let the training begin!

In March Tom and I will be leading a trip to Nepal. We'll be taking 13 kids and 7 leaders (including ourselves) to Nepal on a mission trip. We'll be spending time in villages, trekking the Himalaya's, and sharing Jesus as we go. In preparation of our trip we had our first training session today, which was a three hour hike. The terrain we hiked today does not even compare to what we will see in Nepal, but it was a good work out (I'm sure our legs will be sore tomorrow). Here are some pictures of the practice hike today:

Here's the team


I'm not sure exactly how this was made, but it looked like we were in Antarctica or something.


Thanks Mom and Dad for the new hiking pants and shirt...they worked great!

First time head coach

Wednesday morning I wake up to an e-mail from my head basketball coach. He informs me that he will be out sick and will not be able to coach at our game as a result. Immediately my stomach begins to turn. I'm not too worried because the team we are playing is like 4th or 5th ranked and we are 2nd. But it still makes me nervous. I have to be the head coach. At least I was going to have a great assistant (Bonnie agreed to assist me).

Wednesday we were poised to take the #1 seed in our tournament. All we had to do is win our last 3 games and it would be ours. We play the current 1st ranked team today (Saturday) and the 3rd ranked team Wednesday. You can see the set up right? Everybody is going to take this game for granted. I did my best to make sure that wouldn't happen.

We started the game out really well. But after 4 minutes my two top players both had 2 fouls and therefore were benched for the rest of the half. Despite that we were up 21-8 at the end of the first quarter. I pulled the team together in the break and told them to keep fighting hard and I wanted the score to be 40-8 at half time. Well it was 25-12 at half... We kind of had an offensive slow down.

I was a little concerned about this but our defense was playing well. To make along story short our offense never got back into rhythm. At the end of the 3rd it was 29-20. And then at the end of regulation...34-34. Overtime! Not overtime. This is just what I didn't need. I'm thankful that we didn't lose. I couldn't have faced my head coach if that happened.

Thankfully overtime seemed to bring new life to the team. We nailed a 3 early and played intense defense. We knocked down a couple of mid-range jumpers and ended up pulling it our 44-38. I'm glad we won. I would have felt pretty awful otherwise. I think this experience has cemented in my mind that I do not desire to be a head coach for a while. Too much stress. I think I looked like this most of the game...

Thank You Dave Ramsey

Today is a big day. Our chains have been cut. We have been set free. The man is no longer holding us down. We are debt free!!!!!!!

I know nothing about Dave Ramsey other than he wants you to be debt free.

The only debt we have had with us since we got married was some student loans. Because of the gracious provision of both of our parents the amount was not near as large as it could have been with both of us going to MU for 4 years. Bonnie has said for a while that she thinks we should just pay them off but I have been resistant because we have a savings account that earned a decent interest rate.

We had been told that the interest rate on our savings account probably outweighed the interest rate on our loans so we should just ride out the payment plan. We would stand to save more money that way. Well when the economy crashed so did our savings account interest rate; from 4.5% to 1.25%. However, our loan interest stayed the same. Not until recently did I take the time look up that interest rate, 3.5%.

As a result we decided it was in our best financial interest to rid ourselves of debt. The deed has been done. It feels good to be free.

absentee report

I know we have commented on the funny and outrageous reasons that students miss classes at our school but these were too good not to mention. Here are two reasons that students missed class this week:

"Sickness due to operation for wisdom"
"Slapped on ice"

I can't help but chuckle...

MIZ-ZOU

Korea never ceases to amaze me. On the first day of school Bonnie had her student answer the question, "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" One of the students wrote, "At the University of Missouri Columbia." Of course this prompted some questioning on Bonnie's part. She found out that this girl's dad had attended MU to get his PhD in Political Science. Crazyness. He is now a professor of political science at Dankook University (DKU) here in Korea (about 30 minutes from school). Sorry but to keep thing anonymous I'm going to avoid using names.

When this girl's dad found out that there were 3 teachers at our school from MU (Bonnie, myself, and our counselor Steve Darby) he insisted that he take us out to dinner. Well, Tuesday night we finally pulled it together. We had the opportunity to meet up with him as well as 3 of his professor friends that also received degrees from MU.

It was a fantastic evening. We were really bummed that we forgot to bring our camera to take pictures with these men and chronicle the event. The company was great. These men LOVE MU. They all talked about MU football and basketball and how much they love Chase Daniel and Mike Anderson and MU football games. We chatted it up about the Berg, Flatbranch, Shakespeare's, and other great Columbia eateries. One of the men even said that he considers Columbia his second home.

The food was also amazing. There was soup, salad, oysters, pork, beef, shrimp, duck, fish, fruit... I could go on. I don't even want to venture a guess at how much the evening cost.

