Monday, December 5, 2011

Baby Mason at 24 Weeks Prego!

This little guy is growing and on the move pretty much all night every night! I am loving every move!
 Oh and did I mention he enjoys kicking my bladder on a regular basis as well.  :)
Bending over and getting up is already starting to get a little difficult, scared to think about what it will be like in two more months! 

Happy Holidays ARE Happening in South Korea

THANK YOU!

A special Thank You to Christ Lutheran Church of El Campo's ROC Group for their donation to the orphanage.  ROC, which stands for Rely on Christ, is a group of 3rd and 4th grade students who raised $179.33.  I was able to purchase much needed toiletry items with these funds.  Thank you so much for your efforts!





Enjoying a healthy fruit snack provided by ROC

Posing in front of this week's art project.  We made reindeer with the tracing of their feet and hands.


CHRISTMAS PARTY

This past Saturday we had a Christmas Party full of crafts, singing, Santa, presents, and one SPECIAL DONATION from Shell.  Each child received a gift from an Shell employee which was a either a much needed winter coat or shoes, another gift from the ladies group which was most likely a toy, and then a stocking full of small gifts!  Plus, the kids that had a birthday in November and December received an additional gift for their birthday. 



Singing Happy Birthday

Tuesday's Children's Class Singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas dressed as mini Santas! 



Enjoying craft time, making paper snowflakes.

Tree decorated after the crafts were completed.

Enjoying her Christmas present from Santa


SPECIAL DONATION


Shell has generously donated $50,000 to the orphanage!  With $25,000 they purchased a new van.  The remaining funds will be used to update an existing study room and possibly add an additional room.


Happy Holidays to everyone!  Think about what you can do to help others during this holiday season!  It doesn't always have to be in the form of money, your time can go a long way to help someone in need!



Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Book Review #3

Reading Binge still on!  Here are my latest reads. 

Are You There, Vodka?  It's Me, Chelsea By Chelsea Handler
Honestly, I have no idea how to review this book.  It was a cute light read with random stories about Chelsea's life that seem to take place before she was really famous.  There are a few laugh out loud moments but didn't have any real substance  If you are looking for a few good laughs then I would suggest picking it up but don't expect it to be a life changer.

Already Gone By John Rector
Here is a thriller for you.  Jake is recently married to Diane when he is attack by two men.  During this attack the cut off his finger and then let him go.  He assumes his past has come back to haunt him.  He has done so much to get his life back on track and even wrote a novel about his past.  When Diane goes missing he digs into his history to find out who has taken her.  Only he discovers that he really doesn't know his wife as well as he thinks he does.  It isn't his history coming back to haunt him, it is hers.  But he is in love and will not stop to find out the truth and get her back.

Come Back To Me By Melissa Foster
Tearjerker Alert!!  I needed a tissue to get through this one.  Tess and Beau have been married for five years and seem pretty happy together.  Beau is an international photographer who takes an assignment overseas in Iraq but promises to return to his wife.  Tragedy happens and his helicopter crashes and everyone is assumed dead.  Tess refuses to believe he is gone, especially after she finds out she is pregnant.  After months with no news her family and friends encourage her to move on and she finally decides she has to.  Little does anyone know Beau is being nursed back to health by two Iraqi women and he is trying to get back home to his wife.  It is a long journey for him but he finally makes it home only to put his love to an even bigger test.

Chasing Amanda By Melissa Foster
Molly had a chance once before to help when a little girl was abducted but didn't do enough.  Years later when another little girl goes missing she is determined not to make the same mistake.  She is able to pick up flashes of the child and fights to find her when no one else will believe her.  This is a story with a few twists and turns that you don't see coming.  I really enjoyed and couldn't put it down towards the end. 

