A Total Worldwhind.

Though I carried my huge camera with me the entire journey, are you surprised to hear that I never once paused mid course, traveling from Korea to America, alone with four kids to snap a photo to remember?  I'm not.  There are some things best forgetten, and it's not like I needed photographic evidence to remember the magnitude of the situation.  It was imminently clear to me as I kissed the Major good-bye at security that it was going to be a VERY long journey. 

But what can I say now?  We are here, and mostly all of the travel wounds are healed.  And to tell you the truth, nothing horrendous happened (unless you view the disappearance of a 1-year old DSi as horrendous.  All things considered, I don't). 

But I will tell you something else, when you are the only adult traveling alone with four kids, you don't find many opportunities to fall asleep either.  So the greatest casualty by the end of the journey was my incredible fatigue.  But masked by the jet lag, it wasn't anything spectacular.  I was just really, really exhausted.  After all, we traveled for  something like 18 hours before landing in Seattle.  That's just a long time!

Really though, by the time we were at Baggage Claim in Seattle I was nearly in tears with how well behaved my kids had been.  Not that it prevented me from yelling at someone for spilling the contents of their backpack, or chastising someone else for playing "tag" while we were waiting for luggage.  But when I took a moment to think about what I had just required of my children, I was swelling with pride.  They did remarkably well. 

Our 24-hour layover in Seattle was a welcome relief.  One of my best friends from High School, Kat, now lives in Seattle with her cute family.  When she heard we were headed to an Airport hotel for the day, she absolutely forbade it, and drove her mini van and little ones to come pick us up!  Though I felt terrible imposing on her hospitality, I had to quickly admit that it was the best thing that had happened to me in the past 24 hours!  That was such a fun layover!! 

A quick flight to Utah the next morning (where Jane and Ruby were both bracing themselves that we might not land in Utah until the next day, since that had been their experience up to that point), had us eating lunch at Provo's In-n-Out and browsing the racks of both Gamestop and The Disney Store all by the late afternoon.  Remarkable! 

After two days of serious retail therapy and a much need hair cut AND color (photos to come soon!), we were all starting to feel the joy and triumph of our journey.  We are now happily settling into the real pace of summer vacation. 

P.S.  Nature walks, ice cream on demand, and late bed times are plentiful at Grandma's house.  In case you were wondering!  We are eagerly anticipating the return on the Wiley cousins this week to introduce a whole new level of excitement! 


P.P.S.  WE MADE IT!

2 days to go...

Today was my last Saturday in Korea.

Darin gave me a day pass to head up to my favorite market in Seoul.

It's been a big week.  I said good bye to my friends at Happy Quilt.  I've eaten at all my favorite restaurants, one-last-time.  And today, I went to say good-bye to Dongdaemun.  

I had nothing in mind to buy.  Of course I found a few great treasures.  Mostly a mustard yellow belt for $4.  That made the whole trip worthwhile.

When I was putting Ruby to bed tonight, she said:

"Mom, it's sad that it was your last time in Seoul today."

"Yes", I said, "I'm going to miss Seoul."  

She patted my arm and then said, 

"Don't worry mom, I think they will have a Seoul in North Carolina." 

I felt much better then.

Somehow I don't think the boys felt quite as nostalgic about saying good-bye to Osan American Elementary School on Friday.  

I brought doughnuts to George's class, and ice cream sandwhiches to Henry's.  I gave little speaches in both classes, telling the kids that it has been a great school year, and how lucky the boys are to have had such nice classes.  Both times I had to quit talking sooner rather than later because my voice was starting to get shaky.  I must be getting extra emotional in my old age. 

Mostly I've been doing a lot of thinking about how we can make a home basically anywhere in this world, as long as we take our family with us.  That's all I require to make a home, the Major, and our kids, maybe a few throw pillows.  Anyway,it sure helps to make it an even better home when you run into such nice people along the way.

There have been nice friends for all the kids here.  That's very lucky.  And great teachers, that's lucky too.

Mrs. Wever and George.  The best 2nd grade teacher he ever had!

We leave on Tuesday.

That's kind of sad.

