First post from Korea

We got our internet hooked up in our apartment a few hours ago.  I've been like an addict who's been deprived for too long- reading lots of blogs, 63 emails, posting on facebook, etc.  And one of the funny things is, I have totally forgotten that I'm not even in the same country I was in 4 days ago.  I wondered why no one was around posting things on Facebook.  Face it, I would seriously wonder why anyone would be up at 230 am posting stuff on Facebook! 

So, a few things about living on this side of the International Date Line...

1.  I will NEVER get in a cab for a long distance drive again, unless it is a dire emergency!  I lost count after about the third time that our driver (who was following another cab containing Jon and Jacob, along with half our luggage) slammed on her brakes and ended up having to swerve to the other lane in order to  not hit the first cab at a stop light.

2.  Stop lights really are optional here.

3.  This country is beautiful- we are nestled at the base of some mountains, and there are flowers EVERYWHERE.  I will post more when I have a chance to take some pictures of them and find out what they are. 

4.  They recycle everything that its possible to recycle.  We now have 7 plastic shoebins (hey, I didn't want to pay 5.99 per mini trashcan!), one for plastic, plastic bottles, glass, cans, paper, cardboard, styrofoam, and then we have to use the Korean-made waste bags for things like diapers and other non-recyclables.  We have a neat little composter type thingy under our sink.  You put in the food (leftovers, things the kids didn't eat, banana peels, etc) and it dries it out, and the smell is whisked away through some tubes that are built in.  Its definitely interesting.  Thanks goes to my Mom, who really made me watch it when recycling these last few weeks living in NY! 

5.  Paying in dollars, and getting won in change. 

6.  The Koreans love babies and children.  I've lost count of how many people have said, beautiful children, good family, so cute, and various other things like that.  The cab driver that waylaid Jon at the airport told him he was extremely lucky. 

7.  Walking everywhere is extremely tiring to three jet-lagged children.  (And their mama!)  We set out for the second time in one day to walk to the PX (about a half mile), and James bit the dust about halfway there, followed 3 minutes later by Caitlynn, and poor Jacob had to walk all the way to the PX, but he gave in as soon as we got there.  Cait was so asleep that she was reeling all around in the cart, and Jon kept having to toss his arm down for her to land her head on.  We piled a towel under each of their heads and they slept the whole time we were there, the next 30 minutes while Jon shopped in the commissary, the cab ride home, and upstairs.  Cait woke up and stayed up when we got home, but Jacob actually put himself back in bed and slept through the night. 

Of course, this means that J was up at 430am the next morning.  this morning, we managed to make it til 534.  I have hopes that tomorrow will be better.  Neither of the older children napped today, and we have successfully fed them dinner this time, without them falling asleep.  So, we are off to curl up in front of the laptop and watch Avatar.
Wonder how long it'll take them to fall asleep??  :)

And we're off!!

On Thursday, that is.  :D      3 MORE DAYS!!!  I can't wait to see my hubby again!!!

We have to get up super early Thursday morning to make it to the airport 2 hours early, a 1 hour flight to NYC's JFK International Airport, followed by a 6 hour layover at said airport (insert whine here)!  THEN, its a 14 hour and 35 minute straight shot flight to Incheon International Airport.  Woo!   Altogether, that makes for a 26 1/2 hour long day, and that only gets us to the airport in Korea.  It will take awhile to get our luggage, and take it to whatever bus we will be riding for the 1 1/2 hour trip back to the apartment.  Then we can collapse onto the air mattresses Jon is buying today (snerk) that the Army says we can't sleep on. 

So, I'm praying that I won't have to dye my hair when we land, in order to hide all the gray that is likely to appear, and that I (or someone else) don't kill my children whilst at 35,000 feet in the air. 

Seriously, though, I've already started praying for the pilots, none of that flying-too-much syndrome for them, please.  I'd like them to be well-rested for this flight.  :P  Oh, and no children directing the plane when it lands, either, please. 

