Made Especially For My Nonie!

This post is going to be for my Nona, so readers other than her and my family might not find it interesting. My Nona's been in the hospital and I thought she'd like to look at something especially for her to cheer her up a bit!

My Nona, I have some pictures and maybe a video or two to show your peepers something different. Don't worry, you don't have to look at it all at once!

This is when Anders married Emily in Arizona. Did you like
the warm weather there? It's so cold in Duluth, right?

Here is when I married Jonathon (remember that "handsome boy",
as you prefer to call him). Look at Jornie being so silly with Evan!

This picture is a favorite memory of mine because
when we were trying to take the picture, you kept
pinching both of our butts like you always do!

Nona, you just looked so awful pretty that you became
even more of a ham for the camera!

Here are some friendly faces you've been seeing a lot
lately, right? What great visitors!

This was from a fun weekend of marathon earring making! I think
we have some pretty special women in our family, don't you?

This is just a dopey picture from Korea that I thought
you might like. I am next to a guard outside of an old palace.

Surprise!! I bet you didn't expect this picture! I know how much
you love Johann The Cat! Look at him hiding in a
plant basket watching for birds outside.

This is our dog Molly playing with
her Dolly and I think it is funny how fluffy she is
and how she bounces around, just watch!

I thought you'd like this video because it is when Molly
was not feeling well in Korea (look at her saaaaaad face!).
To make her feel better, Jon sang to her. I know you love to sing,
so below you can listen to someone sing Amazing Grace to you!

I know how much you love Amazing Grace, and I bet
that Debbie or Carla will sing it to you to make you feel better like Molly!

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.

Love you lots, Nonie!
Anika

Good Ol' Lentils!

A little after Jon and I came back from Korea, my mom was nice enough to start gathering some pantry items for us when we moved to our new home. As another wonderful surprise, she brought us to a Mennonite food store that is kind of like a co-op. We were both very excited to choose some things for our cooking and baking needs. It was so fun to pick out great spices, pretty sprinkles, and among many other things, lentil beans. Growing up, I never really liked lentil soup and just the brown color of it kinda grossed me out. But, I thought I'd get a bag since Jon likes beans in general and try out some different recipes. So, I pulled out a recipe book that my Sasta (Aunt Carla) gave me for Slow Cookers. By the way, you have no idea how badly I missed my Crock Pot while in Korea; I'm pretty sure I complained about it weekly or at least thought about it every time I started cooking dinner at 9 PM. sigh. So, you can imagine my joy when I pulled out my Crock Pot from being cooped up in a box for the last year. I decided to christen it with an experimental lentil recipe, Mediterranean Lentil Soup to be exact.

Here's a rough recipe:

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 onion, celery and garlic, cook and stir for a bit. Stir in several chopped tomatoes, 1-2 cups of soaked lentils, tomato paste, thyme, and any other seasonings you like. Combine the lentil mixture with ~6 cups of beef broth and 2 bay leaves in the slow cooker. Cover; cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
   
2. I also made a vinaigrette to add before I served it. This included some basil, olive oil, parsley, and red wine vinegar.
   

So, see, easy, right! Now you can have your very own lentil soup. I usually am not one to follow recipes or even have a recipe when I'm cooking, as you might be able to tell by the recipe, but maybe you can still follow it. Normally, I would just look in the cupboard and throw together whatever I have to make a meal. I became very skilled in this technique while living in Korea and having two small shelves of food to use!

Jon tasting some of the soup....

...and then realizing it was too hot!
I'm really glad Jon loved the soup, I was a little surprised
because I didn't know whether he liked lentils or not. But thankfully, success!

Furniture!

As some of you know, Jon and I have been looking for living room furniture to complete our home. Right now, we have Nona's old glider recliner, our family's old Swedish chest, and a bunch of boxes. So, we obviously would like somewhere else to sit than the floor, the glider, and our bed. We've been looking at sofas and prices since we moved here and as I mentioned earlier on the blog, we had some success with my parents. Jon and I found the one we thought we wanted, we just needed to find a better price. I was thankful for Jon calling around to ask about prices and sales while I was at work. He found a great deal for the set we wanted at Carson Pirie Scott, a Herberger's sister company that I had never heard of. When the salesman, Marty, heard me say I had never heard of anything other than a Herberger's or Younkers, he was shocked, I guess he doesn't know what country life is all about. Anyways, he was a great guy and we ended up getting quite a discount as well as free delivery, yippee! But, we still have to wait for the sofa and loveseat to be made and delivered, which should take 8-10 weeks. So, we will still have to sit Korean style on the floor or cuddle up on the glider together, but that's fine with me. I look forward to curling up on our oh-so-comfortable sofa when it arrives! I thought you might want to see some pictures, sorry they aren't the best quality, but you can't get a feel of it. We are getting a sage color with a 'velvet' polyester material that's so soft and comfy. We also got to choose the throw pillows, I realized I am not that great at knowing or deciding what looks good. Marty said, "You will care someday." I thought, "I don't think so." I like certain things to match and go together, but I don't think I'm overly crazy about it or have a strong opinion about those sorts of things. Anyways, here you go! If you visit us, you might have a place to sit in a few months and can tell us what you think about our new set!

