On New Years Eve we went to a Norebang (a Korean Karoke room) with some friends.  This is Anna and Tyler having fun singing the itsy bitsy spider!

We had just goten out of Christmas service and went to the Dragon Hil to see all the Christmas decorations.  They had a countdown to Christmas so the kids got their picture by it.

We were at the Plaza Hotel and Mike went upstairs to get a picture of all the kids from above.  

We took the kids ice skating.  It was so nice, they had lots of fun.

Marina and Anna. 

After we went ice skating we took the kids to get a snack a a Dunkin Donuts.  On our way we stopped by a Palace by the City Hall and snapped this photo.

The kids are sledding in our backyard.  Not much snow but they didn't care, they still had fun!!

Nick Christmas Caroling at the Dragon with his class.  Anna and I went to watch, it was so cute!!

Skating in Seoul

The family went skating at the City Hall in Seoul. It only cost 1,000 won to go skating and included the skates!

Guitar Hero World Tour

LifeChurch TV

I checked out Lifechurch TV for the first time. It was really incredible. They also have LifeGroups afterwards online.

A Pirate, A Pirate says Arrrr!

Let this be a lesson to all you future pirates out there!

Somali pirates drown as they flee with ransom

SIX Somali pirates who hijacked a Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of the ransom when their boat capsized as it left the vessel, their leader said yesterday.

Four others were missing with their share of the $3m payoff, which been parachuted on to the tanker on Friday, Mohamed Said said by phone from the port of Harardhere.

“The small boat that was carrying those killed and eight who survived was overloaded . . . they were afraid of a chase from outsiders [foreign navies of the combined maritime forces],” he said.

Mohamud Aden, a resident of the port off which the tanker had been anchored watched by the warships, said: “The capsize was an accident. The pirates were full of joy and partially frightened by the presence of foreign war machines and were speeding. That was a tragedy for the pirates.”

In all, several dozen raiders had held the ship and its 25-member crew, including two Britons, to ransom. They were well-armed and disciplined but as soon as they got the ransom a shootout nearly broke out, it was reported.

The 1,080ft Sirius Star, owned by Aramco, is the largest vessel hijacked by the Somali pirates. It was seized in November in the Indian Ocean, well outside the raiders’ usual operating area.

The tanker was carrying 2m barrels of oil, more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia’s daily output and worth an estimated $100m. Its capture was seen as a dramatic demonstration of the pirates’ ability to strike hundreds of miles offshore.

The tanker’s crew included second officer Jim Grady, from Renfrewshire, and chief engineer Peter French, from Co Durham. Yesterday they were looking forward to coming home, though latest reports said the ship was still anchored off Harardhere.

More than 100 ships were attacked off the Horn of Africa last year and maritime officials said the problem was out of control. The pirates were said to have raked in $120m and still hold some 14 merchant ships and 300 crew.

The Sirius Star’s release came as the US Fifth Fleet announced that a taskforce targeting piracy would be launching later this month.

Nato and the European Union have warships in the Gulf and the Chinese navy has said it will assist.

Sanctus

I love this song. It's Whatever You're Doing by Sanctus Real.

Year in Review

It's hard to believe that 2008 is over.  So much has happened in the past couple of years that it's hard to keep things straight sometimes.  Here's a quick recap of 2008:

- January:  Grandpa Pavek went home to Grandma.  His Alzheimer's disease meant that he didn't recognize any of us anymore.  I think the hardest part of the disease is that you lose your loved one well before they pass away.  The day that he died we were driving up to MN and were listening to the The Bible Experience (an audio fullcast version of the Bible) and going through the Lord's Prayer when Mom called to tell us that we didn't need to hurry any longer.  To this day, the Our Father reminds me of that moment.  We also started attending the Open Door Baptist Church in KC.

- February: Joe and Sarah visited us in our house in KS.  This was the first time that they had visited us since we lived in Colorado in 1997.  It turned out to be a great visit and really brought the two families together.  At the end of the month, I joined Freedom Ministries to help with my sexual addiction.  This was a life-changing event.  I would like to say my road to recovery has always been smooth, but I've had my share of setbacks.  Nevertheless, I continue to trust in God and lift my addiction up to Him.  Please continue to pray for me with this season of trial.

- April: I coached Phillip and Nick's soccer team. It was a great experience and I loved the opportunity to get closer with the boys.  We also finally got our PCS orders to Korea and started making all the preparations for the move overseas.

- May:  As part of my recovery, I had to face some of my past failures the last time I ws in Korea.  It's funny how things that you push to the back of your mind comes out during recovery.  I've had to face several such skeletons.

- June: CGSC Graduation!  I really enoyed my time at the school.  I got reacquainted with some old friends and made several new ones.  We said goodbye to new friends and began the trip to Korea by starting off with leave in MN.  We had a family reunion, reconnecting to two sides of my dad's family.  This started during Grandpa's funeral when we realized how much we long it had been since we all sat down together.  

- July:  PCS to Korea.  One of the greatest God moments in my recent memory occured when my prayers were answered before my very eyes while trying to find seats on the airplane, after being bumped from our flight.  Seats were unavailable because we had Zoey with.  I said a quick prayer that we find seats and all of a sudden seats opened up!  

- August: The boys joined Kumdo and Tae Kwon Do.  I participated in a big training exercise, which had its emotional moments.

- September:  The kids started their first year in an overseas school.  Anna joined ballet and we went on a trip to Yesan.  After attending nearly every english church in the area, we settled on the Seoul International Baptist Church.

- October:  New neighbors moved in that we would become good friends with. 

- November: Anna joined Kinderdance.  Mary had her nasal polyp removal surgery in a Korean hospital. We had Thanksgiving at our house, which was a first for us.

- December: Merry Christmas!!!! Ice skating, Karaoke, and shopping trips.  We broadcasted our present opening on the internet for my parents to watch.  It was really hard to remain focused on Jesus at times.  This is something that we all need to work on, but I realized how blessed we are to be here in Korea together.  We miss our family all the time, but are looking forward to the day when we are all reunited.

That pretty much wraps everything up.  We hope that you all had a good New Year and look forward to hearing from each of you.  Happy New Year!

The Pavek's