Merry Christmas (and a bit of family history)

Seasonal Stripes Christmas

Shutterfly Christmas cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Twenty years ago, Michael and I met in Memphis, Tennessee,

not far from Overton Park- pictured in our Christmas card above.

Because this spot was one of our favorite hang-outs,

I dressed the boys up and took them there

for a photo day with Mommy in November 2001.

At the time, Orville was 2 and Wilbur was 1.

Last month (exactly 10 years after I took the original pictures),

we were blessed with a whirlwind trip to Memphis.

We spent one day driving around town,

showing the boys all the spots important to our family history.

I made sure to take the boys back to the gazebo

for updated pictures so we can share

a little of our family history with you.

Merry Christmas!

What would you do?

Imagine that late one Saturday afternoon you realize no one had checked the mail for two days.

You slip on your Crocs (the only shoes that provide comfort and keep your sciatica under control) and walk down to the mailbox.

You flip down the door and fumble around inside until you're able to grab hold of the massive contents and pull the big bunch of envelopes and fliers out.

You turn and head back to the house and as you walk you begin to sort.

There's a movie from Netflix.

An appointment reminder card from the dentist.

A credit card offer.

And an envelope that looks like an invitation.  Excitedly, you rip the invitation open. 

But, it's no invitation!

Inside, this is what you find....

What would you do?

Exclaim, "What in the world?!?" loud enough for the neighbors down the street to take notice?

Stand frozen on the sidewalk in front of your house for 3.4 minutes while your friends drive by and honk (and wonder what is wrong with you)??

React in such a way that your eyes nearly pop out of your head and your jaw nearly hits the ground???

Well, yes, I did a little of all that. 

After I snapped to, I switched into Nancy Drew mode and inspected the envelopes very carefully.  There were lots of clues!  My little magnifying glass was lighting up red all over the place.  (If you play the PC games, you know what I mean!)

First, the three one-hundred dollar bills had been neatly tucked into a cream envelope and addressed to "Mike-Dawn Our Last Name".  It was stamped but did not have a postmark.  Our last name was misspelled, too.  Ours is a common American surname that is spelled uncommonly; most people spell it the common way. 

Second, the envelope had been wrapped inside a piece of notebook paper with such precision that the paper edges lined up perfectly and then it had been placed in a larger outer envelope.  It was addressed exactly as the inner envelope, like it had been copied directly from it.

Third, the outer envelope had been postmarked in Spakane, Washington.

What a mystery!  Because...

...one, my husband never goes by Mike.  The only people who call him that are those who presume that because his name is Michael he must go by Mike.  This is something we always politely correct.  He's not a fan of the shorter version of his name (nor am I).

Two, why the hyphen between our names?  Why the matching envelopes with the stamp on the inner one?

Three, why Spokane?  We know absolutely no one in that part of the country. NO ONE!

Nancy Drew has a few hypotheses.  Would you like to hear them?  (insert Nancy Drew PC game theme music here)

• One of the Korean families I tutor wanted to give me a bonus but didn't want to give it to me in person.  Perhaps they hyphenate husband-wife names like that in their culture???  They mailed it to an acquaintance in Washington who was to put the stamped envelope in the mail, but misunderstood them and put it in a second envelope.  It was wrapped in the paper with such precision because Koreans are, generally speaking, conscientious, precise people.
• Local friends wanted to do something nice for us anonymously.  They wrote the hyphenated names, used "Mike", and misspelled our last name to throw us off their trail.  They sent it to family or friends in Washington so it would not have an Atlanta postmark.  I don't know why a second envelope was used or why the first was wrapped in paper in this scenario.  Perhaps those are red herrings intended to keep us confused, too.  We have also considered a family member could have done the same.
• International terrorists have devised a scheme to weaken the American economy.  They have printed huge quantities of counterfeit money and are mailing it to unsuspecting citizens.  As the funny money circulates, the American dollar will be further devalued, leading to the collapse of Western society.  (This is also when I began to worry about it being laced with Anthrax.)
• A blog reader from the Spokane area, who has been blessed by my work, decided to bless me in return.  She found my address and used two envelopes just to make it more interesting (because she reads my blog, she knows how overactive my imagination is and knew it would lead to a somewhat humorous post).  

