" I asked. I wondered if she was surprised to see a lady instead of  a man.

"No, we don't have people who do that in Korea! We use robots for that job."

I guess our country has fallen a little behind on the times.

Fleta and I also went shopping a few times so that she could go to American stores and see some American brands. I despise shopping, but made an exception for Fleta. She spoke over and over about needing to find a certain famous American chocolate to take back home but because of her accent I couldn't figure out which candy she was saying. I certainly had no idea what American chocolate would be famous anywhere. We eventually went into a Walmart, apparently a must-see for an American cultural experience, and there she found the famous American candy: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! I'm pretty sure she bought out Walmart's entire stock of Reese's and probably brought along an extra suitcase just for that purpose.

It was a lot of fun to host Fleta and show her a little bit of the state of Washington. She had been very apprehensive about our cats, but by the end she fell in love with our friendly Siamese, Brewster. The days flew by and she had to leave to return home, but she left us some gifts from Korea. We felt very blessed to have been able to get to know her.

After Fleta left, we hosted another guest without knowing it. I had come across a few mysterious things in our house. One morning as I was getting ready for school, I found an old chocolate cake, hard as a brick, on our kitchen floor. It had claw marks on the side. I assumed Brewster had brought it in from a neighbor's garbage. I later noticed that Brewster's water dish was getting really dirty and he seemed to be eating a lot more than usual. I would find garbage cans tipped over throughout our house and muddy footprints on our kitchen table. This went on for a few weeks. One night, Korben woke up and heard one of the cats chomping noisily on the cat food we keep in our bedroom. He sat up to take a look and noticed a large form with a ringed tail slunk back down the stairs.

For those who don't know, I am a raccoon fanatic. A neighborhood raccoon, who probably noticed my large collection of raccoon stuffed animals, figurines, and pictures, had decided that he had found the perfect home. He had been coming in and out of our little cat door as he pleased. It wouldn't have been too long on his diet of cat food that he probably wouldn't have been able to squeeze through the tiny opening. In the end, it is probably good that Korben was the one to find our nightly visitor. Our cats didn't say anything about it and if I had been the one to find the raccoon first, I might have waited a while before telling Korben!

Very windy day!

Korben's mom was able to come and visit us during my school's Spring Break. It was mostly cold, wet, and windy, but we still managed to get outside and have fun. We took several day trips. We got to show her the beautiful tulip fields in Skagit Valley. We also visited Mt. Rainier, Rosario Beach, and went all the way to gorgeous Vancouver, B.C. As always, time with family goes by too quickly, but it was wonderful to have her here for a whole week.

Over Spring Break I received heartbreaking news about one of the Kindergarten students at our school. After having suffered a pediatric stroke, he passed away. It was a shock to everyone at school. He was a bright-eyed, happy boy and his absence is still felt. Suddenly, I was receiving news about more friends of mine who lost a father, a sister, and a husband much too soon. Korben and I prayed for all of you who have lost someone so close and dear to you this year. We were comforted when we saw Auburn Adventist Church's Easter play. Most Easter stories end after Jesus rises from the tomb, but not this one. The play showed the heavenly reunion. A scene of an angel passing a little baby to overjoyed parents will forever stay in my mind.

Losing a pet isn't as painful as losing a family member, but it is still a very heartbreaking experience. Korben and I lost one of our sweet cats, Rabies. Before I go on I will need to explain that Rabies was named by Korben, not me, and that he named her ironically. She was the most beautiful calico cat I've ever seen, and also the sweetest. She'd never claw you, ever. She was scared of the world, but braver than her sister Grapefruit (another cat I did not name). Her fur was soft like a rabbit's and Rabbit was our favorite nickname for her.

Rabies, like her sister, was an indoor cat. She almost never would venture downstairs because even to go downstairs was a terrifying adventure. But at times when her curiosity would overcome her or whenever she felt like her sister was being attacked by their annoying brother, Rabies would become quite brave. She had the smallest, most pathetic meow that made it sound like she was always sad and crying. Her favorite thing in the world was belly rubs. There was a little black spot on her nose that Korben called the "kissing spot." Korben had raised her ever since she was a little kitten.

One morning I didn't see that Rabies had crept out the door as I left for school. She ended up in our front yard and was outside for an entire day. Our rhododendrons were in full bloom and we didn't know that they are poisonous to cats. She went into kidney failure and we had to say goodbye.

