Well, Clark is loading the van right now and we are about to head out to Pusan. I couldn't help myself...I had to stop in here and post just a few more pictures I just took off the camera from our time in Seoul! I hope you enjoy them!

Uncle Frank and Bean

Another shot of Uncle Frank and Bean...they were TOO sweet saying bye!


The girls with the Korean Americans from our team!

Mommy, the girls and the Korean American ladies

Bug and the Jeju Grandfather Statue


I think this picture is BEAUTIFUL!
Bean in "her" tree house!


Bean and the Jeju Statue
TOO cute!


Bug and the boys singing together at worship

Singing together 1 last time

I know, I know, Bean is almost 20 months, but we JUST got her in today for her 18 month check up! She is weighing in at 20 pounds 10 ounces and is 31 1/2 inches long. She is at the 3rd percentile in weight but up at like 35% to 40% in height! She looked perfect all the way around. It was SOOO nice to be able to take her to the Foreigners Clinic here and get a western doctor!! WHOOHOO! We could talk to him, ask him questions, be understood, and understand! It was AWESOME!

Unfortunately Bean had to have her last round of shots until she is 36 months! They stabbed her 3 times...poor baby! Daddy held her and then I comforted her afterwards! My little munchin just cried and cried. She gave Daddy the evil eye a time or two, but in the middle of lunch she climbed out of her chair walked over to Daddy, gave him the sweetest hug and kiss ever...we think she was telling him it was ok! LOL! She hasn't had any side effects from the shots but seems a bit tired...she just fell asleep and it is only 6:30!

We head out tomorrow morning for Pusan. Bug is out to dinner with the Hamilines one last time (they are bringing us back something from Outback...I can't wait). SO, while Bean is asleep and Bug is out, I better get off this computer and go get some packing done!

We won't have internet in Pusan unless I go to a PC Bang (room) and check in there, but I hate bringing the girls in there, so I doubt you will see me for at least 5 days! I will miss you all! Keep us in your prayers as we drive! I promise lots of pictures when I get back!!

and here they are! Sorry they are backwards...I uploaded them to photobucket in the wrong order. :-/ ENJOY!

***Click on the picture to make it larger***
My girls on Thanksgiving...too sweet!

Our Thanksgiving Feast!

Moving Korean Style (no that is not our stuff, just a truck we saw at a rest stop)

Taking a break at the rest stop


The Dog Truck that almost got Clark in a fight! :-D

Those are cows...hard to make out though

Our room on the boat

Bug and some of the Judo Team

A final look at Jeju

Mommy and the girls on the ferry

Daddy and the girls saying good-bye to Jeju

Jeju is beautiful, we will surely miss it


Mt. Hallsan

The truck with the trees

Another shot of Hallasan as we drive to the ferry

Our last meal at our Jeju Apartment

We have already been in Seoul for 5 1/2 days...where does the time go? Tomorrow is our last full day in Seoul before we head to Pusan for a few days. We will spend tomorrow at the hospital and vet. We are FINALLY taking Bean in for her 18 month check up...yes she will be 20 months in a week! She will get her last round of shots in Korea. Then we will wait around while the foreigners clinic at the hospital we use in Seoul calls Halla Hospital on Jeju and gets Cali's medical records sent and then translates them into English for us (we hope). THEN, it is off to the dentist where Melisa and Cali will both get a check up...we think the lack of fluoride in the water here is causing Cali to ALREADY get cavities despite all the brushing we attempt to do! THEN, it is off to the vet to get Chin Goo caught up on her shots so that we can bring her into America with no problems. Now, we hope it all goes that smoothly, but it IS our family we are talking about, so we are SURE that it will bring adventures!

Anyway, I got ahead of myself. We have had a GREAT 5 days in Seoul. On Wednesday we drove in and then headed to the Yongsan Post here in Korea and had dinner on base to celebrate one of the MK's birthdays at Burger King (it was our first time in a Burger King in TWO years...talk about a treat)!! Then on Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving with the other missionaries from Korea. Friday and Saturday were spent in meetings. The meeting on Friday was extra special because there was a special ceremony for our family and we were given our plaque for our term of service with the IMB. It is hard to believe that by the time we go off from pay roll we will have been working for the IMB for 4 years and 7 months! We official began on July 10, 2002 and will officially end our employment on Feb. 4, 2007! It is sad to think that we are missing the 5 year mark by a short 5 months!! On of our regional staff presented us with the plaque and said some very kind words to us. It was special to end our term surrounded by our mission family!

Sunday was another special day. We had our very last team worship at the Guest Unit and then our entire team went out for a brunch at the Dragon Hill Lodge on Post. It was the most delicious American breakfast I have eaten in AGES! It had a fresh omelet with ham, sausage, cheese, and mushrooms...YUM! Then I had some fresh fruit and biscuits and gravy...oh it was heavenly!! Our team parted ways at this time, but we stayed on Post with the Hamlines and let the kids play in the play area while the adults visited. When we all started to get cold, we headed to the bowling alley and bowled 2 games together. The kids were getting tired, so we then headed to the movie theater on base and watched Happy Feet. It was really cute and Bug won't stop trying to tap dance now...LOL! We ended the day with dinner at Subway and then headed home. It is amazing how we were in the middle of Korea but being on Post was like stepping back into an American City for the day...complete with having to use US dollars and not Korean Won! It was a fun touch of home and a great last play date for the girls and the Hamline Boys!

Today was an "admin" day and we spent it at the Korea Baptist Mission (KBM) office. First we filled out all the forms for our crate and settled out all business with our Business Manager. Then we went to the financial manager and signed off on all papers with him, received our travel allowance, and turned in our last expense report. Then we met with on of our regional leaders for a time of debriefing. Bug was great and sat down in the receptionist area and did an entire day of home school seat work while we were in meetings. Bean was something else, but hung in there through a very boring day while being told "NO" 100 times!

I know this was a rather boring blog post, but I felt like I needed to catch you up on all the comings and goings of our time in Seoul. I do have a TON of pictures to choose from and post, I just need to get them on the jump drive and out to the common computer so I can blog them! :-) Thanks for bearing with me through this boring blog! I am sure there will be more adventures to come soon...who knows what will happen in our 5 days in Pusan!

Well, with the move and Thanksgiving and all, I got pretty side tracked in my fitness program and we won't talk about how I ate...OPPS! BUT, Friday morning I got back on track and started back with my full work out...full body crunches, hindu squats, hindu push-ups, butt raisers, and gymnastic bridges. I also got a full work in out on Saturday morning. I always take Sunday off...but I did go bowling and walked all over the military base here in Seoul (and that is a small city all on it's own) so I did get moving some on Sunday. Today is Monday and I haven't worked out yet, but I still have plans to do my routine! :-) PLUS, helping to carry all of those 50 pound trunks and suite cases around HAS to count for something on those days I got side tracked, right?? So, any of you trying to stay on task for the holidays, how are you doing?

