Weirdest Christmas Break Ever: Dad's Hospital Stay

Weirdest Christmas break ever. I landed in Texas on Saturday morning, and my dad was admitted to the hospital due to a blocked artery Saturday night. He had surgery to place a stent in his carotid artery (which was blocked from an injury, not plaque) and was able to go home two days before Christmas! I know God is good no matter what happens on the operating table, but I am so grateful to have him!! It wasn't a typical trip home at all, but we thank God it worked out the way it did! 

Dad covered the basics to the story in his facebook post after he was released, so I'll share that here: 

Thanks again for all the prayers. For those that do not know, I had headaches unlike anything before, and had a brain MRI last Friday evening. I received a call from Dr. Martin, my GP, on Saturday with instructions to get to the ER. After a CAT scan at Memorial Hermann in The Woodlands, they decided to transfer me to Memorial Hermann Houston. It turns out I had a dissection of the right carotid artery from an unknown injury. Basically an internal flap was blocking blood flow but the other three arteries were picking up the slack and getting enough blood to the brain to avoid a stroke. After another MRI and an angiogram, we decided to place a stent to repair the artery which was successfully done Tuesday morning. Thank you Cherry, Zara, and family. This was not in the original Christmas plans. Thank you Dr. P. Roc Chen, Dr. Wesley Jones (who likes to bass fish!) and all the incredible neurologists, neurosurgeons and staff at Memorial Hermann. And thanks for all the prayers for them and me. We will definitely have a Merry Christmas!

Hospital chairs are at least more comfortable to sleep in than airplane chairs. On the other hand, it's not exciting to have nurses wake you up at 5 am for your dad's surgical bath. Nope nope NOPE. Flight attendants are a little more gentle when they wake you up.You win some, you lose some ;) 

Seriously though, we are SO GLAD that my dad is healthy!! 

#surgeryselfie

I am eternally grateful that I was home for the holidays. Like I mentioned above, God is good no matter what happens in one person's life. God is so much bigger than me, my dad, our family, or anything in this life, and his goodness is not dependent on my circumstance. That is the truth I believe from reading and studying God as He reveals Himself in the Bible. BUT! I can't imagine how it would have felt if I had stayed in Korea for the holidays this year. Waiting for news while my daddy had surgery half a world away would have been agonizing. By God's grace, I was there. Same time zone. In the waiting room. Thank the Lord that I came home when I did, and not a moment later. I was able to be there for my dad, and also for my mom. I was on vacation with nowhere else to go and no other responsibility than to be a loving daughter. 

The hospital trip threw off a lot of our Christmas plans, but we were fishing on Lake Conroe by the day after Christmas. It doesn't get much better than that. (Plus: THAT WEATHER. T-shirts and shorts on the water in December. I LOVE TEXAS.)

Thank you Lord, for a healthy dad who listens to his pain and takes this life seriously. Thank you for full healing. Thank you for conversations that bring us closer to you, and thank you for knowledgeable and skilled nurses, techs, doctors, surgeons, and cafeteria staff. For real. Those breakfast tacos at Memorial Hermann are bomb-diggity. Father, you are good, you are in control, and we trust you. Thank you for your Son, whose death brings us life, even in the shadow of pain or death. Thank you for Christmas (!!!), when we gather to celebrate the gift of your life. In Jesus' name, Amen.

The Expat's Oven: Jalapeño Ranch Tuna Salad

So, I realize that tuna salad doesn't require an oven at all, but I figured I'd write an Expat's Oven post about it anyway. I love tuna salad and it's really easy to make, so you probably have your own family recipe that you love. A roommate of mine back in College Station, TX always made hers with mayo and sliced grapes, which I thought was a weird texture (no offence, Cal). When I go the fruity-tuna-route from time to time, I really enjoy apple slices in mine! These days, I generally keep it spicy and savory, and one of my friends always asks how I make my kickin tuna salad, so... Here's the general idea:

The Expat's Oven: Jalapeño Ranch Tuna Salad 

I brought a *lot* of these ingredients back from the USA, so this isn't a typical easy-to-make-in-Korea recipe, unfortunately. It is definitely a homestyle comfort food for me, though, cause nothing really says Texas like jalapeños and ranch dressing, am I right??

1. 

I usually start with a cucumber, sometimes a bell pepper (any color). All these veggies are smaller in Korea than in the USA, probably because farmers don't use veggie steroids here, so I use an entire cucumber or 2 peppers. In the US I'd probably use half or 3/4 a cucumber, cause they're ginormous monster veggies. 

2.
It's super easy to find canned tuna in Korea, but I have trouble finding tuna packed in water (instead of tuna packed in oil). This is the one I usually buy, which is also in a pouch and thus easier to open than a can. It also fits in my pantry easier, since it's so skinny, so that's a plus! Fun cultural fact: gift sets of canned tuna and spam are common at holidays like Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) and Seollal (Lunar/Chinese New Year)

3.
Rip open that pouch and turn it over above your sink to let the excess water drain out. There isn't much.

4.
Today I'm using ranch dressing as my sauce for the tuna salad. I prefer Hidden Valley Ranch, so I usually bring it back from the States (my awesome cousin Tannah even game me some for Christmas this year!!!). You can find Kraft Ranch at foreign marts in Itaewon, but I think it tastes too bland and/or too much like plain mayonnaise (ew). You can also find Annie's Cowgirl Ranch on iHerb.com, but it's a much thinner ranch than Hidden Valley or Kraft.