The Hunger Games Trilogy Series (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay) By Suzanne Collins
My mom suggested this series to me and it took me a little while to get into it, but once I did I was hooked.  This is actually a series geared towards young adults but it kept me entertained.  The subject matter is different from anything I have read in a long time and it was just what I needed.  It is based in the future and the country is controlled by the capitol.  Each year the capitol forces the districts with a cruel punishment by selecting one boy and one girl from age 12-18 to compete to the death in the Hunger Games.  These games are televised for the world to watch.  When Katniss' little sister is selected she volunteers to take her place.  This is a story of her survival and friendship with Peet who is the boy selected from her district to also compete and becomes the story of a country coming together and stand up for themselves no matter the cost.  The journey and the horror that these people go through is finally enough to fight back.  All they needed was someone to inspire them.

21 Days to Until Take Off

We are counting down the days until we fly back to the states, 21 days!  Can you tell we are excited?? 

Not a whole lot to report these days.  Baby M is getting bigger and our last visit two weeks ago went well.  He has reached the 1 lb mark and seems to be healthy and happy in there.  We pray every day he stays in there until March! 

We enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving dinner last Thursday night and cheered on the Aggies on Friday.  Then we were able to knock out a lot of shopping for Christmas gifts in Busan.  It was Tommy's first time to explore Gukje Market and he was amazed by the 100s and 100s of vendors.  We were also able to visit the huge fish market and watched how the process squid for the big grocery chains.  No pictures to share though, we forgot the memory card that day.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

20 Weeks Down 20 More to GO!

Finally we have hit 20 weeks!  And last night Tommy was able to feel him kick for the first time.  I am sure the kicks and punches will just get stronger from here.  We are so excited and I can't wait for the next 20 weeks to fly by.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Book Review # 2

It has been awhile since I updated you on my latest reads.  I tend to go in waves when it comes to reading.  For a few weeks reading will become my obsession and then one day I will have to walk away for a few weeks.  Well right now it is my obsession!  Although I should probably be reading books on pregnancy (I do look at What to Expect pretty often), breastfeeding, labor, baby bargains, baby sleep patterns, and raising kids!  Those things will come naturally right??  I promise I will get around to those as well!  In the meantime, here are some of the books I have recently read.  And one secret, many are picked because they were under $5 for Kindle!  Man eBooks are getting pricey these days!

Summer Secrets, By Barbara Freethy
This is a story of three sisters who have a unique experience through their teenage years.  Their dad has entered them in a round the world sailing competition which they win.  Years later, these ladies are trying to find their way through adulthood when a reporter shows up wanting to write a story as a follow up to their win.  The sisters become suspicious, what does this report know about their time at sea?  They have never shared what really happened in those months.  And their feelings are right, he does know something but it isn't what they expect.  This story has all the twists and turns that make it a good read; secrets, love, tragedy, and most importantly a happy ending!

Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven, By Susan Jane Gilman
I honestly can't figure out if I love this book or hate it.  This is a true story of two girls fresh out of college in 1986 wanting an adventure around the world starting in China.  I am not sure if they were just crazy or plain stupid!  First of all China supposedly at this time had just opened up their country for travelers (I didn't check the history on this) so you can imagine that there might be a major language barrier.  Also, let’s not forget this is a Communist country people!  Things aren't the same as the states.  I don't know about you but I think I might have given the country a few years after lifting the travel ban before heading there for a vacation.  Needless to say, Claire and Susan (the author) had many interesting experiences right away, from raunchy hostels crawling with roaches, toilets that were holes in the ground (they have those too here in Korea), eating fish, fish and more fish, to run ins with the medical doctors, and government officials.  Of course everything wasn't awful, The Great Wall of China was breathtaking and so were a few hot male travelers!  The book at times had my skin crawling, when were they ever going to get out of CHINA!  I thought they were traveling the world.  Well sorry to disappoint you, Susan did travel other places eventually but they aren't in this book.  To make the story more dramatic, Claire basically loses her mind.  She starts to think people are following her and Susan.  In China, mental illness is heavily looked down upon and usually ends with the person in a mental hospital no questions asked.  So Susan had to get her out of the country fast.  This is a strange journey and I can't believe it is true!  As I said at the beginning, I am not sure if I love or hate this book.  However, I do recommend that you read it and form your own opinion! 

