Holiday Update

Christmas and New Years have come and gone and we have settled back into a somewhat normal routine once again. The holidays were packed with holiday parties and gatherings with families and friends. We were able to attend Neal's Coca-Cola Christmas party at his bosses home, which is just about 15 minutes from our house! It was quite the "corporate" experience! He works with about 6 Chris' which makes conversations quite difficult to follow sometimes!

That was followed by the Korean Consulate Christmas party at a Korean BBQ restaurant in Duluth. Unfortunately spouses were not included in this one, so it was just me and my 14 Korean co-workers enjoying some very tasty BBQ! At any group function that we have, we go around the table and each person is suppose to give a speech about whatever the occasion may be. For Christmas we each say what we are happy with in the office and what we think we could improve upon for the next year. So, I sat through 14 Korean speeches with absolutely no idea what they were saying. Sometimes I like to make up what they are saying in my head. (it can be quite comical!) I have to fill the time somehow, right?!

So Christmas day finally came and we celebrated with the Kemp family. We love spending time over there just hanging out with the family!

That brings us to the 26th of December. After a late night staying up and talking with David & Caroline, we awoke at 5:30am to start the journey to the airport. I awoke with a 102 degree fever, but somehow managed to get myself together enough to convince myself it would be alright to go sit on a plane for two hours. We made it in plenty of time, thanks to Dmitri and his stroller line!

Our time in Virginia and DC was filled with many pleasant and fond memories mixed with trials and tribulations! With that many people and personalities, disagreements and differences of opinions are sure to arise. Here's the little tid-bit that I learned through my observations of the trip: Each person is responsible for their own actions, words and emotions. We all need to discern how to properly control ourselves and our actions as well as our own emotions so as not to create strife between each other! As my mom continues to 'lecture' me on (it's ok mom, love you for it!) love is an ACTION! We are commanded to love one another, whether we feel like it or not. Love is not just in our emotions, but evidently shown through our actions and our words.

All in all, it was a great time to visit with our gracious hosts: Grammee, Donny, Cissy, Andy, Alex and the rest of the VA Parker clan! We had a wonderful time meeting new family members and catching up with those that we had not seen in a while. Here are a few highlights from the trip:

US Supreme Court Building

Library of Congress

Dmitri & Uncle Donny

Mount Vernon



Sharon, Caroline, Dmitri, Deb, Neal, Brian on the Capital Building Tour



Neal & Andy



Donny & Cissy



Grammee, Deb, Neal, Meghan

After we returned, I was starting to recover from that nasty cold that I just couldn't shake the entire trip. Unfortunately, Neal was starting to get the cold! So, we just stayed at home on New Years for a quite and restful start to 2010!

We pray that we each strive to continue following the Lord's will for our lives both individually and together this coming year and for the years to come!

Love,
Neal & Deborah

~"Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand." ~ Prov. 19:21