I posted a Happy Thanksgiving blog, but I didn't post anything about how our Thanksgiving went! We woke up Thursday morning at about 7:30 (the latest we have slept in for the last few weeks) and just bummed around the Guest Unit. At about 10:00 Clark fixed us our favorite breakfast...french toast! It was SCRUMPTIOUS!! We sat down and enjoyed eating together as a family! When we were done, we cleaned up and the cooking began!

Melisa and I made a yummy cheese cake and oreo cake/pie and put them in the freezer to cool then we made a green bean casserole and a corn casserole. They both turned out perfect. While everything was baking the girls ran in and out of the Guest Unit playing on the playground and making lots of new friends.

At 4:15 all was cooked and it was time to go to Seoul International Baptist Church. We dressed up in our "good" (lol) clothes, bundled up in our jackets, and loaded up the van. We got to the church and met the other 41 people we were celebrating with! All the missioanaries (kids and adults) totaled 45 and we had a true FEAST! There was SOO much food and such sweet fellowship! After the meal we all wrote things we were thankful for on leaves and hung them on a tree. It was amazing to watch the bare "dead" tree come to life with leaves and even more awesome to know that each leaf represented something we were thankful for! God is SO good and we have been blessed greatly!

After sharing some of our leaves with the group, we got busy cleaning up. It was neat to see all of us come together and work hand in hand and get the church cleaned so quickly AND had a fun time doing so!

We got home around 8:00 and settled in to watch some TV and called it a night! It was a wonderful Thankgiving and I realized just how much I have to be Thankful for! God is SO good!

We left our apartment in Jeju Tuesday (11/21/06) afternoon to head to the ferry. It was HARD! Shutting the door to our apartment for the last time was hard...very hard! We left our home never to return again! Melisa cried first and then I cried. I think Daddy even shed a tear or two. Misa and I cried for the first 20 minutes of the drive to the other side of the island. The rest of the drive to the harbor we talked about all the awesome things that happened in our 2 + years on Jeju. It was an awesome time of reflection for our family! We truly have had an amazing 2 years and 4 months on Jeju Island and an awesome 4 years in Korea!
When we made it to the harbor Clark drove the van onto the boat while the girls and I met up with Yo Han (Clark's student who rode to the mainland with us to get 5 more hours with our family). When Clark got back we paid for the van and the caught the shuttle bus to the ferry terminal. Once at the terminal, we bought our tickets to ride on the ferry and headed to board. At the gate we had to show our passports...but wait...my purse was missing and I had it when we paid for the van!! We took off on a mad search. I waited for 10 minutes for the shuttle bus to come again and as soon as the doors open the drive handed me my purse with a BIG smile! :-) I am SO thankful that I lost my purse with our passports in Korea and NOT America...I never would have gotten it back in America! I was SO thankful that I said a special prayer of thanks of the spot! God is SOO good to us!

We boarded the ship and found our way to our room. Everyone is assigned to a big open carpeted room. You remove your shoes and have a seat wherever you can find a place and settle in. We were "lucky" enough to have a room with an entire girls middle school Judo Team! Talk about LOUD!! The girls were instantly surrounded and overwhelmed! So, we decided to take a walk out to watch as we set off to sea. We took a few last pictures of Jeju and said good-bye with some more tears. We had a BIG family hug and cry. It was sad and a bit scary seeing the island that has been home for 2 + years fade into nothing not knowing if we will ever be back again!

The girls started to get red noses and were cold, so we headed back to our crazy room. Cali immediately went to sleep as she hadn't had a nap all day. Melisa settled in for a movie. It seemed rather calm and the first 2 1/2 hours passed without event. Then, the Judo Team returned from dinner...LOL! They circled around Melisa and she gave them an art class and they all drew characters from Disney's The Three Musketeers. Misa would pause the movie and they would all work on drawing together. When the DVD battery died, Melisa was WOUND up...it could have something to do with all the candy and ice cream the middle school girls kept giving to her! Before long she started a tickle fight with them and not too long after that they were chasing her ALL over the ship (no, not just our room...the ENTIRE ship). She had the time of her life playing! All the giggling and squealing ended up waking up Cali. She didn't warm up to the girls like Melisa did. She hid in my lap and gave them a grin every once in a while!
The next 2 1/2 to 3 hours flew by without much adventure...just LOTS of playing. We left the boat with the e-mail addresses for the entire Judo Team. Then we had another very sad moment; we had to say good-bye to YoHan! He left us as we headed down to get in the van. He had a train to catch so he couldn't wait with us to get the van. We must have given him 3 hugs each and had more tears! It was hard to leave such a precious friend! Melisa had even started calling him Uncle Yo Han!

We made the trek through the cargo hold area…oh my word, what a trek! We were climbing over huge chains, walking through tons of grease, stepping in eeewy, gooey puddles, and walking in between big semi style trucks. It took us about 10 minutes of walking through the craziness to finally find Big Daddy Cool (our van). Then we had the fun adventure of trying to climb into Big Daddy Cool in the dark with it fully loaded. Oh the joy! I am just thankful the laptop still works after Bug and Bean fell on top of the bag it was in! Once we settled in the van we sat and waited, praying we would survive all the carbon monoxide that we were having to breathe in as the trucks started up!

As we sat and waited we also saw a lot of Korean culture before our very eyes! There were tucks with cows, pigs, trees, and dogs. I couldn’t help myself. I got out the camera and started snapping pictures. I got the cows first, and then tried for the pigs, but missed them. Then I got a great picture of the truck that was LOADED down with trees to the point that it almost didn’t make it off the boat! Then I turned my attention to the truck with at least 100 dogs in it. They were dogs being hauled for poh-shin-tang (dog soup) so I snapped some pictures of it. Well as soon as I took the last picture the driver of the truck JUMPED out of his truck and stormed over to my window. I got my window up and told Clark to roll up his. Well, my wonderful husband pressed the wrong button and started to roll MY window DOWN! As I swatted him on the arm 100 times in 2 seconds and screamed as loud as I could he realized what he was doing and rolled mine back up. The man was at my window banging on it and pointing at my camera. I bowed low and said in my very best and sweetest Korea…Twe-Sa-Ham-Ne-Da, Me-Yon-Ham-Ne-Da…or I am SORRY, I am SOO Sorry! I said it 5 times and he kept pounding on the window. My husband was telling him, Ani-oh, ani-oh (no, no). I stopped saying I am sorry and started pressing buttons on my camera saying "DELETE, I DELETE…no picture, I DELETE!" (of courses I didn’t delete the picture mind you) He kept pounding on my window pointing at my $1,000 + camera that I would cry over if he broke it! FINALLY what seemed like an eternity later the truck behind his blew it’s horn because the line was moving. So, he stammered back to his truck (the moment we realized just how drunk he was) and climbed in. Clark looked at me and I looked at him and all we could do was laugh until we cried! Then the person behind us blew their horn for us to move too. Clark was sure that my picture taking addiction was going to get him in a fight with a drunk Korean man just to protect me and my camera! Oh, the loyalty! LOL! You know our family, we can’t have a week go by without an adventure worth writing home about!

