All is quiet on the blogger front

Suffice it to say, things have been a little busy around here. Well, maybe not necessarily busy in the sense that it used to be, but I don't have a lot of spare time for anything. Like blogging. Taking pictures. Or even laundry. 

Reece has made the transition to his crib pretty well, but he's only taking 45 minute naps. And when I spend 2/3 of that time pumping, I'm not left with much time to do anything else. Except maybe eat something. Start a load of laundry. Or get dressed.

And so, the blog sits here quietly, waiting for the day when Reece takes longer naps. When I no longer spend hours every day pumping. When we're back into a manageable routine again. Thanks for your patience, blogosphere.

Playing Catch Up

Things have been busy around here, as usual. At the moment, I'm feeling that there are so many things that must get done and that cannot get done in the time that I have to do them, that I may as well not even get started. So, here I sit. Blogging.

As I mentioned, we spent the weekend at our staff retreat. It's one of those things that sounds great in theory. And it is great for about a day. That one day in the middle where we don't have a three hour bus ride.

The preparation for it is always more than I would like it to be. We have to pack towels, sheets, and about a million other things for just two days away at the beach. So, we end up with two big suitcases for just the four of us. Ridiculous.

(I think this is my favorite picture from this hike. Our view of Mt. Baker as we hiked up Sauk Mt. You just have to remember to turn around to catch this one!)

Then we get there and all is good. The beach is beautiful. The company is good. The food is decent. The bugs are miserable. The sand is everywhere. The showers are public. And then I wonder whether or not it is worth it. All of the packing. All of the laundry. All of the lack of sleep. All of the catching up.

The thing is that I know it's worth it for the kids. They love the beach, the water, the time they get to spend with friends. The relationships they build and strengthen. I want to be one of those people that can just go with the flow and handle it all. I want to be able to do it for them, but I'm not very good at it.

 

 



I stress when we get home and we don't have any groceries. We have more laundry than can be done in a single week without a dryer. I have grading and lesson planning to do. I have dinners to plan and lunches to pack. I have an apartment to clean and moldy bathrooms. I have babysitters to arrange and open house to prepare for. Life to live, I suppose.

I guess it's a good thing that I make myself take these trips for them. Otherwise, those daily chores may come to define me, and I pray that they don't.

I may live to regret this whole "being honest" thing. I'm really not trying to complain, but something that has bothered me lately is the fact that with this world of social media comes a fallacy. We have the ability to only put our best foot forward. To only show the world the good parts of our lives. I don't want this blog to just be a representation of the best of our lives here in Korea.

The more I look back over old posts (there are ridiculous reasons why we do this--trying to figure out when something happened, what the weather was like, etc.), the more I realize that this is going to be how our kids learn about these years. And I don't want it to be glorified. I want it to be real.

These are the last of the pictures from our hike up Sauk Mountain. It's no surprise that I haven't had time yet to edit pictures for our retreat this past weekend. This little trip actually had its own stories to tell, but I think some stories are better left untold. We hiked up to watch the sunset, but ironically our best view of the sunset was at the base of the mountain after the clouds cleared. Best laid plans!

This week...

I'll be honest. Sometimes I struggle with how honest I should be when blogging. I don't want anyone to worry about us. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. I don't want to make anyone angry. Sometimes I feel that I'm just reporting the events of our lives, with little commentary; sometimes that's because I am (or we are) struggling.  Sometimes I just tell you want you want to hear. Fake it 'til you make it, right?

Sometimes, I'll actually get a response from one of you. An email or a text message. And sometimes, I feel I've been too dramatic. I was too emotional at the time of writing. Someone actually felt a need to respond. But, I think that's good. I enjoy those notes. Other times, there is backlash. Someone finds out something that they didn't know before. That they thought they should have been told face to face. Or I manage to get myself into trouble in some other way. But, I suppose that is the reality of blogging. If you put yourself out there, there's bound to be a response sometime.

Tonight, I'm going to try being a little more honest. You can let me know how it goes.

