Hello Friends!

It's been an eventful summer and we are off to a very exciting start to the fall. The theme of this season is BIRTH!

First, Baby Han is coming any day now. Min is in her 37th week and all signs point to an early arrival. Looks like both Mommy and Baby are ready to get on with the show! We are not positive about a name yet but we have a few front-runners. :)

A lot of the logistical stuff is done, but from what we've heard, the jump from one kid to two is a pretty big one. We're bracing ourselves, but we're very aware of the reality that we have many, many people supporting us and are ready to provide help and relief. We are so grateful for our communities both near and far.

Secondly, after a summer of discernment, we have committed to planting a church here in Fairfax, VA. We have been meeting with a dedicated launch team and are growing more and more excited at the prospect of seeing this dream become a reality. Here are a few details:

1. VISION:  though it is still very early and we we don't even have a name yet there is a strong sense of why we are going forward with this church plant. Though there are many fine and healthy churches in the area, we know that many people, particularly Asian-Americans are falling through the cracks and church plants have the unique opportunity to reach both the un-churched and de-churched. Also, no name yet. :)

it's been while since our last update but since we are entering into a new season (both literally and figuratively), we thought it was a good time to post. 

as you know, this summer has been one of transition and discernment for us. though we enjoyed spending a lot of time together as a family and with friends, we were also very actively trying to figure out what we were going to do. would we stay or go? what would we do? how would we make ends meet? though we didn't have a strong sense of the exact details, we did have a pretty strong sense that we could trust God with this process and that He would be faithful to lead us. 

well, we have some good news. because my wife has a pretty rocking resume and some awesome connections, she just signed the papers to start working at a new job starting this week. the amazing thing about it is that it will be part-time work but enough to meet our immediate financial needs, extremely close to where we live and will provide us with some pretty great benefits. the timing is perfect as well, seeing that my KCPC health insurance ran out at the end of September. all this to say, it's a God-send and we are extremely grateful. 

as for me, I will be watching Sammy on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays while continuing to pursue ordination with the Evangelical Covenant Church denomination. I will also be participating in various local ministries and investing in existing relationships. like min, I am also thankful for the many wonderful connections I've made and recommendations that have been made on my behalf.

what this basically means is that we are choosing to stay where we are for at least the next year. we feel peace about this and believe that it is the right decision for our family right now. 

thank you to all who aided us in this discernment process and prayed for us. we have felt very loved and cared for this past summer. 

a couple of highlights from the past few months:  

fishing with the family at piney point, md. we caught a lot of really small spot fish and i injured my legs while trying to land a tiny blue crab.

it's advent season! along with our church community, we are celebrating this season of anticipation and waiting by participating in the advent conspiracy. we have had the privilege of hearing from members of our community (including my awesome sister) who are involved in some awesome kingdom-building work in our neighborhood, and in our world.

on a more personal level, our sammy is now 6 months old. his personality is starting to shine, and this li'l guy is quite the ham. he makes us laugh everyday -- what a precious gift he is! he is starting to sit on his own, army crawl around the floor, eat more solids, babble (very loudly, especially during church service), roll around, pull poor penny's hair, drink from a straw and melt our hearts with his smile and laughter. oh! and he has his first cousin. mike's brother, tony and his wife julie gave birth to a beautiful baby boy a few weeks ago. welcome to the world, lucas han!

here are some recent pictures of us.

a night out with the kcpc pastors. photo c/o justin k. kim photography

enjoying his butternut squash

modeling his new hat

spending the day with little light friends

watching the game with dad

what they look like after sunday service

my sister's birthday dinner

hello. this is mike taking over blog duties for the 5 month post.

hopefully this entry finds some of our friends who aren't as active on facebook. it's way too easy to update on facebook and forget that not everyone is as addic-- i mean, interested in the facebook.

five-month picture

fall family festival

this is code for "halloween". in my house growing up, we never really made a big deal either way about costumes and candy during this season (i dressed up as dracula almost every year and one year even had my cape freeze in an unusually cold edmonton fall), but in a recent conversation i learned that my parents were a little embarrassed to see pictures of their children and grandchildren dressed up when their home church strongly discouraged people from doing so. oops!

anyways, in case you didn't see it already, this is our family dressed as batman, alfred (his butler) and catwoman. my outfit is basically just a suit with a mustache. i had to make sure to be with sammy at all times that evening - not only so the costume made sense, but so that people wouldn't think i was a super-creep.



S&L ministry update

i am thoroughly enjoying being the pastor of this group. i love walking alongside people of this age-group and i get to do all the things i love about being a pastor: teaching scripture (both in sermons and bible studies), counseling, doing life-together and brain-storming ways to be kingdom-minded in our local context.

if anyone knows me, you know that one of my passions while on staff with inter-varsity was teaching the gospel of mark. well, no surprise that our recent sermon series has been in the first half of that book. after doing a series on ephesians (a book that radically changed how i view church), a book series from The Good and Beautiful Community (by James Bryan Smith), and a series in the Lord's Prayer, I was genuinely excited to finally preach from the Jesus story.

you don't have to fancy it up or add all kinds of illustrations or stories - the story itself is just too compelling. my job is to give some context so that the message is conveyed clearly, but then sunday after sunday simply invite people to follow this Jesus that absolutely jumps off the page. it's fun.

what's next? an american thanksgiving banquet after service (they just call it thanksgiving here), a four-week advent series leading up to christmas, our first leader's retreat in december and a new round of community groups and bible studies in january.

pop-culture update

i know many of you depend on my vast knowledge of pop-culture to know "what's cool" in the world of tv, movies, music and books (okay, i'm obviously being facetious here), so here are a few recommendations:

must-see movie: ARGO

a surprisingly tense but entertaining movie based on historical events, but obviously hollywood-ed up to enhance the drama. especially fun because of the role of good-natured canadians in this otherwise america-centric tale about a hostage-rescue attempt.

must-see tv show:LOUIE (mike) and RUNNING MAN (min)

there was a time when min and i watched tv together. that is no longer the case. because of the baby and truthfully, our limited ability to just sit down and watch tv, we just watch what we can, when we can.

i like louie because it's short, funny (but in very subtle and often disturbing ways), and unlike anything else on tv.

min likes running man, a korean variety-comedy-game show because she thinks its funny. we disagree.


okay, game of thrones is violent and crass, but it's the first work of fantasy since the lord of the rings that i've actually been able to finish. i also like the tv show, though, so maybe that helps. people have called it "the sopranos set in middle-earth" - i think that's a fitting description.