Picture off of the Rowe site, not the right color,
but you can see the shape at least.

I took this at the first shop we went too, we didn't
buy it there, but here's the love seat.

Love seat and Sofa

These pictures don't really do it justice, but at least you have an idea, now.

A Belated Thanksgiving

As I said before, I hadn't uploaded any photos on my computer since we left Korea, until now. Even though I already posted about Christmas and we are already more than a month past Thanksgiving, I love the pictures and the people in them and wanted you to see a few of them as well. My dad took these ones and I know we have some on our other camera, but this will do just fine! Also, this Thanksgiving was amazing, because it was the first time our entire family had been together since I believe 1999 (calculated by Blythe). So, our family has obviously grown since then, but there's always room for more! Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite holiday and this was a great memory, especially after being gone for the last year.

All the cousins/grandkids and Nona!-I love Nona's face,
always the laugh of the party!

All the beautiful women with Nona!

Sasta, Nona, and Hoodie. How cute!

Nona actually loves Molly, but the two times they met she kept saying,
"How can she see out of her eyes? Why does she have so much fur
over her eyes? Aren't you going to cut it?"

Magnus enjoying the Reddi-Whip. It was hilarious, Joseph was tipping him backwards in his high chair so he could get a better angle and fill his mouth.

E.O.T.S.J.B.!

I seem to have a sudden spur of energy to write blogs, it's probably because I finally decided to upload photos to my computer and I realized what I had hiding on it. Oops. Anyways, we might go back in time for a bit and visit some things I had neglected to share earlier. This post will be about some forgotten things as we arrived home from Korea. My computer had died when we got home, so I was without my comfortable blogging spot. So, kind of a random assortment of Molly and family things, hope you enjoy going back in time. :)

One of our last walks in Korea.


Molly loves the guinea pigs. Sorry the quality was not great on my phone.

My family is a pretty special family. Both my parents always came up with great ideas for Anders and I for fun and everything else. But, my mom came up with one of the most unique ideas I think I've ever heard of: End Of The Summer Junk Box (EOTSJB). Growing up, we were never allowed to have junk food or "gunk" food as Anders hatingly called it. Now that I am older, I am really thankful for my mom's persistence in making sure we ate healthy. Since we weren't allowed to have much junk food, mom designated Labor Day weekend to be the End Of The Summer Junk Box celebration day. I remember this being just about as good as Christmas, I mean seriously, what kid wouldn't want a box full of wrapped goodies to rip open and gorge themselves on? Well, not gorge, more like ration out for the next year until EOTSJB came around again. Well, this year, we had a late celebration and we were able to enjoy some fun and new goodies together.

What will it be????

Life Cereal!!!
Yes, Life was considered junk food in our home and healthy in Jon's home.

I'm obviously excited about the goldfish crackers and Anders
about his annual Swiss Cake Rolls.

We are all trying to decide whether or not to eat the sugar inside.

Among the things seen, there were apple rings, peach rings, Frosted Flakes, Lucky Charms, Peanut Butter Bars, and even more candy! Now, don't you wish you had an End Of The Summer Junk Box?

Pocket's First Christmas

This Christmas was really special for Jon and I, not only did we finally get to spend all of the Christmas celebration together, but we also had Molly Pocket with us. It was Molly's first Christmas since we got her as well as her first Christmas in America. I feel a little like one of those crazy old people that talks about their dog all the time, but I don't care! She truly is my baby and I can't even imagine how much more of a mother I will feel when we actually do have a baby (human that is). Anyways, Molly was given her very own stocking at the Enger home and had two new fun toys in it. Jon and I threw them to see if she was interested and she loved them. We remarked how wonderful it is that she now knows how to play. I don't know if you remember us mentioning her lack of understanding of 'play', but she had no idea. I brought her home from the shelter and had toys ready for her and she sat there, didn't bite, didn't move, she did nothing. I'm not exactly sure how we got her to play, but it probably took two months for her to start to realize what playing was (poor thing). When we went up to my parents house, Molly was also able to play with all our animals.

Molly the Adjuma.

I don't know why, but I tortured Molly by making a fountain on the top of her head with a bow, you can only see part of it from here. Poor tortured Pocket.

This is Molly after the rubber band and bow were removed. Again, poor tortured Pocket.

Jon decided to add a cape to the madness.

Little Hands

I said I would get some pictures up from my classroom and I am keeping my promise. We had such low numbers this last week, I actually had time to remember to snap a few pictures.

This is taken near the entrance to my room. We have the loft in the back for dramatic play, a math table in front of it, art table, and snack/cooking table next to the easel. We also have two computers behind the art cabinet for students to use for educational games. To the right of this picture (which you can see in the next picture) is a sink and prep table and two bathrooms for the students.

Here's from the back of my classroom, up front, we have our group time carpet and to the right we have a science and writing area, a puzzle carpet and separate block carpet area. If you could keep going at the top left, you would see the entrance to the room and the kids cubbies. You can see at the snack table, that we were cooking. I love that my co-teacher likes to do cooking with the kids 1-2 times every week. My classroom is also known for being very organized, disciplined, and science-based!