After that adventure we decided we didn’t want to be on the road all night with the Koreans truck drivers who had been on the boat with us, they were way too drunk to be driving. So, we pulled 2 blocks away from the harbor and found a small little hotel and checked in for the night! The girls were thankful to be out of the van, off from the boat, away from the drunk man, and in our own quiet room. It took 1 hour and we were all sound asleep for the night!

The next day was rather uneventful (thank goodness). We woke up and got loaded back up in the van and were on the road by 9:30. We got on Expressway 15 and made the 5 + hour drive into Seoul. We stopped every 2 hours or so at a rest stop and let the girls out to run and play as well as the dog. We were amazed that we were traveling on the busiest travel day in America with NO traffic at all…LOL! Once we reached Seoul we had a small traffic jam that we sat in for about 30 minutes or so! While we were in the traffic Bug decided to open the van door! I still don’t know what was going through the child’s head! I dove and caught the dog carrier as it about fell out and then climbed into the back of the van and waited for us to slow down again so I could shut the door all the way! The last 2 to 2 ½ hours were awful for Bean. There was NO making her happy again and she cried and cried and cried some more! We were all thankful to be in Seoul and at the guest Unit!

So, there you have it, another adventure in the books for our 3 Ring Circus! Sorry it was so long, but it was quite the trip! I will try to get on and post pictures later as well as a post about Thankgiving day (nothing exciting, just a peaceful Thanksgiving dinner)!!

We made it to Seoul safely and I am even able to get on the internet with no problems! I have LOTS of stories to tell from our journey here! You know our family...we had quite the adventure! I lost my purse (that was holding our passports and alien registration cards) and then almost got Clark in a fight with a drunk truck driver!! I promise to try to get back on tonight and post all the details! Anyway, I just wanted to come on and wish everyone in blogville a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I hope you all have a wonderful day, enjoying your family, eating lots of yummy foods and counting your blessings! Now, I will leave you with a top 10 list! The Top TEN Things I am Thankful For: 10. My computer and an internet connection!9. America and the freedom that I have because I am American8. A roof over my head, warm bed to sleep in, and food to eat!7. A job that I love that also allows me to homeschool!6. Awesome friends who are always there for me!5. My extended family who is so close I hate the word extended to describe them!4. Wonderful and supportive parents who are both a treasure!3. Two amazing daughters who mean the world to me!2. A loving, caring and devoted husband who is also my best friend!1. The mighty and awesome God I serve and the free gift of salvation that He has given me!

Oh, the Mason luck has struck again! A dear Korean friend of ours, Yo Han, decided to take the ferry with us tomorrow so that we could get 5 more hours together...isn't that precious! He called the ferry station and asked for a reservation on the 9:30 am ferry to Mokpo and he was informed that there was NO 9:30 ferry from Jeju to Mokpo and in fact, there are no morning ferries this week at all!!! Well, we were planning on arriving tomorrow morning at 9:30 to get on this imaginary ferry that our office in Seoul told us we had reservations on.

To the phone I went and I called Seoul. Our secretary answered and when I asked her why the ferry station was saying no ferry she said "OHHH, I made you reservations from Mokpo to Jeju! You want Jeju to Mokpo?" My answer..."Well ummmm...we are on Jeju and we want to get to Mokpo, so we would really like to be on a ferry going from Jeju to Mokpo!" Her answer, "Oh, I didn't realize that!" I love our secretary, she is sweet and has helped us SO many times over the past 4 years...but WHAT WAS SHE THINKING???? I am sorry, I am not trying to sound mean, I'm really not, but I just don't understand. We live on Jeju....we are preparing to leave Jeju...we are going to Seoul...why would we want a boat reservation from a city on mainland back to the island we are trying to leave????

SO, she got on the phone and found out that boat inspections are taking place every morning this week and no morning ferries are taking off. SO, we are on a 5:30 pm ferry tomorrow! We get an extra 8 hours on Jeju. Tomorrow morning we will take our time getting ready, take the van over to the other side of the island and enjoy a few of our favorite places on the island one last time before boarding the ferry. We will end up spending the night in Mokpo since we won't arrive until 10 pm or so and then make the drive into Seoul Wednesday morning.

This afternoon we are going to Bug's ballet school one last time to say good-bye to all her ballet buddies. Pray for those good-byes, they will be hard. Pray also for our travel mercies as we will be on the ocean at night and it is sure to be cold and not so much fun! Pray for us as we make the 5 hour drive into Seoul on Wednesday! We covet your prayers at this time!

Well, off to take care of a few more last minute things

***EDITED TO SAY***

I came back and realized that my answers sounded really sarcastic to our secretary and I sounded really mad. I want to assure you, I was very nice to her and we joked about it. I love SooHee and she knows it! I am not mad at her at all...just confused! Also, I really am thankful for more time on the island...read my blog from yesterday and I said I was longing for just one more day to see the island. However, I must admit that I am stressed having to make new reservations, change our plans, and all at the last minute. I am also dreading a night ferry with the girls, I know it is going to be cold and not fun! BUT, I know that God is in control and He has a reason for it! So, I am thankful to be in His hands and uner His plans! We will make the best of it and enjoy tomorrow!

Good news too...Clark just called and the heat is working in our van!! No long drive without heat...WOOHOOO!!!

Well, tomorrow is our last full day on the island. It is hard to believe that we have less than 48 hours left on Jeju...our home for the past 2 years and 4 months...the longest Clark and I have ever lived somewhere together! Tomorrow will be spent in a whirl wind of last minute activity. The internet and telephone have to be shut off, cable has to be turned off, doctor records have to be picked up, the van has to be serviced, the apartment needs one final cleaning, there is that last load of laundry waiting...so much to do...yet it is our last day.

Today was our last Sunday on Jeju. We spent the morning taking care of some stuff around the apartment while Bug went to a friends house. Then we had family worship one last time at Cinnabun and ate dinner at the Herb Burger shop...YUM! It was a great afternoon/evening out...one we have done many times. But, as we left and shut the door to Cinnabun it was as if we weren't just closing the door to Cinnabun, we were closing the door to this phase of our life. I will admit that for the first time, tears began to flow as it finally hit me...we are leaving our home in Jeju. We are leaving Korea and we don't know when we will come back. God has changed us, grown us, and made us into a family after HIS heart in this country!

Cinnabun is a very special place for our family. The first week we were in Jeju we found it and I remember sitting and talking to Clark dreaming of the possibilities for the ministry! Looking forward to what God was going to do! I remember meeting the first person open to church planting and our ministry while sitting at a table in Cinnabun! I remember going to Cinnabun to celebrate reaching the second trimester of the pregnancy with Bean! We were SO excited to be over that hurdle! I remember sitting in Cinnabun 3 days before my due date having contractions every 10 to 15 minutes...trying to concentrate on family worship but not able to because I knew Bean would be there SOON! I remember taking my Mom and Stepdad to Cinnabun when Bean was only 2 weeks old! I remember taking my Dad to Cinnabun when Bean was only 6 weeks old! I remember going to Cinnabun a year later when my Dad was here again to celebrate Bug's baptism! I remember having our last team worship and prayer time at Cinnabun. Cinnabun is or rather was a place of refuge for our family. A taste of our old home surrounded by smiling faces from our new home! It was a place where we could come and sit, talk, laugh, cry, study, worship, visit and enjoy some good food! I know the face of each waitress and waiter! So, as I bowed and said good-bye to the sweet waitresses and closed the door for the last time, the tears flowed!

