Howdy, all! It is time for our last blog out of South Korea. Tomorrow, we board a plane for a vacation in the States, and then on to Germany. Time seemed to have flown since April. The kids were busy with tee-/baseball, Scouts, and the end of school. Teri had her eleventh birthday this month. Work seemed to go non-stop.

We had an absolutely wonderful time overall here, and the kids really gained an appreciation for a completely different culture. Teri is already trying to learn some German for our next adventure!

We love everyone and are excited to see family for the next few weeks! Love, Mona

Howdy! I'm doing a bit better, as it hasn't been quite two months since our last update.

Let's see...Joey and I are both a year older. As the end of one of our semiannual major exercises was ending the same week as our birthdays, we held a joint celebration on Saturday. Joey is a proud 4 year old, and I had my last birthday at 39...as everyone knows that a true lady never turns 40. :P

Nate continues to have fun with Scouts. Not sure if I mentioned it, but he is one of the junior leaders this year. His patrol took first at the Winter Camporee. In addition, he signed up to be part of the crew for the high school musical, Les Miserables, and is working sound. The tradition started by my Mom, continuing through me, lives on. Baseball has just begun and Nate is swapping between catcher and 1st base.

Teri is finishing up Junior Scouts this year and will be a Cadette in Germany. She is on a coach pitched baseball team, comprised of both boys and girls. She had her first game yesterday and did very well.

Chris wishes to be called CJ now and has that on the back of his t-ball jersey. We'll see how long that lasts! We had a meeting with his speech therapist a couple of weeks back and he is coming along well. Simultaneously, his reading is improving as well. Yesterday was the Pinewood Derby for the Cub Scouts and Chris came in third out of 15 and was very proud. Chip is becoming more adept at "helping" build fast cars. :)

Joey, taking his cues from his big brother, decided he wants to be called Joe. We continue to be challenged by the tag team they form. I figure it was the fallout from the "mother's curse" Chip received. Instead of Chip and Andy, we have Chris and Joey!

Plans for this summer are firming up. We will land somewhere in the US on 10 July. We will head down to North Carolina for the Discavage family reunion, week 2. We will be at Disney World/Land (FL version) from 19-25 July. Then we head to NY to visit my mom and brothers and Mom D/Tim and family. We look to head to Germany the first week of August. Now begins the administrative work of getting paperwork started so we can figure out when to start shipping our stuff, the van, and getting flight info. Cinnamon will go to the vet tomorrow to get her first blood test.

Recent pictures follow...love to all and God Bless! Mona

Howdy! Hard to believe that it has been over two months since our last entry. Time has been flying. Short synopsis - Christmas was great. Santa was good to us this year. Nate is now 14. Chris is now 7. We are all full of Girl Scout cookies. Nate, Teri, and Chris are all doing well in Scouts. Nate is excited that baseball is soon to start up. In the meantime, he has been shooting the basketball around a bit. He may try intramurals next year. Chip has developed an excellent idea on a nerf gun accessory and looking at the process of how to bring it to market. I keep plugging away at work. Nate no longer has braces.


I have received an RFO (request for orders) for Germany. We will be heading to Europe this summer. Not sure of the timeline yet. We don't have to be there until late August. We will be looking at when school starts, when housing opens up, if the Army will pay for us to travel back to the States before Germany, as factors on if/when we will be back for our next visit. Chip would really like to get a visit to Walt Disney Land/World (whichever is in FL) for the family, if possible. A complicating factor, of course, is our dog. I assume we will have to board her somewhere for part, if not all of the time spent in the States. A lot of unknowns at this point. Currently, my last day here is 10 July. We will see what transpires and keep everyone in the loop.


Although I do not have a specific job at this point, indications are that I will be heading to a unit that will deploy to Afghanistan sometime this Fall. I can't complain, as I have yet to deploy. I do not have the same fear I did when I left for my first trip to Korea. Back then, Nate was young enough that he had some issues remembering who I was upon my return. Joey is old enough that that is not a concern. Again, as I find out more, I will pass it on.












Love to all and God bless! Mona

Howdy, all! We have returned from our trip back home and are trying to get back into the swing of things. Our return trip was longer than anticipated. Our flight was originally due to land in Seoul just after 9 pm, plenty of time to take either a bus or train down to Daegu. Due to bad weather in Tokyo, we landed about 11:30 pm, getting out of immigration and customs around midnight. The good news - no lines, as we were the last plane to land. The bad news - no planes, trains, or automobiles were available for us. The military had one last bus back to Yongsan, the military base in Seoul, that waited for us. So we landed at the military hotel at 1:30ish ... where there were no rooms available. Given that our body clocks had all the kids wide awake, we decided to hang out in the lobby until we could catch the first train at 5:30. So, 36 hours after we left Rochester, we landed home.