Some of my girls, too bad Bella is unhappy. I spend a lot of my time at the art table, things really haven't changed since I was 4, ha. I did plan some great art projects and activities for my 2nd week at Little Hands because my co-teacher was gone and I got to run things.

A few more things about my room is that we have 23 students together. Not all are there every day, but it's usually a pretty full and busy class. My room is also connected the the Kindergarten, we have a door in the back we share and so we have some extra help and get to see the older kids every once in awhile. I really love the people I work with and the place I am at. I am really thankful for such a wonderful place to work and look forward to being there for the duration of our time in this area.

Our First Guests!

My parents visited Jon and I this weekend and we had a great time! On Friday, my parents came straight to my preschool and got to see my center and meet a few of my students and fellow teachers. I was really happy to share my great, new school with my family. When we got back, Jon was cooking us a great dinner, full of garlic! YUM! We stayed inside that night as it was snowing. The snow ended up being beautiful the next morning and so we started the day by going to a reserve near our house. It was so gorgeous, the snow was piled on top of every branch and every limb of the trees! I was so glad that dad had his camera with to take some pictures of us!

Pretty!

Saturday, we decided to spend some time looking at living room furniture since we do not have any except Nona's old glider recliner. We didn't make much progress until today after church. I think we made a decision and are just trying to find a better price for it, so hopefully we can order them soon and have something comfortable to sit on! Today, we visited a church for the second time and it was wonderful. Last week, Jon and I went together and we both enjoyed it (I especially enjoyed the beautiful Christmas music, of course as well as the sermon). But, again, the worship was wonderful and the pastor's sermon was very applicable. The church we are looking at is Harvest Bible Chapel. I believe that it is connected with one of my favorite pastors Greg Laurie from CA. Pastor MacDonald has been preaching on Revelation and continued talking about God's throne and his great holiness and power. But, we'll keep praying about what church home God wants for us and look forward to seeing what he has for us. After going to church, we went to one more furniture store and then said our good-byes. It was great seeing them and having our first official guests!

Oh, one last wonderful thing. After saying good-bye, Jon and I went to IKEA again and picked up a bookshelf and desk for Jon's study/2nd bedroom. Besides the living room furniture, we should be done buying things for awhile, thank goodness. But, thank goodness that we have the money to buy these things, as well!

I really am hoping to get some pictures of our place, but hoping for them to look a little more organized. Keep waiting!

Preschool!

It is officially my third day of completed preschool teaching and I thought, you might be wondering how it's going. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes to me, by the way, they were great! I had a wonderful first day, the kids were great and everyone was very welcoming towards me. It seems that the connection there was correct, the women I am working with are great! I have also found a few other Christians, so I am really happy about that. Jonathon also made my day extra special, he helped make my lunch in the morning (and surprised me with a note) as I got ready, drove me to work, picked me up at work with a bouquet of roses in his hand, took me out for dinner (which ended up being on the house), and I arrived at home with things being put away and more organized as well as a special congratulatory note; what a great guy! I was felt so happy and loved by my Boy. He's so sweet. I am getting spoiled by having him at home while I'm away at work, that's for sure! Tonight, I came home with even more boxes unpacked and a delicious candlelit dinner of honey raspberry pork loins, fresh green beans, and wine. So, my Boy's been busy at home and treating me very well since we left the Northern Midwest.

Anyways, about school, I have a lot of fun and interesting kids and have had a lot of fun learning more about them as well as their routines. I had some kids say some hilarious things to me, but one of the best was the first that a child said to me. One girl said, "Hi Ms. Hanukkah, my friend Jadyn celebrates Hanukkah, too!" I feel like this was 'bad' timing coming in the middle of their Hanukkah celebration and my name being, Anika; poor things, they are so confused. I suppose it doesn't help that I've been reading them Hanukkah books every day either. Oh, tomorrow, one of our students' grandmothers is coming in to talk about their Hanukkah celebrations; I'm pretty excited about it. But, today was also a crazy day because we had one of two Christmas Recitals, the next is Thursday. My class sang two songs and did a great job! I might try to take some pictures tomorrow if possible, but we'll see. I do need to take some pictures so you can get a better picture, I suppose. Another funny thing that I have heard every day is from a boy adopted from Russia (who is just the cutest thing ever), he says, "I like your shirt! It's pretty!" I have no idea why he says it, particularly today when it had paint splattered all over it, but the last three days, has said it every day. One more quote that I would like to share is from an adult. Today, she said, "I can tell you're from Wisconsin, because I can hear a strong German accent." Ummm, what? First of all, that would be one thing I would try to avoid. But, who knows, maybe she confused a German accent with the good Scandinavian accent of elongating vowels. Who knows. Anyways, I found that entertaining.

But, that's all the preschool update I have for now. Everything's going very well and I have been doing well adjusting to my new workplace. Next week my co-teacher Vicky will be gone for the week so I will be thrown into teaching and leading things, so that should be interesting and somewhat crazy!

