Five Days

We've been home for five days. It seems like it's been forever since we said goodbye to everyone at Sea-Tac, yet it seems like yesterday that we were truckin' down the road on the way to our next adventure in Bus 2. What a blessing our "Korean" family is to all of us.

I'm prepping for the weekend of worship. Here is my list so far, but it could change.

Let It Rise
Beautiful One
How Great Is Our God
Here I Am To Worship
He Is Lord
(offertory) God, Bad, Ugly
Closing: He Is Lord

I picked a known quantity of music this week. We'll see how it goes tomorrow night during the rehearsal.


This picture represents one of my favorite moments at Ilsan. We kind of separated ourselves from the rest of the group after having a group picture taken at the Holt gravesite. We stood there with the kiddos and just talked about the legacy of the Holt family and the significance of the place that we were standing. Jeff reminded the kiddos of how important Holt had been and continues to be in the lives of our family. Not only through him gaining a sister, but in the time spent dedicated to furthering the mission of Holt. "Because," Jeff reminded us, "two ordinary people said 'yes' to an extraordinary thing we stand here right now." We stood there a moment longer in a prayer of thanks and of hope for the future of Holt. It was an emotional moment, but very sweet to share it with Em and J.

Korea 2009: Back Home and Top Five

We're trying to settle back into a routine. It is our first week without anything. We ended school and then headed to Korea! J is at camp this week, so he could use your prayers for strength and NO jet lag. I've been trying to cull through lots and lots of pictures from our trip, get caught up on paperwork, and just try and get my bearings.

Jeff is back at the church today. It's always a time of adjustment after we get to spend so much time together. We kind of like each other, you know? I'm thankful that we don't have school work today. It give me a little margin.

Em is enjoying the animals. Right now she is watching an old Full House episode and snuggling with Kiki. I have the dog. It's been fun to be around the chickens and bunnies too. The chickens are huge, and we are expecting to see eggs within the next couple of weeks.

Off and on this morning I've been uploading pics to Facebook. I'll write some more about the trip and add pics here too. I just seem to need to do this in stages. I'm thankful for this slower time. I can't imagine some of the tour members that were back to work bright and early this morning!



Top Five Songs From Bus #2:


5. Barbie World/We Are The Champions
4. Open Arms
3. Piano Man
2. Joy To The World (not the Three Dog Night version)
1. Bad Case Of Loving You

Top Five Activities on Bus #2


5. Sleeping
4. Listening to Ipods
3. Sharing stories/snacks
2. Disco Laser Karaoke
1. Laughing

Top Five Places visited by Bus #5 (before looking through all the photos again, and the list changed...again)



5. Jung Dong Theater
4. Busan
3. Gyeongju Temples
2. Kyoungbuk University Cultural Experience Programs
1. Achimedeul Unwed Mother's Home


Bus #2 ROCKS! (sorry everyone who rode on bus #1)

Hurray For The Fort U-lie!

This is something that Jeff's Gramps used to say each Fourth of July, and it's a tradition that has lasted long after he passed away. I never knew him, but hear these kinds of stories about him. When Jeff wakes up on the 4th and cheers, "Hurray for the fort u-lie!" It makes me feel like I knew him just a little.

This morning, or yesterday morning...We had two Fourth of Julys, so it's a little confusing. Before leaving for the airport we had our last Hamilton Breakfast for a bit. Jeff had eggs, and french toast, I think, with a little syrup on top. He said he was pretending to be at the Fireman's Breakfast that we usually attend on this special day. We are going to have a make good next Saturday with pancakes and everything for breakfast.

It is good to be home, hard to believe that we were even gone. I came home to beautiful flowers and well cared for animals. What a blessing. Thank you family and pseudo family.

Here is part of what we came home to... A welcome home sign with my drawing model decorated for the 4th! Very special Emmy, Alex, and Will. How thankful I am for the freedoms this country bestows, and for the men and women who fight to protect those freedoms here and abroad.

Leaving

I'm sitting here at the Incheon airport with free wi-fi. It's a surreal experience. We are already feeling the pangs of our anticipated separation. I've loaded more pictures to the Facebook. We are laughing and exchanging info. More personal jokes. We will miss each other.

I will post for each of the days after I get back. Too much to process right now. I will post a couple of pictures from last night. It was a fabulous night.

Not Much Posting...Not sure which day it is.

