Did I mention - I LOVE KOREA

The first three weeks have been absolutely wonderful.  Daegu is a great city to raise kids in and we have already begun to make some new, great friends.  Not to mention I don't have to drive anymore.  The subway and my new bike get us everywhere we need to go!  

I'm glad this move happened when it did because we have some many new things to keep our minds occupied while we wait for Myra to come home.  We are down to only two month until our court date and all paperwork is a go so far.  We are praying for the judge, power, timing, organization and grace on April 27th.  God willing we will be a family so soon!  I started getting things organized for our second trip to Ethiopia this week.  My plane ticket is going to cost $3200!  Can you believe it??  But Seoul to Addis to Chicago and back to Seoul is some serious distance to travel.   

Our things arrive tomorrow so I will post a home tour sometime next week...stay tuned

Ahoy Matey

Scabies

That's right...we have scabies.  I thought we might get these nasty critters since Noah did not hold back on the affection end of things while we were in Ethiopia. Which reminds me of one of the best memories of our Ethiopia trip.  

One night after playing soccer with a few street children, we had the opportunity to take them out to dinner at Kaldi's.  I wish I could show you the faces of the other diners when we walked in.  Talk about shock and awe.  The children were delighted to be in such a "nice" restaurant (sort of like Starbucks with burgers). They were really hungry.  The kind of hungry that comes to mind when you think of hungry children.  It was weird to see it in person...weird as in I thought this was a TV ad not real life...weird and hard...the kind of hard that stays with you the rest of your life.  But the thing that makes me feel really humbled is the children waited for us to get our food and watched out for their buddies to ensure they each had something to eat. 

When we were walking out after eating there was a bit of confusion at the door and Noah came up to Brian and I.  He pointed to a boy by the door of the restaurant with great concern on his face.  He said, "Mama that boy did not get anything to eat. He's hungry."   That's why I'm almost happy to have scabies.  My sweet baby boy cares deeply about a boy in Addis that did not get to eat.  He knows something about a world where food is important not what new toy or game  or whatever is at the top.  What more can a mother ask for?  I told the Doctor with a smile on my face,  "we got scabies spending time with street children in Ethiopia...what did you do last week?"  

Scabies is no joking matter and we are taking the decontamination very seriously.  I was complaining earlier in the week that our house hold goods were still not in Korea, but I have never been so happy to only have a few things in the house.  As it turns out it will make eradicating the mites much simpler.  So if you think of us this weekend picture us rubbing, scrubbing, and boiling away.  

100th post - 100 things about me

1. Oldest child
2. Born in Los Angles
3. Grew up in Colorado
4. Became a Christian or follower of Christ in Elementary School.

5. Jumped out of an airplane a few times
6. Took tap, ballet and jazz from 4 yrs old until early high school - still a terrible dancer
7. I love and really like my sister and my brother...most of the time :)



8. Left home at 16 to go to military high school in New Mexico - by choice
9. Loved military school and decided to keep it going for college
10. Graduated from the United States Military Academy
11. My favorite food is strawberries
12. I hated my red hair but now I love it
13. I love to travel
14. I've traveled to England
15. Israel
16. Canada
17. Venezuela
18. China
19. S. Korea
20. Germany
21. Italy

22. All over the United States but never to Alaska
23. I visited Israel in college for free! (it was paid for by the Israeli government as a military exchange)
24. Dated my husband for 3 years before we got married
25. He thought I was cute even as a new cadet at West Point!
26. Got married when I was 21
27. Honeymooned in Venezuela
28. I've lived in Washington State
29. California
30. New Mexico
31. Colorado
32. Virginia
33. Illinois
34. South Korea (well almost)
35. We deployed for 12 months to fight in the war in Iraqi