D-Day

All right, so our move-in date is tomorrow! Wow! It has been almost two months since we returned from Korea and in some ways, I feel like this day came up really fast and in other ways... it dragged on. Jon and I were both very thankful to have much needed time with family since we missed them this last year. But, we are also very glad to be moving on in our new chapter in life, have our own home, a new school, a new job, and (hopefully) being less nomadic. **Thanks to all the family that let us bunker down back and forth for the last two months, we loved the time we spent with you all!**

Jon was a wonderful helper the last week while he repacked boxes and we both cleaned out things we threw in at the last second of moving out of our first apartment in New Brighton. Gosh, that was a dreadful time (Thanks Bob for bearing with us). The drive to Birchwood by myself was also quite dreadful as I got pulled over for going 20+ miles over the speed limit. Surprisingly, I did not get a ticket; it must've been the crazed/exhausted/helpless look in my eyes after emptying our apartment and preparing to leave for Korea that did it! I don't know. I'm hoping Jon heard me through my sobs because I'd hate for him to hear about it for the first time on the blog... Anyways, we're hoping that moving-in will not be as stressful or crazy. Bob and Diane also helped us today in moving things out to the truck and organizing how things should go into the truck, it was a great help. They finally have their basement back, now that we've moved our belongings out (for now). I'm really glad that tomorrow we will be picking up my dad, Anders, and Emily up on the way to IL so that they can also help us-what great family we have!

Because I start my job on Monday, I will be quite busy right after we get there. But, Jonathon will have some nice free time to oh, I don't know, unload boxes, clean, cook, and other various things he might "volunteer" for. Again, what a wonderful husband I have! I hope to be able to keep up things on the blog, as I enjoy writing. But, maybe with Jon's free time, he will start a new section called, "Hey, I didn't know we had this!" and other various surprises as we/he opens our boxes.

Thanks again for keeping us in your prayers, we are so excited about this new adventure and stay with us because we'll both have some exciting things happening, I'm sure!

Our New Home!

A few posts ago, I told you a bit about our new home, but no pictures. I tried to get pictures off of the website, but they didn't really have many of our town-home, so that was sad. But, this is the outside, so you can see what it looks like from the outside at least...This picture shows both the two level town-home style as well as the 1st floor and 2nd floor apartments as well.


Hopefully Jon and I will be able to post some pictures after we get settled and have Internet, so you can see the inside, too!

Hooked

So, I haven't ever written a book recommendation on the blog, but maybe I'll start doing it more often for things I enjoy. We'll see. But, anyways, I discovered this book earlier this year and just started reading it after returning from Korea. The book is named Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex is Affecting Our Children. Hooked was written by Joe Mcllhaney, who was appointed by George Bush to be an advocate at the CDC to promote abstinence-only programs. Although this is probably not a book I would normally pick up, after having many conversations about this topic in Korea I wanted to be a bit more informed about the science behind the problem. Also, being a teacher and hopefully a parent in the future, I feel like it will be useful information to have handy.

Hooked was a good book explaining how the brain is affected and what chemicals are released even when someone just gives you a hug, crazy. I have read a few articles on the book and there are various reviews, but I think that overall, it is a good scientific book that I think will be very useful (as it already has been).

Anyways, I highly recommend this book whether you're married or not, have children or work with them; I see it being useful to everyone. If you want to take a look at the Christian site Crosswalk review, I thought it was a good overview of the book: Crosswalk.

I'd love to hear what you think if you end up reading the book or whatever. I don't know what books I'll be reading next, but if they're good, I'll share them with you again.

"We'd love to offer you the position!"

As you may guess from the title of this blog, I had some good news about my interview. I got a call on Monday from the assistant director who interviewed me and said they'd love to have me on their team of teachers. I'm so thankful to have a job, even before we move, it's amazing! I had been looking for a teaching job since early September when we were still in Korea. After applying to 11 school districts for many positions and not hearing anything, I was starting to worry about the whole thing. Well, worrying and not trusting God doesn't get you very far, does it? During this time, I had an unexpected lead on a preschool job and the director wanted my resume immediately. She said she would call me within the next few days, but when she didn't call, I started having another little freak out moment of not trusting God. My wonderful husband gave me a (figurative) shake and talked to me about how God always provides for us and if we aren't trusting Him to do so, then we are saying that God is not powerful enough to help or provide for us. Do I want to be doing that to my God? mmm no. So, while hauling wood, I had a good old cry and told God how I felt and gave over my worries and future job to him. After having the heart to heart, I said, "God, I bet that you're going to just show how cool you are and I'm going to get that call soon after surrendering this to you, because that's just how you seem to work with me." And, that's exactly what happened. I walked in the house, told Jon I prayed about it, and the phone rang soon after.

You know, I find it funny, well maybe not funny, but interesting that God will allow us to struggle and flail around in our worry and "control" and usually we won't really accomplish a whole lot until we do surrender to Him. Sometimes I just hate that! Why can't I have control, why can't I do the things that I want to do, why can't I strive and tire out......oh wait, maybe this isn't the better option. God will allow us to struggle on our own (I'm sure he doesn't like to see it), if only to show that we do need to give up our control and worries and really, He's the only option. I feel like this understanding should come faster to me, but I keep working on it and I hope to realize it sooner and for it to become more automatic.