This door in our life is closing and God has another door standing open waiting for us to walk through! Why is it that it is so hard to walk out of a door and into a new one! I know that God has gone ahead of me and I know that He has a plan for me and my family, but I can't help but want just one more day to see all of the faces of Jeju and visit all of the special places one more time...but I don't, I have one more day to tie up all the loose ends. I know I must go and I leave with a prayer in my heart that God would take our Jeju Family and draw them close to Him!

Good-bye Jeju, the door is closed, but I will always remember you and pray that one day God would open up the door for me to come to visit.

OK, I know this is going to get as old as the packing posts, but I need it to stay motivated. If I know I am putting it out here, I HAVE to exercise. This morning I woke up stiff and sore...you know that sore muscle feeling...FUN! I didn't want to work out, but last night I had laid out my workout clothes and they were sitting there daring me to get moving. My plan worked and I got moving. I did the same routine as Wednesday but added a few reps of everything...here are my totals: 60 Full Body Crunches, 250 Hindu Squats, 30 Hindu Pushups (still my weakest, but I was much stronger and had better form today than Wednesday), 60 butt raisers, and 4 minutes of bridges. I am really sore and feeling as the saying goes: "no pain, no gain" so I push forward. The good news is after 3 days I feel strength and endurance coming back quickly and I can already see myself toning up. YAY...that makes it ALL worth while.

Now, on to our refrigerator saga. We called our office in Seoul yesterday and the decided to go ahead and get it fixed. Our company has only had our apartment 2 1/2 years and they have to own it for 3 years before they can sell it with minimum taxes. Actually, someone has to LIVE in it for 3 yeras, not just own it. The requires our apartment to look like someone is living here, so the company has to keep it completely furnished. Therefore, they want everything to work so that it can be used if need be. All that to say, the definitely wanted to fix our fridge.

The repair man was supposed to come today, but at 5:30 yesterday afternoon the phone rang and all I understood was Daewoo (the brand of our refrigerator) and Chee Gum (now). I assumed he was on his way and sure enough 15 minutes later the door bell rang. He was here for 15 mintues and found a piston (who knew my refigerator had a piston) was busted. He told me he would be back in 20 minutes and went back to his shop. Once he got back it took another 15 minute or so and we heard that wonderful sound of the fridge fan running! YAY!! I immediately sent Clark out to stock back up on what we would need to make it for the next 4 days! It is VERY nice to have the fridge back!

On another side note, we got our very last box from home yesterday! Mommom sent us 2 boxes full of yummy goodies to cook up for the Thanksgiving party in Seoul. She also sent us a new portable DVD player. After 2 years of daily use, ours finally bit the dust and we wanted a new one for all the traveling we will be doing in the next few months. Of course there were a few of the girls favorite snacks from America as well. We are sure going to miss our boxes...they always make it feel like Christmas or a Birthday. The excitment of seeing what goodies come in a box have been one of our favorites for the past 4 years.

Could this post have been more random? I am going to end it here and go get moving on my to do list for the day! I promise that post of funny Korea stories is coming soon...yesterday ended up being pretty busy and I didn't get back to the computer to post it! So, once again...stay tuned! :-)

Well, I am on a roll! Today was day 2 of my getting back into my work out! It was a KILLER! MWF I am going to do what I did yesterday, but TTS I am going to do a routine Clark has been doing. Today was my first time trying it and OH MY WORD! I am sitting here trying to get the energy to get back up and get school going! I did 30 Hindu Squats followed by 20 kettlebell swings (10 on each arm). I rested 1 minute and then did it all over again...I did 10 sets of these which adds up to 300 Squats and 200 swings! The kettlebell swings are the only exercise I am doing that requires weights...and those aren't just your every day weights...do a google search on Kettlebells to see what I am talking about (sorry, I am TOO tired to go find a link right now...I will try to come back and add one soon). Clark was tough on me again and wouldn't let me rest over my minute between sets...I probably would have wimped out if it hadn't been for him pushing me...THANKS HON! (Kathleen, I told you I would nag you...how did you do today?)

Anyway, I need to get cleaned up, get school going and go clean out the fridge! We aren't sure if Melisa pressed a button (it is a Korean fridge and it has a bunch of buttons that we have left alone for 4 years...LOL) or if the fan is broken. So, a man is coming to look at it today (we hope). Can you believe our luck? EVERYTHING in our fridge has gone bad...and we only had FOUR more days on the island...now we have to go buy enough food to live on for 4 days rather than just eating the rest of what we had...talk about Mason luck!! I am SOOO frustrated!
Another random tid bit is I am working on a long post that will have a bunch of different stories from Korea in it. Last night we were with some friends remembering all our adventures in Korea and there are some that are VERY blog worthy and I think you will enjoy! :-) SO, stay tuned! Until then I am going to go see if my legs will stop feeling like Jello!

...with the two meanest coaches in town! LOL! Well, after taking almost 6 weeks off without working out I realized I HAD to get back in action! SO, today was day one of working out again! I have been complaining (a LOT) about how much muscle tone I was loosing and told Clark that I wanted him to be tough on me...nag me until I got out of bed and off the computer and worked out! Well, he sent Bug to be my trainer and she is ONE TOUGH cookie! She counted and if I went too slow, she yelled at me tome "pick up the pace Momma" and "Get moving"! If I didn't she ran and got Daddy to yell at me! Boy, the entire workout I didn't get a minutes peace! When I did my bridges if I came out of it they would count to 10 together and then yell "NOW GET UP!" and if I didn't Melisa was over at my side tapping my back to make me raise back up! They are TOUGH...but hey I asked for it! Because of their pushing I am proud to say that on my first day back I got 50 full body crunches, 225 Hindu Squats, 30 Hind Pushups (I have the most work to do here...I felt VERY weak), 50 Butt Raisers, and 3 minutes total of Gymnastics Bridges. I am still going to do a seperate Ab workout tonight before bed and then tomorrow I am adding a 3 minute wall sit to the routine! I have 3 weeks before we return to America and I want to be in the shape I was this summer before I hurt my knee. With my 2 coaches, I think I will be there! Anyone wanna join me in kicking your tail back into shape? I am going to try to post weekly...maybe daily if I need more accountability about my workouts!

Who says that there is no such thing as love at first sight? Just ask this swan!

