Birthday Bash

 This weekend we had a lot of birthday fun.  We decided to have vespers at our apartment Friday night and invite everyone over, including the Korean teachers, staff, and pastor a little later in the evening.  So, I spent the better part of my free time Thursday and Friday cleaning the house and baking.  I baked two loaves of banana bread, a large batch of brownies, a lemon cake, and an apple cake.  I was worried about having enough food, since the last few vespers we have had about 25-30 people. 









Well, this weekend was no exception.  We had about 30 students show up, plus the other two foreign teachers, (and about 7 staff members).  Luckily, they were very generous, and most of the students brough food and/or presents for Jon, even those who didn't know him!  We had tons of fun.  We sang some songs, (even an action song "Peace Like a River" with all those crowded into our apartment), Jon told a devotional story, and then we just hung out and chatted, some played games, and ate lots of delicious food.  Jon got some pretty awesome gifts, including a thermos from Starbucks, vitamins (since we're both sick frequently.  The student wrote a note on them that said "Please be healthy"), nice gloves, homemade cream cheese brownies, a pink & blue tie, slippers, a puzzle, and more.  I even made out pretty well considering it was Jon's birthday, and was told to share the vitamins with him, got a matching pink scarf and matching slippers.  Really fun night...


Saturday I preached my first sermon!  I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I spoke for twice the time I was supposed to on the topic of 'sacrifice'.  Glad that's over with! That evening we enjoyed more of the sugary goodness while watching the latest Clooney movie, Jon's pick but we both enjoyed it.   


Sunday, Jon's actual birthday, we had a nice relaxing morning at home, I made French toast for breakfast, Jon opened his presents from me and his parents, and then we decided to set out and find the one and only Starbucks in Suncheon, in search of higher quality coffee.  It took us an hour to walk there, but it was a pleasant day and totally worth the walk. 


We sipped our lattes and finished a crossword before heading towards the lake and walked around the frozen pond a bit before meeting Grace and Makeba for dinner.   We shared soup, salad, bread, pizza, and pasta Korean style before delving into the delicious Baskin Robbins ice cream cake Grace, Makeba, and another
 teacher had gone in on for Jon.  Hope you had a nice birthday hubby!