Catching Up - Korea Winter

Hey all, it's been a long time. But I don't want to completely abandon my blog! So - I'm going to do my best to fill you in on the highlights of the last several months of radio silence.

In my last post, I briefly outlined what we now refer to as "The Ebola Christmas". As you may recall, we came home from a magical two week getaway to Maui and were hit hard with back-to-back illnesses which spoiled quite a bit of our holiday fun. The first reason I got behind on blogging is because the string of sicknesses just kept going, and going, and going. I don't know if it was just the bad Korea air or the shared germs in the nursery or what, but it seemed like every time Kaden and I started to get over whatever crud he brought home, we'd catch something else. He ended up in the ER twice with a high fever and persistent cough caused by RSV, and made several other visits to the pediatrician in between. I missed our very important Protestant Women of the Chapel winter kick-off because I completely lost my voice earlier that day. The combination of being sick, tired, tired of being sick, and not wanting to make things worse by going out in the bitter cold made for a somewhat miserable start to 2015. This trend didn't really let-up until we moved to the States in April. We were actually in the doctor's office the day before we flew to South Carolina because Kaden had a horrible cough. The doctor (someone other than our usual pediatrician) asked how long he'd had his cough, and I answered truthfully: "Since December." He looked at me in surprise and replied, "Well, you must be glad to be leaving Korea!" You could say that again.

James had his own health problems to contend with at this time. We are so thankful that his heart ablation was successful and appears to have cured his tachycardia! However, it took a lot longer to recover from the procedure than we anticipated and so he wasn't cleared to start flying again until April. That put him at risk of missing certain crucial flying currencies, so our commander decided to have us move to South Carolina six weeks earlier than originally scheduled so that he could start flying and continue working as soon as we arrived (instead of getting a couple of flights in Korea then taking a break for the move). That seemed like a smart decision for all parties involved. However, that sped up our moving timeline quite a bit and put some stress on all of us as we scrambled to prepare the house to pack out by February 24th!

Somehow, we got everything done on time, and in one quick day, the Korean moving company had all of our stuff packed into crates and loaded onto a truck bound for America! Kaden was amazingly resilient through the entire moving process. He didn't seem to be bothered at all with the fact that a large majority of our stuff disappeared over night, or that we were living with temporary furniture and borrowed toys for two months, or that we got shuffled from hotel to hotel as we transitioned into our new home in South Carolina. He just went with the flow and was happy to entertain himself with anything he could find in each phase of the move. I think he actually relished having so much open space in our house so he could zoom around freely on his tricycle. I'm thankful for him and his flexibility. That eased a lot of the stress and headaches I was expecting with this move!

He quickly discovered his tricycle rolled up perfectly next to our temporary coffee table and that became his favorite reading spot in the mornings.

Before I get too far head of myself, let's back up a bit and talk about some GOOD things that happened in those final winter months in Korea.

The first big thing was a huge blessing and milestone for me. In January, my first book was published! This has been a long learning process, but it was so exciting to share the news with friends and family and hear feedback from those who were encouraged and challenged by its message. The book is called A Higher Education: Casting A Greater Vision for College & Beyond. As the title suggests, it's a christian non-fiction book aimed at helping college students own their faith and allow that to help them thrive - academically, mentally, and spiritually. It's now available in paperback through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com, and as an eBook for Kindle. If you'd like to learn more about the book and read some of the blogs I've posted for students and their parents, check out my website: http://www.ahighereducationbook.com/

In spite of everything going on in our home, our social calendar was full as usual and we enjoyed several final outings with the squadron. We also hosted some fun parties, including a big brunch party for the Super Bowl! In Korea, the Super Bowl starts at 8:00 am, so we invited anyone who lived in our building to bring a favorite breakfast dish to share and walk on up in their pj's for the festivities! We had a full house, and were equally entertained by the game and all the kiddos running around. I'm going to miss Monday morning sports!

I went to a MOPS painting party, where we were walked through the process of creating a beautiful image of Seoul Tower surrounded by cherry blossoms. This was not only a fun experience, it produced a special keepsake from our time in Korea that is currently hanging in our kitchen!

The ladies in my Bible study and accountability group threw a small Oscar party so we could all watch the Academy Awards in our most outrageous accessories and try to guess who would win each award. The person who guessed the most correctly won their own special "Oscar" (a ken doll our hostesses' daughter graciously donated and spray painted gold. haha!) I really love these ladies and will miss doing life with them.

I attended two more Fiendette namings before we moved. The first one was actually a joint naming with the A-10 wives. We were naming some of the older ladies in both squadrons, so they jokingly chose a retro theme for their party, encouraging us all to dress in 60's and 70's garb. This was a fun night for me because some of my closest friends from my accountability group are in the other squadron so we got to all party together for once!

My final Fiendette Show of Colors was bittersweet as I donned my party dress for the last time. It was at the end of February, and they chose a Valentines theme, so the room was appropriately decked out in red! While it was sad to say farewell to that part of our Korea experience, it was good seeing new ladies stepping up and taking ownership of squadron unity and frivolity. Once a Fiendette, always a Fiendette. HARRUMPH to my Fiend sisters!

The Namees, in their cupid costumes

Me and one of my favorite ladies! <3 br="">

 With everything going on, our last few months in Korea flew by and we were quickly faced with having to say farewell to so many close friends. More on that in my next posts.