Resuscitation, By D.M. Annechino
Now this is a good old fashion murder mystery.  After reading the book above my mind needed a break!  Oh and it was only $2.99 on Kindle!  A crazed doctor is determined to win a $10 million dollar grant for a heart procedure.  However, the committee doesn't think his research is complete and gives him another 6 months to get more information together.  The problem is he needs live patients to experiment on.  He starts with a young girl he picked up at a bar and then the killing spree begins.  It is up to Detective Sami Rizzo to track this killer down.  Why her?  Well two years before she tracked down another serial killer and almost became his last victim.  Along with the stress of finding this doctor her personal life is also suffering.  Her mother just had open heart surgery, her live in boyfriend who is also a detective has had a family tragedy, and not to mention their love life is on the rocks.  Sami is struggling to track down the killer until he makes one big mistake, he left one victim alive.

Can You Keep a Secret? By Sophie Kinsella
This is the same author who wrote Confessions of a Shopaholic and I can imagine this book will also hit the big screens!  This time she brings you Emma Corrigan, who is a young woman trying to find her way in her personal life but also in her career.  After dappling in a few different fields Emma feels that her marketing job is the right career path.  She just needs to impress her boss Paul.  Landing her first client meeting in Scotland, Emma thinks this will be her big break.  After all, Paul said it was basically a done deal.  The meeting doesn't go well and the client decides to back out of the deal.  She tries to save it and instead spills red soda on the client.  Frazzled, she heads to the airport hoping to put this day behind her.  Things start to look up for her when she gets upgraded to first class!  The plane encounters severe turbulence and Emma hates to fly!!  After a few drinks, she starts confessing all of her secrets to the man, Jack Harper sitting next to her.  Secrets about her true weight, first time she had sex, how she really feels about her boyfriend’s taste in movies and music, that she hates to wear G string underwear, she feeds her co-workers plant orange juice, the coffee at work is dreadful, and it continues to spill out until they safely land the plane.  She says goodbye to the man and assumes she will never see he again.  The following day at work, the CEO is visiting her office and guess who he is??  This is the start of many embarrassing moments at work.  Jack seems interested in her and slowly Emma realizes that her current boyfriend isn't the one.  As time goes on Emma and Jack begin a romantic relationship that starts off a little rocky but ultimately takes off until he does a public interview about his business and ends up sharing all of her secrets to the world.  It doesn't take long for her co-workers to put two and two together.  She becomes the talk of the town and can't believe that Jack would do this to her.  As far as she is concerned he used her and they are finished!  But Jack isn't ready to throw in the towel.  This is a really cute book and I would recommend to anyone looking for a fun and light read.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Happy Halloween Sungrowon Orphanage

Halloween is not a well known holiday in Korea so we decided to share this fun day with the kids.  Since costumes are far and few between here some wonderful ladies brought back many from the states or had them shipped here.  I hope this is a tradition that they will continue with.  I think the kids enjoyed the costumes, games, and of course the CANDY!  The sugar high is sure to last through the week!

Trying to get a group photo


Learning how to Trick or Treat




Trick or Treat


Game time

Me and Kiho


Me and Chang Bin

Power Ranger!

Not sure what he was, but loved it!

This is Je U. So Cute!


Making Ghosts out of suckers

My wonderful friend Laura.

Geoje Island Flower Festival

This weekend kicked off the Geoje Island Flower Festival.  Tommy and I ventured out to see what this was all about before the Halloween Party at Sungrow Orphanage.  Of course parking was a hassle, but it was well worth it and actually wish we would have allowed for more time.  Flowers after flowers and Tommy's favorite bonsai trees! 



As usual no one around to take our picture.  Goodness wrinkles go away!






Our Favorite!

In front of Geoje Island's Mascots
I had to get a few pictures of him and he could care less, he is always behind the camera.







Korean Scarcrows



A big bag of garlic.

This entire building is covered in plants.

A little Korean Folk entertainment.