Grapefruit had never experienced life without Rabies because they had come from the same litter. Rabies was Grapefruit's only playmate. Days after we had to put Rabies down, Grapefruit walked around upstairs meowing loudly. Korben was working from home that day. She grabbed a string from upstairs and brought it all the way to the scary downstairs, plopped it in front of Korben, and meowed loudly, wanting her daddy to play with her. Grapefruit also used to sleep on my side of the bed and Rabies slept on Korben's. Immediately after Rabies was gone, Grapefruit snuggled with Korben on his side of the bed. She still sleeps on his side. We miss our sweet little Rabbit every day.

Our baby, Zedekiah Zucchini

During our warm spring I was happy to put our raised garden beds to good use! I planted several vegetables and not all of them came to fruition. We were very successful lettuce and kale growers (but less successful lettuce and kale eaters), and our zucchini plants put all our other plants to shame. The zucchinis produced were so large that we started naming them and pretended they were our babies (and then ate them up!). Our pear tree had juicy pears this year and our neighbor's strawberries that grow on our side of the fence were quite delicious! We still have some late brussels sprouts growing even in chilly (and a little snowy) December. I'm looking forward to more gardening experiments in 2017!

During the summer we took a big trip with family. My sister, Joni, lives in Southern California and we thought it'd be fun to travel from her house up to our home. Korben and I were already in California since we both had conferences to attend there and my parents were at the same conference as I was. It was well above 100 degrees every day. Joni did take us up the hills nearby where it was a perfect 85 degrees and sunny. It was a bit too chilly for Joni's SoCal blood, but luckily she had brought along her winter jacket.

After our conferences were over we were ready for our road trip! We rented a van big enough to take Korben and I, Joni and her husband, Greg, my parents, and Korben's mom and step-dad. Our plan was to hit National Parks along the way and spend a day or two in each park.

Yosemite Valley

We started with Sequoia National Park, enjoyed feeling small around the giant trees, and continued through King's Canyon National Park. Yosemite was incredible! It was crowded, but the views were breathtaking. Korben, Joni, Greg, Korben's mom, Debbie, and I all went on the Panorama Trail and it was absolutely gorgeous the entire way. We took a little longer to get back than anticipated which worried my dad. The last part of the trail we were on was called the Mist Trail. It is right alongside a waterfall and has big, rocky, slippery steps and no railing. I'm terrified of heights so I was more than happy to end that section of trail, but just to ensure that I will forever be terrified of heights we went to a Search and Rescue talk later that day and learned about all of the tragedies that have happened around the park and specifically on that section of trail. I did not sleep well that night!

Korben taking the plunge into
Crater Lake!

The last two parks we went to were Lassen Volcanic Park which had a really cool visitor's center, and one of my favorite places, Crater Lake! For our Northwest friends, in case you haven't gone to see Crater Lake yet, you need to do it! We took the little boat tour at the bottom. Some of our group even swam around in the beautiful blue water.

It was a fun trip, but I had one reason to be excited that it was over. Korben and I had an agreement that we would get a puppy if two things were in place. First, we needed a house (check!). Second, it needed to be summertime so I had time to train it (check!). I wanted a rescue dog but the paperwork to adopt through rescue places is ridiculously long and the requirements are impossible to fulfill. I found a place in San Antonio that sends rescue dogs up to the Northwest for adoption. Some added bonuses were that their paperwork was a good 3 pages shorter than other places, they didn't require that one of us be a stay-at-home puppy parent, and they didn't care that we had cats. I found a a cute puppy I wanted and we picked up Kepler a couple weeks later.

Faking an injury at the vet's office. The injury
magically disappeared when the vet arrived.

Kepler is a scraggly mutt with a ridiculous under bite, ears that curl backwards at the top, and has all black fur with a white chest and white tips on his paws. He is named after the 17th century astronomer, Johannes Kepler, but personally I think our Kepler is much cuter (A quick google search will verify this.).

For the first few weeks we had him he was terrified of everything, very shy, and very sleepy. Korben and I both tried playing chase with him when we first brought him home and he yelped like we were about to kill him. But he eventually warmed up to us and now he is a happy, excitable, and sometimes naughty puppy through and through.

Before my new school year started I was able to teach him how to sit and he didn't take too long to learn to use the bathroom outside. I'd give him treats for doing his business outside in the mornings. He thought he was clever for a while when he would poop outside, run back in, get his treat, and then immediately finish his pooping in the house.

I also discovered he knew a lot of tricks already! For example, he knows that if he chews up just one of my shoes in a pair, I have to throw away the whole pair. Somehow he knows that chewing up Mommy's shoes is more exciting than Daddy's. He knows how to rip up papers that come in the mail, including our voter's pamphlet (but can you really blame him considering this election year?), bring in rotting pears from the backyard (and hide them under the couch), steal the cats' toys, and he knows to always bark at everything outside, especially small children who want to pet him.