I've gone round and round on this, trying to figure it out but can't come to a definitive answer.  I did take the money to the bank to have it tested.  Fortunately, theory number three has been disproved.  I guess I've watched one too many espionage movies.  :)

Nancy Drew can't figure this one out, folks.  However, I have decided that I am not supposed to.  Instead I recognize this as a provision from God.  (It just-so-happens that we spent $400 on an unexpected repair the day before this money arrived in the mail.  If we had remembered to check the mail the day before, we would have had it the exact day of the repair.  There was no way anyone could have known we were going to spend the money in that way.) 

If you are the one who sent the money, we understand your desire to remain anonymous.  We want you to know, however, how much we appreciate what you did.  It was so very nice of you, and we are grateful.

Nancy Drew wants to say thanks for the mystery, too!  Although there is no final scene to this one where I connect the dots and say, "Ah HA!  It was you!!" I have had fun trying to figure it out.  :)

Thank you.

Blessings,
Dawn 

Seoul Food

My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people. ~Orson Welles


You may have noticed I haven't written a Wednesday Weigh-in for several weeks.

Well, folks, that has been totally on purpose and with good cause.  The end of the school year brought a few challenges my way, like organizing a science fair, completing my term as support group president, and nearly blinding myself.

Something had to give, and that, my friends, was counting calories. 

The good news is I weighed today for the first time in weeks and have only gained a few pounds.  Even though I have not recorded my caloric intake daily, I have tried to stay away from sweets and munchies while watching my portion sizes. 

Well, that is until last week....

Michael and I celebrated our sixteenth anniversary!  Actually, we didn't really celebrate on the day of our anniversary.  He had to serve as the high school's graduation announcer and was gone until 10:30 that night. 

What did I do, you ask? 

I had a party of my own.

I cleaned the bathroom.

Party animals, we are.  Animals....

Roar...cough...cough...hack...wheeze.

Anyhoo, a few days after our actual anniversary, we decided to celebrate properly by going out to eat at a local Korean restaurant.  One night many months ago, we had popped in, glanced at the menu, and made a mad dash for the door before anyone could notice we were there.  In that quick glance, we determined we would have to take out a small loan to pay for the four of us to eat.  On the night of our celebration, however, the kids were with Nohnie and Papaw, so we decided to live it up and splurge.

We weren't leaving that restaurant unless we had spent at least $50, people.

Like I said... party animals.

We entered the lobby, and this time, actually waited to be seated.  A lovely Korean hostess led us to a private room with a drawn curtain...very Asian, very private, and well, very romantic.  I was liking our choice already!  The hostess exited, and the waitress entered and handed us each a menu.  We were shocked by the prices! 

I'm not sure what we had seen the night we went with the kids.  Maybe the prices were listed in Korean.  Some of the dishes did cost $30 or more, but many were very reasonable.  In fact, the two we wanted cost $12 each.

This presented a bit of a dilemma because we were not leaving that restaurant unless we had spent the budgeted $50! 

So what did we do?  Splurged for sweet tea and two appetizers.

TWO appetizers.

You have to understand.  For us, ordering one appetizer is radical.  Two is verging on absurd.

The waitress must have thought so, too.  As we ordered a SMALL potato pancake appetizer, a SMALL order of dumplings (our 2nd appetizer), a plate of spicy pork stir fry, and a plate of chicken stir fry, she gave us an are you sure about that look.  (a look that knows no cultural or language barriers)  We brushed it off, thinking she probably thought we boring Americans would not like our food selections.  Pancakes, dumplings, and stir fry didn't seem that adventurous, so we went with the $50 plan.

Well, we soon understood her look.

First, she brought us each a bowl of soup and a salad.  These were not listed on the menu as part of the meal, and we were pleasantly surprised.  It was yummy, and we both lapped it up.

Then she walked in with the SMALL potato pancake.

Obviously, in Korean SMALL means platter-sized.

Then came the SMALL order of dumplings.  I could barely see Michael over the mound of food between us.

