She's so little

She's So Little

Just a video this time. A reminder of how little she was and still is.

I can't get it to work on youtube because of the music, but I can put it on Vuze for those of you who want to download it. I already explained in another post how to do this, so if you have questions, check the earlier posts.

Ansley's pics of us

These are some pics we got from Ansley's wonderful new camera. She was kind enough to share the pictures with us, and the world!

Ansley's Pics of Us

Today's Events

I did my spirit walk today. I do it every two weeks when the sun and the moon align just right to where the stars shine brighter than ever. Also, we need water. So every two weeks I walk to the grocery store to get six 2 liters of water. I also get a few other little items so I don't just carry the water home. I then walk back home which is about 1 mile, I think. The water is very heavy after about 20 feet. The first time I did it I underestimated the weather and I felt like I was in the desert because I was wearing long sleeves and pants. Today I wore pants and short sleeves so I'd be more prepared. Good thing too. It was fairly warm today which made the trek even harder. I then continue to trade arms as I walk home, half of me hoping someone would pick me up and the other half hoping no one would notice me. I call it a spirit walk because by the time I see our home, my arms are exhausted and I pray to God to help me make it the rest of the way. It's probably very similar to the spirit walks they have in Africa and Australia. I call this the Korean Spirit Walk. So when you come visit me I can guide you on this adventurous Spirit Walk. It'll cost you of course. Maybe a 6-pack of water will cover the cost.
Also, to start the morning off, Chloe was in her bedroom playing and decided it was a private party and locked the door. The problem with this is that it wasn't a private party and she didn't know how to make it public again, meaning she couldn't unlock the door. This lock is like a deadbolt, so it's impossible to just card it or pick the lock, because it uses a normal key. So, for half an hour we tried to get the door open ourselves because the pastors were in a meeting and we didn't know who to contact. Chloe couldn't quite figure out how to unlock it, no matter how many different ways we explained it. Then 30 minutes later a worker man came and unlocked the door with a key he had. I don't think Chloe will have a private party again anytime soon. She definitely didn't enjoy this experience, but I think we're all glad we made it.
To end the day, Chloe and I went to the playground. One of our favorite things to do on my day off. Sometimes if we wait on the playground and don't make any noises, the natives will come out to play. We stay quiet under the slides so they can't see us. The natives come out and play and we observe them from a distance so we don't scare them. Well, I think they could smell our American scent and they surrounded us. We didn't have much of a choice except to join in their games. It actually was pretty fun even though we couldn't understand each other because of the language barrier. After playing their games, they disappeared back into the concrete jungle. Chloe and I will continue to visit the playground and we hope to these natives again. I think Chloe had a fun time and I just enjoyed watching.

Story Time

Once upon a time and place and space, there lived a one-armed Cinderella and her Prince Charming. The reason she lost her arm is unknown to us. The two of them lived very happy in the Land of Giants. One day they were on a stroll in the Giant Park and they heard a noise. This noise was strange to them so they went to see what it was. All of a sudden a shadow jumped out and took both of them. The king of the Land of Giants heard this news and quickly sent out his best person for the job of retrieving the two royalties: Chloe. Chloe is the best retriever the land had ever seen. She started her journey looking in the Giant Park. She followed clues that soon led her to the Giant Maze of Fun. She heard a noise but wasn't quick enough for the shadow. When she woke up, she was in the Cage of Plastic. The king heard of the terrible incident and sent his next best thing, ninjas. These ninjas were trained to retrieve anything and everything. They could retrieve people if ordered, but they mostly retrieved lost household items, such as keys, remotes, and loose change. Since their training wasn't in combat, they were quickly captured. Chloe then remembered why she was the best retriever anyone has ever heard of, she could teleport. She then teleported out of Cage of Plastic and climbed the tunnel of darkness. There she found Cinderella and Prince Charming. Good thing it was tea time because the shadow was having tea with his friends. Chloe was happy that she was able to retrieve Cinderella and Prince Charming. Cinderella was so appreciative that she granted Chloe anything she wanted. Chloe wanted to know one thing and one thing only, why was Cinderella missing an arm? Cinderella was about to answer this most awkward question as they walked into the palace when they noticed the king drinking his afternoon tea...with the shadow! To be continued...

