This Is A Test

I have been avoiding my blog lately. Did you notice? I have gotten so fed up with the weird way the internet works in Korea, and how every time I try to upload pictures and label them, then try to spellcheck, it suddenly makes all the pictures become spelling errors and they vanish into cyberspace and I am annoyed that I have to upload them all again. Grr.

So this is a test. It is only a test. And if you're reading this, then the problem is finally fixed and I can get back to blogging as regularly planned!

*crossing fingers*

Oh, and the picture? I opened a folder looking for something quick to test with, and there was a picture of the Savior. How fitting, I thought. I have a problem and I'm looking for a solution and I find the Savior again. Story of my life, which I hope to continue telling now that the issues are resolved. Hooray!

I'm The Meanest Mom Ever

Did you think this was going to be a post about how mean I am to my kids?




It's not.




I suppose it could be. My kids think I'm mean sometimes.





In fact, I AM mean sometimes.





But that's a different story.






This post is about how mean I am... to my poor dog.




See? Here's the before picture.

And during (see how miserable he looks?)...

The aftermath...
(Now imagine how miserable I would have looked if the next few months saw this slowly falling to the nothing-but-wood-floors of my house)

And I clicked a couple of shots of my complex while I was standing there with my camera...







It got into the 50's today, perfect dog shaving weather.

And behold the finished product. I don't shave his head or he'd look like a giant rat, and I don't shave his tail because he'd look like a giant squirrel. As is, he looks like a giant dog who is so cleanly shaved you could walk through my whole house and see no evidence that I own a fur-bearing canine who thinks he's a person.

Huzzah!






And here's a couple of pictures from the Tree Lighting Ceremony on post last week. Yes, there's Christmas in Korea!

Stay tuned, I have plenty of catching up to do!

I ♥ Korea

We drive past this establishment every time we go on post, and thus far it has never failed to illicit a smile from me. The first time I saw it I actually laughed out loud: "Is that a restaurant?!" No, actually it is a pet salon- but come on folks, in a country where the locals eat dog that just
lends itself to all kinds of misinterpretation.

In other news, our household goods came on Tuesday. That means that my very own bed, dishes, furniture, spices (I DARE you to go 3 months with nothing but salt, pepper, cinnamon, garlic powder and onion powder. It ain't pretty!), the kids' toys and books, our movies...I am so happy and yet so distressed to be in moving mode again. So I completely turned away from life and dashed around the house with a knife opening and unpacking like an unhinged maniac (so...you know, like I usually am). From the time the movers left to now I have unpacked, organized and sorted for 4 days straight. Back ache? Yup. Thrilled to be done and settled? Definitely.

I have lots I want to blog about, but it's almost 2300 and I need to finish the talk I'm giving in sacrament meeting tomorrow. Fun updates comin' soon!

I'm Back

I've been sitting here for a while now, knowing I wanted to make a blog post, but not knowing where I wanted to go with it. Did I want an "I'm SO Glad We Made It Alive" theme? How about an "I've Been Here For A Couple of Weeks and I Can't Stop Laughing At All The Engrish Around Here!" mode? Maybe "I Didn't Like Kimchi Then and I Still Don't!"

My computer clock is still on EST, so it says it's 11:51 am on November 4th. So...it's really 00:51 on November 5th. I should fix that.

Anyhow, while I was waiting for some idea to jel, I perused my blog list and read the posts I've been missing these past 6 weeks. I read about exciting news, fun posts of autumn adventures, travels, saw some darling Halloween pictures- and read several very moving posts about appreciating motherhood, cherishing childhood, and building a personal relationship with our Savior. And my half-ideas of silly and funny posts kind of scattered.

I am feeling like I need a big slice of humble pie at the moment. I have been so completely wrapped up in my own stuff that...to be honest... I have been a big fat jerk to my husband and kids these past couple of weeks. I don't know why or how it started exactly, but lately every time they do something that shows that my needs and feelings aren't first in their minds I get angry. I have been irritable, short-tempered, and annoyed. I have been mean, because I felt like nobody gave a crap how tired or worn-out I was, or felt bad for me because I have a cold and still have to move and unpack and be a mommy to my kids. Nobody offered to make me lunch today, and it hurt my feelings.

Luckily, I got the kick in my pants I needed. And I got down on my knees and repented. When my kids and hubby get up in the morning I'll ask them to forgive me- and I am already grateful to them because I know they will. They are wonderful, and I can't believe I let my own selfishness cloud my vision of what sweet blessings they are to me.

