More news on N. Korea

Ok, so I tried copy and pasting the article but that wasn't working. So just copy and paste this into your browser and you can read the article there if you're interested. 

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/03/nkorea.nuclear/index.html

'Twa'

In our apartment I have a lot of pictures hanging up. One of the pictures I have is of Gabriel and his cousins (on the Petron side) sitting in a big pile of leaves from last fall. I love the picture because all the kids are so happy and Gabriel was only 2 months old and just laid in Brendyn's, his cousin, lap. In the picture is also beautiful Tryn in a red sweater.

This is not the original picture but it was taken the same day. I was holding Gabriel today and he was looking at the picture and he kept pointing to Tryn. I think he liked her red sweater since that seems to be his favorite color. So over and over I kept pointing at Trynica and saying 'Tryn'. Every time I took my hand away Gabriel would take his turn pointing at her in her pretty red sweater and say 'Twa' or make the T sound like 'Ti'! It was the cutest thing! 

Update: Please Pray

Update on school situation: Well, first off we have decided to go ahead with our plans and go to Japan next week for vacation. We decided it was a once in a life time opportunity and we want a much needed break from English Village and all of the stress. Plus we had already paid for the flights and the hotels and didn't want to see all of that go down the drain.

Secondly Josh went and talked to the school yesterday and told them that since they were looking to cut teachers, the only way we would be going home is if they paid us for this month and provided a plane ticket back home for all of us. We are under contract so they can't technically make us leave unless we break something in regards to the contract which we have not and it would be cheaper for them to pay us for this month and send us all home then keeping us around for the next few months. They said no. Unfortunately Josh had to talk to Brian, if you remember one of my last posts about him, he is a liar and doesn't help you with anything. I'm not joking either, all the teachers call him a liar, even the Korean ones... he is known as the Great Liar. Well Brian kept saying 'oh, well we'll look for a job for you in the Yangpyeong area' and even after Josh kept saying 'no', Brian wouldn't listen... there may be many fights with this school left to come from the way things are looking. 

Also, after Josh talked to Brian and another one of the head people here, he got the impression that something is going to happen in the next month, whether good or bad, we don't know, but the heads of the school are not telling the teachers which is making us a little peeved. It makes it hard to plan and try to figure out your options when you cannot get any information. The school is also trying to con teachers into signing a no work no pay contract which from what I understand is not something they can make you do because we are already under contract and therefore the school and the teacher must abide by it. I mean, maybe I don't understand everything completely, but a contract is a contract, an agreement between two or more parties on certain topics and both parties must abide by the arrangements in the contract, am I wrong? Anyway, so Josh and I are looking for jobs back in the States and hopefully, if we can get a good one, we will be able to afford our own tickets back to the States and be done with English Village. That's all for now! Please, keep praying for us!  

Please Pray

Our life has taken a dramatic potential turn in the last day and we would like to ask everybody if they could please pray for us. I know 'dramatic potential turn' doesn't make that much sense but that is the best way I can describe it.

I believe I have mentioned before that Koreans take Swine Flue very seriously. Well, I wasn't joking. Because one of the 12 English Villages (EV) had teachers that had Swine Flu the government (since we are government based) sent out a memo to all the schools in Korea and encouraged them to refrain from group activities. So now all the schools that were coming to EV and parents that were sending their kids here have almost all cancelled their programs and it doesn't look like they will be rescheduling any time soon. Because of this, EV has told all of the teachers that they only have enough money to pay us until the end of November. 

We are trying to decide what we should do. We have a lot of options right now and all of them require huge faith in God. For all we know we could be heading back to the States in a couple of weeks, moving to a different job in Korea or possibly staying here and the school goes bankrupt and we have no where to go. Making a decision is not easy right now and depends a lot on what the school is willing to offer us (like a plane ticket home) and what we are willing to sacrifice ect. We are also now trying to decide if we should actually take out trip to Japan on Monday. My mind is all over the place, along with Josh', and we have no idea where to start. We have a few ideas but we really want to feel at peace about whatever decision that we make. If you could please pray for us we would appreciate it so much! 

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Gabriel!!!

Happy Birthday Baby Boo! I love you so much and I am so proud of everything that you have learned and accomplished over the past year! I am so proud to be called your Mommy and I am so proud to call you my son! You have learned so much and though I may be sad that this year has gone by so fast and that we will never get to experience many of your 'firsts' again, I am excited to start a whole other year with you and find out what new 'firsts' you will experience! You are being shaped by God, even at this young age, to be the man that God wants you to be and I pray every day that God blesses us with the wisdom and knowledge on how to raise you the way God wants us to! I love you, my beautiful baby Boo!