Home Again, Home Again

Two weeks in, and I would say that we had quite smooth travel (so thankful for the prayers of so many for us!) and a somewhat bumpy landing. Never a small undertaking, this moving across the world, and made a wee bit more challenging by a kitchen full of lizard droppings and a home full of dust that we battled for most of these last two weeks. The dust has caused no end of sneezing and more, which combines with jet lag and causes one to feel awful. But the good news is we're clean and settled and all clothing is put away and we've cleared out massive amounts of stuff in an effort to simplify.

The aforementioned issues have been inconveniences, but the real bump has come with Ju's physical response to our transition. Always our sensitive little guy, he awoke the day after our arrival with bumpy, itchy skin and red, puffy eyes. At which point I thought, "mercy, what have we done?!" His issues continued and culminated in increasing congestion and finally, wheezing, at which point we proceeded directly to the hospital (with mommy somewhat panicky) and entered the world of breathing treatments. We failed to take a camera, but trust me that he had the cutest bear mask for his treatments. He was diagnosed with a respiratory infection and has convalesced nicely, thanks be to God. Puffy eyes and itchy skin are gone for now, too, and we hope and pray that it was a passing issue resulting from travel and transition. Ju's health has been a point of real anxiety for me, and this has been a week of facing that and trusting God.

So after a full day of recovery from travel, Em began the adventure of 3rd grade at her lovely school. Coming back to ICS was a bright spot for all of us as we greeted sweet friends and our girl entered with excitement back into the world of 'real school'. Needless to say, the first week was a mixed bag of good days and hard, tired evenings in which we couldn't locate a pencil to do homework, but things have improved and 3rd grade is thus far a success. So here's a quick (and a bit dizzying) video of our drive to school the first day, for fun...

And a couple of pictures from Friday's 'market day', on which the 3rd graders 'sold' products they had made to represent aspects of the countries they have been researching. Emmy's shamrock pins from Ireland were a bargain and sold like hotcakes...



Going back in time a bit to the beautiful state of Georgia, here's a shot of our girl with her brand new ear piercing. We celebrated with a double doozy, which is making my mouth water just now.


As we knew Ju's big day would be a blur of travel, we took the opportunity before we left to celebrate with family, and I think never has there been a 3 year old who has anticipated his "happy birthday" with more zest or experienced it with more delight.

nothing says happy birthday like a banjo!

A little birthday song in Korea, where it was magically Jan. 7 upon our arrival...

And an airplane picture, which I share just to illustrate how I'm married to the most amazing man in the world, who sat in the middle section with all 3 children for the 14.5 hours of our first leg, while I sat across the aisle, headphones in and apparently oblivious. It didn't go down quite that way the whole time, but Tim does do the lion's share of the work when traveling because he's a much less anxious traveler than I, and just an all around incredible guy. And speaking of how I clearly married Mr. Right, our 13th anniversary also passed in a blur of jet lag; hoping for a belated celebration soon.