Catching up

We all react to times of transition in different ways. George tends to come home from school overly irritable and easily bored. I know he processes things differently than all of his siblings. I know he thinks ten steps ahead of all of them too. I know he's the only one who's thought two thoughts about what happens AFTER June 1st, so I'm trying to be patient and sympathtic.

Imagine how happy I was when he channeled that energy into impromptu art lessons with his sisters.

They froze the screen on a favorite cartoon character and all took to their notepads in silence as they worked on their renderings.

 And wanted me to photograph their finished products. 

Some of us don't stuggle too much with transitions.  As long as there will be a place to get manicures in North America, these ladies will be just fine:

And if I can manage a pedicure before leaving Korea, I think I'm going to transition okay as well.  I'll get a little cranky though if "pedicure" does not get checked off of my to-do list in the next five days.

In absence of Henry this afternoon, but with an abundance of blankets, everyone found contentment on my bed for a few breif moments.  I was most grateful:

Where was Henry you ask??

He got to go to North Korea with the Major today.  I told the Major as he was leaving this morning for his DMZ tour, I said, "If you don't come home, I'll never forgive you."  I don't know if you've been seeing the headlines lately? 

I'm happy to report, they made it home. 

After sitting in a replica of  North Korean classroom,

And visiting the Joint Security Area (JSA), and standing all together too close to the enemy in my opinion.

 And after hiking into the underground tunnels that were discovered having been dug by the North Koreans.

And after a stop at the very last train station in South Korea where the train has to stop now, without access into North Korea.  Where Henry got his passport stamped with some sort of commemorative stamp.

And after making a U-Turn where they saw the freeway entrance into North Korea, but again, no access is allowed. 

And they did all of that with enough energy to stop at Chili's before making it home after 9pm.  That was a long day, but a great tour.  I hope Henry will remember it.  And maybe even remember the significance of being there right now.   This was the second reason Henry was so excited to turn 10 while in Korea.  The first reason was so that he could get his ID card.  You have to be 10 in order to go on the DMZ tour, so this was a big-deal-day for Hank! 

George got to be late to school by an hour, study his spelling words with me uninterrupted when he got home this afternoon, and go swimming with his little sisters.  So yeah, today didn't do anything to help with his irritability or bordem.  But I tried to keep him excited by talking all about the process of moving and the details of our travel plans, hotel reservations and plans in the first few days of our arrival at Grandma's house in Utah!

Do we really only have 5 days left?! 

No pictures.

And I even carried my camera around with me a few times throughout the day.  I was really going to catch some of our action in photos, but it never happened.  It kind of made me realize that in the end, I just might not have that artistic view of seeing the world through the lens of a camera.  It's too bad.  Pictures make a blog post better.

Top Ten Things that happened today (without pictorial proof):

1.  Ruby didn't take any pain medicine all day long.  I think she's probably better.

2.  The girls and I stayed in pajamas until 12:30, and convinced Darin to come home and visit us during his lunch hour. 

3.  I made it to the post office and mailed some stuff. It feels wonderful when things get accomplished around here!

4.  I finished one of my lingering sewing projects.  It wasn't anything big, but it was something I had kind of messed up on, but really wanted to find a way to make it work.  I found a way!  It made me happy.

5.  I took the kids to our very last "Kid's Membership Night" at the Officer's club.  The food is mediocre at best, but kids eat free.  They do face painting and have a bouncy castle, and the kids always find friends to play with.  They leave happy every time.  Tonight Henry even won one of the $10 gift cards during the raffle.  Way to end on a high note!

6.  It was the last time I have to go to Kid's Membership Night!   

7.  It rained all day long.  ALL DAY.  But I didn't let it stop me from running a drizzly 5 miles.  Running works every time, just like magic.  It clears my mind and puts me in a good mood.  It seems as though it cannot fail.  If I'm grumpy, I should instantly put my running shoes on.  I will come home happy.  Even if it's raining outside.

8.  I got a bunch of emails from my sisters today.  I love hearing from them.  It doesn't happen often enough.  Best of all, it wasn't about anything important, it was just about connecting with one another.  Felt almost as good as running 5 miles.

