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!

2nd Trimester Baby Bump

We are nearing the end of our second trimester with Baby Girl.  So far, second trimester has been harder than first so here's to hoping third trimester is the easiest yet! 

As is to be expected, this pregnancy is flying by (much faster than Caleb's!) and it is hard to believe we are almost into the third trimester already. Baby is fairly active (although not as constant as Caleb was), I'm starting to crave sweets for the first time since becoming pregnant (they were making me sick previously) and I'm definitely starting to feel big. I'm fairly confident she is in a horrible position right now so am working to get her to move!!  I'm not too worried about it though, she still has time to get her act together!.  We have our 4th prenatal appointment next week and we will do the glucose testing and hopefully get a letter from the doctor clearing me to fly through beginning of January.

We're Moving

We found out last week that we are moving...or rather, we are being moved.  Not by choice and the news came with much tears from this over-emotional-pregnant-with-a-girl mama.  The Landlord who owns our current apartment has decided to sell our apartment so we really have no choice in the matter.  We have lived in this apartment for almost two years (in a few weeks) and we have really liked it. There were a number of things that were really hard moving over here and a number of things that were not as we expected them to be but again and again the past two years we have said "at least we like our apartment!"  Despite things like our purple toilet and the mold and the goofy wallpaper, we have been thrilled to have a bathtub (many apartments here don't), to have an open layout that is conducive to all the people we host in our home and an over-active two year old (most apartments are not very open) , to have three bedrooms, to have a lot of porch space, a kitchen that is nicer than many Korean apartments with lots of cupboards, an oven (not all apartments have one) and a lot of sunshine throughout the day.  We've been spoiled. And our apartment has come to be home to us.

I know in the big scheme of things, a new apartment really isn't a big deal (hey- we have a place to live, right?) but this has felt hard and I am praying the Lord gives me the ability to fully trust Him in this and trust that He will provide and care for us. Will you pray for my heart to trust Him in this?  It is incredibly hard to have no/little say over where you live and where "home" will be.  Will you pray the Church is able to find us a comparable apartment? Will you pray that I can accept wherever we are moved with a good attitude and that we can settle in quickly? Will you pray for all the logistics and timing and for peace in moving (I get really overwhelmed by moving and all it entails). 

The move also comes at a hard time - we are supposed to leave to travel to the States in a little over a month to spend 5 weeks with family. We will return a little over a month from our due date.  It's hard to think about needing to move our whole apartment and get settled into a new one somewhere in that time frame.  The Church does not have a new place for us yet (they are looking) so the ideal (in our minds) I guess would be to find a place and move in the next few weeks - I would really rather not be moved while we are gone OR come home in January and need to move in the coldest month of the year, weeks before bringing a new baby home and needing to arrange everything, unpack and settle in.  And I really, really, don't want to move in February or March!

Your prayers would mean so much in this and are greatly needed!  We are all called to trust the Lord with an uncertain future but sometimes living overseas you realize just how uncertain (and uncontrollable) it is more than you  might Stateside!

God's Provision

I can not think of a time in my life I have felt more tired. All. The. Time. Tired.  Baby Number two is making her presence known that is for sure.  And thus the reason for my lack of blogs.

BUT I did want to write a quick note to share some exciting news:  Steve and I have been wanting to submit our application to adopt to the USCIS in order to get our approval and move forward with our dossier...An approximate $750 step in the adoption process.  We have our homestudy complete and in hand but didn't have the funds and were stalling to make our appointment at the embassy. Just last night we were talking (trying not to stress) over how we could raise this next fee and quick so we could move ahead in the process.

We woke up this morning to an email that 3 people donated this week - to the almost EXACT amount we needed ($725)!!!  The funds were ALREADY IN.  The Lord had provided without us needing to do anything.  We are rejoicing today for His perfect provision and timing.  Also, thanking Him for these 3 donors and for all those who have given already to get us this far.  You will also note that we have passed the $8,000 mark on the thermometer!!  That  means many of you have given in huge ways already.  Thank you really doesn't seem adequate - and isn't! - but we thank you for all the ways you are supporting us and behind us in this.  It really is humbling and exciting to watch the Lord at work through many of you.  Thank you.  We literally could not fund this adoption without you and your support.  Thanks for joining us on this journey!

Korean Family Caricature

Drawn by one of Steve's elementary students he teaches English to on Thursday nights....Complete with baby girl in my tummy and Steve's facial hair.  Made us laugh last night.  

Happy Birthday, Micah!

Happy Birthday to my all time favorite brother and one of the Very Important Men in my life!  I love you more than you know, always will.  I miss you.  And I pray for you daily.  I hope you know how dearly we love you and are wishing you the happiest of birthdays this year - May it be the best year yet!

At the Zoo, Summer 2011 (Caleb 16 months)