I'm Dreaming of a....

MINNESOTA CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to several people who are helping us get home, Caleb and I will (Lord willing) be flying to MN the last few days of November and spending the month of December with family and friends in the States!!  I could not be more excited - it has been a year and half since we were back last.  Caleb was 17 months the last time he was around family or in the States...and has changed so much in that time!  

Caleb with Auntie Renee & cousins Summer 2011

This will also be his first Christmas with family.  The plan is for Steve to join us around the end of December and stay 10 days, flying back with us to Korea.

The reason we are headed back is especially exciting:  Our sister Renee is getting married December 21!   Congratulations again, Renee and Chris! We received your wedding invitation yesterday and can not wait to celebrate with you!

For several weeks I've been thinking of all the people I can't wait to catch up with, all the places I can't wait to go, things to do and restaurants to eat at! There are a lot of people and things we miss about Minnesota and I'm not sure we can cram it all in in only 5 short weeks but we're going to try!

I think seeing family, going to the wedding and spending Christmas with everyone is for sure at the very top of my list of things I'm excited about....seeing friends and our former small group is also at the top of the list...as far as things to do, I can't wait to SHOP AT TARGET!!!!! Oh my goodness I can't wait to shop at Target. GO TO BETHLEHEM BAPTIST CHURCH AGAIN!!! Be able to ask for anything I want in English!! Go to the grocery store and read all the labels and be able to find everything! Chop down a real Christmas tree with Caleb and my family, try to go to the Bethel Christmas concert, the Macy's exhibit, the Macy's parade, go to Mall of America, go to Rosedale Mall, walk into William Sanoma and take a deep breath of  nummy smells, have a DECAF coffee at a coffee shop, go to Panera Bread, go to Caribou, eat at Ruby Tuesday's salad bar, go to Herman's bakery with my parents, Albertville Mall, go to some big thrift stores, get bagels at Brueggers, visit the Copper Dome and our old neighborhood, walk down memory lane with Steve at the Egg and I (where we met every Friday morning while we were dating to have a Bible study over breakfast before work), eat our mom's home cooked meals.....If you want to join me in doing any of these exciting things, please let me know! I would love to have some company!  :)  

I can't wait to see many of you in, Lord willing, TWO SHORT WEEKS!!!!!! Please be in prayer everything works out smoothly (we will be trying to fly standby) and for safety as we travel (I'll be traveling alone at 31 weeks pregnant with an almost 3 year old...I'm more worried about the pregnant and flying part than the toddler part, I think Caleb is going to LOVE flying, unlike his  mommy who HATES it).  And a HUGE thank you to the people who helped make it possible for us to fly home, those who got us stand by tickets and those who paid for them - it really means more than you know!!

Moving Week!

We found out on Saturday that we are moving THIS Thursday!  We were able to go see the new apartment so we can at least picture where we will be living, which is nice.  It is about a 10-15 minute walk from our current apartment, a little closer to Church than we are now.  It seemed a little newer than our current apartment, which is nice (and we hope that  means less mold!).  It is actually fairly similar to our apartment now but a little bit smaller (especially the master bedroom) and has one bathroom instead of two. We are really thankful it has a bathtub though (!!!!) because not all apartments do...it also has a really big (Korean style) closed in porch which will be nice during nice weather and an open layout similar to our apartment now. We hope to go back and be able to measure to see if we can fit all our furniture in the new apartment or if we will need to be getting rid of some and if so, what.  Caleb's room is an odd shape (long and narrow) so we're hoping it can fit a bunkbed at some point.  We really didn't get a lot of time to look around so we are really hoping we can get back in tomorrow (Tuesday) to get a better feel for things and decide where to put things and then hoping we can get in Wednesday to clean before we move all our things in.

The Church is hiring a moving company for us, which is really, really nice and a huge blessing.  We have been told that they will "pack everything for us and move it" so hoping that is the case.  We are going through a lot of stuff and packing all our breakables and valuables ourselves, also trying to organize and throw things out.  Since the new place is a little smaller, we are trying to consolidate - plus moving is just a great opportunity to get rid of clutter and junk anyway!

It feels really overwhelming to go through everything in a short amount of time and also to decide what furniture to take and what to not take etc so we would love your prayers for energy, focus, and peace in this time!  The move in general has been really hard for me to handle...I think pregnancy probably just makes it feel even worse than it is.  It is hard to have no control over having to move out of your home. It is hard to have no choice in where you are moving TO or what your new home is like.  It is especially hard to be moving at 7+ months pregnant when the only thing I want to do is hunker down in my home and nest....moving to a new home just feels really hard because, well, this (old) apartment is our home and it is where I want to stay!  Trying to trust that the Lord has our best in this and would love your prayers in that area.  Also, just prayers to be able to surrender "control" of life over to the Lord instead of trying to cling so hard to it.  And, of course, prayers that we can get everything done and organized in an efficient and timely way, as well as for the unpacking and settling IN process to go well!  Caleb is fairly unsettled about it all too and is asking a lot of questions (mostly worried that all of his stuff will come with us!) and saying he doesn't want to move....so if you could pray for his little heart and mind to be excited about it and not worry and that he would adjust quickly and well to his new home (and that Mommy's emotions wouldn't show through but that I could convey and model excitement and trust to him).  We are hoping we can get all settled in and that it will start feeling like "home" before we leave for the States (Lord willing Nov. 30!).

We would really value your prayers this week and in the weeks to come for all of these areas, both practical and emotional, and all the logistics of the move itself.  We'll try to report back soon and maybe have a few pictures of our new home!