9.  Darin and I got to watch the Finale of "Lost" together on the couch tonight.  I'm not sure if life gets any better.  It's often about the simple pleasures.  It's pretty rare that we agree about what to watch on TV.  "Lost" (and Modern Family, but it's somewhat of a guilty pleasure) is the only show we both agreed was worth watching.  We've watched all six season in Korea.  I think Korea will forever remind me of "Lost".  And Jiyn and Sun will always be my favorite characters on the show (and they're Korean).  I cried when they died. 

10.  We have less than a week until Summer Vacation 2010 begins!  Let it begin already!!!  We can't wait to go to Target see our family at long last. 

I'm going to take some pictures tomorrow.  I promise!

Endings.

Today was the last day of Preschool.  Ruby got herself well enough to go.  The new dress might have been a motivating factor.  I'm pretty certain it was.  My ladies are suckers for a new frock.  Especially one that has been held in reserve for the last-day-of-school. 

I'm not going to lie., when I gave their teacher a hug, and told her thank you for being such a great teacher, and she replied by telling me how much she loved the girls and what a joy they had been to teach, I totally started crying.  I felt like a dork, but I couldn't help it.  I'm going to be a real mess come the first day of kindergarten. 

Am I really all done with preschool?! 

I'm pretty sure I thought this day would never come. 

The day has come...

Let's see who won!!!

Here you go, the winner is Sarah Knight.  We met fifteen years ago when we were freshmen at BYU! 

Sarah said...
So I hope it's not Wednesday in Korea and I missed the cut off! I am so envious of your (and Liz's) sewing talents. You rock! I hope you enjoy your next AF adventure. I love being an AF wife. Anyway, we should celebrate our age! Can you believe how long ago we were in Helamen Halls? All I worried about was Jeremy and should've spent more time hanging out with you awesome girls! It was fun though. I think about all that's happened since then and just have to celebrate life and all it's happenings. Best of luck with your move.

The best part about this contest was reading all the things people have in their lives to celebrate.  It was so happy to read all the comments, that honestly, I wish I had a banner to give away to everyone. I really do.  

Sarah, send me your address ASAP, so this banner can have a Korean post mark (annee_earnest@hotmail.com).

Thanks everyone for playing along.   

301!!!

cel * e * brate:

-verb 
1.  to observe (a day) or commemorate (an event) with ceremonies or festivities.

But I also liked definition number seven as well:

7.  to have or participate in a party, drinking spree ( of coke zero nightly!), or uninhibited good time.  

We here at the Earnest house are most definitely feeling the need to celebrate.  As I've contemplated the 300th post for some time now, the only thing that sounded appropriate to express how I felt was, "celebrate", or "celebration".  As I mulled it over throughout the weekend, it has done nothing but cheer me and encourage me.  The list of things we have to celebrate is lengthy, and grows longer by the day. 

Top of the list right now:

 
Ruby sleeping with her mouth closed!  This is huge.  This is part of what motivated the surgery (that and the fact that the tonsils were so big they were fusing together!).  She had had a rough night/morning and by 2pm she was past spent.  I helped her find her way to her bed and tried to make her as comfortable as possible.  When I came back a half hour later, I had to take the picture to document the success of it all.  I haven't seen her breathing with her mouth closed, in I don't know how long!  Recovery is torturous, but good health is worth celebrating!!  Cheers to Ruby.   

Our stuff is gone.  Our  SIXTH move is well underway.  And to top it all off, the offspring are thriving, happy and well adjusted.  They are optimistically counting down the remaining 14 days in Korea.  They look to the future and our new "home" with courage and strength.  There is very little complaining that it is our sixth move in twelve years!  Only a wee bit of complaining that there is NOTHING to do now.  Hang on there little offspring, enjoy the calm before the storm!  Hats off to move number 6!!

June 2008

To celebrate how far we've come in Korea, how much we've learned,  how much the kids have grown, how different we are now than we were when we came, I want to give away a "CELEBRATE" banner.  This one to be exact:

 

If you don't have one already, you really should.  There are so very many reasons one might want to hang a "celebrate" banner up in their home.  I know I've left mine up for almost 4 months straight, because every time I went to take it down, I thought of a new reason to leave it up.  

