29 September 2010

Woohoo Cooler weather is finally here!! It actually feels like FALL here, BUT sad to say, it will only last for a few weeks before it gets REALLLLY cold here. 

Since my last post on the 22nd, I have applied for a different job in a different flight working more with computers and managing and maintaining them, so we'll see how that goes. Should hear who got the job on Monday, October 4th. 

Riley is doing great in Sure Start and loves riding the bus to and from school.  She has lots of fun, and Emilee and i love it because it's like having free childcare!!! woohoo!! We did get the adoption papers in the mail this past week, so we can now start working on changing Riley's last name...

Elijah is jibber jabbering even more now. Emilee took him today to the ER because he woke up with some REALLLLY bad congestion and wheezing. They said it was either viral, or not, or the crupe, or maybe the beginnings of pneumonia, but they weren't for sure.. SOOOO they put him on Zythromycin and said it should help... or maybe not...

The youth worship team Emilee and I are over is supposed to play for their first time at church on Monday night to open up the first night of revival. They are going to be singing "Blessed Be Your Name" and then our worship team will do the rest of the music.

I had three days off in a row, and it was TERRRRIFIC!!!  I still miss the Monday-Friday work schedule though (which is the schedule I'll be working IF I get this new job, so PLEASE PRAY!!). 

OOOOH, and last but DEFINITELY FUNNIEST thing that's happened so far this week:

Emilee dropped Lilly off at the groomer's today and thought she did a pretty good job of explaining to the Korean lady what she wanted... UNTIL she went to pick Lilly up... and SAW her!!!!  Suffice to say that the only parts of her body with ANY hair on them now are her head and her tail!!! HAHAHA  we'll put up pictures soon..

Alright, that's it for now.. will keep you guys updated on the stuff going on in our lives..

22 September 2010

Just wanted to update everyone since last week's blog... Got an email today from our attorney stating our adoption papers are on their way!! YAYYY!!! 
Sunday's worship service was fantastic and we got a lot of great feedback regarding the songs and the worship team!! 
Emilee ordered us our Garmin GPS so we can download Korean maps and be able to get around better while in Korea. 
Youth worship team is going terrific!! The kids did both "Blessed Be Your Name" and "Mighty to Save" tonight and once again blew Emilee and me away with how well they are coming together. Daniel, our contemporary service violinist came by and helped us out with our violinist. All of the youth are doing fantastic! We also had a brother from church come and start teaching them sign language to a Christian song. Can't wait to debut these kids. They're great! They bring their "A" game every single Tuesday night!
Oh, one last thing... I'm thinking about taking some martial arts.. not decided on which one yet...
Thanks for reading!!!

Adoption and Sure Start

So to kick off the morning, we received a phone call at 3:30 am today from our attorney stating the judge signed the adoption papers and they will be sent to Buncombe County Courts for processing so we can get Riley's new birth certificate and social security card, and then change her last name on all military documents and at her school.  So YAYYYY, the adoption is OVER and PRAISE GOD FOR THE VICTORY!!


Today was also Riley's first day of Sure Start (Head start).  Emilee took some fun pictures of her and I am planning on putting them into "Brad's Photos", so keep a lookout.

That's it for now. Emilee and I have date night tomorrow night (happens once a month)!! WOOHOO! God bless and good night!

Youth band 14 Sept 2010

Tonight's youth band rehearsal was awesome! The youth really got into practicing "Blessed Be Your Name", so next week we are planning on starting "Mighty to Save" and "Heart of Worship".  Some of the youth asked us if we could even meet more than once a week because they look forward to us meeting for the rest of the week. Glad to see the youth are having a blast! Can't wait for their debut!!