All of the pictures:

4-23

And you thought you knew me

Videos: Playground Again
Tattooed Strawberries
Flower in the hair

Right when you think you know somebody, even yourself, you don't. I thought that I knew myself pretty well, but I didn't. I was at my beginner's English class and they usually provide food. Today they had an herb mixed with some dough. I ate it and it tasted okay, just like a lot of food here. Then I found out later that the English name is mug wort. The name by itself just doesn't sound very tasty, but it was okay. I tell people this story and they say it sounds like something Harry Potter would eat. Then they brought out the pizza. They really like their pizza, but I never really like it because it's covered in onions and peppers. So I usually pick out the onions and peppers and then begin. Well, the owner of Mr. Pizza, the place we ordered from, was in my class at that time, so I didn't want to pick at it like usual. I was also really hungry because I had not eaten breakfast and it's hard to turn food down from people who don't speak your language. It's an insult because you can't explain why you don't want it. So I excepted very kindly and prepared for the worst. I did pick out the peppers because they were only sitting on top. The onions are so hard to pick without being messy or noticeable, so I held my breath and ate a piece. With each crunch a sensation of shock came over me like I was being electrocuted as I sat quietly in my chair. Everyone looked at me for approval. I smiled with the "Yeah, it's great because I can actually swallow it with a peace of mind that it won't kill me and that's the only reason I can eat this now" look. They all smiled and as I finished the last agonizing bite, happy with my accomplishment of overcoming one of my greatest fears, they hand with another piece. Have you ever had to walk up a steep hill and you can see the top? You walk up to the top of that hill and you feel a great accomplishment, only to notice that it actually wasn't the top of the hill but it only looked like the top of the hill because there was this tree that poked out and made it look like that top of the hill when in fact it was only half way up the hill. Well, it might not have happened to you but it happened to me with this pizza. I kindly accepted the pizza and stared at it with great determination. I could do this, I just need a little courage and Pepsi. So I got a cup of Pepsi and tried to figure out how much pizza I could take a bite of and how much Pepsi to drink so wouldn't run out before the pizza was gone. I'm pretty good at this because I'm a Math major. But still I calculated everything very precisely because a mistake would be disastrous. Each bite was just another way to torture myself. I kept asking myself why I was putting myself through this. I could have turned down the second piece without a great dishonor. I guess looking back it was a personal triumph to help train my mind to withstand even the worst tortures just in case I was captured by the enemy, whoever that may be. I finally reached the finish line, the crust, after about two bites. I had measured the Pepsi perfectly to where I had one more sip left to wash the taste out of my mouth before eating the best part. The crust is actually really good, and reliable. There are no surprises with a crust because it's just bread. It's safe. So, I felt free and sick after eating my first pizza with onions on it. I think I'm becoming a man now. Next time I'll eat the pizza with onions without crying in a corner afterwards.

Settled

I'm not sure how long it's suppose to take to settle down. I think it usually takes a month or so for a normal situation, sometimes even less depending on where you move to. But we moved to a different country with a different language and nothing in our apartment except for a comforter, couch, and a table. The first month I worked at the other church and never saw my family. The second month we finally got the bulk of the furniture we needed and I started to teach. I really started to feel connected to the church through all of the people I am teaching and the bible studies I am leading. I see a lot of people in church that I know through my classes and it makes me happy to feel connected again. I'm taking a one-on-one Korean class now so I can try to communicate a little better. It's one of my students from my conversation class. So far I can say: "What's this?, Is this a ____?, What's your name?" and the answers to these questions as well. I'm learning from the book that I'm teaching English with to my kids. She translates the English part to Korean so I have something to reference to and hopefully I can teach better, knowing the Korean and English words. Of course, since it's from a kids book, the form of the words are "impolite". So everytime I try to practice, which is usually on my students who are older than me, they correct me with some other conjugation saying that what I said is fine because I know them, but it's impolite to say the other to an older person without knowing them. I thought, "I'm pretty sure I won't be practicing my English on someone I don't know who's older than me." But I didn't say that because it's impolite. So, now we're in the third month and starting to feel a little more settled. Which I think brings on more homesickness. The food we miss a lot, but the comfort of home we're starting to miss more. I feel like we're settled here but it's uncomfortable to start to settle in a place that's not home. We moved to Tenn but we still came home to visit every now and then. Plus we had friends who speak English and we could hang out with. This little apartment is only so big, and we seem to stay here a lot. I really miss going out and doing things with other people, or just going out would be nice. My time to go out is walking to Lotte Mart or the local grocery store and taking a taxi back. Or I play basketball every Saturday night in a gym that I can see from my porch. It's nice to think of the money we save not having to go far to do anything, but we don't even travel 2 miles to go somewhere. We are going to Seoul this Thursday but it's for filming. We go there to work and then we come back. I think I just need to get my Driver's License here and start to drive again. At least I can get out of here every now and then. We are so constricted by Taxi and train, that we can't see everything we want to see. I don't know, I'm not really complaining but expression my thoughts. Only a few people read this anyways, thanks by the way. I can't wait for June, but I feel extremely guilty that Brandy and Chloe aren't going. I mean if Brandy wasn't having the baby, only one of us could go anyways because we can barely afford one ticket. But if I didn't have a wedding and Brandy wasn't having the baby, I would give my ticket to her because she's the one with a huge family who really wants to see her. I have a small family that wants to see me and a lot of friends who want to see me. That's why I feel guilty, because Brandy should be the one going back to America this time. She rarely gets out of the apartment because she takes care of it and there's no reason to get out except to get out. I walk everywhere but Brandy takes a taxi everywhere and since we're trying to save money, she doesn't use the taxi that much. I don't know, we need prayers. Pray our duplexes rent out and it all works out, pray for us and our homesickness, and pray for my travels; that everything will work out.
P.S. We're not extremely homesick, it's just that Chloe misses her grandparents, I miss food, friends, and family, and Brandy misses all of the above. But we're not crying about it or anything, Chloe might be actually, but Brandy and I are fine and we're glad we're finally settled.