Anyways, these are some of the things I've learned from my job hunt process. I also have learned that I like job hunting in that I like to see that there are options for me in teaching, but I hate the actual job searching, applying, and waiting part. blah. But, I suppose that you want to actually hear what my job is...oops, I got sidetracked, sorry. Anyways, my job is at a preschool named Little Hands, that is on an All-State campus a few miles south of where we're living. The preschool is a Child Development Center (CDC) similar to what Bethel was. So when I mention I work at the CDC, know that I do not work for The Center for Disease Control (although with all the germy little kids running around, I feel like I'm sometimes at a center of disease :) no, I love those little kids). I will be working in a 4s and 5s room with a head teacher and two assistants, I believe. I think we have around 15 children, not exactly sure. The CDC is really big and ranges from infant-kindergarten with about 250 kids. I start the job two days after we move, so it will be quite the whirlwind the next few weeks. I am really excited to be working at a preschool again. I realized that I really missed the little ones while I was in Korea.

Thank you for your prayers for Jonathon and I as we have been transitioning back from Korea, finding jobs, and moving into our new home, we definitely covet your prayers. I will keep you updated about things with our job and moving, so keep following The Enger Cafe!

More Of A Molly Update Than An Enger Update...

All right, so I did not update like I said I would, but I'm sure you understand with all the craziness that's been going on. I still hope to get some pictures from Japan and DMZ when Jon uploads them to his computer. Oh wait, I just realized I have an SD slot on my *new* camera, so I might steal it instead... Anyways, I thought I would at least update on what is the latest news in with the Enger family.
Jon starts seminary at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) on January 11th, so we thought it would be a good idea to move sometime soon and stop living the nomadic life for awhile. So, we found a wonderful town-home style place that we will be moving into in two weeks. The town-home is in Wheeling, IL and is in between my very possible job and TEDS. We will be moving there in two weeks and hopefully I will be starting my preschool job soon after. It would be great to have some income for December compared to having none in the last month and a half. But, the upside, is that we've had some wonderful family time staying at Jon's family and my family off and on. We have also been able to spend time with our siblings which has been wonderful. Jon and I were even able to attend a couples retreat last weekend with Anders and Em at Camp Forest Springs, our childhood family vacation spot! Who would've thought that we'd be there for a couples retreat later on down the road--not I! We are also really excited to be spending Thanksgiving in the States with family in Duluth, who we don't get to see often enough. We will also be spending the weekend with some of Jon's family and then the crazy week of repacking begins.

I'm sure your real reason for reading the blog is for an update on Molly and her adjustment. She's been doing great going from home to home and meeting new animals in each place. We first began at Rochester where there are dogs in other homes, but none in the Enger house. But, Molly did have a few play dates with the dog across the street and she apparently loved it. When we went to stay with my family, it was quite the change.
At my parents house, I have a collection of animals that my dad has somehow allowed to stay there over the years...we have Chipper our big 80 pound dog who thinks she is still a puppy/lap dog, Johann our Christan cat from Camp who think he's the ruler of the roost, Jon and my two guinea pigs Pipsqueak and Mutton Chop who have my dad wrapped around their little toes to give them as much hay as they want, and lastly, we have Honey Bunny my rabbit I've had since I was 13. So, lots of animals and lots more outside to watch. Molly's relationship with Chipper is well, weird. They never seem to be on the same page of wanting to play with each other. Chipper's long legs almost smash her while she pounces in her playful way, but Molly doesn't know how to react and ignores her or runs away. But then, Molly will try to play and runs in between and under her legs and Chipper gets befuddled and doesn't know what to do. It is also funny that when Chipper barks, Molly feels the need to bark as well even though she doesn't really know what's going on. So, I think Molly has tried to find something more her size to play with and this is Johann. Molly hops and puts her bum in the air expecting Johann to play and chase each other like any other good animal friend would do. Not so. First of all, I have to explain how they first met so you can get the real picture. Jon and I had arrived in Birchwood and I was holding Molly on my lap sitting by the fireplace and here comes Johann ready to sprawl out in front of the fire and stay there all night. Somehow Johann is completely oblivious to Molly, even though I thought he looked right at her. I was afraid of how Molly was going to react because of how she enjoyed torturing and scaring a cat at the shelter. So, I held onto Molly so she wouldn't attack him, well, I didn't do a good enough job and she jumped off my lap and onto Johann. This caused Johann to run off and make a run for the basement (his kitty lair). Johann made a quick getaway to the basement, but not without running into the dining room table, chair, and china cabinet on his way. All I saw was a white blur streak across the room. Since then, Molly has enjoyed terrorizing him, but I think slowly, she is being nicer to him. So, anyways, Johann comes out and walks around a bit, but is still very cautious of Molly. But out of all the animals, Molly loves the pigs. Whenever they squeak, Molly will come running from wherever in the house to come watch them. One last animal that Molly Pocket has been able to play with is Tessa, our cousin's dog. Tessa is a medium sized dog and so Molly has a better chance of playing somewhat safely. They had a fun time meeting each other in Duluth and then playing in the backyard. Tessa is very protective of their yard and therefore, she barks whenever someone goes by. Well, again, Molly felt the need to get in on this action and bark whether she knew what she was barking at or not. It was the cutest thing, she would hop back and forth looking in every which way and make a little "ruff". Molly has had a lot of fun with new animal friends and have done great traveling from place to place.
So, these are the most recent adventures of Molly and The Engers. I will be updating about our move and what not in the next few weeks. Thanks for waiting for a post!
Anika

Back in the States!