Phew...

Now, we try to adjust to the new time. All of the kids were up sometime between 4:30 - 5:00, except for Joey who was up at 3:00. At least he went back to bed. I think I read somewhere that regular meals will help adjust body clocks. There may be something in that, as all four kids complained of hunger when they woke up...

The best news of course, is that this is all we have to whine about. We are all together, and were able to visit both sides of the family for the holidays, due to family generosity. Seeing Mom D was tough, but seeing her shining out from her eyes from time to time meant so much. I recently sent out the link to the pictures we took. I love the one of Mom D., giving me a grin. What love there is in the Discavage family. Where many families try to pass responsiblity to anyone else, this one is completely concerned about what is best. With the impending sale of the family home, we are looking forward now to how we adjust to a possible new family center of gravity.

It was great to see both of my brothers and their families. This was the first time for my Mom, as someone's schedule always conflicted with family get togethers. The drugs/mask combo worked for Chip's cat allergies again, and we were able to eat Friendly's ice cream, always a family favorite.

Back to work, school, and pets. We love y'all, and will gab with/e-mail you soon. Love, Mona

Our newest Scout! Chris decided recently that he wanted to try Scouting like Nate and Teri. I think the fact that the Cub Scouts make and race cars (Pinewood Derby) had something to do with it too. :) So he is now a Tiger Cub Scout. It is the first level and one where a parent attends every meeting with him. At the first meeting, he discovered he knew everyone in the group.

Chris attempting his first hot dog cooked by fire. Unfortunately, it never made it to his mouth!

The morning after a successful campout!

Love to all, Mona

Wow - an update inside of a month...who'd of thunk it? :)

Nate recently was diagnosed with tendonitis in his Achilles - due to his participation in Cross Country. What amazed me was one of his "vitals." When checked by the nurse, his height in his sneakers was 6' 2 1/2''. Given that he was wearing his running sneakers, his height is somewhere an inch lower. Wow. He was shorter than I was when we moved here Summer 2007.

We recently went on a military chaplain sponsored retreat to a popular Korean spot. During an afternoon designated for family time, our family decided to do a bit of hiking. We located a trail down to a creek bed and walked along the rocks and water up to a small waterfall. The kids loved it; they were bona fide adventurers! One of the pictures we took is below....also highlighting Nate's height, as well! I put some other pictures on our Shutterfly account. I don't think I can link it here, but will send an e-mail out to everyone, to view as they wish.

We are still looking at the Thanksgiving option, and will send an update when we know something.

Love to all and may God bless you! Mona

Wow! I cannot believe it has been so long! The summer flew by and we are in the midst of the Fall. August was a blur, as I was in an exercise for over half the month. School started on the 25th, so three of the four kids are now out of the house regularly.

Joey took a bit to get used to not having a permanent playmate, but has since substituted Chip for Chris!

Chris is in 1st Grade. He is continuing to receive speech therapy and the school thinks he needs reading assistance as well. I wonder if his not wishing to speak out loud is affecting how he communicates his reading aloud...but I will leave that for the experts to figure out.

Teri is in 5th Grade. She is doing well, as usual, though she continues to downplay her abilities. Girl Scouts hasn't started yet, but Teri plans on participating when it does.

Nate is in 8th Grade. About a week into school, he came home and stated that he would like to join the cross country team. So now he is running every day after school and learning the proper techniques. I will be able to learn from him now! Nate also continues with Boy Scouts.

Chip and I are enjoying what family time we can have. My current job has been keeping me in the office throughout the week for quite some time. Our new brigade commander believes we should make a contract with our families, i.e. so many dinners with the family, so we are working the technical piece out so I can do some of this work at home after the kids are asleep. Given that I won't be at home for over a year next year, I need to keep this tour as family oriented as I can. So this weekend, our unit Chaplain is hosting a retreat at a Korean resort and the entire family is going. Chip and I will have classes Friday night, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning, leaving the bulk of Saturday to enjoy the area with the kids.

Hope all is well in the States. I will post pictures soon. Love y'all! Mona

I think the secret to this is to add things a little at a time. I keep thinking - oh, after this I will blog...oh, wait, after this I will blog. There are so many things to add recently.


