Middle Day, Middle Month, Middle Child, Middle Thirties

I like July 15th, not so much because it reminds me that I'm a year older today than I was yesterday, but because I am reminded of God's mercy and grace in my life over the many, many, many, many, many years. Plus, it is right in the middle of summer, my favorite season. A summer baby, I am. One walking reminder of God's grace in my life? Eli, of course. At family gatherings, he becomes my mother-in-law's showdog as she pulls out tricks for Kwang's extended family to see that she's taught him over the months. Luckily, he doesn't seem to mind the random pop quizzes. In this photo, she is having him do "sahntohkee, tohkeeyah...," the korean children's song about a bunny rabbit:

I've always thought there is a certain degree of innocence and honesty in the things children say. Unfortunately, this usually isn't to my advantage. One time a boy who didn't really know me turned, looked at me for a while, and asked, "Why are you so skinny?" It wasn't in the most complimentary tone and I suddenly felt like an odd museum exhibit. But it was really cute and I found his unreserved inquisitiveness rather endearing. Even things that Jude says make me laugh out loud. He's like a sponge these days, constantly asking questions, always wanting to learn. Once while I was using the restroom he stared intently at me and asked, "You have a small one, Uhmmah?" I couldn't help laughing, but his face remained intent and serious, "You have a small gochu, Uhmmah? ...Huh?" 

Well, about a month ago a friend of mine back in Chicago wrote to share something really pleasant and, quite frankly, surprising. My friend is only a year older than me and has five kids. No, no, you read that right... not one, two, or even three. FIVE CHILDREN. I suspect she got pregnant every time her husband just looked at her. Anyway, last month while watching TV, her husband made a comment about how much older than her some women on the TV show looked and then he turned to one of their sons and asked, "Right Chase? Mom doesn't look that old?" So then my friend wrote:

"Chase kind of paused in his 'Chase' way and was like 'I guess so.' So what does that boy say next? 'You know who looks reeaallly young is Aunty Lisa.' I was like, 'Wait a minute, she's only like a year younger than me.' Chase was like 'Really, she doesn't look like it.'"

Needless to say, my very calm and rational response to her was:

"CHASE IS MY FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WHOLE WIDE TOTAL ENTIRE WORLD. EVER."