Baby News and more...

Well, we got back from a very worthwhile trip to the Philippines last weekend and hit the ground here running. It's been basically non-stop since we got back. We'll put a post about the Philippines soon, so check back, but for now- on to some baby news.

I (Russ) could see Jess's disappointment after our last ultrasound failed to reveal the gender of our baby. They told us you have to sign up for 3D ultrasounds, which is how some of our friends found out their gender. I thought I'd surprise Jess by sneaking back to the clinic and signing us up for a 3D scan for December 2. It was a hard-to-keep secret because I was anxious to go as well. The time came at the end of the school day, however, to spill the beans. Jess was pleased :)

We went in and had the ultrasound with a lady we haven't seen yet. We thought she was a doctor and we asked a few times for her to tell us the gender, but she flat out refused to help or even try. Finally, we called up one of our Korean friends (the lady didn't speak any english) and she told us that she is only a lab technician, not allowed to tell us the gender. What a rip-off! She hinted that she thought it was "Mommy-like" but wouldn't try to scan the "goods" for conclusive evidence. We are a little disappointed, but definitely have our opinion on what the baby is. Watch the video below and tell us what you think. Make sure you look closely around 1:10-1:11, there's a clear shot there.

Victory Christian Fellowship

Our small church fellowship here in Songtan recently acquired our own space. In the past, we'd been using a Korean Methodist church, which was a really nice facility. It's nice, though, to be in our own place and have full access whenever we want or need. Here are some pictures of our first Sunday there, Thanksgiving Sunday. We had a big luncheon afterward (we usually have a small one). Take a look.

Here's Russ waving sheepishly in the empty sanctuary before the service started. We attend bible study at 11:30 before the service, which starts at 1:00 PM. The forest on stage are all plants given as a sort of house-warming gifts from all sorts of friends of church members. They took up the whole stage!

Here's the little foyer area where we will have meals and possibly Sunday School and Bible Studies. We eat a meal together as a congregation every Sunday after the worship service. It's nice.

Here's Merline, one of our Filipino friends. She's manning the controls of the soundbooth, making sure everything is sounding OK, and keeping the worship powerpoints rolling on time. She's married to one of the Iranian guys in the church, Andy.

Here's a peak at the first service in the new building. There were a lot of people there that don't usually go. They were Korean or Filipino family members who came to show their support.

Here's just a handful of our friends from the church who gathered for a photo.

Back Row: Harahm, Yazdan, Habbas (three totally cool Iranian guys), Russ

Middle Row: Iraj (Iranian guy who was imprisoned in Korea for a minor thing. He accepted Christ in prison, and the Iranian government came for him and told him he could get out if he would just denounce Christ. He refused and spent 3 years and 8 months in prison, often being tortured and treated badly. He just got out days ago and this is the first time we met him. He's cool) and Mara (one of our Filipino friends)

Front Row: Irene (Filipino friend), Jess, Mandie (Filipino friend)

We're really excited to have this opportunity to be part of a fellowship of believers here. It took us a while to actually feel like part of the body here, but this church has welcomed us in and plugged us into their family. We feel we belong and it will be hard to leave in June.

Boy or Girl... You be the Judge

We had another ultrasound today, and were hoping to find the gender of the baby. We even had a survey posted outside our doors at school where students and teachers could cast their vote for if they thought it was a girl or boy. We thought we would definitely get a 3D ultrasound, but apparently, you have to make reservations for those. On top of that, we had a new doctor that we haven't had yet, and the ultrasound quality wasn't as good as usual because we were on a different machine.

Sooooo, we couldn't tell the gender. It stinks, but we DID get to see our wonderful little son or daughter swimming around and being very healthy. Also, Jess got blood taken for a down syndrome test. The doctor said if everything was normal, they wouldn't call us, but if there were any problems, they would call. PLEASE PRAY THEY DON'T CALL US!

We go back in on December 15 to have another ultrasound and find out the gender. We hope to share it with you then!

Basketball Season, Here We Go!

It's that time of year again.. basketball. Last year, Russell was head coaching the boys team, and Jess was his assistant. This year, however, as our school is understaffed, Jess is coaching the girls team- while pregnant.

Our first game was last night, after a total of 5 practices- 4 in a gym. For the majority of our players, this is the first time they've ever played organized basketball. It can feel like coaching elementary sometimes. Last night in the game, Russell had to "remind" some of our players of some very basic rules. It's easy to take that kind of thing for granted in high school basketball.

The games went fairly well. The girls won 19-15, but the boys got trounced 18-56. For the guys, the team we played was the best team in the league, so starting off with them wasn't exactly ideal. To top it off, we play them again on Saturday- our schedule is goofy. To top THAT off, two of our starting forwards are out with leg injuries. Flexibility is the name of the game for us now, which isn't that bad of a thing because the real reason we are here is not to play or coach basketball- it's to set an example for our players to emulate. We have been striving this year to make our coaching position more of a discipler position- pouring into our kids spiritually. Some of them respond very well, and deep bonds are formed.

We look forward to the rest of the season. Keep checking back for updates on how we're doing as a team, and how the ministry is going!