To top it all off our host presented us with gifts as a memento from our evening. He wanted to give us some things to remember him our time together.

For me a DKU golf set complete with Titleist balls, safety tee, and ball markers.
Bonnie and I each received Sports Gels and Mists. Not quite sure yet what that means.
We also both received a Dankook laser pointer. Finally, Bonnie received as silverware set. We are not sure what the small forks and spoons are for but we will figure it out.We felt so loved and blown away by the whole evening and it was all because the seven of us are Tigers. MIZ-ZOU!

bonnie and the endoscopy

While waking up from my endoscopy Tom took a pretty funny video of me coming back to life. We are still debating if we should post it or not...

Today Tom sent me this youtube video and I feel like I can really relate to this video.
Please enjoy, "David after the Dentist."

They can't be serious

During one of my planning periods I go work in an office on the 4th floor that overlooks our soccer field. I noticed this today.
If you can make it out in back left portion of the field you can see our GA staff out there with shovels beginning to clear off the field. We got around 9 inches of snow over break. If that field is 100 yards long and 60 yards wide that is 1500 cubic yards of snow. That means that if a typical Bobcat was trying to clear that field it would take 3000 scoops running at perfect efficiency to clear. I can't wait to see if this pans out. It is pretty entertaining.

Refrigerator progression

When home over break I was struck by something. I was struck by the fact that certain stages in your life have a direct correlation with the appearance of your refrigerator. The three key stages that presented themselves to me were the single, the couple, and the family. Let me explain with pictures.

The single:
One word description: sparse
Key components: case of beer, water pitcher, leftover pizza.

The couple:
One word description: adequate
Key components: bread, eggs, veggies, leftover meals, drinks besides beer and water

The family:
One word description: Armageddon (if it occurred they'd be okay)
Key components: same as a couple plus countless condiments

So my question for you is does your fridge match your place in life?

knowing me from the inside out

After much internal deliberation I have decided to expose myself to you all in a way very few have seen. I am going to show you a picture of the inside of me!!! Here is my esophagus and stomach.



I have had acid reflux chronically for the past nine months. I was put on a few different types of medications and nothing was working. It was time to take some action. I was able to get in to see a GI specialist while home over break and the specialist decided I needed to get an upper endoscopy, which is where a doctor sticks a camera down your throat to look around and see the esophagus/stomach area. Miraculously, I was able to get in to have the procedure done. I am really thankful that I was able to get in because 1: it's so hard to get in quickly for these types of procedures in the US. 2: the acid reflux has been uncomfortable, not to mention disconcerting...i mean, you know something is up when the pamphlets they give you describing your symptoms have pictures of people age 60-70+ and your in the your mid-20's.

The procedure went really well. I went to the Lee's Summit Medical Center (in the Kansas City area) and I would highly recommend them. They were so wonderful! I was knocked out for the endoscopy and the actual procedure only lasted like 10-15 minutes. After he took a look he concluded that I have a hiatal hernia, which means that my stomach was pushing up through my esophagus causing my stomach valve not to close properly, hence the acid coming up through my stomach causing the discomfort. During the endoscopy the doctor was able to dilate my esophagus causing my stomach to drop down into place again.

Since the procedure I have noticed an improvement in my symptoms! Yeahhh. Not to mention, it's great to have the peace of mind of knowing what was going on in there. It could come back again, but for now I'll enjoy a healthier feeling me.

grandparents

Over break I got to spend some time with my grandparents. It was great because my parents, brother, Tom, and I all got to go together to visit our grandparents. Our first stop was to visit my grandpa, "Papa" as we call him. It was great to see him and I look forward to seeing him in June when we're home for summer. After Papa we went to see my Grammie Joe. She's in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's, which made visiting her difficult but important. Even though Alzheimer's has changed her I have so much respect and love for the woman I know her to be.

Lastly, we went to see my other grandma, Grandma Bonnie (or just Grandma as I call her). Surprisingly some of my other cousins came with their kids so there was a house full of people. It was so fun to see them all. This break Tom and I tried to focus our energies on spending quality time with family. I feel like it was a really rich break in that regard.

My Third Best Christmas Gift

My best Christmas gift was a box of over 100 DVD's of old Meyer family movies. My dad spent countless hours converting them from VHS to DVD. I have already watched some with my family and Bonnie's family. They are priceless.

My second best Christmas gift was a Slingbox. Bonnie mentioned this in a recent post. It allows us to watch and control her brother James' cable box/DVR from our computer here in Korea. Amazing.

This is my third best Christmas gift. It is a luggage scale. You strap it to a handle on your suitcase then just pick it up. It weighs the bag right there in your hand. It is truly fantastic and a great asset since we find ourselves flying so much.

wedding

Tom's step-sister, Jessie, got married on New Year's eve. Here are a few pictures from the event. We did a really bad job of taking pictures so this is all we have.