Next the waitress entered with a large tray filled with bowls of Korean delicacies.  We had not ordered what she was setting before us but they also came with the meal although not listed on the menu.  We decided to be good sports and try a little of it all.  Evidently, this was another manifestation of Korean generosity and hospitality.  So how could we say no? 

After sampling, we knew one side dish was broccoli with hot sauce, one was some variety of greens, and another looked like cabbage.  We thought one contained sprouts and corn, another hot dogs, and another maybe had sea weed.  We were clueless about one bowl but ate some anyway.  It was crunchy and sticky but lacking in flavor, at least any recognizable flavor. 

Soon she served each of us a bowl of rice and followed with large platters of chicken and pork.  It was kind of like when you get fajitas at a Mexican restaurant- sizzling on an iron platter that is set inside a wooden tray to keep you from burning your fingers off and heaped up so high you have to dig for a week to find the center.

We were sooooo full from all the soup, salad, pancake, dumplings, rice, and assorted side dishes that we did not need our main dishes at all.  However, we were not going to offend any of our Korean friends by leaving untouched food on the table.  As we were picking at our stir fry, trying to eat as much as we could force down, the hostess walked in to talk to us about our experience. 

I think it was all she could do not to burst into hysterical laughter as she saw two wacky Americans seated at a table for six completely covered in dishes, enough for twelve.  I'm sure we looked a bit odd, too.  The food was delicious, but we were growing miserable with each bite, and it showed.  We continued to shovel the food to our mouths, chew, gulp, and then, through forced smiles, make yummy noises and give thumbs up.

She eventually regained her composure and suggested next time we order less food.  Korean meals, she explained, offer a lot of variety.  She also decided to help us out by explaining what each side dish was.  She taught Michael how to wrap his pork in Kim Chi (the cabbage dish) and top it with tofu.  Surprisingly, he thought the pork-cabbage-tofu combo was good which motivated him to eat a little more....until he started feeling a bit woozy.

He thought this was because he was so full he was borderline comatose.

We later learned the Kim Chi he had been scarfing down is no ordinary cabbage...it's fermented cabbage!  I guess he stopped eating just in time to avoid trouble.

We cheered as she revealed what was in each side dish bowl.  We were right!  There were sprouts, sea weed, broccoli, spinach, hot dogs, and (fermented) cabbage.  We thought this was incredibly fun...

...until she told us what was in the mystery dish.

Wanna know?

I know you do, but brace yourselves.  It's not pretty.

SQUID!

Yes, folks, we ate squid.

Maybe we are party animals after all....

Well, just when we thought no more food could possibly fit on the table, she brought us a platter of melon for dessert.  We took it, along with two-thirds of the pancake, several dumplings, well over half of our main courses, and a mountain of rice home.

We left the uneaten squid there.

Turns out we CAN afford to feed the whole family at the Korean restaurant.  If you ever want to join us, we can go halvsies.  It will only cost $50, and...

...I'll even let you have ALL the squid!

Happy Eating!
Dawn 

P.S.  As long as no one serves me any more surprise, mystery dishes between now and then, I plan to publish Wednesday Weigh-ins again starting June 15.  :)

Our Family Stories: How It All Began

Today is a day that is not traditionally recognized.  There's not a card for it at the Hallmark store or a day off from work or even a special sticker for my make-your-own calendar.  But it is a day that makes me smile as I remember what began about 20 years ago....

As regular readers already know, I met my husband at the BSU at Memphis State University (now The University of Memphis).  He was a senior; I was a freshman. 

After a year of being friends and starting to fall in love, he graduated, and we spent a year apart waiting for a time that we could be together again- the beginning of an on-going theme for us.

When he returned to MSU to begin work on his master's degree a year later, I was thrilled to have my best friend back on campus, and we spent the year hanging out at the BSU again.  By the end of that year, my junior year, I knew he was the man for me.

I hoped he would propose on my birthday in April.  He had asked one of my best friends to go shopping with him to help pick out my gift...at a jewelry store.  I just knew he had asked her to help pick out a ring. 

But I didn't receive a diamond ring.  To my disappointment, he gave me a jewelry box.  It was nice, but I wanted a ring to put in it.  Alas, I would have to continue to wait, knowing that I wasn't really waiting for him but on the Lord.