I have seen lots of people on FB listing the things they are grateful for in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. I have read them and though it was nice, but not until this moment have I stopped to really think about all I have to be thankful for. There is far too much to list, so I'll limit it to a few for now:

I am grateful for the gospel. I am so thankful for my Savior. I am grateful for my little family- they are so dear to me, and the peace of knowing we can be an eternal family quells all the other little fears that I worry about. I am thankful for a loving Father, who mercifully puts reminders in my path to help me make the course corrections I need. I'm grateful for my testimony, and I know the gospel is true, that Christ lives and is the Son of God.

We have found lots that we love about Korea. Tales and pictures of our travels can wait a few more days, right? I think I'll get a mug of hot chocolate to go with my humble pie.

I Needed This Today

Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.
-D&C 123:17

Mostly I think I need to work on the "cheerfully" and "stand still" parts. I think if I get those down, the "utmost assurance" comes naturally.

In conclusion:

Scriptures + A Little Pondering = Happier Mommy

What I Did Today

* I got up and fed my kids breakfast.

* I did a bunch of laundry and housecleaning. It never ends, but you all know how that goes.

* I rejoiced some more that our command sponsorship (it was supposed to take 6 months) got approved after only 2 weeks. That means we'll all be moving to Korea together in October. Yay!

* I finally faced reality and got on PlanMyMove (most fabulous site if you're doing a military move) to make a day-by-day plan of what needs to be done between now and when the movers come on September 26th.

* I grimaced that by putting it off this long I am already several weeks behind where the calendar thinks I should be in my preparations by now. Oh well.

* I noticed one of the to-do items is "Find Age Appropriate Books on New Locations Overseas." Sure, I can do that. To Amazon.com!

* I picked out several children's books on the Korean alphabet, picture books of Korean geography and culture, and a few Korean folk tales. I stopped to read the reviews about one book I wasn't sure I wanted- and read a review left by a mommy who said they lived in Korea for a year when her kids were small, and how much she loved how the book helped them to remember the experiences they had there.

* I started to cry, realizing that someday I will be that mommy, hoping to preserve the amazing experiences my kids will be almost too small to remember, and having it really, really set in for the first time that we are going to a whole new world for two whole years- new food, new customs, new culture, new language, not to mention new sights and new friends and neighbors that come with any move... and I cried some more. Happy tears, sad tears, excited tears, anxious tears.

* I bought the books and checked that one lonely item off my 3-month long To Do List.

* I blogged about it, sighed, took a deep breath and then got back to the laundry. Next on the list: the treadmill, groceries, passport photos.




Here's a waterfall on the island of Cheju, where I hope we get to spend our 10th anniversary next spring.

The Question

Life is full of questions- the big ones, like "Will you marry me?" or "Is it time to add to our family?" There's the little ones too, "Do you want Spagettios or Mac and Cheese?" or, as we are asking right now, "Who colored on the rug?"

The tricky part is how complicated the answers can be sometimes. Our big question right now is simply this- What should we do?

There are several options ahead of us, and we don't have a lot of time to decide. Moreover, once we do decide, there's no going back. The Army doesn't tolerate waffling, for obvious reasons.

There are a million little questions involved in each of the options we choose, too. There are really no easy answers here.

Do we opt for the command sponsored tour and risk not having it approved? That would leave us apart for at least 4-6 months, possibly up to 24. We don't know if we could live on post, we don't know if we could bring Skeeter, and we understand that non-soldier hospital care (i.e. having another baby) is outsourced locally. I feel weird about that.

Do we opt for a hardship tour and just spend the 12 months apart? The kids and I would stay in the US, we would have some additional separation pay each month...but we would be apart for a year! Not to mention, Daddy might be back in the deployment bucket by fall of 2013.

Regardless , we will be apart for some amount of time- what do the kids and I do? Stay in Virginia? Move back to Utah? Move back to Idaho? Just be a nomad and visit everyone I can think of?

Do I try to keep working? Do I retire from nursing for now? Or forever? Can we even afford for me not to work yet?

*sigh*

My parents always taught me that Heavenly Father helps those who help themselves. So instead of waiting around for the answer to fall in my lap, I suppose I better get to work- the more information I can get, the easier it will be to decide, right?

Don't worry. I'm still going to be praying like crazy for the guidance we need, too.

I am thinking a lot of Elder Christofferson's talk from this last conference, and keep hearing the voice of the gardener cutting down the currant bush: "Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be." I think I've had some branches cut back and I'm looking and seeking for how the Gardener would have me grow now.

I have the calming influence of the gospel in my life, so I know without a doubt that everything will turn out as it should (however that may be), and the growing/cutting back pains are only a temporary time.