Clark found this on AOL front page and we had to watch it twice, it is really just too sweet! When you are in love nothing else matters! :-)

But you know what? This story is really cute and really sweet, but it is rather sad! I know this blog is not going to be the popular thing to say, but I feel I must say it. How much is our society becoming more and more like this poor decieved swan? If we are "in love" nothing else should matter, right? God did not intend for that swan to fall in love with a big plastic swan...he planned for a female swan to mate with a male swan. So, in turn God intended for man and woman to be joined as one. A swan will only mate with one other swan it's entire life and that is exactly how God inteded it...One man and one woman for a life time! I am so blessed to have been given my mate for life, a God fearing man who loves the Lord God first and me second. I just pray that God will send a revival in our country that our eyes may opened to see the deception and lies that we are believing and accepting. I pray that we would not be like this swan and be decieved by our emotions and feelings. I pray that we would not be like the people making a way for the swan to go on in the lies and deception, that we would be bold enough to step up and let the truth be told!

my dear husband that is! No, he didn't go anywhere physically, but he stepped away from blogging on blogger and went to MySpace. However, he is back on blogger and I just had to give him a plug! You should go check him out: here! Happy Reading!

Today was not only moving day for us in Korea, but it was a special Korean Holiday! LOL! It was Pepero Day! Pepero are buscuit type sticks dipped in chocolate. 7 years ago the company who makes them declared 11/11 Pepero Day because it looks like 4 Pepero standing in a row. It cracks me up! Everyone gives everyone one else pepero on this day. Grocery stores, convienent stores, stationary stores, and any other store who can get a piece of it sell pepero of every size, shape, and flavor available. There are even huge baskets put together to buy and give as a pepero day gift! Anyway, I just wanted to wish you a Happy Pepero Day! Enjoy our Pepero Day pictures!

Well, the movers are here as we speak but they are almost finished. They came in like a swarm of bees and took right over. The control freak in me got rather annoyed at first. Especially when they started UNPACKING all my boxes!!! Oh my word, I was almost in tears! I knew there was nothing I could do, so I took Bug to the school room and got busy on a day of school work!

Our first subject of each day is Bible and boy did God team me a lesson while I was teaching Bug! Our lesson today was on the 12 spies that went into the land of Cannan to report back what it was like. 2 of the spies trusted that even though the people of Cannan were big and seemed powerful God was bigger and could bring them into the Promised Land. However, the 10 other spies were overwhelemed, stressed out, worried and knew they would be defeated. In the end, God couldn't bless them because the refused to believe Him and trust Him.

Well, I was beginning to feel defeated. I was complaining and stressing. I was not trusting that He who began a good work in me by sending me to Korea would be faithful to complete it and get me home in His own way. So, I stopped in the middle of the Bible Lesson and prayed. I prayed that God would take care of every detail of the move. I admitted that I couldn't do it, but He could. I gave up my control! I had to walk through the living room (where they were working) after Bible and I was shoked to see that they had stopped unpacking my boxes. Instead they were now taping their boxes to the outside of my boxes. I soon figured out that their company logo had to be on the outside of each box and that it was not safe to ship things in the see through rubber maids I had used because it leads to temptation to steal what is in it. So, they were simply covering my boxes to make sure they got where they were going and they were safe! Isn't God good! He opens our eyes to what we cannot see when we let Him!

Well, now it is 12:30 and the movers have been gone for about 30 minutes. I can't believe it took from 9 to 12 to repack all that I spent 2 weeks packing and load it. A short 3 hours and our stuff was out the door, loaded in a truck and on its way to Seoul and eventually America! It was so easy and fast it is almost unbelievable.

My girls didn't have such an easy time seeing everything loaded up. Bean just sat in the middle of the living room and stared. Bless her heart she was so confused to see everything packed up and strangers taking it out of our house! Bug had a few tears shed and got some special hugs. All she could say is "moving isn't easy!" And I had to agree with her. Yes, we are very excited about moving back to America. We are very excited about being with family and old friends. But, we are leaving our second home. Korea is all Bean knows and all Bug remembers! They are leaving their home! This is why they are called Third Culture Kids. They aren't Korean, but America is not the home they know either. They have a third culture unique to kids who live as expats!

Today was really the beginning of the good-byes that will continue for the next 3 weeks! Please keep my sweet girls in your prayers as this is not going to be an easy time! Pray that God would be their comfort in this time of turmoil. Please pray that Clark and I would have the wisdom to know how to help them with the adjustments! I will keep you updated!




***EDITED TO ADD A FEW PICTURES FROM THE DAY (click on the pictures to make them bigger***

OK, well this is going to be a rather random post as yesterday was a rather random day! LOL!

We decided to put off the start up of school one more day and head out to get some stuff done around town. Our first stop was the bank to change out all that change I found into bills. It was quite the math lesson for Bug as she was fascinated by the whole process. I wish I would have had my camera to take pictures. She was such a proud girl carrying in our HUGE bag of coins. It also seems that I counted wrong and we actually had 96,000 won laying around! That is almost $100! Can you believe it? I was SHOCKED!!! We got our cash and headed to the store. 15,000 won of that was Bugs to spend as she had earned it either from the tooth fairy or from special chores that she chose to do. She was excited to buy some play clay and stickers for the airplane ride home! :-) What a smart little girl.

I headed downstairs and got myself the set of Korean stainless steal chopstick and spoons set that I have been drooling over for months. They are beautiful...don't you think?




Did you think I could post a story about my new set without a picture? LOL! I couldn't go back to America without my own set of Korean Style Utensils! I am SOO excited about them!

We ended up going to the food court to eat lunch and it couldn't be complete without Dak Key (strawberry) Milk Smoothies to finish it off! It was fun to sit down for a lunch out in the town during the middle of the week with my family! It doesn't happen very often! We had fun laughing, talking and eating that fun cafeteria style Korean food...LOL!

Your probably wondering where I got my title from by now aren't you? Well, here it comes!

Next, we headed downtown to the Ahn Kyong (glasses) Shop for me to get 2 new pairs of glasses before we head back to America. We aren't sure what our vision insurance will be like in America and glasses are CHEAP in Korea. I had fun trying different frames on and getting thumbs up or down from my Bug while my Bean was making friends with the other customers in the store! I ended up getting 2 pair of glasses, 2 carrying cases, and a bottle of contact solution for 100,000 Won...just about $100! Can you believe it? Isn't that a steal? OK...now for the fun part! Do you like my new glasses? I modeled them last night after we got home and Clark took some pictures! :-)










While we were waiting for them to cut out the lenses for my glasses, we headed around town for an afternoon stroll. Bug and Bean had been troopers the whole time we were out but Bug HAD to have a bathroom. In downtown we could only find "Asian" style or the infamous "Squatty Potties"! I want to pause here and let you know that I am posting this WITH Bug and Clark's permission! They think it would be fun to share since it is a part of living in Asia! Now if you don't know what a squatty potty is, you are missing out! LOL! In the worse cases (as found in Thailand and some rural parts of Korea) it is basically a hole in the floor that you straddle to use the restroom. In really good situations it looks like a urinal laid down on the ground that you straddle and use the bathroom over. I am sorry that I do not have a picture to go along with this part of the story...but I think you are probably grateful for that! We have been in Korea for 4 years now and we have yet to have a positive experience with Bug and squatty potties! It has been BAD...VEERRRRYYY BAD! It has been a LONG standing joke in our family! Well, today, Bug had her VERY FIRST successful squatty potty usage! We were both SO excited that we started doing the Happy Dance and sang the Squatty Potty song that goes something like this: "She mastered, she mastered, she mastered the squatty potty!!! Oh yeah she mastered, she mastered, she mastered the squatty potty! Squatty, Potty, Squatty, Potty, Squatty, Potty! OHHHHH YEEEEAAAHHHH...she mastered the squatty potty!" Our celebrating was heard by Daddy and Bean standing outside the bathroom door! When we emerged from the restroom, we got quite the look from them, but as soon as we explained the situation, Daddy was dancing and singing along with us in the middle of the street! Oh, don't worry, it was a back street and not that many people saw the strange Americans singing about the Squatty Potty!