At the end of that school year, he left for Costa Rica for a month of intensive Spanish instruction/immersion.  He called me weekly and told me that being away from me was the most grueling experience of his life.  He never wanted to be without me again.  Finally, I thought, he'll step off the plane and bend down on one knee.

But he didn't, and the waiting continued.

A month later, we attended a wedding together.  While talking with the male members of the wedding party, they asked him when they would get to attend his wedding.  He admitted that he had wanted to propose for months but had not thought of the "perfect" way to ask yet.  Their response was something like, "Dude! Just ask her!!" 

On the way home from the wedding, he told me what the guys had said in a way that let me know he was testing the waters.  So I told him that if he were to ask me, I would say yes.  I just knew that would open the door for him and he would ask me while we were driving back to campus.  I envisioned him pulling the car over, taking my hand, and asking me the question I longed to hear on the side of I-40.

But still... no proposal. 

A month later, he talked to my father who gave his consent.  Then he came to me and told me that he was going to propose soon, but not without a ring.  He wanted me to go to a jeweler with him and point out what kind of ring I liked.  I wanted to say, "Any ring will do... JUST ASK ME!" 

But I didn't.  I knew that wouldn't be proper or kind or submissive, so I went shopping with him.  Once we found the ring, I hoped he would drop to one knee and ask me right there in the store.  But, you guessed it....

About a month after that, there had still been no proposal.  I was about to give up on it ever happening when it was time for our annual church picnic at a local Christian campground.  There were hot air balloon rides scheduled for the day, and Michael went on and on the entire week before about how fun that would be and how much he wanted to go ballooning with me.

However, on the day of the picnic, I woke up with a cold.  It was in my ears, and I was terribly dizzy.  I called Michael and told him I couldn't make the picnic.  He insisted I reconsider, reminding me of the hot air balloon and the fun we would have.

I insisted that I would topple over the basket and fall to my death should I try to ride in my dizzy condition but I would do my best to be there for his sake.

With a fever of 101 and enough cold medicine in me to give me the shakes, I managed to swipe a little foundation, powder, and blush over my flush, sweaty face.  I dared not try lipstick or eye shadow.  My hands were so unsteady that it would have ended up all over my face. 

Pleasant fall temperatures had set in, but I was chilling and then sweating and then chilling again, so I threw on a pair of jeans with a t-shirt and hoodie.  I drove very slowly and had to switch back and forth between air conditioning and heat. I had to pull over at least four times to remove or put back on my hoodie.  Eventually, I made it to Camp Cordova just as the balloon was landing for the last time of the day. 

I approached a downtrodden Michael and noticed people were consoling him.  I could not figure out why the hot air balloon ride was so important to him but I apologized for missing it and explained that I had done my best to get there as quickly as possible.  He could see I didn't feel well and understood, and we tried our best to enjoy the picnic and concert that followed. 

At some point, my fever broke, and I regained some energy.  We headed out to the Frisbee golf course where we laughed at my inability to throw in a straight line.  He ran off to retrieve my misguided Frisbee and then disappeared.

As I bounced from tree to tree, looking for my love and not giving engagement rings or proposals the slightest thought, I found him behind a tree trunk on one knee with an open ring case in hand. 

I quickly realized why he had wanted me on that hot air balloon so badly.  He had finally found the perfect way to propose, and I had ruined it.  I was touched by his kindness and told him that anywhere was the perfect spot.  I didn't want a spectacular event or a fancy ring.  I wanted him, his love and commitment, and as long as we could be together, any old spot would do.

Although I think it came out a little more like this-

YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!  F-I-N-A-L-L-Y!!!

It was sixteen years ago today that I played a rather poor game of Frisbee golf and came out the winner of an engagement ring.  I still love that young man who was hiding behind a tree with ring in hand and I remember him fondly.  I like who he has grown up to be, too.  I could not have asked for anything nicer than the sweet moment God appointed and am thankful that it is His timing that is perfect.

I wait for the Lord,

my soul doth wait,

and in his word do I hope.  

Psalm 130:5