First things first, we have a new member of the family and another birthday to celebrate in the Summer...






Meet Cinnamon!




We had been talking over the past couple of months on the pros and cons of picking up a dog on this side of the world. Our plan had been to wait until we made it back to the States. With my next assignment in a sandbox somewhere, we decided to adopt a dog now so I am part of its family.

Cinnamon is an almost 2 yr old Labrador, with a slight overweight problem (78lbs). She is very well behaved, potty trained, and spayed. Apparently her original family was unable to keep her and dropped her off at the local vet clinic. They had named her "Chanel," but that style name didn't quite suit us and the kids liked Cinnamon. Chip and the kids decided that we could take care of her over the weekend and see how it goes. I was concerned about Joey, but came home from work to find Joey squeeling in delight and Cinnamon taking all of his antics in stride. The cute thing, for the rest of us, is that Cinnamon adores Chip. Everywhere he goes, she goes. The only time I have heard her howl is when he leaves the house.

We are praying for Mom D's recovery. Chip will be flying back to the US on 5 July to spend a week with family. We will be working with Cinnamon, to ensure that she handles the separation well. :)

Love and God bless, Mona

Wow! I cannot believe it has been over five weeks since I blogged last. What a crazy time for us. Let's see - last time I talked about job possibilities. Good news - we are staying put. The older two kids are happy, as they have made some real ties here. The younger two are not, as they want to see their old babysitter in Seoul. Chip is happy, as he was not keen on moving for the fourth time in four years. I have conflicting feelings, but know God knows best. I understand the stress on the family and definitely enjoy my current location and job. My interview went very well, with only the move back to Seoul in the way. The general chose a major who lives in the Seoul area. The SGS job is something that I would have loved and done well at, and the general was someone I felt comfortable talking to, not what I was expecting. But the decision is made. We will be here for one more year, drop the family off somewhere in the States, and off to a sandbox I go.

The kids are doing well. Nate, Teri, and Chris are all playing baseball, coach pitch, and t-ball, respectively. Unfortunately there is only one field, as the main field is being replaced with turf. So, Chip gets to run over to Camp Henry four out of five work days for practices - each different of course. School is winding down. This will be the first year that Teri will be in school for her birthday. We still aren't sure what plans we have for the kids for the summer. They do have a day camp type activity, so that may be an option.

Chip and I are also doing well. I have been playing volleyball for our unit team for the past couple of months. It has been a blast and the team of experts really help me out. We play in the peninsula tournament this weekend. Chip, with Nate and Teri's help, have been helping three local Korean kids with their English. Their English teacher sings with me at church and asked for our help with their everyday language. The differences in how the two cultures raise their children is amazing to see.

Well, I will end here so I will post this. Hope all is well! Love, Mona

Andy and Michelle - Zoe is adorable! Thanks for all the pictures. We will write/gab with you soon! :)

Well, the family may become a victim of my success. I was given good and potentially bad news. The good news is that my command thinks highly of me. I can't complain about that. The bad news is that there are two job openings that require units to forward names of interviewees and I was selected to be our interviewee. One is working for the new three star general as his aide. The second is titled Secretary of the General Staff (SGS), kinda the person who ensures the administration and operation of the general's staff runs smooth.The jobs are given only to folks who are doing very well. It is very similar to a job I had at Fort Carson, only at a higher level.

While this may seem like good news, the sticking point is that these jobs are based in Seoul. Four moves in four years is a bit much. Chip and I are debating about asking for a fourth year here, if I am selected. That way the kids are in one school for more than a one year period. I know I am going to either Iraq or Afghanistan after I leave Korea. Regardless of who is President, I firmly believe that we will have some sort of presence in both regions, and I am a primary candidate to go. When others have gone over to the sandbox multiple times, I understand why I am high up on the list. In fact, if I request to go, I have a better chance of choosing the position. While everyone is at risk, some locations are more likely to have a higher risk.

Given what I see of my job future, the potential exists that the kids could be in five schools in five years - Leavenworth, Seoul, Daegu, Seoul, and then someplace in the States while I am deployed. If I am selected for battalion command upon my return, that would mean another move. That is why asking for a fourth year here seems like a reasonable request, although we miss all of you very much.

My initial interview is 19 April. The Lord knows what will happen, and I am leaving it to Him. Please pray for us and our sanity during this time! The rest of the day's blog is on much lighter topics...enjoy! Mona