So there you go, my gift to you!!  All you have to do it leave a comment.  Just say "hi", or tell me what you are celebrating right now.  I don't really care what you say in the comment.  Whether I know you, or not, it's all the same to me.  Don't be shy, it's time to CELEBRATE!!!

Let's see how many comments we can get.  I say I'll give the banner away on Wednesday, May 19th.  We'll take all the comments from this post, stick them in a bowl, and let one of the lucky little Earnests pull out a winner.  It should be fun, just the way life is.  

To sum it all up, the blog has helped me over the years look back and appreciate all that we have, all the places we've been, the times I'd forget if I hadn't written them down.  So I celebrate the blog!  

Okay, that's it.  Let's see who I get to mail this banner off to...

A disclaimer...

Did I say come back "tomorrow" for something special??  I think I meant come back on Monday (wink, wink).  How about we take the weekend off?  I will rename it "A Blog post Almost everyday in the Month of May."  That sounds more suited to me anyway.  

Our little patient continues to require a lot of attention.  But really, it's the housing dilemma that has me losing sleep at night!  

On Monday I declare that the patient will be jollier, and the housing crisis will be over.  I really do have something I want to give away!!  My first every blog giveaway.  In case you hate blog giveaways, I'm just saying, I think the odds are going to be pretty good for you on this one, so just play along :)  Besides, you're going to want to win.  

Happy Weekend. 

It's official.

First, Ruby no longer has tonsils or adenoids.  And secondly, she is really and truly the sweetest patient you will ever have the pleasure to meet.  One time, when she was somewhere between consciousness and the hazy world created by painkillers, a sweet nurse asked her for the 47th time if she would like any ice chips.  To which my little daughter, with her eyes closed responded, "No thank you, I'm fine." 

I'm just wondering, when I'm in the hazy world created by painkillers, do I remember my p's and q's? 

And then tonight, after we finally made it home, had her showered and I was laying down with her to make sure she had a comfortable night of sleep, she leaned over to me and said,

"Sometimes mom, if my throat is hurting, I just try to ignore it". 

I nearly lost my composure in that moment.  She is so sweet and pure.  I'm actually humbled to be in her presence. 

The night before her surgery, I told her she got to choose the dinner, because it would be the last night in a while that she could eat whatever she wanted.  I was sure she would pick spaghetti with meatballs, because it's her favorite meal.  But she walked over to me and whipered in my ear that she would like to have scrambled eggs, and egg sandwhiches, because she knew the brothers didn't like spaghetti, but they love egg sandwhiches. 

In her prayer tonight, as she was going to bed, she said:

"Please bless all the people in all the world who have to get their tonsils removed.  Bless them that they will be okay, and that they will get better quickly, and that their throat won't hurt them too much."

I might be forgetting, but I don't think she asked once that she'd be okay, or that her throat wouldn't hurt. 

Sometimes I worry about people in this world who are so good and so kind, deep down in their marrow, because I fear that it is those people who will get used and trampled over, as life goes on.  But I realize with my own daughther, that whether she gets trampled or not, her joy genuinely comes from thinking of others before herself.  And if that is how she is going to navigate her time on this Earth, I will view it as one of the gifts she came delivered here with, from God. 

That's why it's official, she's the sweetest, kindest, truest patient one has ever had the chance to care for.  She's going to recover just fine from this surgery.  In fact, we're going to have to remind her repeatedly that she is not "all better" yet.  Because she is going to wake up tomorrow, just like she did today, trying to make it a great day for everyone around her. 

P.S.  Come back tomorrow!!  It's the 300th post.  I'll try to make it a good one.  

P.P.S. Now I need to go wipe the tears out of my eyes, and remember to offer a huge prayer of thanksgiving.

Remembering October 2007

Here's Jane the day after her tonsil/adenoid surgery:

Clearly, good times lay ahead for all of us! 

The whole family will rally around Ruby tomorrow.  Since we have no car, we'll be doing some family bonding on the bus up to the hospital in Seoul.  If part of my excitement over moving to Korea two years ago was for the adventures we would have together as a family, I'm pretty sure tomorrow won't be disappointing! 