36. Got out of the Army and change my whole life b/c of those 12 months
37. Thankful for my experience in the Army but glad that it is all just a distant memory
38. I'm now an Army wife (totally weird to have this whole thing come full circle)
39. Quit my corporate job to move to Korea and stay at home full time with my two children
40. I don't know how to cook
41. I have not cleaned my own toilets for almost 5 years!! Such an great thing
42. I have one cup of coffee with milk and sugar in the morning but I drink decaf tea all day long
43. My all time favorite cereal is Rice Chex
44. I love eating great food
45. I love shopping for great deals
46. Craigslist is one of my favorite places to shop
47. Garage Sales are my obsession
48. I ran a marathon when I was 21
49. I don't run anymore just walk and hike and bike
50. I tried surfing but it's hopeless

51. I love reading all sorts of different kinds of books but not military history
52. I'm an aunt to the sweetest baby boys and big boys ever
53. My family has a reunion that we call a jamboree every year
54. Played the Viola in Jr. high and high school
55. I'm an obsessive planner and organizer
56. I like to boss people
57. My favorite color is purple
58. It's important for me to have a close girl friend where ever I happen to live
59. I like to get hand written letters
60. I always talk to random people about how their day is going. I do this b/c I imagine that no one ever is interested in them and I need to at least make an effort to show some interest
61. An Iraqi Muslim family lived with us for 4 month and they were not terrorist...

62. I lived in the same neighborhood my entire childhood and the same house for almost 17 yrs
63. I was starting to go skinny dipping when my soon to be husband jumped out of the trees and asked me to marry him well after he asked me to put my shirt back on
64. I dream to have 4 or 5 kids
65. My family just got our 1st Mac and I think it's going to be pretty cool
66. I like the TV show LOST too much
67. I think I might learn how to cook this spring
68. I triple love my Ergo Baby carrier. It is the best thing ever.

69. I was really into drama most of school

70. I was the captain of the Women's Lacrosse Team at West Point but I'm really not athletic at all

71. I love children

72. My Father in Law had to co-sign on my first apartment b/c neither Brian nor I had any credit history

73. Brian and I slept on an air mattress for 4 months after we got married until we could afford a real one...but I think it still was nice

74. I've been a mom for a little over 2 years and it is the best thing I have ever done

75. I'm learning more about myself through Noah

76. My favorite thing to do with Noah is slowly wake up in my bed while drinking chocolate milk and coffee...so cozy

77. I also like pretending to be a pirate ...ALL day long
78. I got a fire pit thing for the backyard as a b-day present and I really love it

79. My ideal day is tailgating at a football game but never watching football

80. I love hosting Easter and Thanksgiving at my house.

81. The thing I like about it is setting the table

82. I don't like decorating for Christmas

83. I love Noah so much sometimes I'm at a loss for what to do with all my love

84. I'm really excited to be a family of four

85. I wrote a poem and it got published

86. I think I want to work for a non-profit someday

87. Sometimes I dream that we become a missionary family

88. Sometimes I dream I'm a trust fund baby

89. I was really sick and almost died once...it put some serious things in prespective for me and I'm thankful for the whole thing

90. I don't like ice cream or very many other desserts just fresh fruit

91. I love those Lime Corn Chips over most any other treat

92. I'm a disabled veteran

93. I like to plan my life 20 years ahead of time...it's the whole obessive planner thing

94. I'm the bad, loud singer in the pew behind you at church

95. I'm excited to see how Myra will change me

96. When I'm waiting in line or something like that I play solitary on my cell phone...sometimes I pretend like I'm emailing or txting when I'm really just playing solitary

97. I love Jesus and love my life being about serving Him

98. I need to wear glasses to drive at night now...so sad

99. I used to have a sweet pug named Jack

100. I love blogging about myself ;)

LOL

If you really need to laugh today check this hilarious book out at your local library. Brian and I had no idea but we could hardly finish reading the book at bedtime because we were laughing so hard.

Here's an example of the witty prose - "With a sinking feeling, Walter realized he'd been farting his heart out for crime. Not for a children's party. Not for a good cause." Hilarious!

