USA Bound!!

Just a quick update...we are heading to the USA next week.  So after some time to adjust to the new timezone, which is 13 hours behind our current one, we should be rip, roaring and ready to get together with all the wonderful friends and family that we have been missing these last two years living in Korea.

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More Waiting

While we received the paperwork we needed to get our orders, things were not quite right.  Someone moved the date that we can leave Korea to the day before we are suppose to report to our next duty station....which happens to be three months from now.  I am beside myself.  Things have become even more frustrating.  This extension complicates my so called life as I know it.

I have cried more in the last two days than I have in a while.  You see I have only paced myself to get to the original date we were given for leaving Korea.  An extra two and a half months is just too much for me right now.

I am really trying to trust God, knowing that He knows the bigger picture which I can't quite see.  I am so thankful for my friends who have emailed me, called me and prayed with me.  Thank you all so much! Yes, the body of Christ is at work in the lives of fellow believers.  I appreciate your encouragement!

There are people trying to help us get some things fixed but we have been told that we will not get back the original date to leave Korea BUT we might be able to leave in 1 1/2 months instead of  2 1/2 months.  So each day, I am leaning on God...trusting Him in each step of the way.  Which is not always easy!

Through the ups and downs that we have been going through lately, I have been encouraged by a few songs.  You can follow the links here to YouTube to listen to them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmaBhMOXXHg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knuHDPbE5es

My Bad Attitude

Lately I have not posted anything on my blog.  Part of the reason is that I did not want to poison my blog with my bad attitude.  With our family being close to our DEROS (Date Eligible for Return from OverSeas - the date we are suppose to leave Korea) and having no orders, I have been frustrated.  I have been barely surviving as our family is so ready to be back in the United States. 

My bad attitude has flowed over into every aspect of my life and the lives of those around me.  It has not been a pretty sight.  Hopefully things will change now.

Today we received some good news and some not so great news.  We finally received our paperwork for us to move back to the United States. That's the good news.  The not so great news is that we will be here past our DEROS date.  Instead of leaving Korea in April, my husband will be here longer.  Until we submit his RFO and fill out leave forms, we are not sure how much longer, though it could be up to 2 months.

So I hope to get back to blogging with a good attitude.  There is much to look forward to as we prepare to move back to the states.

So True!!

Putting the Fun Back in Homeschooling

For the past few months, I have been in survival mode.  That's where I do what needs to get done not because I am passionate about what I am doing, but because ....it's what needs to be done.  I am in box checking mode.  Have you ever been there?  Being a first born, some what perfectionist, I tend to lean that way rather than the other.

Yes, I'd rather being lying in bed all day eating bon bons and watching NCIS, but that's not gonna happen. 

I have this pull that keeps me doing at least the minimum things for my husband and family.  I have been in survival mode not just with homemaking and my husband and children but with homeschooling.  I am at the point where I so want to NOT be in Korea, that I have only been doing what needs to be done...and I am so over it.

I'm not saying that I now have this wonderful sense of motivation, because I don't.  But what I can tell you is that my kids are bored with the mundane work that I have been giving them and they are looking for more out of their day.  The problem with that is I had hoped the paperwork we filed to return to the states early would have been approved already and we would be at my parents' house by now.  But we are not there yet, so all of my prep work for a move, which included packing up the games, paints, craft supplies and other homeschool fun things, was premature.

I am realizing that if we are here for another 10 days or another 50 days, I need to go back to adding in the fun elements of our homeschooling day that we had been doing last year.
What fun in checking boxes, just to say you did it?

So without unpacking everything that I have already packed up, how can I make our homeschooling day fun again?

Here are a few ideas that I have come up with so far:

Go back to following a schedule ( I know this sounds simple, but it made the day go smoother with everyone knowing what was going to happen, instead of just waiting until I was tired of the whining to have them do something)

Add art and craft time back into the weekly schedule.

Make time to get out of the house and do something fun.  (With the weather varying from day to day, this is not always easy.  We could at least head to the library regularly like we used to.)

Learn Spanish (my husband's first language) and hand's on fun about Puerto Rico (where my husband's parents are from)

Find topics the girls are interested in and add them to our learning each day.

Since we are limited by living in another country where we don't speak the language and there are no other local homeschool families, I am hoping the ideas I came up with will add at least some fun to our daily homeschooling routine.

What do you do to make your homeschool day fun with your children? 

Pick Me Up

The day is done and I am sitting at my computer.  I really could use a pick me up right now.  I'm feeling down and I'm not sure if it's the weather here in Korea, the fact that our paperwork to leave early is not pushing through like we were told it would or that I am just so ready for change.  We are at less than 60 days until we are suppose to PCS and we still don't have orders. 

Sorry for venting..but I know that there are times when we all go through things and our emotions seem to get the best of us.  I think I will go to YouTube and find an encouraging video to post here along with my ranting.