I know I haven't written a blog update in a little while and I still have several things to write about. But, the reason for not having time to write is because Jon and I were packing, cleaning, and getting ready to leave Korea. So, I'd say this is a pretty good excuse for not having any recent blog updates, right?
Needless to say, I still want to write about our last two trips; 1. Japan 2. DMZ. So, hopefully I will be able to do this soon. What makes it a little more complicated is that my good ol' Mac decided to kick the bucket and I'm awaiting the arrival of my new baby Mac. Hopefully, I will be able to update within the next week or so. Also, just because we are back from Korea doesn't mean we won't be blogging anymore, we plan to keep The Enger Cafe open for business. So, keep a lookout for some new posts by us!
--Thank you for all your prayers for us during the last year and during our crazy transition home. We know that many of you were praying and thinking about us and it has really helped. We still have a lot of things that we are praying for (housing, jobs, etc.) and know that God is faithful and will take care of us and provide for us. Oh, one last thing, Molly's had a great transition and great travel from across the seas. I was so proud of the little baby. She is having such a fun time running around the yard as well as the house--quite a difference when compared to our little one room home. We are both very happy that we brought her back with us, I couldn't imagine her in Korea; she is just so happy here. :)
Thank you again for your prayers and hopefully I can update you with more in a little bit!
--Anika

My Little GTi's.

This semester, I started teaching a GTiC1A class. This is my first GTi class since being at POLY. GTi means gifted and talented kindergarten, and the "1" means they are on a 1st grade level in Korean school. Anyways, I love the little ones, but not necessarily in such a structured classroom setting because they don't always do the best in that setting. But, I try to make it fun and interesting regardless. I have a lot of fun students in there that just crack me up; I seem to have daily laughter fits from something someone did or said. The picture and video below shows a couple of my GTi students.

This is a picture of Lavender and Dennis. Both students had accidents around the same time and also happened to be sitting next to each other. Lavender fell off her mother's bed and smacked the bridge of her nose on the nightstand. Dennis fell off his bike and basically, his face broke his fall. His right eye was pretty swollen for a couple of days. Poor little things.


This student is one of my favorite students, David. I have never had a funnier and quirky student than David. His little laugh and chunky cheeks get me every time. He'll just give me his cute smirk in class and we'll both be laughing. But, I also just love the way his little voice is and his uniform in the video; what a cutie!



This last video is a speech by Emma. Emma has quite the attitude and usually likes to share it with me everyday. Regardless, she is a funny student and has a personable little lisp or something. Also, check out her cool clothes, I wish I could have dressed like that--well, it's possible that I did...In this video, Emma has her hair in braids, but usually, they are wrapped in brightly-colored leather ties and remind me of something from Pocahontas, which also gives me a little laugh every day.

The Rapture....Or Modern Art??

A few weekends ago, Jon and I went on a crazy adventure in search of T.G.I.F. with Michael and Sarah. We walked all over these back alleys and couldn't find it anywhere. Finally, we asked around and found a phone store that helped us out. After having the taxi driver on the phone being directed by T.G.I.F., we arrived! When we stepped out of the taxi, this was the site that we saw...

Statues staring up at the sky...


and other statues walking up a pole towards the sky.
I really didn't know what to think or what to say, but to just take a picture.

Also on this adventure, we saw an "Old Western" shop with some random cowboy apparel and this t-shirt. It goes to show that they have a lot of bitter roots towards the Japanese, but to even show it in English, I thought was odd. It's really unfortunate about the hatred, even my very young students talk about their hatred towards Japan. Maybe the T-shirt is American because it's English, I don't know. So, maybe we also need to forgive our bad history, but either way, not a great shirt. The history between the two countries is very bad, but I think that if they were to apologize, accept, and forgive, there could be some major progress and growth between the countries and as they work together in the world. I hope to see the relations between Korea and Japan get better, so better things can come from it all.

A Saturday at Insadong

Insadong is a pretty tourist area, but many Koreans go there because it is quite artsy. But, despite it being touristy, it is probably one of my favorite places to spend the day. There are alleys of tea houses and restaurants, there are always fun activities happening, and lots of great stuff to buy! Last Saturday, Jon and I went to Insadong with another teacher friend, Betsy. We did some shopping before we are coming home, but we also got to go to a great teahouse-I only wish I had discovered this teahouse 11 months ago...

Here's some proof of our Insadong trip! Don't you wish you could come?

A view from our seats on the floor. The teahouse was filled with various
clay pots and field tools. Oh, and, there were bird cages all over with little
finches in them. It was adorable!

Our absolutely amazing cinnamon tea. It's cold tea, so you can see the
shaved ice in it. The treats are traditional Korean food, made of course with rice.

