Catching Up - Farewell, Korea!

Our final weeks in Korea were bittersweet. We finished packing up our tower apartment, said farewell to several friends and Bible study groups, and attended a few final celebrations with our squadron. Here are a few highlights:

We enjoyed celebrating Easter with friends and our church community in Osan before moving. Kaden was still a little small to understand what was going on, but we took him to the squadron kid's Easter party at the park. He did pick up one or two eggs during the big egg hunt (before dropping them and choosing to play on the playground instead.) We mostly enjoyed getting outside in the semi-warm weather and spending quality time with daddy!

 On Easter Sunday, we got together with our closest friends at for brunch at the Chapman's house. Ashley set out a fantastic make-your-own-pancake-art station complete with different flavored and colored batters and toppings. There were some impressive contenders in our pancake art contest, but ultimately Cortney (the artist) won with her edible rendition of the women meeting the angel at the tomb. We just enjoyed spending time as an AF family, relaxing, laughing at the antics of our babies, and trying not to cry as we realized that our time of sweet fellowship was coming to a close.

pancake art! James did a self-portrait. I made a heart.

 We were glad that the Fiends held their annual ball before we PCSed so we could get all dolled-up and spend one more night out with these fabulous people! The commander said his formal farewell to James and some of our other friends at that event, which we appreciated. He acknowledged that this was not the easiest assignment for James career-wise, but admired how we continued to give it our all no matter the circumstances. I'm proud of my resilient husband!

Harrumph to the Fiendettes!

Our farewell

James and his remaining friends from the Academy class of 06

 Shenanigans, as always. ;^)

Below are some sweet group photos from the last time we got to meet with our couple's Bible study and with my ladies' accountability group. These people provided so much of the support and stability we needed while in Osan! I miss them!

Our last week in Korea coincided with spring break. I decided to jump on the bandwagon and go with several other friends and their kids on a trip to a nearby dairy farm as one final Korea adventure. It was a good idea, in theory, but turned out to be a horrible day. Kaden was beginning to come down with another bad bug and got seriously car sick on the way to the farm. Then he was fussy during the whole morning's tour. I think if he was a bit older, he would have enjoyed learning to make mozzarella cheese, feeding baby cows, milking them and eating ice cream. But 20 months is a little young for any kiddo to be attentive on a field trip. Thankfully, a friend of mine was leaving early and we were able to hitch a ride back to base before his mood deteriorated any more. At least we got a couple of cute pictures.

 Since James hadn't flown in so long, he told the squadron that he did not want to have a "fini flight". Instead, we planned to attend the finis for our good friends the Ludingtons and Pipers, and just snap a final pic of us in front of the jet. Our friends wouldn't let him off that easy, though. They surprised him with a celebratory hose-down anyway. I wish I would have taken a picture of Kaden's face when they tackled James. He was ENRAGED and screamed and fought to get over there and defend his daddy. It was so sweet and so sad! James didn't enjoy getting soaked without warning, but I am thankful that we were not overlooked on our way out of the Fiends.

Kaden and his daddy, ready to see some jets up close!

 We had a great turn-out for this family event, supporting friends

Before we realized something was up...

They got James to take his jacket off "for a picture"

Then grabbed him and hosed him down with water and champagne

 Since my hands were full, the commander did the honors with the bubbly.

On our last night in Osan, we gathered our friends at our favorite Thai restaurant for one final meal. The owners were very sad to see us go. (We often joked that the Wentzels kept them in business for four years.) The chef even came out and said farewell and gave Kaden a hug and a special treat before we left. These final pictures of our time in Korea embody the two things we miss the most about that assignment - the people, and the thai food!

After that, it was time to pack our bags and head to the airport for a LONG flight back to American soil!

Walking with Jesus - My Spring Retreat Talk

 Here's the outline from my talk at the PWOC Spring Retreat, for those interested in reading it! A little backstory for the intro - we almost lost one of our dear friends and Bible study leaders two weeks before this due to a scary complication during her labor and delivery of their fourth child. Thankfully, she and the baby girl are both healthy and thriving now! (Also, please forgive my incorrect outline format...)

