I’ve had a dilemma for a while now, where I have a bunch of random pictures and happenings that aren’t quite exciting enough to warrant a full blog post, but are definitely things that I want to remember. And so I’ve struggled to figure out how to fit those little tidbits of memories into my regular writing – rather than waiting on some adventure or for when I’m feeling extra soap-boxy to write. And here is my solution:

The Now: May 2023 Edition

It’ll maybe be a monthly occurrence – maybe every-other-monthly, depending on how much it solves my problem of where to put the things that don’t have a place. Funny enough I actually did a post just like this back in October, but I hadn’t thought of a creative name at the time, so I went with “Life as of late” which is about as boring as you can get. “The Now” just seems so much more… like I’m trying too hard. But, I’ve never claimed to be some creative genius, so we’re going to deal with it. (And yes, I did go back and change October’s post to now be titled “The Now: October 2022 Edition.”)

We’ve had some pretty cool things happening in the ol’ Whitten household, and it’s nice to finally have a place to share those things.

| Homeschooling | A big highlight of our “now” is that we’ve gotten kind of a good thing going with homeschooling. Are we the perfect homeschoolers? Absolutely not. But that’s not what I’ve been striving for anyway. But we are well on our way to finding a good balance between school, adventuring, and relaxing. It’s a balance that might not get my kids to where SOME would want them to be academically at the speed that they think they should, but it’s a balance that is building relationships, fostering creativity, and allowing my kids to be… well, KIDS. And at the end of the day, that’s all I hope to accomplish when it comes to homeschooling!

| My Bestie Came to Korea | Probably the BIGGEST thing that happened in May so far was our very first visitors on the Peninsula. My bestie, Laina (whom I lovingly refer to as my Army Soul Sister – or A.S.S. for short) and her littlest baby came to see us and it was JUST what my heart needed. She got to stay for a WHOLE WEEK and we had so much fun running crazy around Korea trying to experience all that we possibly could in a week. Her baby was an ANGEL and was the best little travel buddy. We ate all the food, saw so many sights, and just enjoyed catching up and talking about all the things. We said a really tearful “see you later” this morning and it was not fun. But, it did make me grateful for Laina’s friendship and to have someone that I love so much that it hurts when she’s gone.

| Other Plans | We’ve been looking at our calendar with much more detail these days, as it’s starting to feel like our time here is SWIFTLY coming to a close. We still have until [probably] February, but it’s already May, folks, and I’m starting to panic. We’ve got some dates set to visit Busan and Jeju – which have both been on our bucket list since we got here – as well as a plethora of beach days and hikes and other fun things. We are also STOKED to be planning a trip to Vietnam soon and we can’t wait to spend a good long while relaxing on the beach. I’m sure the next 7-8 months are going to be JAM PACKED with stress and fun and lots and lots of waiting on the Army for things, but I’m here for it ALL!

| This Phase | It’s a weird space to be in right now. On the one hand, I feel like we’re still kind of adjusting to living in South Korea. Sure, I feel like we’ve got a pretty good handle on things – but it’s still a foreign country, after all. On the other hand, we are almost half-way through our time here and that is absolutely NUTS to me. So I feel like we’re still getting the hang of it, but also feeling the stress that our time here is so, so short. That all being said, when the time comes to leave this beautiful country, I feel like we’ve given in a solid chance – and it’s paid off. The day we leave Korea will be a sad day, that’s for sure.

| Mental Health | I’ve still been going to therapy, although I’ll be on a break for a while as I am due to get another referral and that is one giant headache. That being said, I’m doing good these days. I have my hard moments, but I’ve been doing a lot of thought work and I’m always amazed at what a difference it makes when I am ACTIVELY monitoring my thoughts. And so I don’t have most things figured out, but overall I feel hopeful and positive and generally happy. At the end of the day, what more could I ask for?

| Family Pictures | In April we got our family pictures done by the amazing Missy Moore. We got them back from her in May and we were DYING over every single one of them. So, of course, here’s the photo dump of our very favorite pictures.