We're Home!!!

Wow!  So, it's Thursday evening back in Georgia and it's Friday morning here in Seoul.  We left our house in Statham around 8am Wednesday.  Ginger drove us to the airport in a church van.  Thank you, Ginger!  Our flight left around noon on Wednesday and we flew for about 14 hours and then we arrived at Incheon Thursday, January 6th around 5pm.

The first thing that happened after we went through immigration and collected our bags was buying ice cream for the kids.  They needed a little pick me up after such a long trip.  While we waited for Kidoong to pick us up in the airport I bought the kids mint chocolate chip and shooting star from Baskin.  It perked them up for a good 30 minutes. Ha.

Kidoong picked us up in a van and it took about 2 hours to get to his family's apartment.  The kids were sacked out during the ride.  He said that the KidsWorship team wanted to greet us at his place and eat pizza together and after that we would go to our agreed upon housing at the church.  We were looking forward to finally getting to our apartment and dropping our bags in our new "home" and getting some rest.

From what we understood, our apartment was on the 7th floor of the church building.  It's a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom unfurnished place, but it did have a sink, stove, bathroom, etc. so I knew we'd have everything we needed.  We brought clothes, air mattresses and toiletries and were planning to make an E-Mart run to get the basics for the kitchen, etc.  This is where the surprise came in.  As you can imagine, we're still a little messed up by the shock. We got to Kidoong's apartment and when we walked in the door we saw this:

Kidoong and his family were giving up their apartment for the year and living in the 1 bedroom apartment that we were supposed to live in.  Stunned and in utter disbelief we were greeted by the KidsWorship team, ballons, cakes, wings and pizza.  Barry and I were both in shocked and almost embarassed.  We came to serve not be served!  I'm still stunned.  I gave up my bathtub and fireplace, Will gave up his legos, Sam gave up her personal space and Barry, well Barry could live anywhere.  But, we get here to find beds, cozy heated floors, functioning kitchen, bathtub, legos, wi-fi, TV, DVD player, couches, kitchen table, washer, treadmill and more.  WHAT?!?  Wow.  The learning curve for living here will be pretty steep.  That should be an adventure in and of itself.  We'll pay the utilities and fees, but God has already provided work, so that's covered.

This morning we opened up the devotional that our pastor gave us before we left for this trip. Today's entry was based out of Ephesians 3:20.  Our God is a God who does more than we can ask for or imagine.  Yes, He is and we are simply amazed.  May our thoughts and days continually be filled with thanksgiving and praise to our God.

Publish Post

Trim,Toilets, and Interviews, Oh My!

(On the left is a picture of our living room before the chaos began...)

So, the past few days I've been busy getting documents prepared and mailed to the Korean Consulate, vacuuming, caulking, painting trim and scrubbing toilets.  We're a week away from departure.  Wow!  We're still on the hunt for inexpensive luggage, so we can get to packing.

At this point Barry wants us to use Rubbermaid containers -- cheap and easy.  I'm just a little nervous about that.  I emailed T.S.A. 2 weeks ago to ask what they thought, but haven't heard back. I guess they're too busy patting folks down.  Ha. 

Tomorrow is the E-2 VISA interview at the Consulate.  I'm supposed to dress (and act) professionally. Darn. I hope I can fool them.  I'm better with kids than adults!  The interview is at 3pm.  If you think to, please say a prayer that God will give me grace and favor.  (I'm a little nervous.)  This is the only thing that stands between us and our January 5th departure date -- legally speaking.  I 'spose I should pack and finish cleaning, too.

We now have 3 twin mattresses on our living room floor.  (Check out the picture to the right.  Will is laying on his "bed" playing Wii.)  As I'm cleaning out, painting, vacuuming, etc. rooms I'm locking the door so we don't mess them up again.  Therefore, our house is shrinking.  Right now we have a kitchen, master bedroom, 1 bath (not the 3 we're used to!) and a living room.  The kids and I are sleeping on twin mattresses on the living room floor.  It's been fun. It's like a giant sleep-over/camp-out thing.  I hope the mattresses survive Will's jumpy-ness.  He says he just can't help it -- sounds like Tigger.  I guess this arrangement will help prepare us for our tight quarters in Korea.  Barry uses the master bedroom to sleep during the day.  He is presently working 7 nights in a row of 12 hour shifts.  We've got to save up.  That guy is Superman! 

