I know there have been no shortage of life-updates these days. I’ve been keeping the ol’ blog (and subsequently Facebook) pretty up to speed on our most recent adventures (including two different Buddhist temples and paragliding in Boryeong). But between the adventuring and exploring, there has been a lot of normal. And honestly, I’m grateful.
There is so much comfort in having things feel normal. Sure, I’m still adjusting to life in a new country. I’m still adjusting to having three of my kids in school. And in so many ways I’m still adjusting to just parenting in general. (Do you ever really adjust to parenting? Or do you just make it up as you go along always and forever? I’m guessing the latter.) But despite the adjusting, there has been so much that has felt more normal and routine.
And those are the kinds of things that I really want to remember. I want to remember the small, simple things that bring me every day happiness and every day peace. Like the sunrise pictured above that I get to see as I walk my kids to the bus stop each morning. It’s simple and cliche, but I look forward to seeing it every single day.
And right along that, the bright blue skies on my walk to pick the kids up from the bus stop always brings a smile to my face too. I showed up on the peninsula at a good time – I got to experience a few weeks of warm (but not nasty hot) weather and decent air quality before the fall burns and terrible AQI started.
Our villa honestly makes me so happy. There are definitely things I would change about it (and there’s a villa down the road from us that I envy MAJORLY for their yard), but I feel so blessed to have such a great place to live. It is definitely smaller than we are used to and having upstairs neighbors (with dogs that bark almost constantly, it seems) isn’t the absolute perfect situation. But we really do love where we live and couldn’t picture anything else right now.
We’ve had some pretty decent fog the last few mornings and honestly I’m here for it. Maybe I’m a weirdo, but I have always really loved fog. I recently started running again (more on that later) and this picture was taken during my 5:30am Saturday run. Was it a little eerie not being able to see more than 30-40 feet in any direction? Yes. But, again, I love fog so I didn’t really mind.
Aaaaand speaking of running, I’m just going to brag a little bit. Normally I’m not the braggy type, but I’ve been working hard and the hard work is paying off. I’ve been getting up every Saturday morning at 5am to go run with a group of ladies who have been running together for a while. I’m significantly slower than every single one of them. I can usually keep up for a little while, but eventually I settle into my much slower pace. And I’m very comfortable running alone. This past Saturday I reached my goal of running six miles (something I have not done since before I had H) and it felt SO GOOD to be out running again. Even with the dense fog and less-than-wonderful air quality, I was just so happy to be doing something that I love so much.
And honestly running has always been a sort of therapy for me. Running is what helped me come out of my postpartum depression after having L. So when I heard there was a running group here, I knew it was something I needed to be apart of. There is just something about STARTING a run with people who share the interest – even if you don’t finish the run at the same time or keep the same pace.
And of course running isn’t a substitute for therapy in some cases. For me it definitely isn’t. Which is why I’ve started seeing a therapist as well. I’ve only had one session, but I feel so much hope for the future – which is one of my favorite ways to feel.
Another cool thing about the fog is that it accentuates the INCREDIBLE webs that the banana spiders (or wasp spiders… I’m not sure exactly what species they are) make. I’m not one for spiders (heaven knows I’ve killed my fair share of them), but even I have to admit that the webs are amazing.
Hands-down the highlight of this past week was E’s decision to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has been waiting patiently since August to be baptized as we moved and his whole life got thrown out of whack. I don’t know how much an 8-year-old really understands the important covenants they are making with God when they are baptized, but I know this kid is going to do great things. He tries his best at everything he does and he has such a sweet spirit. He is one of the kindest kids I know and his sense of humor is unmatched.
It’s times like these that I am eternally grateful for Brandon. I’m grateful for how he honors his Priesthood authority. I’m grateful for his faith and his strength. I’m grateful for how he makes me a better wife and a better mother. He is an amazing example to our children of what a husband and father should be and our kids will be better off because of him.
And speaking of church – our branch moved from attending church on post, to a new building outside of post. To say the entire branch was excited would be the understatement of the century. Not only do we get our choice of schedules (goodbye 2pm church!), we also have the building just for our branch.
The only downside? That masks are back. Ha! Camp Humphreys does not have an indoor mask mandate. But South Korea does. So when we met on post, masks were optional, but now that we are meeting off post, masks are required. I’ll be the first to say that I’m not a fan of masks, but it’s worth it to have a space for our branch to call our own.
As for everything else going on in our lives:
The kids are doing well in school. Having them in school all day (including L because apparently all-day kindergarten is the norm now) has been an interesting experience. Waking up at 6am every morning to get the kids off to school is not my favorite part of it all, but it’s made me more of a morning person (plus it makes running at 5:30am on Saturdays just a little more doable when I’m used to getting up early). And sweet M has become more manageable now that she gets some one-on-one time with me each day.
I made cookies on Sunday for the first time in our new oven. It may not seem like an accomplishment, but I’ve never used a gas oven before in my life (honestly I didn’t even know they existed), so the fact that they turned out nearly perfect the first time is a miracle in my book. Of course, I had to bake them only four at a time because I don’t have a cookie sheet big enough for more (and honestly the oven is so small that I wouldn’t be able to fit anything much bigger), but I can handle just about anything for a year and a half, including that.
I don’t usually like to have such a hodgepodge of happenings in one post – but I knew I wanted these pictures and memories SOMEWHERE.
So overall I’d say things are going well over here. Of course I have my struggles (I still haven’t totally figured out grocery shopping in South Korea) and I have my hard times and my times of feeling like everything is falling apart. But my moments of feeling incredibly homesick are getting to be fewer and farther between. I’m beginning to really love this country (even with all the things in South Korea that we are still getting used to) and I cannot wait for it start feeling more like home.
’til next time…
Ash
