Monday, November 29, 2010

Greetings from North Carolina!

Big updates......sorry it has been a while. Too addicted to Facebook I guess.....I'll log in later and bring you up to speed on the last year or so!
God Bless.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Hello.......Is it me your looking for???

Howdy all,

Sorry I've not wrote but such is the busy life.



Let me try to catch you up:
Christmas has came and went and was a great time had by all. We did the standard early morning get-up with presents for all. Due to the ever increasing homework load Santa brought the older 3 laptops. This has eased the "up till 11:30 PM waiting to do homework" problem that we have endured since arriving in Korea. It is unbelievable to me how much of their work is done over the computer. To be honest I never even see a pencil or a notebook........


And yes......I was born to be a drummer in a rock band......









We had the Branch Christmas dinner: complete with Santa.......












We had a crowd over to the house for a Mexican dinner before Christmas as well. It is good to get together with folks outside of work and socialize a little bit......we had the missionaries, co-workers, our landlord and his wife, some friends from church and one of the kids favorite teachers. Was a full house!











The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders also came to visit Area IV during the Christmas season and Jordan got to go up on stage!




We had Youth Conference in Seoul the week after Christmas which was a joint event with a Korean Stake so that was interesting. Very challenging getting the kids to interact with one another......the Korean youth are pretty out going but ours.....not so much, but fun was had by all I think. FYI: The human knot is a great "get-to-know-you" ice breaker game. They will be up close and personal afterwards.....












Tracy and I are still making the trip to Seoul to work in the Temple the first Saturday of every month. This has been a challenge but also a blessing. We have learned so much by participating in this service. Added bonus is getting to see the Hardy's and Jordan on the monthly treks.










I spent New Years Day on the bike. Took a nice ride up Apsan Mountain here in Daegu. Was a cold but beautiful day.





We took the church youth down for some ice skating for one our Wednesday night activities and also just had a "Fear Factor" night with them. We have a great bunch of youth that I enjoy working with.
This couple of shots is them all crammed into the elevator after skating.....



We have been busy every Saturday for the last 2 months with Ryan's CYS basketball. They play 2- 20 minute games and no one keep score. Guess you could say I'm not a real fan of the system. Just found out that the parents are buying trophies for the players......what?!?
I'm assuming they will be participation trophies since no scores were kept. Again......I'm not a fan. Not that I don't think our children should be rewarded, but why not keep scores and reward the WINNERS? Guess we play in the Obama league......everybody's a winner kids! We will give awards to all regardless of their contributions or efforts! Just like real life right? Let's face it.....some people are no good at sports......some are no good at math. Shouldn't those people that excel be given some extra accolades? It is a tremendous disservice to reward all equally, because some simply don't care and refuse to put out any effort. It's no wonder youth today have no work ethic.....why should they.....they will be given the same reward as the kids who worked hard for it. We are setting our kids up to fail, mark my words.

Hang on a minute.....gotta climb down off this soap box.

There, now where was I......

February has been a busy month as well.



District Temple Day on the 6th, Lunar New Year on the weekend of the 13th.....basically is Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year all rolled into one for the Koreans......interstates become parking lots as folks head back home for the holiday which is Korea's largest. We found a little time to squeeze in some Tollett family ice skating.......




We had our Annual Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet on the 19th which was a great event but as the Cubmaster am glad to have behind me. The 20th the Cubs set up in the PX and had a bake sale and sign-ups for an Adult Pinewood Derby competition that we will hold in March. Was an extremely successful day. The generosity of our little military community in support of our Cubscouts is amazing.




Next weekend is District Conference so I've taken off work on Friday so we can head up to Seoul. Will visit the Temple on Friday night (I hope), then again on Saturday morning, Priesthood Leadership meeting in the afternoon, adult session that evening, then main session on Sunday.
Planning to hitch a ride on the free medical bus to Yongsan on Friday, then the KTX train back on Sunday.

Should be a great weekend with a chance to catch up a little with the Hardy's and Jordan's.

Tracy has been coughing like crazy for about 5 months now......been to the doctor several times with no luck yet. Please say a prayer for her to get rid of this.

Kids are all well........busy as always.

Have got word that we should get an early out from Korea this summer when the kids are out of school. This opportunity can not get here soon enough. I hate being chained to this desk staring at a computer all day.......I need some sun and fresh air!!!! If all goes as planned then we will roll back stateside when the kids are out of school for the summer......should be much easier to move while not in school. If by some outside chance I get offered a promotion, we will probably accept and stay on in Korea........not expecting that to happen though. Whatever the option it has to be out of this office!!!

Till next time: God Bless and much love from the Tollett family!