She's survived 3 days here! Sheww!

For those of you interested, there is a purpose when a * goes in the middle of a word, like South K*rea . If someone does a search on South K*rea, my blog post will appear no where in that listing. Otherwise, my blog would eventually appear. It may be on page 2,398,756 but it would eventually show some where in the world wide web, that I talked about South K*rea. That's about the last thing I need is some K*rean official reading my blog and coming after me because I violated.... well, who knows what... but if there's something to violate, I am bound to do it.

So....... would you like an update on my new little K*rean friend?

Her plane was delayed twice on Wednesday night and so Paul and the girls did not get home until about midnight. We helped her contact home to let them know she had made it and then I offered her something to eat? I said, " Would you like some dog meat?"

KIDDING! But Koreans do eat dog meat. I was going to post the Q&A's from the link that follows along with the pictures, but I was afraid my dog loving family (including my mother) and friends, might join forces with a K*rean officials and come after me. The site is called Ask A K*rean... and here's the link.

http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2009/08/dog-its-whats-for-dinner.html

Warning: There is at least one picture that is not for the faint of heart.

Ok, so seriously, I offered her a bowl of soup and she ate it all. Crazy thing is... she's eaten whatever she has been offered for any meal. If someone would have given me food in Ch*na and expected me to eat it... I would have been hurling left and right. Seriously!

It's actually been kind of uneventful here, at least from my perspective. On Thursday around 2pm, upon the suggestion of a friend, I woke her up to help her adjust to the time change. I took her to pick up the girls so she could see the school. We stopped at the grocery on the way home and I asked her if she wanted some sushi. See, right there! I am sure I violated some kind of cultural something or other. But, she wanted some. So there!

When we got home, she asked me if I had chopsticks. I about spewed the drink I was taking all over the kitchen. Why do things hit me so funny? No, I don't have any chopsticks. So she went down and got her own. And, now that I am thinking about it... why did she have to have chopsticks for the sushi? She hasn't used them for anything else. Is sushi too good to be eaten with a fork? Can you understand why I should just stay in the house? Seriously, the reputation of this school is at stake. I am not sure they really thought through placing her here.

Anyway, Friday we went to the school to meet the principal and her teachers. They also had her walk in all the 8th grade classes so the students could see her. Poor thing! Oh, and the principal was very apologetic that in the middle school their highest math is Algebra 1. She's probably in Calculus or something. I didn't even want to ask. I didn't think I could handle knowing that a 13 year old staying in my house could out-math me everyday of the week and twice on Sunday. Geesh!

Friday night, we went to Paul's sister's house for a birthday party. She has 7 kids. We decided if she was going to be immersed, she might at well be fully immersed. We haven't seen her since. Just kidding!!

Really, she's doing great! She's very sweet and quiet. Her room is neater than my house will ever be. And, she just kinda goes with the flow. I'm not a bit worried about having her spend the next 1.5 years at my house!! 1.5 years!! Yeah, so that one detail got left out somewhere along the line. She will go home for the summer though. (We thought it was a one semester thing.)

Oh, forget to mention Jackson meeting our K*rean friend. Her name is Sue by the way. He did not get to meet her Wednesday night because he fell asleep. Thursday morning he didn't get to see her because he had to go to school. So, he ran in the house after school to meet her. She was in the bathroom. While he was waiting for her to come out, he yells, "Does she have glasses? I hope she doesn't have glasses!"

What's up with that? And, for the record, she's got glasses alright!

Later that night, Jackson looked at Emme and with a really sweet voice he said, "Emme, do you know her? You guys kinda look alike!"

That's my boy!!!

What do me and South K*rea have in common?

Well....... funny you should ask!

And, the answer is probably absolutely nothing. EXCEPT tonight at 9:19 an 8th grade girl from South K*rea will step off a plane and then come here to live for the next 5 months. That poor, poor girl. She has no idea what she's getting herself into, does she?

I was getting her room ready today and I thought, "I should probably get her a welcome gift and put it in her room." So, tonight, I did just that. I got her, all bound together with a sheer ribbon and bow, a photo box with 2 (one small, one big) photo albums and a journal. Psst.... she's going to have A LOT to write about, she just doesn't know it yet:-)

And, just a little FYI... there's not a card section at the store that says Welcoming Strangers from Foreign Countries. There's nothing even close. I looked.

Can I just tell you how nervous I have been for this girl today? I just can not imagine being 14, flying by yourself to the United St*tes, letting a family pick you up (and you haven't even seen a picture of the family) and then having to live with those people for the next 5 months.

And what in the world am I supposed to feed her? I thought about going to get some sushi or something tonight.

Did I not have more time to prepare for this? Not really. Of course it's a long story. It all kind of snowballed. We got a call Monday night at 9:20 pm that she'd be at an airport near our house in 48 hours.

And so, the next adventure begins. And, for the record.....NO, there is never a dull moment here. Hang with me, I am at least bound to have some good stories coming up!

Catching up... sort of

So... this is what my friend Gina wrote on my Facebook wall yesterday:
Are you the April Isaacs who used to have a blog? Just checking...

Isn't she so funny?

Really! Why am I not blogging? I don't know. The Christmas season was so crazy busy that I didn't have time. And, then after Christmas I was so overwhelmed with how much I had to say that every time I would sit down to write I would become paralyzed. I decided today, after some prompting (thankyouverymuch) that I would just start. I'll put up some pictures to catch you up and then I am moving on. I'll feel much better and ready to move on after I click on the orange button that says Publish Post.





Christmas morning! Jackson just a little excited.
Shelby wanted an extra guitar so more than one person could play Guitar Hero. That person... in case you're wondering... is not me. I get on for about two seconds and the people (whoever they are) start booing me. It has always been that way for me musically... I'm used to it.
Emme... she still doesn't get what the heck goes on Christmas morning.
Shelby thinks she's going to be the next person with a tv show about making cakes. So, we got her a decorating kit. She's also taking a class to learn how to decorate cakes... thanks to Grandma. I'm pretty sure she get it now... it's not near as easy as they make it look.
Cinnamon rolls from Cinnabon... every Christmas morning.

Emme figuring out the directions for the camera.

That's quite a crew, huh?
We cleaned up for the rest of Christmas day.

Gracie, Shelby and their cousin, Reide. Want to know what I looked like when I was little? I looked just like Reide with brown hair. Weird!
Jackson and his cousin Zayne. Jackson was the first boy born on my side of the family in 25 years. 3 years after Jackson was born, Zayne decided to come on the same day.

Rose Bowl.... Go Buckeye! Emme says, "Go Buckeyes!" whenever she sees any Ohio State paraphernalia.
Jackson would love to get in the game!
Gracie with one OSU leg warmer on.