Our second week

Hello to all! We are now almost through our second whole week of living in Korea. It has been alot of fun and very interesting so far! Last Friday we were able to go see a professional baseball game with Tim and his co-workers and a few of their families! It was very interesting as in Korea they have cheerleaders for their baseball teams, the have girls in little short skirts for bat girls, and the fans wear suits and high heel shoes to a game! Yes we Americans sort of stuck out like sore thumbs with our t-shirts and jeans on!! One of the great things about baseball games here is the price of things...you don't have to refinance your home to have great seats! We paid 10000won each(about $10) to sit right near home plate on the lower level!! Then the food and stuff is just as reasonably priced...I think we spent a total of 80000won on the whole night! The kids had alot of fun and one of the teams won the game!!! Sorry I'm not much of a baseball fan:-(
Monday we went to a picnic with a bunch of our new neighbors here in our compound! Our new friends have fallen in love with my fruit salad and my banana cake! I can do one thing right at least!! We have also been going to the pool everyday since Sunday because we have hit the 80's for our daily temps here!! The kids are enjoying it but the water is just a tad to cold for my body to handle! Got to run for now to go walking with my friends!

Seoul, South Korea

Our welcome to the neighborhood gift!
Our building with the playground in front of it!!

Hello all! Sorry that it has taken so long to get a post up on here. We just got internet access yesterday afternoon and by the time I finished catching up on our e-mail I was falling asleep sitting at my computer:-( For those who haven't heard from us since our departure last week I will give you a rundown of what has been up with the Utter family clan:

Thursday May 14th we arrived in Incheon Airport at a little before 2pm Korea time(1am NY time)!! After being picked up by Tim and 3 of his coworkers we came to our new house in Hannam Village, which is in beautiful Seoul! The kids were amazed by the huge bridges that are all over the place here. As well as the high rise buildings which are quite numerous as well! Our flight was very long but we survived!

On Friday the 15th we had to go and do a bunch of inprocessing so that we could get on and off post as well as our compound which is military as well...we did a lot of walking and by the time the day was over we were pretty well spent! We were able to get TJ & Emily registered for school, they had to go have 2 shots in order to start! We also went shopping at the PX to get things we needed for the house, I was able to get a cell phone so I could have a way to call home:-) The kids went on their first cab rides and truly enjoyed!

On Saturday we went shopping at the Commissary(grocery store) so we could get food for our house! After we got home from the store the jet lag kicked in and we had a quiet evening. The kids and I were all falling asleep at 6 at night:-( Made life pretty interesting!

Sunday we went to church for the first time as a family since last June! It was so nice:-) We went to the Chapel service here at Hannam Village and it is a pretty large group. Service was great unfortunately it was the head Chaplin's last service as he is leaving South Korea in a few weeks! There are many families that are going to be leaving our community this summer which is nice for me because it will be more than just myself as a new person around:-) Sunday afternoon we rested as our jet lag was still kicking our butts!

Monday I had to go to my first day of class for inprocessing into the Army in Korea...it was interesting to say the least! Tammy & Elijah got to go to the daycare for the day and meet some new friends. TJ & Emily stayed with Dad and went to orientation at their school and to the hospital to get their TB test read. Tim unfortunately had to go back to his work/home on Monday afternoon.

Tuesday I was back in school for the day...this day was all about learning about the Korean culture!! Started to learn some Korean words and phrases!!

Wednesday TJ & Emily finally started school! They both are enjoying and getting to know their new friends. TJ managed to lose his bus pass on the first day!!! It's amazing how listening to Mom when she says to put it in your backpack it might have prevented this from occuring!!

Today was their second day of school and they are getting settled!

As for Tammy and Elijah they are just going on like always! Everyone is looking forward to this weekend because the pool opens in our community and Daddy will be back home with us at last.

I hope that all of you are doing well and know that we think of all of you daily!

Love & Prayers!!

Date is set!!!

We went this morning and picked up passports, visas and plane tickets!
We leave from Syracuse Airport at 6:40 am on Wednesday May 13th. Yes that is less than a week from now. We have to be at the airport at 2:40 in the morning. We will fly a little over 2 hours to Atlanta, where we have an hour and 25 minute layover. We will then get on a 777 for a 14 hour 55 minute flight to Incheon Airport in South Korea. We will arrive there at approximately 2:20pm on Thursday May 14th. Tim is taking Thursday and Friday off from work so that he can help us get set up. The weekend after that he has a 4 day weekend for Memorial Day so he will be with us then also. We are very, very, very excited!

Passports have arrived!!!

Hello to all! Yes you are reading that correctly my friends they have arrived. At Ft. Drum that is, but only for a few more hours:-) I got the call on Wednesday at about 3:30 in the afternoon and I think that all of Geneva could have heard me screaming because our house has got quite the echo to it right now! Jackie was there to celebrate with me(even amongst our tears)!
Monday the packers came and took the rest of our stuff to storage, so the kids and I have been living out of our suitcases at my Mom & Step-Dad's house in Weedsport and commuting back to Geneva every day. However this morning we are taking a bit of a detour on the way to school and driving up to Ft Drum to get our passports. Tim is supposed to be at the transportation office in Korea right now making our arrangements to get over there. He is aiming for us to be arriving there next Wednesday, which would put us leaving here on Tuesday morning. Will keep everyone posted when I get more exact information.
This is a bitter sweet time for the kids and I as we are all so very excited to see Tim, but sad that we will be leaving all of our friends and family behind. Our Geneva family is the greatest...words can never express how much all of you mean to us(especially myself). You have helped me go from the lowest valleys to the tops of mountains and been my friend the whole time. Every one of you will hold a special place in my heart for the rest of our lives and we now have a great place to come visit on vacation:-) To our friends that I haven't been so good about keeping in touch with since Tim has been gone I am so sorry and I seriously think of you all the time but when it comes to sitting down and actually being able to call...it has been impossible. The times I think to call are in the middle of the night cause that is the only time I have to sit still. Thank you all for being our friends and we love you very much.
To our family...I know this is going to be a very difficult and emotional transition but I also know that God will help you through it. He has big plans in mind for you that are going to keep you so busy that our time apart will be quick and you will barely have time to miss us. We will be able to talk to you on almost a daily basis, you can eat your dinner while we eat our breakfast:-) Thank you for all of the help and encouragement during the past year as we made this huge decision to first go back into the Army and then the more to Korea. This has been one wild roller coaster ride but I know that God has big plans for us while we are there. We love you all very much and can't wait to see everyone when we return.