This is a pic of Tom's brother Jim and his wife Jen.

dang that's big

This break we got to spend a few nights sleeping at my brother's apartment. He graciously gave us his bed and said he'd sleep on the new air mattress our mom got him. He had never used the air mattress before so he set it up our first night with him and we were all shocked by how big this thing was! It was taller than the coffee table! Tom and I have an air mattress in Korea but it's so skinny you practically sink to the floor. Way to go America...you did it again. You made something that is ginormous compared to the rest of the world.

the nettie pot

I've been struggling with congestion all break. And desperate times call for desperate measures, so I tried out a nettie pot. You put warm water and a saline solution into this little pot. You stick it in one nostril, pour the water/saline solution into your nose, it cleans out your sinuses and then comes out the other nostril. It actually works quite well.

I've been meaning to post this video for quite some time but I could not get this video to upload to blogger. boo. Does anyone else have problems uploading videos to blogger or is it just me? Any tips? So when blogger fails I turn to YouTube so the entire world can experience the embarrassment of the nettie pot. enjoy.

Decade in Review

While we were making our journey from Kansas City to Columbia we decided to reflect over the past decade of our lives. So here is our “decade in review.”

2000

Tom: Young Life camp at Crooked Creek where I started to follow Jesus. Senior football season.

Bonnie: The end of my freshman year I went on NJHS (National Junior Honor Society) trip to Chicago. Started playing basketball at RBHS.

2001

Tom: My mom passed away. I Graduated as valedictorian from high school. Began college at the University of Missouri. Work crew at Windy Gap (Young Life camp).

Bonnie: Went to Aspen and learned how to ski. Became good friends with Jill and Debbie. Played traveling softball all through the summer and played in nationals in Florida.

2002

Tom: Started to lead Young Life in Jeff City. My dad got remarried to Jean. I worked for residential life at MU.

Bonnie: I was a three-sport athlete (playing softball, basketball, and soccer). Started going to Young Life.

2003

Tom: Moved off campus. Did Summer Staff at Timberwolf Lake for Young Life. Lived in Jeff City and worked at golf course for the summer.

Bonnie: Graduated from high school. Went to Young Life camp at Windy Gap. Started college at MU, met Tom, went through Young Life leader training, and became a Theta.

2004

Tom: I asked Bonnie out on our first date. Worked for Dan Hacker at American Lawn and Landscape.

Bonnie: Went to Jamaica on a mission trip. Summer Staff at Lake Champion in New York. Led Young Life at Jeff City High School. We both took kids to YL camp at Sharptop Cove in Georgia. I lived at the Theta house on campus.

2005

Tom: Student teaching in Jeff City. Graduated college. Got a job at Rock Bridge High School. My brother, Jim, married Jen. In October I proposed to Bonnie.

Bonnie: Tom and I went on a mission trip to Jamaica together. Our friends Carly and Matt got married. We took kids to YL camp at Crooked Creek in Colorado. I lived with my best buddy Mary Kate off campus and I had mono.

2006

Tom and Bonnie: We got married!!! We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. We lived in a duplex in Columbia. Bonnie took kids to Young Life camp at Frontier Ranch in Colorado.

2007

Bonnie student taught at the 9^th Grade Center in Jeff City and graduated college. We got Hank Meyer (our dog that now lives with Bonnie’s parents). Bonnie worked at a Vet Clinic then Kaldi’s Coffee and became Team Leader for Jeff City Young Life. Tom started to lead Young Life and FCA at Rock Bridge. Our friends Sara and Chris got married and our friends Adam and Mary Kate got married.

2008

We went to an international teaching job fair in Iowa and we got jobs in Korea. We went on a skii trip to Aspen with Bonnie’s family. Tom’s sister, Lori, married Aaron. We moved to Korea and took a trip to Hong Kong. Bonnie started her first year of teaching.

2009

We started coaching basketball. We took trips to Malaysia, Singapore, China, Vietnam, Australia (for Bonnie), and a mission trip with students in Nepal. Bonnie took students to Thailand for a Global Issues conference. Tom became Math Department Head. Tom started grad school. We signed on for another year in Korea. Tom’s sister Jill married Eli, Tom’s step-sister Jessie married David, and our friend Polly married Austin. Lori had Moses James, our first nephew!

This has been a crazy, life-changing decade. Over the past ten years it seems like we spent a lot of time at YL camps, weddings, and graduating from things. We’re excited to see what the next decade has in store for us!

PS—It’s hard to think of 10 years of life on the spot, so our apologies if we left out any big moments. Feel free to leave a comment or add to our list.