Walking with Jesus in Triumph and in Sorrow,
and Rejoicing in God’s Promises

A) Processing a lot this weekend
- Culmination of Devo Series on God’s Promises- Preparing for Holy Week, reflecting on all Jesus endured in days and hours preceding the crucifixion
- Also in the wake of the emotional news about our good friend Katie, we’ve been reminded that we have no idea what our futures hold, or when God may call us home, which has given many of us a greater sense of urgency when it comes to reaching out to friends and loved ones who are not yet saved.
- With all of these things, Processing God’s power and goodness and providence, and what it really means for us that Jesus overcame the grave.
- Seems like divine timing, having these three trains of thought come together on our big retreat weekend:
a) Our greatest blessing of all is what Christ accomplished on the cross, defeating death and paying the price for sin so we can have eternal life
b) What we’ve been through emotionally, following Katie’s story, has made this real to us this week
c) All other blessings stem from the glorious truth of the Gospel - John 3:16
d) We need to rejoice in that truth, let it sink down deep into our souls, and have it influence our actions and how we live our lives every day.

B) Weekend structure
-Looking at the story of Jesus’ final week on earth
-Hopefully help prepare our hearts and minds for Easter - something I always struggle with. I don’t know what your Lenten season has looked like - but mine has been spent in upheaval, unexpectedly moving our PCS up by 5 or 6 weeks so preparing to move, taking care of an increasingly mobile and cranky toddler, PWOC and other volunteer commitments, squadron social events, combatting flu bugs, attempting and failing to work out more… It’s overwhelming and exhausting and I often feel like I’m being pulled in a million different directions, so it’s a real struggle to stay grounded and focused on my faith, even at such an important and spiritual time of year. So I’m thankful for this opportunity to slow down and spend some time in reflection and worshipping God for saving us.
-Each session covers one of the big events along the journey to the cross
a) Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday
b) Last Supper (Maundy Thursday)
c) Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane
d) Crucifixion and Resurrection!
**You can see the weekend lay-out in the schedule/binder/materials

Before we really dive into our session, let’s take a minute to pray and prepare our hearts. (5m)

C) God’s plan to rescue and redeem His people, which began before the start of time, led up to this one week, two thousand years ago, as His Son prepared to pay the penalty for our sins
- Read the account of the Triumphal Entry in Luke 19:28-41
- Many Old Testament prophesies describe who the Messiah would be and what would happen when He came into His kingdom. The words the prophets used to describe Him include “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”, and describe Him redeeming Israel and reigning on the throne of David forever, in Glory and in peace.
- The Israelites had been oppressed for so long, and were so eager for the Messiah to come rescue them, that they knew many of these scriptures by heart and would have immediately recognized the significance of how Jesus entered Jerusalem for the passover feast, the weekend before He died.
- Zech 9:9 says: “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, He is Just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
- I think many of us are pretty familiar with the main points of this story. We’ve acted it out in Sunday school classes and waved Palm Branches in our churches on Palm Sunday. But as we see, Jesus fulfilled that prophesy by riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey and the people went ballistic! I wonder what that would have been like?

D) But as I’ve sat with this passage over the last few weeks, I was struck by all the different dynamics going on here:
- We see Jesus’ acceptance and calm determination to go to Jerusalem, even though He knows what He will have to endure once He gets there.
- How mystified the disciples must have been - don’t understand what Jesus is asking of them or why, or what is really going on. But they just go with it and it all works out just the way Jesus said it would.
- Emotional passion and joy of the people
- The outrage of the Pharisees in v.39, urging Jesus to control the people
- Jesus’ exaltation and glory in that moment, knowing that even if the people didn’t worship him and proclaim Him as the Messiah, the very rocks would cry out
- Then we’re kind of caught off guard by His sorrow and tears at the end, but He’s grieving for the city and the broken people there
a) Fear, acceptance, confusion, rejoicing, anger, exaltation, grief… We’re kind of all over the map here
b) From Triumph to Sorrow, and back again, that is true of the whole Passion Week story