Today I decided to stay back in Seoul with Em, who was not feeling tip top this morning, while the boys went off the visit the DMZ. Because So. Korea is on such high alert right now, the tour was not all that is was supposed to be. There was no visit to the "peace village" to see the peace table where the truce was signed for the end of the Korean War. The boys did say that it was quite an experience. They went down into the infiltration tunnels, and had lunch in the basement of a log cabin? Jeff says there are no trees around, so how could there possibly be a log cabin right there at the DMZ? It was quite an experience for them the tunnel was so small that they stooped the whole way.

The place of the lunch. Looks like something you'd see back home, huh?

Here is the photo line. Vinny went as far as he could. You can take photos all the way up too the edge of the line, but not once you cross it.

The boys said these hats where a blessing because they kept bonking their heads while navigating through the tunnel. J said there was an echo of "ohh!" "ouch!" and "ahh" as they made their way to the top.

Courtney helping push the two Korea's back together up at the DMZ.


It seems this trip is not leaving much time for me to be on the internet in the most wired country on the planet. Crazy. I seem to be struggling with feeling 100%, so that means I have to be picky about what I expend energy on. A couple of days ago I sent a blog post into Holt. You can read it HERE
Em and I had a quiet first half of the day. Can't quite seem to get my body in line. Last night we ate at a nice italian restaurant here in Itaewan, and I still didn't feel well. The company was good, and the atmosphere was great. Good italian food here in Seoul. Very funny. The girls had a pretend wedding for Hally who married some imaginative character. I heard the reception was nice with Toblerone, cookies, and cookie dough ice cream from the Cold Stone across the street. Em said it was just good plain pretending. While Em was at the "wedding" I knocked on J's door and T answered. J was flat on the floor. Something about picking up ammo off of the ground. I said as long as the room wasn't destroyed and they hadn't broken any laws that I didn't need any explanation about what they were doing. I hit the sack and fell asleep pretty quickly.

Tonight is our final night. I know that I have left out so much of the past two. I will get caught up. I have tons of notes.

We have a big banquet to attend. There will be many dignitaries present. There will be a lot of hanbok's too. Here is a preview...

Air Guitar Where U R

Yes, we've started a new world wide phenomenon...Air Guitar Where U R and here is the first inaugural installment with Jman, but the aspect ratio is a little off unless you watch on Facebook.

Korea 2009: YES! We are here!

Hello All! It is so unusual to not have posted something by now. It has been a jammed packed week. We have just enough energy at the end of the day to shower up and collapse into bed!

Random thoughts (without spell checking!!!) to get us caught up to today with the hopes of giving more details later:
1. Long flight, but kiddos had more TV and Vid game time than they would in an entire week.
2. Compression socks really helped relieve some the cankles or thighckle issues from the last trip.
3. FYI: Cankles: where your ankles are so swollen that they are as big as your calves. And yes...thighckles where your ankles are as big as your thighs. Yeah...it's possible. Just ask Sistah Kim.
4. Minor melt down after arriving...a little Korean Cold Stone and the girls sleeping in one room the boys in another took care o that.
5. Korean Folk Village was great...Em found out she was getting her own hanbok. J got a new Pepe. Pepe= air soft rifle. All collapse onto Mom and Dad's beds. Yeah, beds...twin beds...mean no spoonin'. Too tired to care.
6. Holt Office. Meeting foster moms. Lots of tears. Lots of smiles. Lots of laughter. Take them to bulgogi bbq. Many foster mothers walk hand-n-hand with grown foster children. Precious memory. Go to the Secret Garden with the Mayor of Jonjo. Go to dinner with Mayor of Jonjo. Mayor feeds Jeff "Korean Oreo" or charcoled ginsing or what the Mayor tells Jeff and the room is good for vitality. Yes, personally fed Jeff the ginsing like he was a baby and then yelled "Man Power #1" and gave a fist in the air followed by a thumbs up. Jeff followed that up by grabbing a third and shoved it down his gullet. Previous to this the mayor was feeding Paul's wife Beth various foods, foods even Paul wouldn't eat, and Skip as well. Oh my goodness. This doesn't even do the evening justice, accept to say that a few hours later I started throwing up, and up, and up...until 7:30 a.m. the next day.
7. Yeah, it must have been the food. We've been immersed in Korean culture, mostly food. I spent the night thanking God for the cold sides of the Hamilton waste basket. I spent the whole next day in bed. Jeff brought me dry toast and chelsing cider. I tried to nibble and drink. I had a small scoop of B n R rainbow sherbet for dinner. Ahh...it was the best sherbet ever.
8. Jeonju beautiful babies, toddlers, kiddos doing dances, rubbing Jeffy's belly. Couldn't smell korean food without feeling dizzy. On to Daejeon told I wasn't smiling. To go to hotel or homestay? Chose homestay to prove to Emma that we would all survive. Fell asleep at 6:30 after not being able to handle smell of beautiful home cooked Korean meal. Thanking God for small breeze even though it was blowing past kimchi pots on terrace. Mrs. Lee was FABULOUS! Funny! and RICH! more explanation on that later. Homestay was in J's top three things of trip so far.
9. Headed to ancient city. Still feeling dizzy, but smiling I guess because people said I had my smile back. Tour unwed mother's shelter. Heartbreak while meeting unwed mothers who have questions for adoptees and the families. Adoptees thank the mother's for the choice they make to give child up for adoption. One says that they will never have to worry about whether or not their child loves them, because they always will. AH, sunglasses. The adoptees surround mothers and hug them. Thousands of tears are shed...
10. Stay at hotel. LARGE hotel. Fabulous salmon and pineapple. Finally not so many korean food smells to give stomach a break. Conversation in hotel lounge while listening to Asian Achey Breaky Heart. Jeff's parting words...nuff said.
11. Monsoon, rainbow unbrellas, and dramamine. Curvy roads, busload, buddhist temple hikes with "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" going through my head. Beautiful scenery. Bonding with other families. Romantic weather with passion person. The rising pheonix and a 5 star hotel. Great walk with a group of kids and watching J converse with peers. Leads me to pictures of today and then shut eye...
Monsoon weather. So not Oregon rain. Warm and no wind. What's that all about?