This week has been tough. Eric and I went back to school--no classes, but a lot of meetings and a lot of new staff to work with. I am the only person returning to my department, so there is a lot of pressure on me to have all of the answers for the new staff. And I don't have them. If someone asks for something, I feel an obligation to provide it. Even if it means creating it.

Then, of course, there are all the minor irritations that come up: new policies, procedures, and equipment. More responsibilities and obligations. No more time or compensation for them. (That's the real world. I know.)

Because we were back in school, but Kennedy wasn't, I had to organize childcare for her. It isn't hard with all of the high school students we have living nearby, but it's another headache for me. It was also stressful because this freshman was responsible for getting Cade onto the school bus. So, I spent an hour wondering whether or not they made it in time every day. Then, this afternoon, wondering if she picked him up.

And, of course, Cade started preschool. He did really well the first few days, but the last two have been pretty dismal. This morning, he refused to get dressed. He wouldn't walk out of the house, and he ran from the school bus. Obviously, Eric and I are pretty stressed about continuing to send him to a place that he hates. To be honest, we're not sure what next week is going to look like. Which is really scary when I also have classes to teach.

The good news is that he always has a great attitude when he gets home from school. We talked to a couple of people at school about it. One of the Korean staff called and talked to someone for us. I wrote a note to his teacher about my concerns, and she called me this afternoon to discuss them. She says he's great at school and very happy. He's not very vocal about what happens at school when we ask, but he does periodically tell me about what's he done. He always sounds happy then. Just not when I ask.

We did get some good news this week, thankfully. The water and mold have been cleaned out of our house in Stanwood. And it was done for less than the amount of the bid (as it should have been since we asked him not to do a couple of things). It's finally ready for the construction phase to begin, which is a step in the right direction. Our awesome property manager is still fighting with our insurance company to get some money for us, too, which we are so grateful for.

Kennedy found out who her first grade teacher is, and she is very excited to start school on Monday. In fact, I think we're all ready to get back to a more consistent routine and to see how this year plays out. We would appreciate your prayers for Cade and how to deal with yet another transition for us. I think we're finally on the upswing with these colds, but it would be great if they would be gone by Monday!

**These pictures were taken at my Dad's house the second week of July. The kids rode a horse for the first time with their cousins. Gretchen took the kids to the cabin for a few days after that, so that Eric and I could get some things figured out with the house. We had to go clean out our storage space and deal with some logistics once the insurance company had officially denied our claim. We were grateful for the time, but we missed our kids after a day or two!** 

Where to begin?

The sunset at Telunas Beach ~ Riau Islands ~ Indonesia

The reality of the situation is that I really have no idea where to begin telling the story. So much has happened in the last two weeks that I am overwhelmed at simply the thought of starting the task. I took thousands of pictures on my trip, and I did accomplish Step 1: Import. Phew! Long story short: I knew I had a ton of pictures and I needed to organize them (a little) upon import, so I finally did a little research and managed to at least put keywords on them in Lightroom. That's a step. Now, for the editing and the writing. I'm hoping to at least pick one for each day, so that I can get caught up on my project 365, but it could take me months to get through the rest of my pictures at the rate I've been going!

boats in the lagoon at Singapore Zoo

Here's the update on school: After recovering from the drama of yesterday where I walked into my classroom and discovered it to be cleaned out by the former teacher, I am feeling a little more steady today. Yesterday afternoon, I talked to our human resources director and me reassured me that no one expected me to work full time through the end of the year regardless of another's breach of contract. I was finally able to talk to my building principal this afternoon and it looks like I will continue teaching just my morning English classes for the remainder of the year, allowing me to go back to part time, and preventing my students from having three different English teachers in the course of nine months. I think it will be best for everyone, but I still have to make it through another month of full time work.

boats at the ferry terminal in Batam, Indonesia

How do I comment?

