our trip from Canada back to Korea at 13wks pregnant

OK... this is the story of coming home from Canada this year... it's a bit long, but it was a very memorable experience... goods and bads, and through it all God provided... here's what happened:


The trip home was full of ups and downs (LITERALLY!)... but through it all God really provided for us!


First, things in Toronto went well, as did the first 3/4 of the flight. Near the end they warned us of turbulence but didn't say why. I heard a flight attendant say that they all had to go sit down quickly because it was going to be very bad... I had yet to be sick, but had started feeling unwell.


All but one flight attendant said it was their worst landing ever, and the other one was an old guy who said in 35 years it was one of the worst and he'll never forget it. We were bouncing up and down in our seats, and I was violently ill throughout the whole landing - in my seat, holding barf bags, bouncing up and down trying not to drop it or miss... >.<


Ryan was amazing and helped me as much as he could - and later admitted the landing was so bad he almost tossed HIS cookies too!


In that time I begged God to let me rest in Japan for a night, because I truly felt that I could not fly again that day... when we got to Japan we found out that all flights out were canceled due to a major Typhoon. After we landed I got up and ran to the plane toilet and the winds were so bad the plane was swaying - while parked! I stumbled out of the bathroom, and must've looked like death because they had a wheel chair waiting for me and a girl who helped me through the airport!


She even took me into the bathroom and rubbed my back while I was ill! I couldn't believe it... I never got her name, but I wouldn't have made it far without her help!


She took us out through immigration, baggage claim, and to the departures desks - where there were lines out the doors and thousands of people waiting! We had the choice to wait in line for 3-4 hours, or find a hotel and phone the airline - we chose #2. Out of a list of nearly 10 hotels, all but 2 were fully booked, so we stayed at the Hilton - which was nice but expensive. Again, God provided for us and we JUST had enough money to pay.


I was ill throughout the shuttle bus ride to the hotel, so the next day I was praying that I wouldn't have to get back on that bus again - when we checked out we were told the bus was full, so the hotel would provide us with a taxi for free. Again, an answer to prayer!!


At the airport things were calm and orderly with about a kajillion fewer people, and the airline was looking for people to upgrade their seats for a fee. The fee was only about $40 per person, so we decided just to pay for it and get the better seats - but when Ryan went to pay for the upgrade the man at the counter told him not to worry about paying. So we got free upgrades!!


Also, I'd been ill through the night and still very ill in the morning (I don't want to go into too many details, but I've never vomited like this EVER! Unstoppable, uncontrollable, and pulling all the muscles in my back, abs, shoulders and neck! I honestly was terrified to leave our hotel room!) so I was praying that I wouldn't be ill again until we got home... well we checked out at noon, and I was sick at around 11am and not again until we were in Incheon airport, through immigration, and Ryan was collecting the baggage. I also made it through the car ride without being ill - but was again once I was home.


So, God answered ALL our prayers - even the most specific ones! Makes me think I should've been more specific with that last prayer and asked not to throw up again until I was in our apartment... but it all worked out!


Thanks be to God who answers when we call... <3 style="font-family: webdings;">

25 weeks! whoa...

So, I intended to write more often, but once I missed a few weeks I felt like I couldn't write again until I had time to write everything! Which is totally the wrong idea...

So, I have many interesting stories from the past few months to share, like:
-Our August trip to Canada
-morning sickness from hell
-the flight to Japan where I thought we would die
-the birth of many babies at our church
-our weekend trip to Sokcho beach and Sorak mountain for Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving)
-feeling the baby kick for the first time
-working like mad for Lotte Hotel for several weeks
-some highlights of my hotel employee interviews
-Ryan feeling the baby kick
-seeing the baby move!
-Ryan catching swine flu
-our weekend away on Jeju island
-Ryan's resignation from work
and much more...

These days I'm done with the insane work hours - which is good because I was really drained.

Ryan was home several days recently because he had the H1N1 virus. He was fine, a brief flu was all - though the Tamiflu treatment had side-effects worse than the flu itself! It was tough at first because I really couldn't be near him, to avoid getting infected... but at the same time I'd just worked several weeks of long hours and really wanted to be able to spend time with him... >.<

The last two days we just ignored staying in separate rooms in the day (though we slept in separate rooms for 2 weeks!!) and spent time together. We also began to change the apartment around to prepare for the baby.

We have 2 bedrooms, but used one as an office. We decided to change it into a baby room, but our apartment has SO MUCH furniture, it's been difficult. We finally agreed to leave the love seat and ottoman in the living room with the desk, computer and book shelves (which were all in the office before), and put the large couch in the nursery... because that's the only place it will fit!

The new set-up isn't terrible... but it's hard to have many people over now.

We did get the chance to have our friend Jason, as well as the new OEM pastor, Mike, and his family over for dinner the other night. I guess it's a good thing we're in Asia, as it's perfectly acceptable to have people sitting on the floor here.

What's on my mind these days? Cribs and baby stuff... ugh... I have no idea where to begin to look for these things here... and I have no idea what to get. Right now I'm trying to decide what I like by doing some web research, and then I'll price things in Korea... hopefully it doesn't take too long... but at least we still have 2-3 months!

(I hope...)