Yea! We made it! And Mom having so much fun NOT being sick.

Oh the pahssion persons walking in romantic weder.

World Traveler.

Our first family pic of the trip!

Oh, not nice sistah. Nikki can't help being shorter...

Adoptees Nikki and Sistah Kim.

Holt Adoptee Julie with an adoptive parent Stacey. Both Oreegone-eeans.

Traditional picture taking place on Holt tour.

Skip single handedly crushing the wishes of who knows who and then trying to build it back up again. Would that still be their wishes or would it be the wish of wishing to build back up the previous wish?

One of the Buddhist temples in Gyeongbok.

Holt adoptee Eddie, a bow & arrow, and ice cream cone in pocket. This boy is ready to rock.

Fish eye club. T, J, and Skip ate the eyeballs out of the fish. I gave that opportunity a pass.

#2 bus tired of following #1. Took matter into own hands. #1 bus now #11 bus.

Cousin Vinny at the temple mounds.

View out of our window in Busan.

Worship Confessional

Here are two videos. One from Thursday night after rehearsal and then from today.



Today's Set List:

Beautiful One
Open The Eyes Of My Heart
I Belong
How Deep The Father's Love For Us
Amazing Love (Start with Chorus) Ended with You are My King and Just the voices...

Offertory: Divine Romance

Closing: He Knows My Name (2nd verse & Chorus)

The sermon from today will be posted by tonight. So great. So encouraging. Life giving. Filled with hope. There is a link to Pastor Ben's sermons on my sidebar. It's a really big red button that says "Pastor Ben's Sermons" in white letters. I'll check back in later for an update on our state of minds...yeah less than 24 hours. WOW!

But lastly I want to wish all the fathers out there a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

Count Down to Korea Take Two: 4 days and counting

To Do List:
1. Worship set list finalization
2. Rehearse music
3. Pick up meds
4. Breathe and pray
5. Begin the packing process
6. Organize the blue room
7. Final touch ups around the house
8. Update the To do "life at the farm" list
9. Breathe and pray
10. Rejoice in the Lord's faithfulness
11. Compile photo album to share with people on our Korea trip
12. Celebrate the Dads
13. Walk and read The Word

Okay so, my list. It looks a little off kilter. #13 should be #1 but I am finding it difficult to keep my priorities straight as I prep for this trip. I have some things that are on my mind that I've been praying about and that is so distracting too. I'm trying to remember to breathe trust that everything will be in place as we leave and everything will be in place as we return. This trip is a gift from Heaven, and I want to be able to enjoy everything about it. That includes watching my kiddos be excited too.