I have a backpack full of new small toys (oh, alright, and a new Leapster game) in order to keep them halfway entertained on the flight.  No medications, though, even though I'm sorely tempted.   I learned my lesson last time I flew with two kids, and am only bringing one book with me, plus my Bible.  I have a new one, its an NIV/The Message parallel Bible, and it. is. awesome!  I love it.  Its so interesting to hear one verse, and then get a modern-day translation.  Most of the time, I don't really need the translation, but it gives me a whole new perspective on what's being said.  Ok, back to the trip stuff. 
The kids are all excited, they have seen pictures of our new apartment, and the new blankets that Daddy bought for them.  Jacob even pointed out where he thinks our desk should go in the living room.  I didn't want to explain that we didn't take the desk.. lol.  So, if you're interested, here are a couple of pictures of the new apartment.  Oh, and a quirk- its written into our lease that we cannot ever wear shoes in the apartment.  Period. 

Foyer L. Room, part of the hallway bathroom

 Closet wall (master bedroom)Kitchen

Living roomYes, its a picture of the kitchen sink. :P

He was in a hurry that day, so these are the only pictures we have so far.  He is going back Tuesday, so stay tuned for some pictures of the bedrooms, and a requested pic of the playground (from the kids) and the front of the building (from me).  :)

Woo and two hoos!!

I completely forgot to post this yesterday.  I had emailed the lady that was so helpful about the situation with our household goods on Sunday.  Yesterday, I received an email from a company informing me that the estimated time of arrival in country for our HHG will be 14 May!!  Yes!!  This means that the kids and I can fly over very, very soon.  In fact, if everything works out like my hubby's NCO says (who's with me on the skeptical side of this?), he should be going to housing and transportation in just a few hours.  Which should mean, hopefully, that we will have airline tickets and a set date by the end of this week.  Or at least that's what I'm praying for.  The realtor had called Jon that same day, to let him know that they had another top floor apartment that would be finished around the same time that he got out of the field.  So, since he is supposed to be done today, I'm hoping that he can get things settled with them, too. 

God is awesome!  He answers prayers, even if it isn't when or how you wanted it. 

In other news, I have found that 5 days of Zumba in a row isn't going to work.  I'm disappointed, but my kids come first.  Little J screamed his head off for about 30 minutes today, crawling around and looking for me each time Mom put him down.  So, I'm scaling back, and only going to the classes that I really like, and I will probably either do AbJam at home on the other two days, or half of the P90x Ab Extreme.  I don't think I've lost actual weight, but I can tell that the Zumba class is doing some good things for my legs.  :) 

That's about all I can think of, so more later.

randomness

Whew!  We've been busy for the last few days, and a power outage caused all sorts of havoc with our internet access these last two days. 
Monday was a great day, we went to the playground to meet some friends, and spent about 3 hours in the sunshine!  Woot!  Then came home and the kids spent another hour or two outside in our dirt pile. 
Today we went to Fort Drum to drop off prescriptions for my Dad, and killed some time at the playground on base.  Met up with some interesting people, and one of them will be coming with us tomorrow as we go back to the playground from Monday. 

Got to talk to Jon this morning, and (insert praying on my knees figurine here) he said they are supposed to be out of the field on Thursday, unless they don't get finished.  then they are stuck til next Friday.  Boy, oh boy, I'm praying he gets out of the field sooner.  We still wouldn't be able to fly until at least May 14th, but there would be more time for him to locate a decent apartment before our stuff arrives. 

I ordered a few things from Family Christian Bookstores, and was soooo excited when they got here two days ago!  I had read pieces of The Message Bible back at Hood, during a Bible study at the Hohner's house, and was pretty interested.  So, I found a parallel Bible, NIV with Message, and that was my big purchase.  I ordered some veggietales (a movie and a worship CD, which Cait LOVES), and the One Year of Dinner Table Devotions.  CAn't wait til we can start reading that each night with Daddy.  We would do it here, but lately we have been having dinner at completely different times, and to be honest, I completely forget about it.  Not to mention my Dad hates it when people have books at the table.  :P 

For those of my readers who pray, I would ask that you keep my nieces and brother in prayer.  They are in a difficult situation, and need God's will to be done in their lives. 