We finally headed back, picked up my glasses and headed back to the van. Of course we had to stop at the little play area next to the parking lot and try out the batting cage, punching bag game, and the whack the mole game! Yes, we are a bunch of nuts and NO Korea did not do it to us, we were like this before!

When we got home we were fumbling with the key pad to our door when a neighbor from downstairs stopped us and offered us some tangerines. We thought that was very kind, so we went inside and got a small bag to collect them in. He said "no, bigger bag" so we sent Bug back in and she came back with a few big grocery bags to see what size we wanted. Our kind neighbor filled up TWO plastic grocery bags with Jeju Kul (tangerines) for us! I don't think it will be possible to eat them all before the go bad and/or we have to leave Korea! There are SOOO many! Here are the girls with our bags of Kul AFTER a day of eating on them.













By the way, does anyone know if you can eat TOO many tangerines? Bug must have eaten 4 or 5 of these today! I was sure she was going to be sick! I can't blame her though, Jeju tangerines and oranges are the BEST I have EVER had and I am from Florida...so that is saying a LOT! If you ever get the chance to try a Jeju tangerine (Kul) or Orange (Hallubong) don't pass up the opportunity!!

SO, that was our day of glasses, squatty potties and tangerines...OH MY!

Today was much less adventurous! We got back into the swing of things working hard on school work. I must say it was rather sad though. Our school room used to be the fullest and most exciting room in our apartment. Now it is so empty that it echos! Here is one last shot of me and Bug during reading time.

Can you believe it...I finally reached 100 posts! I can't believe I have had that much to talk about! Well, after reading quite a few blogs (I can't remember which ones for sure...sorry for not giving anyone a link here) I have learned that it is a blogging tradition to make your 100th post 100 things about me. It took me a while, but I finally came up with a list. So, here goes nothing!

100 Things about ME:

1. My name is Michelle
2. Everyone calls me Peanut
3. I am 28 years old
4. Before anything else, God is first in my life
5. He is my Savior, Boss, and Best Friend
6. I live to serve Him
7. I graduated from Apopka High School in 1996
8. Shortly after I moved to SC to go to school at North Greenville College (now University)
9. 3 months after I got there, I met Clark
10. We got married after my sophomore year (summer of 1998)
11. One year later our daughter was born (summer 1999)
12. I graduated in May of 2000 from NGC
13. I have an AFA in Theater
14. I also have a BA in Elementary Education
15. After I graduated, we moved to my hometown in Florida where I taught Art at a private elementary school
16. I am NOT an artist!
17. 2 years later, God called us to be missionaries
18. I wanted to go to Africa and we thought God was calling us to Japan
19. He ended up sending us to Korea
20. We lived in Yangsan Korea for almost 2 years
21. Then we moved to Seogwipo, Korea on the island of Jeju and have been here for 2 years and 4 months
22. Our second daughter was born here ON the island of Jeju
23. Take a step back in time 30 to 35 years in America and you can imagine what it was like in a Jeju Hospital
24. Since Clark and I got married we have never lived anywhere longer than 2 years and 4 months (Jeju is our record)
25. We call ourselves God's tumbleweeds
26. We are getting ready to move to MS
27. I am sure we will only be there 2 years or so...LOL
28. I love to read
29. Christian fiction and mysteries are my favorite
30. I have been SCUBA diving with my Dad since I was 16
31. I recently talked my husband into getting certified and he is my new "Dive Buddy"
32. There is nothing more exciting than sharing the underwater world with your best friend
33. I have been caving (spelunking) since I was 17 years old
34. I got my Dad hooked on it too
35. Squeezes (small tunnels that you have to crawl or slide through on your belly) are my favorite parts of the caves but the formations are AWESOME too
36. I also love climbing and rappelling with my Dad
37. Can you tell I am a Daddy's girl?
38. Hiking and camping are pretty great too
39. Can you tell I am a Tom Boy
40. I played softball in high school
41. I was also on the bowling team
42. I was also in choir all 4 years of high school
43. In college I didn't play sports or sing
44. I was very involved in the theater department
45. I was on a traveling drama team called Act Two
46. I was also president of the Student Alumni Counsel in College
47. Can you tell I am a nerd?
48. When I was a teacher, I was one of the Beta Club Sponsers
49. I loved working with the middle school students
50. I love taking pictures and dream of being a "photographer" one day
51. I am hoping to take classes on photography when we move home
    I have a Cannon Digital Rebel
52. I LOVE my computer
53. I have a Dell XPS M140 that my parents gave me last year as a birthday present
54. I am learning to us Paint Shop Pr to make graphics and animation
55. I am addicted to digital scrap booking
56. But I am WAY behind on the scrapping I need to do
57. I really want to learn more about web design and html codes
58. I am a homeschool mom
59. We use Abeka Curric. but I am thinking about changing to Sonlight next year...any suggestions?
60. My favorite land animal is a giraffe
61. I fell in love with them at Kruger National Game park in South AfricaI have been to Africa 2 times
62. In Africa I have been to South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe
63. My first trip out of the US was to Dominica in the Leeward Islands in 1996
64. Since living in Korea we have been able to travel some in Asia
65. I have been to Thailand 3 times , China 1 time ,and the Philippines 2 times
66. I still haven't made it to Japan, Hong Kong, or Mayalsia...but one day I want to
67. I would LOVE to travel around Europe for a few weeks
68. My husband and I would love to be contestants on the Amazing Race
69. We also think it would be cool to compete AGAINST each other on Survivor
70. However, we can't imagine leaving our girls that long, so we probably never will
71. I hate to cook
72. That is why I married a man who loves to
73. yes my husband cooks almost every breakfast and dinner
74. My favorite water animal is the manatee
75. I fell in love with them in 6th grade when I saw one underwater for the first time
76. I have adopted 3 manatees from Save the Manatee foundation
77. My mom is my best friend (besides God and Clark)
78. We talk about EVERYTHING and ANYTHING...I think it is pretty awesome
79. I am an organizing neat freak just like she is (sorry mom, I couldn't resist)
80. I can't stand for the house to be a mess
81. I go on cleaning rampages often (at least every other day) and the whole family knows to stay out of my way until I am finished...LOL
82. I am SO bad that people (including my husband) have been known to call me "Monica" from friends
83. I became a Christian when I was in the 2nd grade
84. I was baptized that same year
85. I rededicated my life to a very personal relationship with my Lord the summer before 9th grade
86. I accepted God's calling to full time missions on my life the summer after 10th grade
87. I was a GA/Acteen Camp Counselor for 4 summers
88. God taught me more and grew me more in those summers than any other time of my life
89. After I got married, my husband and I went almost every summer to volunteer time helping out at camp.
90. I LOVE being a friend
91. I LOOVE being a daughter and sister
92. I LOOOVE being a wife
93. I LOOOOVE being a mother
94. I LOOOOOVE being a follower of Christ
95. I am a shy extrovert
96. I like to be quiet at first and take in the people and situation to warm up
97. After I warm up I can be very loud, talkative, outgoing, and am a loyal and dedicated friend for LIFE!
98. God has blessed me with the most amazing family (both immediate and extended)
99. God has also blessed me with wonderful friends
100. I never knew how hard it was to think of 100 things about myself!
     