E) Jesus’ last week was full of highs and lows
- Quote from Bible Gateway: “The final week of Jesus’ ministry covers a wide range of emotions and events. We see Jesus overturning tables in the temple; people hanging on Christ’s every word; cloak-and-dagger deals made to kill the Messiah; and fervent 11th-hour prayers offered. But before any of that happens, Jesus must first get to Jerusalem…Palm Sunday, marks the beginning of of Passion Week. It starts with Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem, where a hero’s welcome awaits him. The streets are lined with people waving palm branches and singing. They’re ready for him to be their King—but Jesus’ purpose is far more significant than gaining political status and power.”
- Hence the emotionally charged scene: The hopes and expectations of generations of people are hanging on this one Man, and He knows that they have no idea what’s about to happen, or the full extent of what He’s about to do for them.
- Wide range of emotions indeed.
- We can relate to that. Our own lives are emotional roller coasters
- My question for us tonight is: How do we follow in Jesus’ footsteps, staying the course, faithfully walking the road God has set before us, trusting in our Good Father’s plan no matter the challenges we face?

Some points here:

1) Own the Gospel - Do a heart check, make sure you really believe and understand it. Let that truth sink down deep. Everything we think, say, do, and feel spills out of the overflow of the heart (Matt 12:34) Easy for me to talk the talk, but the times I struggle most to walk the walk are when I’m disconnected from the Bible. Not filling my mind and heart with God’s truth or spending quiet time connecting to Him and so what’s bubbling up in my heart and what other people see is not a reflection of Christ but a reflection of how stressed out and tired I am.

2) Like the people in Israel welcoming their King, we need to rejoice and be glad!

I’m in the Revelation study with Beth Moore and we talked about this principle last week. The phrase “rejoice and be glad” is one we’re familiar with in the church. It’s repeated throughout scripture… Specifically we focused on Rev. 19:6-7 where the redeemed are worshiping God as they prepare for the wedding feast of the Lamb. It says: “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!”

Beth pointed out there that we probably have a tendency to downplay the word glad. We think, “Oh, I’m so glad to be here!” “I’m glad my team won the game.” “I’m glad they have something I like on this menu.” But if you look at the greek definition of that word, it’s much much stronger.

Agalliao. First half = “very much”, and the second half = “to leap”. So the definition is: “To exalt, rejoice with exuberance, often to leap for joy, show one’s joy by leaping, skipping, or dancing, denoting excessive or ecstatic joy and delight.”

Beth challenged us to seriously think about, when was the last time that we got so excited about something that it made you jump up and down? Often, what makes me move the most is either watching my Denver Broncos play, or seeing movie trailers that I’m excited about. Last time I really got excited and jumped up and down or pumped my fists in the air was when we found out that we’d be sharing our next assignment with some of our best friends. It wasn’t necessarily where we wanted to go, but we’d be with people we love and so nothing else mattered.

But when was the last time I got so excited about what God was doing that I reacted like that??? I don’t know. And it hit me so hard when she pointed out that if reading the Bible, and hearing the gospel message doesn’t make us get up and move. WE DO NOT GET IT. If we really understood what we’d been saved from, and how amazing it will be to live with God in heaven forever, we would barely be able to contain ourselves!
- Get excited about God and let that passion inspire us to action. Talk about that a little bit more in the sessions tomorrow. But like I said at the beginning when we were talking about Katie and the reality check many of us got when we found out what had happened - life is short. We have no idea the time or way that God will call us or our loved ones home. So we need to live with urgency - spreading the good news to everyone we know and anyone who will listen because nothing matters more than where we will spend eternity.

3) Celebrate our Blessings. Sometimes when we’re struggling, we need to stop and take stock of how richly we’ve been blessed. Ann Voskamp - “Joy Dare”. A while ago I was really struggling with feeling negative about being down on Korea and needed a “Positive Mental Adjustment”. So I initiated a 7 day Korea Joy Dare on fb. Did help give me a brighter perspective on how blessed we are to live here. Challenge you to do the same.