Happy New Year!

Details

Great news!!!  The final details are falling into place.  (Not a moment too soon!)  Thanks for taking the time during this busy season to bend in prayer on our behalf.  We don't merit your time, interest or energy, but we're absolutely grateful and humbly thank you.  We know we couldn't take this step without the strong hand of the Lord and the prayers of the saints.  He really is faithful to provide as He guides.  We're just along for the ride and desperately praying that we'll be found worthy of the call.

Thank you Lord for providing! Lizzy has a foster home.  That's been such a concern of my heart.  I love my lil' Lizzy so much.  I'm going to miss her sweet brown eyes and snugly, soft fur.  She's been a good buddy and I know she'll be easy for her new peeps to love.  A gal from the tack store will take her for the year.  I'm going to introduce them to each other this week.  Also, we found a secure, climate-controlled storage facility for our belongings -- our house!  Yep, some friends are going to rent out the house (furnished), which will be a mutual blessing.

On the Korea front, our dear friends in Korea have been working overtime to secure our visas (still in process) and smooth out the details over there.  We have housing and employment already set up.  Kidoong left a message today to ask that we bring a copy of our driving record so we can get cheaper car insurance.  I am SO thankful to have such a gracious and attentive God and such precious people to help prepare the path as we make this transition.

We've heard references several times to Indiana Jones and the invisible bridge.  That's definitely been an accurate description of this leg of the journey.  With these details in place, it's like the sand has been tossed over the bridge and there's enough visibility in place to know where to take the next step.

Merry Christmas!

p.s.  We need some huge suitcases.  I'm going to check Goodwill. We'd love to borrow some if anyone has some.  Thanks.

Lizzy

The only member of the family who can't go to Korea...

Visas

I just wanted to thank you guys (and gals) for teaming up with us! We absolutely cannot do this alone.

I'm asking that you take 10 seconds and pray for our visas. That 1 little document is vital to our being able to live and serve in Korea and the surrounding countries. You would be AMAZED at how many details are required for this process. I've gathered transcripts, birth certificates, marriage license, state criminal background checks, FBI criminal background checks, letters of reference, etc. I've had documents sent to us, notarized and apostilled... details, details, details!

The latest email I got said that my notarized and apostilled criminal background check is not sufficient. Wha??? Do I need Obama to give the Korean gov't a personal phone call and vouch for us? I have no criminal record, so the rap sheet isn't much to look at, but I would think it would suffice.

Will you friends please say a quick prayer for us that the Lord will make a way for all 4 visas to go through quickly so that we can move forward with God's plan? THANK YOU. Your prayers make all the difference. 

 I have to say that I am a typical American in the fact that I'd prefer to be independent and not ask anyone for anything, BUT, the Lord has made it abundantly clear that self-reliant, independence is NOT the way of the Kingdom. We were created to need Him and each other! Thanks for your partnership and your friendship. I'm excited to see what the Lord will do in and through all of us.

Update

The date for departure is January 5th.  The tickets are purchased.  We're in the process of finalizing our visas.  I just got off the phone with Kidoong and it sounds like Kathryn will work as the lead music teacher/worship leader at a private school in S.Korea.  Barry is still planning to work part-time at the church and we will home school the kids.

Kidoong also mentioned 4 trips that are lined up.  Shanghai, January 24th-29th, Europe, February 14th-26th, Mongolia, in March or April and then KidsWorship English camps starting at the beginning of August (one camp at a retreat center and one camp in Mongolia or Shanghai.)

Right now we're doing all we can to save up for all the airfare costs that we're headed into.  We also need a renter for the house and someone to keep our sweet dog, Lizzy, while we're gone.  If you know of anyone please let us know!

How Did Get Here?

Tickets have been purchased.
Boxes are being packed.
Clothes are being set aside
And I'm hoping that they'll match!

Family times are bittersweet
Knowing time is short.
And when I look at my best friend
A lump forms in my throat.