     WHEEWWW! I did it! That took more time than I thought it would. I hope you made it to the end without being completely bored out of your mind and if you are still reading you deserve a (((BIG HUG))) and :-* kiss!
     
     We now have just under a month left in Korea and I realize that I got side tracked a bit by all the packing in my Life in Korea series. So, I will be trying to get back to that. You can look forward to posts about Korean language, Korean food, transportation in Korea, Korean holidays, and much more fun Korea stuff! :-) If you have any questions about Korea or being a missionary I will be happy to do posts of answers to questions...just leave me a comment and let me know!

...did God create mosquitoes?

Yesterday afternoon I was doing laundry and I forgot to close the screen that we put the dryer hose out of. Well, as the sun went down and the temperature dropped, all the mosquitoes in town fled to warmth of our comfy apartment! GRRRRR!!! Of course they lay in wait until 2:00 AM!! My fearless husband was up from 2:00 to 3:00 hunting mosquitoes! He killed six last night and then headed back to bed...of course that wasn't all of them! This morning he went on another hunt in the daylight and killed six more! Yes, that means TWELVE mosquitoes were in our apartment tormenting us last night. You know what I am talking about, you just doze off when he decides to BUZZ you and goes right by your ear startling you awake. You spend 5 minutes looking around trying to find it and then FINALLY doze off again when BUZZ he hits you again! It goes on and on and on! You never really get to sleep! Oh, it was miserable!

My poor baby Bean has 18 bites on her face! She looks like she has the chicken pox!! All of us are itching this morning. So, that brings me back to my question....I KNOW God created EVERYTHING with a purpose, but why, OH WHY, did He create the mosquito? What is the purpose of the mosquito?

Oh yes, we did it! We finished with TWENTY minutes to spare! It is 9:41 am and the craters will be here at 10 sharp! WHOOHOOOO!!!! I even got all the breakables put carefully in 3 boxes this morning and will repack them when the bubble wrap gets here. Other than that, we are DONE! Everything is in the storage closet and it is PACKED to the ceiling! There are a handful of things (including those breakables) that are sitting outside the door waiting! I can't begin to describe the weight that is now lifted off my shoulders! I am DONE!

Now, we won't begin to talk about the paper work left to do, the cost of the crate, or the cleaning that my apartment needs! There is still a LOT to be done, BUT the hard work, the PACKING is done! The paper work can be done sitting here at the comfort of my computer. The cleaning, well that will be easier than usual, because we don't have all that junk in the way to make cleaning hard! The cost of the crate isn't a lot of work, it is just, well a lot of money that we really don't have to spare! We have also had a nice week long break from homeschooling and that will end tomorrow! However, all of that can be thought about tomorrow! Today we CELEBRATE! :-)

***EDITED TO ADD***

He came, he saw, and he left...the crater guy that is! He asked me about big furniture and I told him "Ani" (no) and he asked about all the other rooms and I told he "ani"! He took my itemized list of everything in the stroage porch. I showed him what still needed bubble wrap. I told him that we leave Jeju on Nov. 21st at 9:30 am. He told me "Very Good, I call you!" SO, two weeks worth of hard work is over and the waiting begins. We are now waiting on the estimate for how much it will cost AND the date that they will come take our stuff away! So, while we wait for the phone call we will clean, homeschool, and PLAY! :-)

Ok, well, I am out of the shower and I feel like a new woman! It is amazing how packing and moving can make you feel SO tired, sore and just down right ICKY! I had some time to think and although it is 12:30 now I wanted to post a few other random things about today that I forgot!

It seems that fall is officially on the way out and winter is coming in FAST! It has been rainy and cold for the past few days and a BIG cloud has been sitting on top of the mountain. Today it was a beautiful, but still very cold day! When we spotted the top of the mountain we saw that Jeju Island has had it's first snow and is showing off it's snow capped peak! It is BEAUTIFUL (I just hope the snow stays UP there for the next 2 weeks and we make it off the island before we get any snow down on the coast)!

Another random tidbit is that I have been collecting all the change I have found here and there for the past 2 weeks of packing. It is amazing the places I have found change laying around! Today I decided to open up the drawer I have been sticking it in and count it up! You are NEVER going to believe this!!! I found 83,000 won (about $85) in change throughout our house! We have decided to do something fun as a family with it! We are thinking a night out to Happy Land (a theater here that has Chinese Acrobats perform nightly! Does anyone else have a better idea of a way we could use this to go out and have a fun family outing? Leave a comment if you do! God is SOO good, He provides in ways we would NEVER expect!

Well, it is getting later by the minute and if I really want to be awake by 6:00 to put the finishing touches on everything, I better get going now!

It is 11:40 pm right now and I am sitting down for the first time since I ate breakfast at 8:30 this morning! Don't worry, I did eat lunch and dinner, I just ate them as I worked. All that I can pack, is packed. There are a few bigger toys that I just didn't have boxes to fit, like the little people village or Cinderella's Castle. I also haven't packed any of my breakables. They are all laying on Melisa's bed waiting for the bubble wrap that the movers are providing! :-) So, minus the big toys, picture frames, nic-naks, tea sets, coffee mugs, and other breakable items, EVERYTHING is packed and waiting to go! I even have every thing labled AND a list of each box so that I make sure it all arrives safely! Tomorrow morning I need to put a few of the boxes I packed tonight in the storage closet with all the other boxes and then I need to organize the breakables so he can have an idea. I will be up at 6:00 and working by 7:00. That should give me 3 hours to make sure all the finishing touches are done. I can't believe I am SOOO close to being done! YAY!!!!!

Well, it has been a LONG day, and I feel ICKY! Since I have to sleeping little girls and a sweet husband taking the new load of recycling down for me, I am going to take this moment of quiet to take a nice long shower and then hit the sack! I will be back tomorrow to let you know how the appointment goes with the craters! :-) Hope you all have a HAPPY Tuesday!

So, if I still have any readers now, are you annoyed of all the packing talk yet? If not, then read on, if so then I am sorry that is ALL I have to write about. It feels like my life revolves around packing! BUT, don't worry by this time tomorrow it will ALL be done! On Wednesday morning (your Tuesday night back in America) the man will come to give us an estimate of how much money it will cost to get all of our stuff back to America. Before he comes, I want to have everything packed and ready to go so that the Korean movers don't try to pack our stuff for us (last time we moved they did and it was not so good...lots of stuff broken...bad memories)!