Feel free to send any prayers and happy thoughts our way. 

third time's a charm

Ruby's getting her tonsils out on Thursday, and probably her adenoids too.  George had this procedure done when he was 2.  Jane had it done when she was almost 3.  And now Ruby at the ripe old age of 5 will join their ranks.  We've been through it many times before, but still, as Thursday gets closer, we're all starting to get a bit more nervous.

Tonight as I was putting her to bed, she said, "Mom, does it hurt to get your tonsils out?"

I told her it wouldn't hurt because she would be asleep, and wouldn't feel anything.  But that when she wakes up, it will hurt for a few days.  Jane was the one most affected by the news.  She was nearly in tears and said, "I do not want to watch!!"

Believe me Jane, I don't either.  When Jane came out of her surgery, I got so woozy that they had me lay down on the rolling bed with Jane for fear that I was about to become the patient.  I was so relieved to hear Ruby say that she wanted Dad to come with her to the hospital.  Good choice Ruby!  Of course, I will be there too, but Dad will most definately have to be the bravest one in the room.

You would have skipped a day too, if you were me.

May 9&10 have passed by in a blur.

Two happy things about Mother's Day 2010.

1.  Darin let me sleep in until 9am.  He got up way earlier, shut the door behind him, and prevented all children from interrupting my morning sleeping hours.  That's why I love him so!  And when I woke up at 9am it was to the smell of blueberry pancakes with walnuts, just as I had mentioned the night before.  So he listens after all.

2.  We had friends over for dinner.  Which meant dinner was really good, dessert was dessert worthy, and we even played a game.

One really bad thing about Mother's Day 2010:

1.  It was the day before our movers arrived.

And though in the military they do try to go out of their way to make moving easier, moving is still a tremendous amount of work.  And overseas moves have added complications and considerations.  So as soon as our dinner guest left, Darin and I still had about six hours of work ahead of us before the movers would be knocking on our door.

And sure enough, when we opened the door at 7:45am to send the boys off to school, here's what we saw down the hallway.  There is no messing around with Korean movers.

The way we are moving this time, is that the bulk of our household goods need to depart first, since they will take a full two months to reach the States.  And we can hold out up to 1000 pounds (but not more!), of "stuff", but no furniture, that we can use to live with until we leave here (the kids and I) on June 1st.  That's what the six hours of work mostly was for me last night, trying to figure out what each person would need for their life to remain happy until we see our home put back together again, sometime in July.  It was as mentally exhausting as it was physically.  I hope I got it right... 

Jane's prayer at bedtime tonight had the words "North Carolina" in it about 25 times (and her prayer was only about 45 seconds long).  She blessed that everything would arrive safely.  That we would all fly there safely.  That our car would get there safely.  Etc.  This is a lot for a little head to worry about.  I'm so proud of the way they all handle it, and take it in stride.

Somewhere in the middle of the afternoon I panicked that I would sorely miss the yellow butterfly end table that I never bought.  The Major is getting so smart in his old age.  Rather than sit and listen to me talk about it all week long (and maybe all summer long if I hadn't gotten it), he walked me right over to the furniture guy and hooked me up: 

I owned it for five minutes before somebody was wrapping it, padding it, and building a box for it.  That was the funniest part of my day today.  I think I'll love it.  But I'm posting the picture here, in case I wake up tomorrow and forget that I bought a piece of furniture today, you know. 

Packing our boxes into the crates.  It's hard to describe how strange it felt that it was our moving truck getting loaded up today.  At Osan, you see moving trucks getting loaded up almost everyday.  You pass by and ponder a moment what that means to that family, etc.  Today it was us.  We took a moment, the Major and I, sitting on the bench watching it all get loaded, to think about what it means to us.  The future is full of possibilities and opportunities, just waiting for us to show up.  It's exciting. 

This picture sums it all up for us:

From Osan- To Chapel Hill.

Here we go.

And finally, at the end of the day when we ran down the list of options where to take the family to dine, nothing sounded quite as good as frozen chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, soup, if you felt like it, and omelets.  When I pointed out the lack of a table, only moments later a solution was stuck upon.  Four happy kids ate dinner at home. 