Downloading it Yourself

This is instructions for if you really like my videos and want to put it on your own computer for later watching without having to use the internet. Go to the website vuze.com and download Vuze, it's free. After downloading vuze onto your computer, the icon looks like a frog, and you can open it. In the search box, the one that looks like a magnifying glass, type in Thixton. This should pull up all of the videos I have posted on there so far. You can also subscribe to me, so whenever I publish something you will see the new material. The more people who download it, the faster it is for other people to download it. So I encourage anyone who wants them to download them. Also, the files aren't large at all so downloading all of them won't take up much memory. This will also put Chloe's awesome directing skills on the map and hopefully somebody like Spielberg can see her potential and hire her when she turns 3. She can't be hired now, because everyone knows that you have to be older than 2 to be considered anybody in Hollywood.

I don't want to miss a thing

Videos: Chloe's Crib, Chloe Take 4

Well, I'm sorry for everyone in America. I can't video everything and I can't type everything that happens because my memory is only so good. And I can only type so much before my fingers become stuck in a typing motion and my eyes won't shut because I've been staring at the computer screen so long. All in all we're still doing great. Chloe went down the big slide all by herself today. I really wanted to video it but I couldn't find the camera. It turns out Brandy put it in a spot so she could find it later. She forgot. Seems she's been doing that quite a bit recently. She calls it "Baby Brain Drain", whatever. Anyways, Chloe has her Barbie's on the playground like we always do and I get on the big slide to show her how to do it by herself. I then ask her if she wants to do it with me. She tells me no, and then tells me to get off the slide. What? She wants the Barbie's to go first, so I oblige. She pushes the Barbie's down the slide and proceeds to get on the slide as well. As expected her to ask me to join her but she just takes off and slides down the slide. I was shocked, literally, because everything is made of fiberglass and metal so you conduct electricity on the fiberglass and then shock yourself on the metal. Everytime I went down the slide I got shocked somehow or another. Oh, also they put rubber tiles down instead of just concrete and I think it's recycled tires because my feet kept getting shocked everytime I slid down and stood up. I think it's because the tires have small metal shards in them, and it was a weird feeling everytime it happened. Then after sliding a few times normally, she began to explore and slide down on her stomach. She liked that so much that she only slid on her stomach from then on out. Any slide she slid down she would slide on her stomach. It was quite interesting to watch. One time she slid face-first on accident. She slid the Barbie's down first everytime, and one time Nel Barbie got stuck on a crack in the slide. Chloe went to reach for her and reached too far. She slid head first down the slide with a look of shock, which quickly turned into a grin once her feet touched the ground. It was a beautiful day today. Chloe wondered where the clouds were. I told her they were sleeping. Maybe I should tell her the truth next time about how the clouds aren't always there because of molecules in the air and water, but then I remember she's only 2. Sometimes it's hard to believe it with the sentences she uses and words she says. She's also learning some Korean without us teaching her. She's catching on to what the kids at church are saying. So found out how to say "no" and "thank you". She also knows some other stuff but I don't know it so I can't translate it for you. Enjoy Chloe's Crib, it's one of my collaborative masterpieces. And Chloe Take 4 is just another reminder of how Chloe sees the world.