In other random news- we have our Emergency Fund completed!  (For those of you who may not have read all the way back, I am taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University).  So yeah us!  On to step two, which is to start the debt snowball.  (Already done, I applied an extra amount of $ to a debt this last payday, and am calculating that it will take 11 months at this current rate in order to pay it completely off.  But that's only if we don't pay anything more towards it, and I am hoping that we can.  Once we get settled overseas, I have even thought of watching one or two kids.  Maybe.  I dunno.  I'm sure I'll post more on that later. 
Ooh, and the big thing I am excited for is that I tried out a /Zumba class and LOVED it!!  It is a great mix of dance and exercise, and I like it even more than the Turbo Jam that I have purchased.  I will be going to classes 3 times a week, and my second class is tomorrow night- yeah!

Up next on the blog list will probably be 20 wishes.  I am trying to coordinate and plan my blogs ahead of time, so that I at least have a clue what I'm going to talk about before I sit down to write.  :)  Happy reading, ya'll!

Friday, the snow day...

It really only gave a few half-hearted flurries this afternoon... but still, I thought it was gone, since it was 75 yesterday!  Did I bring Texas weather to the North Country??

I have a sick kiddo on my hands.  He started feeling ucky yesterday with a headache, then a sore throat, and a stiff neck.  Gave me a bit of panic over that, but it was just because he'd been having his Wii time, and hadn't really been moving around alot.  Progressed to a fever before I left for my class last night, so I gave him Tylenol.  He was wide awake at 324 this morning asking for a drink.  He proceeded to slam it back so fast that it made him vomit as I was getting his medicine.  Luckily, we were still in the bathroom.  I felt so bad for him!  He's throwing up and got bad chills all at the same time.  He managed to keep a small glass of water down, as well as the motrin.  He came in a little while later saying that he was closing his eyes and having bad dreams.  I prayed with him and reminded him that he could talk to Jesus when he felt scared or sick. 
This morning, he came in my room and the first thing out of his mouth was. "Mommy, I prayed and told Jesus to make my sore throat go away, and he did it!"   
:)   I guess we still have to work on the whole asking, not telling thing...

Anyhow.  I was able to talk with Jon last night and again this morning, and it sounds like he won't be able to do anything about an apartment until he gets out of the field at the end of the month.  I guess I will post more about our flight dates as I know details, because we are still stuck with the 30 day limit, since there are no beds available for us to use until our stuff comes in.  Here's my question- how come the military doesn't care about what the soldiers and families sleep on when they PCS (permanent change of station, meaning a move) stateside and have to wait for their stuff to come in?  Why the big fuss just because we are in a different country??  Plus, the beds that are available stateside aren't even real mattresses, they are thin little foam things.  Air mattresses are much better, to my way of thinking.  But oh well, I will not argue with them, I can't change anything by being bad tempered about this.  And I refuse to waste my time like that.

The class I attended last night was the free Financial Peace University class offered by Dave Ramsey.  It was absolutely awesome!  It is actually a 13 week class, and you are supposed to purchase the kit (the class is free, but you have to have this stuff in order to attend).  Well, the church purchased them at a discounted rate, just about half price, and when the lead couple found out I would only be here for a few weeks, and probably wouldn't come back because of that and the fact that I can't really afford the kit, they gave it to me.   All they ask is that later on when I can, that I pass it on to someone in need.  I can totally do that!  This class is awesome, and its only been the first one.  I'm excited to get to read the Financial Peace Revisited book that's included. 

One last thing- I borrowed a book from the local library, and its one that is astounding me, and I'm only into the second chapter. 
The Way of Boys, by Anthony Rao, Ph. D 
It talks about how boys need more time to physically and emotionally mature, and how medication should not always be the first answer.  And about the crazy things that boys can do!  It sounds very promising as a good read, and much learning should ensue from it.  I will post more as I get more into it.