Yum!--It was floor seating, so Jon and I were crammed close at a
table that was about 18 inches long.

Little girl in the traditional Korean Hanbok.

A whole lot of herbs and parts of trees??? I thought of my Sasta when
I saw this and how she would have carried bags of this home.

Korean Starbucks (pronunciation: su-tah-buck-su copy)

Street food: corn, roasted chestnuts, whole smoked squid,
octopus tentacles, and fried squid.

Going to Japan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also,
I'd just like to say, Jon and I are going to Japan for a long weekend next week. Korea has one of their biggest holidays, Chuseok. Chuseok is kind of like their Thanksgiving. During this time, we are going to visit the missionaries I worked with a couple of years ago, the Conrads. We will also be seeing another missionary that my parents and churches have supported for many years. I am really excited for Jon to meet the people and see where I have been. I will have an update hopefully next week for you! Below are the Conrads: Benjamin, Christopher, Doug, Cheryl, and Ohka.

My Class Chains...

As you know, Jon and I started a new semester at the beginning of the month. For the first day, I did the normal get to know you things, but I also tried something new. One of our other teachers was having the students make a chain (like the ones we use to count down to Christmas) and write sentences about themselves on each link. I had my students do this and present it to the class as well, but we decided to add something else. After talking about my rules and why rules are important, I had my students write a rule that they thought was the most important on a gold link. Then, we shared our rule. After the rules were shared, we used the rules to link our class chains together. Even though it was a little difficult for my lower ESL students to understand, we talked about how if we break a rule (such as being unkind to each other), our class chain can break and we aren't connected as much and the rest of us are hurt as well. (or something to that effect). We have the chains hanging in my room and it may look like a torture chamber, but oh well. Hopefully, instead, it is a reminder of the rules and who each of us are...

My GT2 students.

My GTi students.

Urban OR Rural?

During September, I have been teaching my 2nd graders about urban, suburban, and rural areas. After finding out what each area had to offer, most of the students said they would prefer to live in a suburban area because of the grass and a bigger house, while still being able to go into the city for fun. Personally, I love rural areas and last week while shopping I was reminded of the vast difference between rural and urban areas. Being in Seoul, I have seen how important fashion and looking absolutely wonderful is to people. But, being from the rural north, most of us just care if we're warm enough and if we'll have to carry a shovel into work just in case our car gets snowed in during the day....Okay, that's not all we care about, but that's what came to my head when I stepped inside one of my favorite stores in Korea, Uniqlo. (Mostly, the only reason I like Uniqlo is that they have sizes that fit Americans rather than just the little Koreans.) They have had this fashion displayed before, but never to this extent!

Anyways, enough with the suspense, this is what I saw....

Am I in Fleet Farm or....

....a Japanese fashion store?

Ahhhhh, home! Now, where are the rubber boots, bags of candy, and on-sale fishing gear? But, yes, plaid is actually a huge deal here and it is extremely fashionable now--and not just practical! So, if by chance, someone gives you a little glare for wearing your favorite coffee stained, plaid shirt, just say, "Hey, it's all the rage in Asia!"

Some Recent Paris Park Adventures

As you know, Molly gets to go to a park twice a day for her walk. Sometimes, she even gets to go down by the river with me! It seems like there's always an adventure waiting for us on our walks and Molly seems to eagerly await them. There have been some funny little things that have happened in the last week that I wanted to share with you.

1. A few days ago, the morning was full of interactions with people. First of all, we stepped out of our apartment and there was an Ajishe (a Korean man, this is what you call the men here-the Korean literally meaning Uncle). I am often cautious about bringin Molly over to them when they call her because of bad experiences in the past, but this Ajishe seemed kind. Molly eager bounded over to him and let him pet her, hold her front feet and dance with her while he talked to her. He was very nice and I could tell that Molly was overjoyed about this because she was jumping up in the air, while spinning around and wildly shaking her tail. We said good-bye to this Ajishe and started walking towards the park. Thirty seconds later, we saw another Ajishe sitting outside our favorite Baskin Robbins. Molly got excited again because it was another nice man to get attention from so she ran right up to him expecting to be loved like her last Ajishe. Instead, the Ajishe looked at her strangely and then started loudly barking, clapping, and stomping at her. Molly didn't know what to do but run in the opposite direction and stare. I could see her wheels turning, "Should I bark? Should I keep walking? What is this strange thing?" Poor Molly, her hopes of friendship and love were dashed! Well, we continued on through our back alley to Paris Park and we ran into a nice woman at the entrance to the park. She had stopped to look at Molly and as we came closer, she called Molly to her and started petting her. Then, all of a sudden, the woman (in high heels) starts running and motions for Molly to follow. I'm standing there holding onto the leash not knowing what to do but run as well. Molly seemed to decide that she wasn't in the mood to sprint, but to rather bound in the air and bark as she did so. The woman continued to hop next to Molly and I as we went down the walkway. I don't even know how this odd even ended, but it seemed that we all just turned and went our own ways. Mind you, this was all happening in front of a large group of Koreans enjoying the spectacle. You never know what you might run into on your way to the park...
2. Jon and I have figured out that Molly acts very different depending on who is walking her. When I walk her, she is always on the look out and if she sees a dog, she immediately starts pulling and sometimes barking at the other dog. I really wish she would just ignore them, but no. Usually, I have to pick her up so we can move on, but still her head is turned and twisted so she can keep her eye on the dog. Also, I have learned that she has an excellent sense of direction because no matter where we go, she will remember what direction the dog was seen and keep her head watching to see if it will reappear. With Jon, she seemed much more subdued. She will see a dog and stop and look at it and sometimes pull, but usually doesn't make a big deal about it. I think that we've decided she's more protective of me or something. Anyways, we were entering the park the other day and Molly saw a big yellow lab being walked and apparently decided she could "take" this dog, even though she's shy probably about 60 pounds compared to the lab. She pulled and barked and tried to show her fierceness. But, the lab just casually looked at her and kept walking, now why can't Molly do that? Apparently Molly thinks that she can handle any dog. I'm interested and a little worried about how she will handle Chipper, the 90 pound, awkward giant...hopefully they will become friends and sit and watch the birdies and monsters (chipmunks) from the back door.
3. A sad thing that has occurred at Paris Park is the paving of the semi-wooded and dirt trails. Molly and I liked to go on these trails because they are more adventurous and feel a little more like the country. But, the park caretakers decided to extend the walking path to these areas and take away our magical adventure land. Well, I guess we'll have to wait to run around Birchwood or walk by the river more often.
   