Funex

Video: Storyville #3
If you didn't know, I'm helping Kidoong with the Funex curriculum he is developing. I do Storyville, Memory Station, and the intro to Storyville. Brandy does Storyville, songs, and other things. I use the Funex curriculum on Saturday for my Saturday school kids. Funex is a fun DVD based learning tool to teach kids about the Bible in English. My class is kind of a preliminary class because I'm the first one to use it. Also we don't have all of the material on DVD because they're still editing it. So I have to improvise a lot of stuff for now until they get the DVD's rolling. I like the Funex stuff and it's a lot of fun to do the recording. If everything works out then we will travel the world, on DVD. Kidoong plans on sending the material to Ethiopia, Germany, and other places for good English/Jesus learning material. The funny thing is, how many learning material videos have a pregnant women in them? Well, at least one now.

Monsters vs Aliens

The Video: Chloe Models Flowers

Aliens seems to be the subject of a lot of movies recently. Why is that? What happened to something cool at the end of the movie? I'm sorry for anyone who hasn't seen the new Indiana Jones, but I thought the movie ending was awful. And then I just saw another new movie which ends with aliens, and another 2 hours of my memory wasted. I think Hollyworld would be a better place if they thought of a more creative ending than aliens. It just seems that people really want to believe in something greater and they choose aliens. Stupid, I know. I challenge directors and writers everywhere to come up with a different ending than aliens. I liked it back in the day when you knew they were aliens the whole time and people coped with it or tried to destroy it. Monsters vs Aliens was pretty good. Not as funny as I thought it would be, but good graphics and story. I say stick to good ole romance, violence, monsters, dinosaurs, and Jackie Chan. Wow, I just made the best outline for a movie ever. We all know who makes the best movies anyways, Chloe.

nomroM

The Video: Playground Slides
So, I was playing on the playground with Chloe this past Monday and a couple Americans stopped by to use our outdoor restroom area around the playground. It's a nice facility and I would use it too if I was a passer-by since there aren't that many restrooms with such easy access in Cheonan. Well, I started talking with them once they had done their duties. They were wearing suits, name tags, and carrying bags over their shoulders. It wasn't hard to figure out that they were either Jehovah Witness or Mormon. Turns out they were Mormon. I have a friend in America that's Mormon and he tried to explain his "religion" to me, because I wanted to know what he believed, but it was too complicated. So we were having a nice conversation about America and Korea and the differences in churches and life. Then they began to share their message, of course after I told them I attended the church behind them, and said it was a lot like other religions. They believe in Christ and consider themselves Christians. I inquired about the book of Mormon because I was curious what it was about, and they showed one to me and told me it was written by other disciples. They also said they believe in the Bible, just like me. They wanted to call me and talk to me again, and I was more than glad to do that. I think they'll be disappointed though because I'm not interested in being converted. I just want a friend who speaks English. I guess I'll have to look elsewhere, because I looked up their "religion" on the internet and the differences between Christianity and Mormonism. Well, if you didn't know, Mormonism is really weird. It actually reminded me of Scientology. There were "spirit children", multiple gods, and the word of man was more powerful than the word of God. Yes they used the Bible, but only after believing the other stuff first. The Bible just fills in the gaps of their "religion" they want it to fill in. It's crazy, really, and complicated. How would someone believe something so complicated when Christianity is so easy? Believe in Jesus and let him into your life. That's really the basics of it.
The other day I was watching Fireproof and thinking of the bad things we do and how it affects our soul. We are forgiven and we get to have eternal life in heaven with God and Jesus because we are Christians. Do you know how hard it is to grasp that concept? Eternal life? No one lives forever on Earth and it's hard to imagine your soul living forever. Actually, it's hard to imagine your soul. Some invisible form of yourself, a mirrored reflection of the life you lived on Earth with or without Christ. So instead of "advertising" Christianity with Eternal Life, I was thinking more along the lines of The best friend you'll ever have. How many friends will stay with you for eternity? Many people suffer from loneliness, but with Christ you'll never be alone. I think people can better accept this more than eternal life, because it's something everyone can relate to. Then later you can throw in the surprise of eternal life. I just feel we as Christians are stuck on the idea of eternal life and being in Heaven, instead of thinking of the rewards we receive while still on Earth. Believing in Jesus gives us the reward of Jesus, the best friend you could ever have.