4) Trust in God’s Promises - seek them out in scripture and memorize them so we have them locked away in our minds and hearts whenever we need it. (Scripture - part of the armor of God!) For example, I tend to struggle with anxiety - particularly at night. A big promise that has helped calm me down and remind me to trust in God has been Psalm 4:8 “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O LORD, will keep me safe.” Pray you all have been bolstered and encouraged by many of the promises we’ve worked through this year.

5) Respond in Thanksgiving - for our blessings, answered prayers and promises kept. Prayer Journal? Monuments? Set up stones {Esther’s devo!}

6) PRAYER - stay in constant connection with God. It’s the only way Jesus was able to do what He did and endure what He did. Drew on His Father’s strength and kept a Godly perspective on worldly challenges. We’ll get a chance to retreat to the garden and spend some time focusing on many of these things tomorrow.

For now, I encourage you to prayerfully consider what you need to do, and which steps you need to take, in order to have the strength and perseverance to walk with Jesus

We want to equip you with some practical ways to make the message of Holy Week real for you AND your family. So Patti has an activity planned to help you plan out tangible ways to focus on this message and what you’ve learned this week. Before we do that though, let me close us in prayer.

Catching Up - Final Hurrah in Seoul

Before we left Korea, I had an awesome opportunity to spend two weekends away with my girlfriends up in Seoul. I'm so thankful I have a wonderful husband who is willing to take full daddy duty so I can have some needed breaks! The first weekend was our squadron's wife trip (called "Pink Flag"). We stayed at the military hotel called the Dragon Hill Lodge, went out to eat, explored the city, shopped and had a fun pj party on Saturday night that helped us all get to know each other better and encourage one another for the great things we see everyone doing in the community. I got a little emotional while we were up there, realizing that my time with these ladies was coming to a close and that this would be one of my last times exploring this amazing metropolis. Sweet memories!

Lunch at California Pizza Kitchen in Seoul! Delicious taste of home.

Me and my friend Sarah sporting our Pink Flag tee shirts

We found a great photo studio where you could dress up in traditional Korean hanbok outfits and take pictures in front of famous Korean landmarks. SO fun!

While many ladies spent their afternoon free time shopping till they dropped, my good friend and roomie Tara joined me on a photography spree in the Bukchon Hanok Village. Fun at the time, till later when we both had horrible headaches thanks to that toxic smog cloud behind us...

Pink Pajama party - quality girl bonding time.

We played pictionary, made jewelry, painted nails, and did lots of "girly" things...

 My next trip up to Seoul was to help run the Protestant Women of the Chapel Spring Retreat. Once again, we stayed at the Dragon Hill Lodge, and held our sessions at the Youngsan Army Chapel across the street. The theme for the retreat was "Celebrating His Promises". All winter we'd been focusing on Jesus' promises and how they can practically encourage us on a daily basis. This retreat led right up to Palm Sunday, so we felt a natural conclusion to that series would be to focus on the primary promise of new life given in the Gospel. We heard from four different speakers (myself included) who walked us through Jesus' journey to the cross and what that means for us today. Of course, we also got to have some fun - going out to dinner in Itaewon (for the last time!), playing games and making crafts. We had a great group of ladies attend, and it was a very powerful weekend for us. For me, it was a fitting, but bittersweet close to my time serving as the ministry's president. I also needed that time to slow down and meditate on God's promises as we closed one chapter of our lives and prepared for whatever God had planned at our next base!

The first thing we did after setting up was head out on the town for dinner. One final meal at our favorite - Vatos!

One of my favorite things about the weekend was rooming with this special lady. I'm so thankful for the strong friendships I made with other moms, and sisters-in-Christ while I was at Osan!

Delivering my talk on Palm Sunday

Worshiping in our matching PWOC tees, which James helped design

Lots of good time spent in the Word that weekend!

One of our devotions talked about the women in the Gospel story. Afterward reading about what happened to Mary and the others while bringing spices to the tomb, we made our own sweet-smelling bath salts

Just a few of the many awesome ladies I got to know that weekend. We enjoyed eating and fellowshipping together!

Our full large group, out under the Gazebo. Couldn't ask for a more beautiful day to spend some needed quiet time "in the garden with Jesus".

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.