Price Comparison

So, we thought you might be interested in seeing a price comparison. Yesterday we bought a can of Women's shaving cream. In the states at Dollar General this would cost $1. But, lo and behold in Korea everything is backwards so here it cost us 6,000 won. That is a little more than $5 with the exchange rate. REDICULOUS!

Week 12 Baby Bump

So, I finally got the courage to post a picture of my baby bump. I'm almost into the 2nd trimester and I will really start to grow then. Anyways, here is what my belly looks like now.

Not much to see just yet.

Homesick Pie

So, Russ was at the school doing extra work all morning and I got a little homesick. I talked to my mom, sister, niece, and brother on skype and started to miss my family and friends a lot. In order to keep myself busy and do a little something for my hubby while he was gone, I decided I would make him a surprise apple pie. This is the first time I have EVER made an apple pie by myself, so I am pretty proud. So, without further ado here it is....

Not only does it look good, but it tasted delicious too! YAY me!

Ultrasound #3

We went again to the Bom Women's Clinic to see our little baby. We've been anxiously awaiting this ultrasound, because it is the first one that we can see our baby's features. Check out the pictures below. The baby is now 4.12 cm long. It's heart is beating 160 times every minute!

Our First Korean Soccer Game

The staff at our school decided to try and do one big activity together every month. Every month, a new person gets to choose the activity. This month's activity was to go to a Korean soccer game. We traveled to Suwon, 45 minutes away, to watch a pro game. Here are some pictures of our experience.

When we came into the stadium, greeters gave us these funny visor hats made of cardboard. We had to construct them ourselves, but they actually fit. Most of the fans wore them throughout the game. We took ours off after about 5 minutes.

The scoreboard at the beginning of the game. Suwon vs. Hyundai (yes, Hyundai is a Korean company). As you can see, the stands aren't nearly full. Baseball reigns supreme among sports in Korea.

A shot of the Korean fans to our right.

The team on the field warming up.

Jess looking stylish with her paper hat.

A little video of the fans and players in action.

Ultrasound #2

We went in this morning for our second ultrasound. The doc told us we were 8 weeks along, but on our little paper thingy, he wrote 7 weeks 6 days. Either way, we're happy. Jess got a blood test last time and the doctor told us everything is good: she's completely healthy. We did a little video work so you can experience what we saw and heard. Look below!

We saw and heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time! We'd been waiting for this moment. It sounded like a freight train on the loud speakers.

The doctor measured the CRL (crown to rump length) and our baby is 1.64 cm long. Two weeks ago the baby was only 2.2 mm! God's doing some awesome work in Jess's belly!

This video takes a bit to load. Sorry about that.. our camcorder is sort of old and records in quality that isn't the greatest. Further, in order to make the video worth watching, it makes the file size really big when we put it on the computer, hence long loading time. Someone really nice could buy us a new camcorder:) We'll tell you which one we want ;)

Time Away and Time to Play

Time Away

Every year on Labor Day weekend, our staff takes a teacher retreat to a vacationy spot to relax and recuperate from the first weeks of school. Last year we went to Daechon Beach on the Eastern coast, but this year we went to the Sorak Mountains. It was both relaxing and breathtaking. We didn't know Korea could be this beautiful.. and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Perfect for hiking!

Jess in front of "the world's largest Buddah." At the base of Ulsan Bowi, the peak we later climbed. Unfortunately idols like this are all around this area. Too bad these people don't know the love of Christ.. wish we were around more to share it.

Jess posing in the woods during one of our routine stops up the mountain.

Almost to the top here. These red metal steps cut through the rock to allow people to get up. This is about 3 of 3.3 kilometers up the mountain. Jess's smile is half fake.. she's exhausted!

Russ goin off the beaten path, trying to be a Superman.

Seconds later, God reminded him that he's not invincible. He almost fell a long ways, but luckily has the balance of a mountain goat and caught himself before a serious injury could happen!

Finally reached the top. This picture can't possibly do justice to the beauty of God's creation at this place! We wish you were there to enjoy it in person with us. There's a picture of us in all our glory at the top of our blog page.On the way back down, us fast teachers had time to stop at a buddhist monastery and take a look around. Here's Jess and our high school math teacher, Meredith showing them what we really think of their dragons. Tame!

One of the buildings in the buddhist monastery.

And last, but not least, the buddhists we met inside.

Time to Play

As you may know, I (Russell) am a half decent guitarist/singer. At the very least, I enjoy it and had a lot of fun with it in college. I lead our staff in music worship every Friday morning, and have been taking a more active role in leading worship at our local church as well. Last year I had the chance to sing a song I wrote at a youth worship night at one of the local churches. The speaker was one of our student's parents, a college professor from the area. Recently, I was contacted by this parent to be a part of a project (a band) that would perform at a Christian concert of sorts on Osan Air Force Base. I was glad to accept and began to practice with them. At first, I was only planning on playing guitar with them, but was promoted to lead singer as well. It was a time consuming, yet fun and rewarding experience. Here are some photos. I may add a video of one or two of the songs we performed later.

Gettin started.. a view of most of the band.