And for tomorrow... hopefully a homeschool review on Sonlight Curriculums! 

8 months old! and I received my first canvas yesterday!!

Little J is 8 months old today!  (As of 606 am this morning, to be exact). 
He is mostly crawling, still inch-worming but adding in a few hand and knee coordinated crawling paces.. lol.. if that even made sense!  He weighs in around 21 pounds, has one tooth, with another coming through, and spends his days either scooting around following his siblings, or pulling up and cruising on anything that will hold his weight.  I swear, he'll probably get the hang of walking before he completely learns crawling! 

Kinda sad that Daddy is missing some of these firsts, but he is working hard on getting us over there.  The army has decreed that we cannot fly over there until our household goods get there, since there are no beds available to borrow.  So, after several phone calls and emails, I now know that our goods will be released and shipped from Hood on the 14th.  Which means we should be able to get tickets, now that we know a date of release... So, please pray that that's what will happen.  We have a friend flying into Korea to visit her significant other on the 18th, and we are really hoping to have a place for her to stay, so she can avoid having to pay a ridiculous amount of money to stay in lodging. 

And I received my first order from The Canvas People (http://www.canvaspeople.com/), and IT.IS.AWESOME!!

My mom laughed and asked me why I chose this particular shot, but I love it, and am proud of it.  Plus, who wants all the pictures on their walls to be serious or formal shots??  Not me!  I want cute, fun, hilarious and some formal.  Plus, none of the ones that I really wanted would fit on the size canvas that was offered (and since it was free (I only paid shipping), I didn't want to enlarge it).  Yes, the picture of the canvas looks a little funny, since its tipped back and there are snowflakes in the actual canvas.  Makes it look dusty, but I swear its not.. lol

New mother tips

As I'm sure ya'll heard, my best friend is having a baby girl at the end of the summer.  Squee!!  I got to go shopping already, and have plans to make some stuff pretty soon.  :)  But the thought struck me, what is something that I could tell her that might help her transition to motherhood easier? 

I'd love to hear your tips, tricks, and been-there, done-that stories!  I will be passing them along, if that's ok.  I think I've already talked her deaf, dumb and blind on various topics, so I jokingly told her I'd write her a book.  But it seriously sounds like something that would be fun to put together, so I just might do that!  :)

And a funny closing- my mom just hollered for me to 'come here' in German.  I walked into the living room where she and Dad are playing the Wii, and see my baby sitting in her lap.  I said, "He better not be asleep!"  and sure enough, he was.  Sound asleep sitting up, watching Grandma and Papa play Frisbee Golf! 

Oh, and our HHG will be released next week, and the estimated date for their arrival in Korea is 18 June.  0.0
Yeah.  That's what I said.  So.  We can fly 30 days after our goods are released, so hopefully I can tell Jon, and he can get us tickets for 14 May.  Yep, its gonna go just like that.  LOL!  No, seriously, any prayers that this move will finish smoothly and quickly would be much appreciated. 

Homeschool helps

I am writing this so that I will remember to finish compiling the list of places that I have found my curriculum.  A friend back in Cove was an awesome help with most of these resources, some of which I have not been able to use yet, since J and C aren't old enough yet.  Hopefully I can get it all finished tonight, but no promises- I tend to get distracted way too easily lately.  :)

In other news, we have hit a roadblock with our apartment in Korea.  Apparently, we can't get it until Jon gets out of the field.  Which is another 3 weeks.  However, S1 said that they would still finish the amendment so that we can get tickets.  I'm hoping that this gets finished this week, so that we will know exactly when we need to leave.  I am already making lists and packing up the things that need to be shipped.  And in a couple of minutes when C lays down for quiet time, I will be heading out for the Dollar Tree.  I am buying a couple of cheapy toys to wrap up for our plane ride. 

Anyone have any ideas on how to keep 3 kids entertained on a 15+ hour plane ride?  I would definitely love to have some help!