So, on Sunday I ended up getting side tracked and worked on some of our piles of clutter than have grown as we packed and ran across items that we didn't know what we wanted to do with. I tackled 3 such piles before church and after church I went through all our CD's and DVD's. I organized them into cases that we can bring them in our carry ons and watch them on the portable DVD player. That was quite the undertaking...it seems our music and movie collection grew more than I realized in the last 4 years! I never got around to Clark's clothes.

Today I attacked the playroom with full force! I am ALMOST done! All that remains is the stuffed animals and a few puzzles and games! It was a 5 hour project to get where I am now! Let me tell you 6 grandparents equals more toys than we know what to do with! We are going to be giving a lot of toys to a family that we know who has 2 daughters here on the island. My sweet Bug was having a hard time saying good-bye to toys until I announced that they were going to the Kim girls. THEN she showed the biggest heart ever and started pulling out some toys that I KNOW she loves and saying that they might like them! It made me SO very proud to see her act so selfless! She is an amazing little 7 year old!

I got side tracked during Beans nap time when I decided to move our entire "to be crated pile" from the girls room to the empty storage porch/closet. Clark was up at the University teaching a Bible class, which meant I did this alone...not so smart with my recovering knee. When he came home and saw what I had done, I think he was ready to strangle me...LOL! What can I say, when I get an idea in my head, I am determined! I did have reason behind my move. Bean had been unpacking and climbing on the pile and it wasn't safe or productive, so I figured if it was out of sight it would be out of mind! :-)

After the pile was moved, I caught up on doing laundry and tackled one more clutter pile AND finished packing our bathroom and part of the shoe closet! When Clark came home he had to spend 2 hours taking trips out to the garbage shed and recycling shed! I had FILLED our laundry porch with BAGS of trash and recycling. He is such a trouper and got the porch ALL cleaned again!

Tomorrow morning, Clark and I will sit down and do his clothes first. Then we will finish up the playroom and the shoe closet. To end the day we will get Clark's collection of Starbucks Mugs out of the kitchen and double check every corner, closet and drawer to make sure we are DONE! I can't wait to be finished with it. We will have about 2 weeks left on the island and Bug and I will homeschool during this time while Clark continues to meet with the University students. We are also planning some special time to see our favorite sights of Jeju one last time! I will be sure to post pictures of all our adventures as they come!

Today was a BIG last for our missionary term. It was our very last team meeting on Jeju Island. We will still have a week of meetings in Seoul, but this was our last monthly team meeting! It was truly bitter sweet. Our meetings have a long standing tradition for being LOOONG and not always fun! I will be glad to be done with the long and detailed task of painstakingly planning the month of ministry out. However, it is a sad day because that means we are entering into our last month of ministry on Jeju. It means we are entering our last month of working hand in hand with these fellow servants. So, today was truly a bitter sweet day as we had the last of many team meetings!

On a side note, we are almost finished packing!! YAY!!!! Here is my list of things left to pack:

1. Clark's clothes
2. The shoe closet (shoes, scarves, hats, and mittens)
3. The playroom (ALL the toys, games, and puzzles)
4. The coffee mugs in the kitchen (the rest of the kitchen is already in the crate room waiting for the bubble wrap)
5. A few random piles of clutter left here and there

I have 3 days to get it done it and I think it is manageable! We have already gone through Clark's clothes to recycle what he can't wear anymore (he last a lot of weight and many of the clothes we brought 4 years ago swallow him now). It is just a matter of sorting to be crated clothes and to be brought with us clothes! I think we can finish his clothes before and after church tomorrow. My biggest job is the playroom. I have given myself ALL day on Monday to work on it. Then Tuesday I will just have a few loose ends to tie up. The craters come on Wednesday morning at 10 am! My chant is now "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." Anyone want to join me?

Yesterday was a fun day. We had a special visit from our company's Member Care. This is a couple who travels around helping all of our missionaries. Well, they finally made their way to Jeju for a whole week and they are spending a day with each missionary unit (family) and yesterday was our day. They came to our place around noon and they were greeted by two excited little girls and a hyperactive dog! I quickly rounded up my crew so they could get in the door! Bug was SO excited to have Uncle Bill and Aunt Shelley here that she started talking and we couldn't find the off switch! She read them an entire book, told them all of Daddy's secrets from the past, and recited her Bible verses and poems for them. Bean drug out every toy she could find to show them. OH MY, the show was on!

We finally got the house some what recovered from all the excitement and headed to our favorite Korean Galbi place! Thank goodness my shoes didn't wander off this time! Lunch was delicious. We had Korean Twegi Galbi with all kinds of PanChans (side dishes). When we were stuffed beyond belief we loaded up in the van and took a drive along the coast. This is one of our favorite things to take visitors to do! The coast of Jeju is SO beautiful and unique. There are very few sandy beaches and most of the sandy beaches are man made. Instead the beaches are covered in lava rocks. The rocks are huge and no two have the same shape! While driving we also like to go on a Haenyo hunt to try to find some of the ladies out diving. Unfortunately today, none were to be found.

We made our way up the coast and ended up at a waterfall...actually 3 waterfalls! We haven't been to this area since Papa was here for a visit! We hiked down to the first fall and were disappointed to see it was dried up (it is dry season on the island). However, the pool at the bottom of the fall was crystal clear. We could see the bottom all the way out in the center! It was BEAUTIFUL!! There are lots of lava rocks at the base of the fall as well and Bug couldn't resist the urge to play on them. The water was FREEZING and and there was a nice gentle breeze that was giving us that crisp fall air! We had a blast examining all the rocks and even the algae. We were all across back on solid land except for the Bug! She made the jump from that last rock to the sidewalk and she missed...OH YES SHE DID! Both legs, her stomach, her chest and one arm went under! Tears immediately followed! Clark and I bit our lips and held in the laugh so as not to look like awful parents. Daddy went to the rescue and fished her out and held her in a cradle position just like a little baby! I was able to get the wet shirt off from her (much to her dismay in front of all the Koreans around) and put a jacket on her so at least her top was dry. Clark then picked her back up and carried her all the way back up the hill and to the van. Our visitors, Bean and I went on to see the other waterfall while Hero Daddy drove her 20 minutes back to our place to change clothes.

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Aunt Shelley, Uncle Bill, little Bean, and I all walked on to see the beautiful BIG fall. It was, as always, an amazing sight! We opted to pass on the 3rd waterfall and just head up to the bridge to look out over the falls. Then we walked 15 minutes down the road to the Cinnabun to wait on Clark and Bug. We enjoyed getting out of the cool air and into the cozy Coffee House. We had a great visit and Clark and Bug soon joined us to finish out the day!

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. We visited for well over an hour at Cinnabun, just catching up on what has been going on with each other. Then we headed to the Herb Hamburger shop and had a delicious dinner before heading back to our place. By the time we got home Bean was out for the night and Bug was ready to veg out in front of the TV for a few minutes before she finally passed out for the night too. We said good-bye to our dear friends and were so thankful for a good day out and a break from all the packing!