Finally.. we have a fan!

It was a great time of worship..

We played into the night..

A group photo. From left to right: Ray, Steve, Dawn, Russ, Miss Kim, Will, and Kurt.

Our best post yet. Seriously ;)

Not much explanation needed. Watch the video, then pray pray pray for us!

Sorry if the video loads slowly, we wanted to get it up in high quality.

This is our little apple seed (or at least that's how big he/she is). Only 2.5 millimeters from crown to rump.

This is what it shows when the doctor targets a spot to find a heartbeat. Unfortunately, it was too early to hear one. Next time though!! (September 26th)

They measured the size of the sac (amniotic I'm guessing) to make sure its normal. It is, thank God!

Apartment Update!

We're Back: Kal Guk Su, Insadong, and Bungee Jumping!

Well, we're back in Korea for another year of awesomeness. In case you're wondering, the flight went surprisingly well. The first leg to Atlanta was a bit over and hour and the second leg to Seoul was 14.5 hours, but went smoothly and we actually got some sleep.

We're adjusting well (must easier than last year!), and we're getting excited about the upcoming year. We decided to start off our Korean experience with a bang this year, so this post will be a bit of a smorgasbord of things we've experienced in the week we've been here. Enjoy!

Kal Guk Su

Kal Guk Su is probably our favorite Korean meal. I don't know why, but we don't eat it very often (probably because we don't know how to order on our own), but look forward to it every time we know we're going.

First we start off with some appetizing side dishes (video below):

Then, the waitress fills our kettle with mushrooms, greens, onions, a few potatoes, and some super yummy broth. We cover it and wait a few minutes for the veggies to cook down.

Then, we take some of this sliced beef and do this (video below picture):

Once we eat all of the Shabu Shabu, we dump in these wonderfully thick noodles and eat the rest like a soup. Oh wow, I wish you guys could taste this.

Toward the end of our soup experience, the waitress dumps the rest of our soup into another bowl and begins to do make this (video below):

And this bokkumbap (bo-koom-bop, or fried rice) is the last thing we enjoy in the meal. Then we go home and sit on the couch and just about explode as we watch an episode of Heroes.

Insadong

Insadong is an area (a street, really) in Seoul that has many knickknack shops and just generally cool places to look around. This trip wasn't to the heart of Insadong, but to a huge musical instrument market. We should have taken pictures of the inside of the building, Nakwon Arcade, but I was too awe-struck by all the nice guitars that I forgot. Too bad the nice guitars were almost double the price that you'd pay in America:( We took some time to enjoy a neat historic, traditional park nearby.

Here's a little intro video for the park:

This big temple-y looking monument was built in 1467. The glass building was built around it to (I presume) keep it out of the elements and away from vandals.

Nearby, I found one of the culprits responsible for all the noise in the park (and all over Korea this time of year): a cicada. He was dead of course.

I think Jess could make it as a superhero. Or at least as a statue.

I'm not quite as good of a poser as she is though.

This monument thingamabob was built in 1471. If you look at the picture below it shows what is below foot level, down in the pavilion. It's a turtle shaped stone cut.

We saw a not uncommon scene right outside the park gates: a man asleep in a cart. He looks comfortable.

White Waters and Bungee Jumping

We had two chances to go white water rafting in the states this summer and didn't capitalize on either. We were asked to go today and decided that the third time's the charm. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures because we were afraid to bring our camera, and for good reason. It was a lot of fun, we got really wet, and almost tipped the boat a couple of times. I don't know much about the classes of rapids, but I'd guess that we went down a 1.5. Sort of disappointing, but I don't know if our group could have handled much bigger than some of the spots we went through.

We went with a group from one of the local churches who hopped onboard a service provided by Osan Air Force base. Unfortunately for us, the bus was full so we had to drive a church van there. Fortunately for us, we got to go home at our own pace and stumbled upon a bungee jumping place just upriver from where we went rafting. Here are the results:

Wave to the camera!

How they get you down.

We only parked to check out the price in case we were ever in the area again, but decided to go ahead and do it once we were there. Three of us jumped in all: Russ, Tad Romsa(the director of our school), and Dakota- Tad's son. It was a lot of fun, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Jess wasn't feeling too well, so she didn't go, but we are coming back to this area for Labor Day Weekend and she's promised to go then. We'll keep you updated ;)

Scooter and Me

Ok, so maybe you've seen that movie Marley and Me. Pretty good movie, a tear jerker really. In the end, Marley turns out to have been a great pet and everyone loves him. But what about those moments in-between when the dog does something really stupid and destructive.. does everyone love him then? Tell us how you'd feel... here's our version of the story (slightly dramatized.. but only slightly). Cue sleuth-style music:

We came into the house to find the culprit amidst the aftermath of his carnage. After having been convicted of major crimes involving rice bags and glass countertops, the suspect was skating on thin ice.

Upon investigating, the guilty doggie cowered and showed false remorse. He was found later attempting to destroy the incriminating evidence. No amount of puppy dog eyes could get him out of his conviction.

His sentence: a spanking and an early bedtime without supper. Case closed.