It was a happy day in Osan.




P.S.

Dear Greenish Couch-

You did not make the final moving cut.  You have only three weeks left with us in your life.  And then, RIP green couch, you will die in Korea.  Don't take it personally.  Somebody in Korea is going to find you one night, on the side of the street somewhere, and feel like Christmas came early.  I think it's best for everyone if we end this relationship here.  Thanks for all your years of dedicated service.  I think every single one of the children has thrown up on you.

Love you always,
Annee

Where oh where will we live?!

If I have to spend another day scouring the internet for new rental properties in Chapel Hill, I'm going to lose my mind.  Currently all our evening hours are spent making calls, looking at Google Maps, watching virtual tours, and getting directions to Target  UNC from any given property.

Maybe we're at least zeroing in on a few neighborhoods, and definitely eliminated others.  I guess that's progress I should be happy about.

Want to know some other progress I'm really happy about?  We were at a dinner party tonight.  Once the dinner was over, and the adult after dinner conversation began, our kids started to get bored.  We offered to let Henry walk his little sisters home and put them to bed, and we'd be home in a little bit.  Sure that the chore of putting his little sister to bed would outweigh his desire to relax and veg out on the couch, we were surprised when he jumped at the opportunity to prove his babysitting competence.  And sure enough, when we walked in an hour later, the girls were fast asleep, in pajamas no less, and he was sitting on the couch watching, "Top Chef Masters".    The most beautiful part of the arrangement was how equally happy we all were in that very moment.  Henry really is one of our greatest blessings!  I feel like we're seeing the light at the end of a very long tunnel.

 

About today...

Finally my procrastinators radar is being alerted to the fact that the movers are showing up at my house Monday morning.  I'll be honest, a bit of panic set in today.  It prompted me to do crazy things like clean out my storage bin.  Locate all our luggage.  Find the girls summer clothes, put them in the drawers and remove all things winter from their room.

When Darin got home from work, he was so excited that I was cleaning and organizing ( he dreams of coming home to find me reorganizing a drawer or cleaning out a closet), he couldn't help but join in the fun.  He thought together we could clean the boys rooms too.  In the end, we had these many bags of clothes located in the kids drawers and closets, that were unwearable: 

That's so lame.  Why we don't clean things out sooner, is a real mystery.  Think of all the new clothes I would have had room for!

In the middle of all the cleaning, I did take the little ladies out to a potluck picnic.  A potluck picnic is a really good idea, that way you can eat fruit, even if you didn't bring any.

The ladies also celebrated the arrival of their Saltwater sandals in the mail yesterday, by planning their school outfits around them.  For Jane, this meant she had to be all pink!

But really, watching them wear them for the past two days, nearly has me convinced that I should be wearing them too. 

Back home, an outfit change was in order.  Obviously, the pink outfit had been worn for several hours!  The only part I was objecting to in the new look, was the tank top tucked into the knit shorts.  When I tried to tell Jane it wasn't that good of a look, she told me how wrong I was.  It could be a really long summer if we're going to be fighting over tucked or un-tucked, all summer long! 

Oh well, for our first full day sans-car, I am grateful for beautiful weather, friends at the park, new sandals, and newly organized drawers and closets!

See you tomorrow. 

In honor of Mother's Day this week...

10 on Tuesday:

What I learned from my mother (how can I limit it to just 10?!):

1.  To have Faith.

2.  That life is better if you are willing to forgive. 

3.  To dedicate your life to your family is a worthy and lofty pursuit. 

4.  The value of education. And the joy that comes along with curiosity.  

5.  She taught me how to sew!

6.  To be sympathetic, and non-judgmental.  You just don't know what's inside another person.  She always said, "only God knows".  She is right.

7.  That you were a wife before you were a mother, and not to forget how important it is to be a great wife.

8.  To face my fears, because I watched her facing hers.  

9.  To be flexible.  Not in terms of doing the splits.  That, she never could teach me.  But from her I learned that plans B, C, or even D can work too.  There are many so many solutions to any given problem.  

10.  To honor my roots.

And the lists continues to grow...