La La La Love

This man Peter, an Ethiopian, saw that children had many great needs in a small village at the southern tip of Addis.  Instead of debating the political reasons or social reasons for this great problem he just got up and did something about.  For many months he just met with the children to play soccer or read stories in an open field.  Then one day, Peter invited a man to come see these children.  This man decided that he could also do something, and he gave Peter money right on the spot.  Peter purchased a building with the money.  His idea to help continued to grow and now over 200 children have a place to be loved, educated, feed and cared.  I was excited to see this place because I LOVE when people stop talking so much and act.  It's amazing what can get done.  When we arrived we were greeted with such amazing love by the children that I forgot my mission was to love on the children.  The children embraced us with hugs, songs, kisses, invitations to play.  I felt like the most famous person in the world for how the children treated me.  I was so overwhelmed with mushy love feelings that even today I am still happy inside! My lesson is the best things in life are free and all you need is love...and at least one meal a day :).  Seriously, it's not about my things or my job or my cleanliness. There is something bigger happening all around us.  I LOVE that these sweet children reminded me of this great lesson.  So - thanks guys and ILY more than words can say.

My Mom was one of the favorites on this delightful school.  The Ethiopian children treated her like she was 80 years old.  It was pretty cute but my Mom did not always think so because 50 is the new 20 - in case you missed the memo ;)

Noah thinks Ethiopia is the best place on earth, because he got to watch DVDs as much as he wanted, eat (organic) candy suckers when he wanted to, and play soccer with adoring crowds of children everywhere we went. I agree with him - Ethiopia is one of the best places on earth.

For all you bug lovers out there - Addis has some really cool ones...be on the look out!

And we got some great Myra news today - Our court date was assigned.  April 27th is the very big day!!!  Let the count down begin and please pray that we are able to return to our sweet little one soon, soon!

Obama is my Cousin

I've decided to start with my most vivid memories and then at the end give a trip overview and do's and don't. 

My first memory to share happened on our first day.  There was a meeting at Win Souls for God/ Hope for Children and Noah was not up for it so we went outside to "play soccer" (his code for get me out of here).  There was a group of older children waiting for class to start and we started talking to them.  We sang a few songs together - my go-to when language is an issue.  I figure if I sing a song everyone will feel better b/c I'm such a bad singer!  Anyways, the children 1st brought up Obama.  They literally could not wait to share the news that an African was president of the Untied States.  They called Obama their cousin and jumped for joy that he was leading our great nation.  How cool is that?  Hope for a nation and a world!!! Is Africa is now ready to emerge from the great burden???  That is my great hope.

Don't get too excited...the next thing these children told me was "White is blessed, black is cursed."  I almost fell down.  How can this be?  I know my shoe cost more then you will make in a year but really is it true?  I tried to explain that God see us as the same and we are both bless in eternity but it was all lost in translation...my heart is forever sad for this moment.  Why does it have to be like this and again, why do I get to be on the other side??? My prayer for these children is to know love and to see that they are blessed in many ways that I will never know.  I hope that they will get something to eat today and that there will be someone to reach out and give them hope for tomorrow.

I never heard your story told

Welcome home...well almost home.  Taegu feels much more like a tourist stop vs. our home for the next two years.  I stayed up last night organizing and moving furniture to help things start to feel more like me.  Our time in Addis was life changing and I can't wait to share ever detail with you in the next few weeks.  Brian is helping me organize my photos and I am still processing many of my emotions about the people we met and thing we witnessed.  I guess the thing that stand out the most from this trip is that I witnessed a story that I have never heard before in the United States.  If I had not gone to Ethiopia to meet these people, work with their children, drive on their road, eat their food, I would never have know what was going on.  How can that be? 

We did get to meet Myra at the end of our trip.  Words cannot express how wonderful it was to hang out as a family for those few hours.  Myra is precious and ever so small.  She now weighs 6.8 lbs and is 2 months and 3 weeks old.  At one point Noah and Myra cuddled up next to each other on the floor.  Noah reach over and stroked Myra's little face.  It was heaven for Brian and I.  I was unsure about my capacity to love enough at that moment.  My heart literally hurt.  What a gift, what a joy.  I feel blessed to have memories of Myra at such a young age.  My longing for our 2nd trip is close to craziness but I am trying my best to cope and focus on other things.  Since I can't show you pictures of the beautiful one, here are a few of the original crew getting ready to meet her for the first time!