Whatever sauce you choose will obviously affect the taste, plus it acts as the glue for all the other ingredients. I grew up with mayonnaise as the 'adhesive' or base, but I don't really like mayo anymore. I'd rather use ranch, sour cream, or greek yogurt (!!! <3), which are all really hard to find in Korea. The greek yogurt I've found is always sweeter than greek yo at home. Alas. (It works well when you go for an apple/craisin tuna salad though!)

5.
Pick which spices you're going to use in your tuna salad. Like I said, I like things spicy, so today I went with black pepper, Cholula hot sauce, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, and jalapeño ranch seasoning. (Some of those are easy to find in Korea, just check your local grocery store or big mart. It's going to be much cheaper to find a store brand of these at home and bring them with you, but I've linked to iHerb if it's available. Cholula is my FAVORITE out of all the hot sauces I've ever tried, thus it came with me from home, but it's easy to find Tabasco at Emart or Lotte Mart. Use whatever floats your boat!)

6.
Combine the diced veggies, tuna, and a heap of ranch dressing, like so. Eyeball it, use as much or as little dressing as you'd prefer.

Mine needed another good squeeze.

7.
Mix all that goodness together.

8.
Add all your spices. Use as much or little as you'd like, to taste, it's your baby!

9.
After you've incorporated the spices, give a couple good shakes of the hot sauce, then mix it all together again.

Mine's looking a little dry, so I think I'll add more ranch at this point...

Much mo bettah!

10.
Choose your accompanying snack. Here are some links to yummy crackers on iHerb: Gluten free crackers, Kashi crackers, Wasa rye flatbread #omnomnomnom

11.
I plated my tuna salad with dill pickles and pickled jalapeños from Home Plus. It's difficult to find dill pickles in Korea! Most of the time you'll see sweet pickles. I wish I could easily find super sour dill pickles, but I love this brand of homestyle dill slices.

12.
Get it on a plate and don't forget to instagram your lunch! #foodie #yolo #tunasalad #hashtag #sweetpicklessuck #ranchdressing #spicylife #glutenfree #comfortfood #expatsoven #blogger #seeyalllater!

9 great things about my winter break in Texas

Last month, I took a long break from Korea. I've been back for a few weeks now and I've been processing and relaxing and thinking and just plum enjoying this welcome low-stress winter break! There's been a lot going on and I'm sure I'll be talking about that soon, but for now I want to share a quick update on my trip back home! 

9 is my favorite number, so here are 9 great things about this year’s winter break back home in Texas:

1. CHRISTMAS! I got back to Texas just in time for Christmas. I spent a couple of days spending tons of time with my family, partaking in excitement, watching the kids be kids, and eating all the good Christmas food I missed last year, like our traditional Christmas dinner and this pesto cheese block that my grandma always has. It's funny the things you get excited about when you return from overseas. I didn't know I missed that block but - no kidding - I got so excited that I took a picture of it. Speaking of pictures, we took a family portrait on Christmas Day and no one got mad or cried any angry tears, not even one! How's that for holiday spirit, huh? And Duck Dynasty was only mentioned a few times, hehe. It was so so so so lovely to spend the holiday with my family, especially after missing them last Christmas. 

PS. Hammy Ham got into Santa's cookies on Christmas eve. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever. Oh, Ham. You're so stinkin' hamsome! 

2. ZZZ Ranch. After Christmas (and a quick bout of a stomach bug), most of the family went out to the ZZZ Ranch in the west Texas brush country for some hunting and stuff. Lots of folks got deer and normal hunted-animal-types. And then my niece shot a skunk. I pretty much have the coolest family ever. I gave my nephew a Korean card game for Christmas, which he and my cousins and niece played a lot! #auntwin! (The ZZZ Ranch, pronounced "three zee ranch," is my family's property near San Angelo. My brothers and I all have Z names, so we've been called the 3 Z's our whole lives, so the ranch is named for us. Don't you international peeps try to say "three zed ranch," cause that's just weird.)

3. Cake. My little nephew's b-day falls right before New Year's Eve, so we had a little b-day party for him and I got to bake his cake! Fun story. I misplaced the recipe and overreacted a little (read: a lot). I'd made a big deal about wanting to bake the cake from scratch (rather than a box. Box cakes don’t belong in my life anymore.) and I’d already bought all the ingredients, so I panicked when I couldn't find my recipe the day of the party, and we don't have much internet at the ranch so I couldn't just look it up again at will. I got really irritated and snappy with, um, everyone. Sorry. (For the record, it was THIS recipe. Yum. You’d be upset with yourself too.) I also realized that I'd left his b-day gift at my parents' house and I was mad at myself for that #auntfail moment too. Can I blame jet lag for my overreaction? Perhaps. I have a tendency to overreact anyway... ugh emotions... I'm still growing in that area ;) The recipe turned out to be in my apron pocket. DUH. Also, it was DELICIOUS, so all's well that ends well.