Family Update

Since last Wednesday (my last blog), nothing too much has happened. I worked Thursday, Friday and Saturday, then we went to worship practice on Saturday night, ate at Checkertails afterwards, then put the kids to bed. Since the other pianist came back from leave, I was able to sleep in on Sunday morning until 10:45 (it was GREAT). We went looking around the BX until time to practice before church.  We had a great service. The chaplain preached on Marriage and Divorce. Basically, God's plan for  you if you are married is this: STAY MARRIED. Do everything in your power to make it work.  Then, if you are divorced against your will, and your ex-spouse marries another, they have committed adultery on you and you are freed to marry again.  Adultery and death are the only two ways to be freed to remarry.  It was a great message, and a great service, but a tough sermon to deliver, no doubt.  The thing about Truth is, sometimes it's going to hurt. 

After church, Emilee and I took the worship band out to eat since it was Phillip's last Sunday with us and he's leaving for Japan this week. We all ate at the Mexican restaurant downtown, then we bought us some movies on the strip, and watched The Expendables once we got home and put the kids to bed.

Today, since I have the day off, we went and ran some errands  around base, turned in Riley's registration for school, shopped around the BX, ate lunch, walked around the BX again, then came home to rest before we had Riley's open house at the school at 5pm and then Emilee's PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) meeting at 7pm.  I'm sitting here on the couch watching Transporter 2 while Emilee and the kids nap.

Catch ya later!

Riley and School

Emilee got the phone call today from the elementary school saying that Riley has been accepted into Sure Start (their pre-K program) and she starts next Thursday, September 16th!! We are so excited and so is Riley! It's like free daycare for Emilee.. well, for at least one of the kids.. she'll still have Elijah, but she'll be able to get out and do more stuff since Riley will be in school.

Riley can do her ABC's and can already count from 0 to 20 all by herself, then can count up to 100 as long as Emilee and I help her figure out what all the 10's are. 

We'll keep you all posted on how she's doing in school. Keep her in your prayers. Riley loved childcare in Monterey, California and I'm sure she'll love getting back into a group of kids her own age from day to day.

The past few days (Sept 3 - 7)

Friday evening - After Typhoon Kompasu was over, we were finally able to come out of our homes.  Emilee, me and the kids went to eat at the Mexican restaurant. When we went to park on base, we saw lots of damage, trees uprooted, branches fallen, cleanup crews everywhere.

Monday - Emilee, Riley, Elijah, myself, and the Dickenson's (Tiffany, Allison, and Thomas) all went to the zoo.  Sunday night, Elijah kept us up late all night long crying and screaming, so we didn't get a lot of sleep, but the zoo was still lots of fun.  We went to the Seoul Zoo, the largest zoo in Asia also the 10th largest zoo in the world.  Tiffany spent her day running from bees which were constantly attracted to her and her stroller. She'd scream, then yell for me to come and get rid of the bees.  (For lots of pictures, check out my Photobucket, "Brad's photos",  link is located on right side of page). 

Monday night - Before we put Elijah in the bathtub, we are working on getting him in a routine of sitting on the potty.  Last night, he stood up off his little potty, and he had peepee-ed in his potty for the first time!! We were so proud of him and he was excited too!  We're hoping that this will form a foundation for him to start potty training at some point soon.

Today - Today I woke up and went to work, then realized that it was a down-day (holiday), so I came back home and went back to bed. After we woke up, Emilee decided she would go to the commissary around 1pm. About 1:14pm she called me. She was in a car accident (no one was hurt). While she was turning right out of the parking garage, a Korean man rammed her in the driver's side door.  The door looks pretty rough, worse than the front of his van.  We called the military police and they came and got a report on everything that happened. After the report was filed, the cops left and Emilee went on to the commissary.  We decided to cancel youth worship band tonight and stay home and rest in light of the afternoon's incident.

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT PICS OF THE ZOO!!!

Typhoon Kompasu came and went

So Typhoon Kompasu came last night and Emilee said the winds were pretty bad.. 60 to 70 mph winds. I didn't even wake up.  Slept like a baby.  The typhoon, though, has restricted us ALL to quarters and gotten us the day off!! So no work today, and HOPEFULLY we will all be able to come out of our caves sometime this evening. Will keep you updated!