I've heard a number of people mention that they don't know how to comment on the blog, so I figured as long as I was updating things today, I would post a little tutorial about how to comment. I've spent a few minutes trying to figure out a way to put the comment form right there on the page for you, but I haven't figured it out yet (I'm not exactly "tech savvy"), so I'll stick with what I've got for now and hopefully it won't be too difficult.
The comment slot is embedded below the post whenever you look at each post individually (as opposed to the 5 posts on the main page). That means that if you click on title of a post, it will open in another page and the comment box will be below the page. Alternatively, you can click on the "0 comments" (or it might be "1 comments") at the bottom of the post, and this will open a pop up window where you can type in your comment. If you do not have a Google account, then you will either want to click next to Name/URL or Anonymous. If you click Name, then you can type in your name (URL is where you would put your website if you have one), or you can choose to be anonymous by clicking next to that. Last week I removed the word verification because I know that was making it difficult for some, as well, and I haven't had any problems with spam. If you are asking a question, then you should check the box that says you would like follow-up comments to be emailed to you, so that you can get your answer.
So, now you can comment and let me know that you figured it out! ...or send me an email if you still have questions about it.

From the Blogger

As you may have noticed if you've been reading this blog since the beginning, I really enjoy this outlet as a way to think through the new things that are in our lives. Of course, my main goal when I began was to find a way to communicate everything that was/is going on with our friends and family. Then I discovered how therapeutic it is to be able to write out my thoughts and feelings! And now I am truly addicted.

I don't know how many people read it on a regular basis, I don't have many official "followers", nor do I get many comments, but I continue to write for me. I don't really have time to track the stats, but in the last week I have had readers from the following countries: United States, South Korea, Malaysia, Argentina, Russia, United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Ukraine and the Philippines. That is crazy! Most of the time, the google search key words that lead to the blog are some combination of the words "Stanwood" and "Seoul". But today when I checked, one of the searches was for "how to get to kims club seoul". That reader probably won't be back because she didn't find what she was looking for, but I thought it was entertaining!

Hopefully you've noticed that one thing I'm working on is adding more pictures to the blog and improving the ones that are there. We bought a new camera right before we left, and I am slowly learning how to use it. I have spent a lot of time looking for information on the web about how to improve my photography skills, how to use Photoshop and Lightroom, and how to use my camera. In the process, I have discovered an entire world of blogging, photographing, cooking, and homeschooling moms around the world that I have a lot in common with. It is really very interesting. At this point, I don't have links to many of their blogs, but don't be surprised when they show up! I really don't have a lot of time to read them, but when I'm stressed with the kids, it's nice to be able to sit down and read that someone else is too!

I will mention that the only problem with the blog is that it is a one-way street. The only way I know whether or not anyone is looking at it is by tracking the stats or through the periodic emails we get from family. So, please, leave a comment or send an email so that we know you're still out there!

To my readers...

I am brand new to this whole blogging thing. It took me a couple of weeks to get the whole thing put together, and I keep learning new things and changing the layout and content a bit. While it didn’t take me long to get in a routine of writing (and I never struggle coming up with topics!), I’m not sure that I’ve developed my voice yet, either. I struggle with how formal or informal my writing should be. I go back and forth between using digits and writing out numbers, I drive myself crazy when I use words like “things” and “like”, and I use parentheses far more than any other normal person! But I really enjoy this outlet, and even though I’m a little embarrassed that I’m a “blogger” (especially when someone is reading my blog when I’m in the room…come on guys!), I’m glad that I have a way to express my thoughts, concerns, and triumphs to a group of readers that must be interested…or they wouldn’t be reading it, right?

It has been hard to get used to the lack of immediate feedback, though. I am not a long-time Facebook user, nor do I routinely post on FB, but when I do, I enjoy the immediate comments and “likes”. The interesting thing about this blog is that I do not get any feedback, so sometimes I feel like no one is reading what I’m writing (even though I know I have a few loyal readers!) and that allows me to be very candid and “put myself out there”. I did add the “reactions” feature, so that if you so choose, you can anonymously give me an idea that you’ve read a post and had a reaction to it. (They won’t let me choose more than four reaction types, though! Sorry!) I can also track the statistics on the site including how many views it gets each day, week, month, what keyword searches are used, and what countries my readers are in (the US of course, Argentina, Malaysia, South Korea, Germany and India in order of readership). I don’t know how you found it, or why you keep reading it, but I’m glad you do! Feel free to comment sometime and let me know what you’re thinking! It’s very liberating!