4. FOOD. Can I just say that food is my favoritest material thing about America? Going to a grocery store and basking in the variety - AND BEING ABLE TO READ ALL THE LABELS! It's almost enough to make a girl want to move home. Baking supplies as far as the eye can see! Being able to buy a giant box of washed, organic spinach, rather than a bushel of spinach with roots and dirt still attached and having to process it before it makes it into your pan or plate. (I mostly enjoy cooking from scratch a lot a lot, but that is a pain.) 

I ate as much Mexican food as I could, and dove breast wrapped in bacon, and venison sausage, and cheese!

I also got caught up on food trends that I have missed, so that was really great. Coconut water, where have you been on my life??? Honestly, I spend most of my monthly budget on food while I'm in Korea, since I still try to eat like an American all the time. Kind of a problem... but it was nice being back in the west where western food isn't overpriced. I also made 'n bietjie South African food while I was home, so that was nice :)

What else, what else?

5. Friends and the stuff we did together. I was home for about 5 weeks and met up with friends and family ALL OVER the place. What a blessing! I saw as many people as possible and did as many things as I could. I walked a half marathon and ran a 5k. I went to all of my favorite restaurants, plus a few new good ones. I went to a lot of movies. I got to go to not one but TWO Fightin' Texas Aggie basketball games, AND I got to saw 'em off during the War Hymn with Dr. Loftin on his last night as Aggie Prez (Dad said "that's better than a t-shirt," and it's true!) I enjoyed an afternoon at St. Arnold's Brewing Co. with my cousin. I love me some microbrews! Nomnomnom. I helped my other cousin paint the ceilings at her new house. I went to see Beth Moore live at her new Tuesday night Bible Study series. It was increeeeeedible! 

I visited Dallas a few times, ironically went to the wedding of some friends from my church in South Korea, and I visited the Village Church. I love that community of believers and the way they have a heart for church planting. Dallas impressed me a LOT this trip home!

I saw Frozen 3 times. IT IS SO GOOD! I downloaded the soundtrack before you could say “Do you want to build a snowman?” and totally memorized all the songs, then had a sing-a-long jam with my niece and nephews around the dinner table. It was something else! (And seriously, Korea is as obsessed with Frozen as I am! Every shop is playing the soundtrack non-stop. IT IS WONDERFUL.)

What else?

6. Learning about changing relationship dynamics. I realized that being an adult visiting your parents' home can lead to a lot more tension than being a student living at home with your parents. I realized that I'm incredibly selfish and brash and that doesn't sit well when you are an adult visiting your parents' home for a month. We worked on this. It started out pretty rough but got much better as time went by. Redefining boundaries and such. I also learned *not* to mess with the settings on Mom and Dad's TV. 

7. Getting rid of all the crap. Since I honestly don't know when I'll live in the USA again, I went through and organized a ton of my old stuff from collage and donated as much as I could. I’m not using it, someone might as well benefit from it. My room at my parents' house finally looks more like a guest room than a storage unit. Hooray!!!

8. Family. We took a lot of family portraits this trip home. It's pretty handy having a photographer in the family! Keep it up, Jessica ;):) 

I know I say it all the time, but my family is truly amazing. I love my life and community overseas, but I miss my family a ton when I'm not around. I got to spend time with my mom doing special mama-daughter things, and spend a bit of time just with my dad. They're special. I love them so much! 

Out at the ranch, I was sleeping in the same room as my niece and nephew, the two older ones who I've taken on adventures and spoiled as much as a good aunt should... just being there for the small moments of our trip meant so much to me! I love them so dearly. It's very hard to miss big events in their young lives. I made the most of my time at home, especially with the older 3 kiddos. I took A to see Frozen (!!!!!), I took E for a study sesh at Starbucks and spent extra time with him doing day-to-day stuff, I took Big Z to the children's museum... We had a blast. It's such a blessing that they all live close(ish) together now, so I can spend that extra time with all of them when I visit! 

I'm blessed beyond measure to have a family that loves each other so well. I also want to send a special shout-out to my seester, my love, my best friend! I don't know what I would do without Stephanie in my life. She's my sister in my heart. I'm so glad Zane picked her all those years ago, and even more glad she picked him! I look up to them in their marriage and in their life so much. 

Well that got mushy real fast... moving on... *wipes away a sneaky tear*

 9. Winter weather, and not winter weather. In true Texan fashion, temperatures were all over the place this trip home! We would get well into freezing temperatures, only to finish the week out with sunny days that were so warm we could wear shorts, followed by ice storms, followed by jogging weather, followed by more ice storms. TEXAS YOU SO CRAZY. And I love you. Never change. My flight from Houston to Dallas even got cancelled due to ice on the day I was supposed to fly out (but that's ok. My parents drove me to Dallas so I could catch my flight. Extra quality time, yay!). The next weekend the high was in the 70's. Because yes. 

And that's my trip home! 

And here are pictures.