Chippie Link and Jonathon, you can see she is a
big dog, but a love.

My baby doll.

Molly the Terrible Eater

Now, I know that I've been a little absent from the blogging scene the last two weeks, but it's all for a good reason; I've been applying and applying and applying. I've been working on my teaching application for IL and job applications for about two months so I can hopefully get a head start on all this scariness. All that Jon and I ever hear from people around us as well as those who have left Korea, is "Don't go to the U.S. You'll never find a job. You will just come back to Korea." Hmmm, right. Well, thanks for the encouragement anyways. Jon and I both know that God wants him to go to seminary and He wants me to be right next to his side. Although, transitioning back to the U.S. is definitely going to be difficult for me, I am happy to know our next step in life and serve along side my husband.

But, anyways, I know all you want to hear about is Molly, so here you go.
Have you ever read the book Gregory the Terrible Eater? Well, if you haven't, it's a must-read. I remember my mom reading me this book and I loved it and I read it to my students all the time. The book is about a family of goats, the parents eat "healthy" goat food, which consists of the normal cans, shoelaces, boots, tires and what not. But, their son Gregory will only eat "unhealthy" food: orange juice, eggs, etc. Gregory's parents are upset at him eating unhealthily and take him to see a doctor and they try to slowly mix the healthy goat food
in with his unhealthy human food. Well, I won't spoil the ending for you, you'll have to read it yourself. But, sometimes I feel like Molly is Gregory in a way. I want her to eat her nice Purina dog food with beef, chicken and what not in it. But, Molly seems to be a garbage disposal and
I'm continually surprised what she willingly devours. For example, I was cooking tonight and I dropped a potato peel, celery, and raw onion. As usual, Molly is waiting and watching my every move to see what treasure I will drop her way (I'm an easy target as I seem to always be dropping things). Well, of course, she dove right in for the peel, celery and onion without hesitation and carried it to the front door, her favorite spot to eat things she's not supposed to.
Or, for another example, those lovely days when we come home from a long day's work and Molly's gotten into the garbage. I have learned that Molly has a love for coffee grounds. Yes, she eats the other things in the garbage and carries the banana peels and tissues onto our bed as a gift. But, coffee grounds, she seems to especially adore. There was one night after the garbage raid that I could tell that Molly had gotten her prized coffee grounds.
Reason #1: There were no grounds left on the top from the morning.
Reason #2: Molly was running around like a crazed chicken on death roll. She was flying back and forth across our small apartment and even after taking her outside for a nice energy release, she was back at it. I think what finally calmed her down was some cuddle time, but really, dog, what were you thinking?
One more final example is when we are taking the elevator down to have a walk, Molly of course likes to see what's on the floor-since she's only 4 inches from it. I have no idea what's on that floor and I don't want the Pocket licking it. No matter how many times I tell her, "Molly, little ladies do not lick things off the strange ground, that's yucky." She doesn't get it. Sigh.

Molly will literally eat just about anything that's dropped on the floor. Maybe this is her scrappy, homeless dog nature, but my dog at home, Chipper, never did this. Okay, yes, she will eat sticks of butter of the counter in a gulp and whole racks of buns, but she won't eat grapes. She will play with grapes, but she won't eat them. Chipper is also picky about her greens, so who knows about these crazy dogs!

Anyways, there's a Pocket story for you, I have some good park ones coming up soon, hopefully. Saturday, Molly and I are going to Itaewon together to pick out her traveling carrier--we are both excited. We are also excited because we found out it will only be $100 to bring her on the plane; this is a couple hundred dollars cheaper than what we had heard.

Anyways, thanks for being patient in the blog break. Keep a look out for some more about Molly and the rest of the Engers.