The cats are not impressed with the newest edition to our family. Brewster sometimes enjoys having someone to play with, but Kepler doesn't seem to understand that swats and hisses means playtime is over. Grapefruit uses every chance she gets to remind Kepler that he was never wanted. Sometimes in the middle of the night she will crawl over to where Kepler is sleeping peacefully on my side of the bed, smack him, and then sneak back to her side of the bed. Kepler then tucks his tail between his legs and carefully crawls up by my head for comfort. I don't mind, of course. Puppy snuggles are the best!

Kepler's favorite thing ever is the fact that his daddy can take him to work. Kepler has a silly little carrier, much like you'd see a baby riding in, that allows Korben to carry him while he rides his bike to the train station in the mornings. Korben is disappointed with all the attention he now receives on the train. Complete strangers even know Kepler's name! Kepler is ecstatic to ride with his daddy to work because at Rover there are lots of other doggies to play with. He recognizes his friends immediately and gets anxious to play with them when he sees them. Talk about a spoiled mutt!

Korben and his mom at his childhood home

After getting Kepler, Korben and I had the opportunity to fly to Korben's hometown, Woodbury, Tennessee (not to be confused with the Woodbury from The Walking Dead), to celebrate Ann's baby shower! Ann is Korben's sister and in November she gave birth to an adorable little girl, Addilyn. The baby shower was put on by Korben and Ann's cousins, Lindsay and Amanda, and it was super cute! I also had the chance to see the beautiful rolling, green hills of Tennessee where Korben grew up. I loved the feeling of being out in the country. It was wonderful to see the little town and all the places Korben went to as a kid including his little two-room schoolhouse. Korben had a chance to see some childhood friends while he was there. The humidity was unbearable, a sign that we've already adapted to Washington and forgotten what it was like in Texas. There weren't any tourist shops in Woodbury, but I did bring home a tick bite as a souvenir.

Ann and Josh, Ann's husband, also had a chance to come out and visit us! We went hiking around Mt. Rainier, visited downtown Seattle, and we got to go to the flight museum where we saw the Blue Angels do an awesome show! Ann and Josh seemed to know a lot of people at our church and around the area (more than Korben and I know!) and we were happy they had a chance to visit.

We also had the privilege of hosting our good friends from Conroe, Mitch and Leslie, for a week. They had never been to the state before so we of course took them to see Mt. Rainier, had them eat our delicious summer fruit, and took them to see Puget Sound. Slowly but surely we will convince our out-of-state friends and family to move up here!

Korben's work has been going well. He's now the team lead for the mobile programmers. He was a little unsure how he would feel about it, but he enjoys it! He also likes taking our silly pup to work with him. Rover continues to do really well and is a growing company. Korben has also enjoyed doing a lot of woodworking projects. In addition to nearly completing our stairs, he also has redone the back of our garage. He's quite the handyman!

Stairs are looking great!

Our school's enrollment has been steadily growing. We made the decision to go to single-grade classrooms instead of combination classes. We are still in the process of transitioning. My classroom was one of the smaller ones so it isn't ready to be split quite yet. Instead of teaching 3rd and 4th this year I am teaching 4th and 5th! I enjoy being able to teach the same group of kids. I also decided to be bold (crazy?) and do tables this year instead of student desks. Surprisingly, I am enjoying it! I continue to feel very blessed by working at Northwest Christian School and the support that comes from all of my coworkers and parents of my students. The biggest blessing for me was not starting off the year with a concussion!

I haven't had any symptoms from my neck injury or concussion since August. It took about a year for them to go away, which is exactly what other people with head injuries had told me. I have been grateful for better health this year, although I am ending this year with some stomach problems. After visiting the ER in November and still not knowing what is going on I will be seeing a specialist. This marks three years in a row where I have visited the ER (appendicitis, concussion, and now this!). I am not entirely happy with this expensive annual habit my body seems to have picked up. I also miss food that has flavor and spice. Boring and bland is my new diet! But on the plus side (or rather, petite side) I won't gain any holiday weight this season!

Korben and I were able to host my family for Thanksgiving and it was so good to see them. The rain and cold reminded my parents why they were happy they are back in Texas. They also were here to celebrate my 30th birthday. I've been told that at 30 your brain is fully mature and stops developing so I guess this is as good as it gets!

We have Christmas plans in Florida to see Korben's family. Korben's grandma, Ann (not to be confused with his sister), recently celebrated her 90th birthday and we will be happy to see her over Christmastime.

We hope that you are all doing well! We had some very sad times in 2016, but also times of great joy! We wish you all the happiest of holidays and a joyful New Year.


Love,

Korben and Lori