Papa & Mimi's Visit: Arrival & Easter Sunday

 It feels like Christmas around the Craig household this week.  Do you know why?  MY MAMA & DADDY are here!!!!! YAY!!!!!!  To say we were excited about their visit is an understatement.  This has been the longest that we have ever gone without seeing them & it brought joy to my heart to see them walk in the door of our house!  They arrived here on Saturday afternoon.  Josh and one of our neighbors, John ( who happens to be moving this week..that's a whole other post in itself ), went to the airport to pick them up!  I knew once they got here they would be tired from the flight and from jet lag, so I had planned for their first two days to be low key. Once they arrived, they relaxed a little at the house and then we headed to the Dragon Hill Lodge on post to eat dinner!

Don't they look great :)

The next day was Easter Sunday!! It was so good to have family around to help celebrate the holiday.  Our Sunday started off super early!! This year our praise and worship team was asked to provide the music for the post wide Sunrise service, so Josh & I had to be at the Dragon Hill Lodge at 5:40am.  Since my parents were here they stayed home with the kids so they all could sleep longer.  After the Sunrise service was over, Josh helped move the sound equipment back to the chapel & I headed home to pick up my parents & the kiddos!  Of course we had to take our annual Easter pics!

One of my favorite pictures <3

Trying to get four kids to pose for a good picture is ALOT of work!!  This is how I want the picture to turn out....

However, the majority of them looked like this....lol

Then it was off to church!  Here we are rehearsing with our worship team....we are blessed to work with a wonderful team!

After church, we walked across the street to the Dragon Hill Lodge for lunch!  Their Easter buffet was FANSTASTIC!!  

The Jenkins' family joined us for lunch too!

After lunch we headed back to the house!  Usually we have the kids Easter baskets out in the morning for them to find when they wake up.  However, since we had to be up so early on Sunday morning for the Sunrise service we decided to give them out when we got home! 

  

 We had the kids close their eyes before we brought them out...notice Caleb peaking...lol

Of course, I had to put a little bit of Korea in their baskets this year, so they each got some character socks, which are very popular here!

Every year, we also get them sunglasses & new bathing suits!  Ethan loved his shades....

This cracked me up...Michael exclaims "Look, we got grass too!!  I love grass!!"

After the kids opened their baskets, we sent Ethan on a mission to "egg" our dear friends, the Sanders!

If you have ever been "Boo'd" at Halloween, it is the same concept.  Basically, Ethan had to sneak over to their front yard, hide 12 eggs (one is empty to represent Jesus' resurrection), leave an empty basket with the note attached, ring their doorbell, and then run!! Since it was daylight we didn't know if he could pull it off or not, but he did!!  We loved peaking out the window and watching them "hunt".

Next up was our egg hunt!! This is where we had to get creative.  We usually have an Easter egg hunt in our backyard for our kids, but here we really couldn't do that. So we decided to do what we did for trick or treating...have an indoor hunt!!  Our kids are so easy to please and they loved the idea!! So we sent them upstairs as we hid the eggs.  Then called them down when we were done. 

Ready, set....

GO!!!!!

Ever since we started this tradition (8 years ago), Ethan has always found the lucky egg.  Rachel was SO excited because this year she was the lucky one!!!  Do you know where she found it.............

Here..lol.  I bet you can take a guess at whose idea this was :)

She also found the most eggs!

By the time Easter was over we were all exhausted!!!  

Until Next Time,
Michelle

Rachel's Story...

One of the hardest things a parent can endure is seeing their child in pain.  About three weeks ago, Rachel came home from school complaining of her left side hurting.  At first I just assumed maybe she had pulled a muscle, so I told her to just lay down and rest a little.  Well, the pain kept getting worse, so I thought maybe a hot bath would help.  About ten minutes later she comes downstairs bawling saying how bad it hurts and then she throws up.  Immediately, I thought I knew what was wrong with her, but prayed I was wrong.  I called Josh and told him he needed to come home so I could take her to the emergency room.  As we were there, the pain intensified and she continued to throw up.  The doctors tested her for several things that came back negative. I then told them that I have a history of kidney stones (I've had 4, one being last year) and that my first one was at the age of 10.  At first their reaction was like my doctors many years ago, "but she's so young".   They gave her some pain medicine and told us to follow up with her primary care doctor so that she could schedule an ultrasound. Since this was not considered an "emergency" ( because there was no infection, just pain) she was scheduled for the available ultrasound which was the following week.  At this point it had already been four days of her in pain and I was so frustrated.  I might could understand if it was an adult, but a 9 year old girl to be in constant pain, I did not understand that.  Their reasoning was that it could be controlled by pain meds. My frustration was yes, I can give her the pain meds, but they put her to sleep ( it had codeine in it) and she couldn't function at school like that.  So we were doing a mixture of Motrin during the day and the strong stuff at night.  The doctor did tell me if the pain ntensified anymore to come back in.  The next day Rachel was at school and I got a call from the nurse saying Rachel was hurting really bad, so off we went.  To make a long story short, they did an ultrasound and sure enough she had two kidney stones.  The next step was for her to be referred off post to a pediatric nephrologist.  That took an additional five days. During this time her pain had gotten a little better.  She wasn't hurting as bad during the day ( could function with just Motrin) and the strong meds were helping her at night. Finally after a week and a half we were referred to Seoul National University Hospital.

We finally made it to the International Clinic at the hospital.  The staff there was so nice and helpful.  We had a translator that was with us the entire time.  She escorted us to every area (ultrasound, laboratory, etc.) that we needed to go to and we never had to wait in line!  I was amazed at how fast our appointment went.  After looking at the ultrasound the doctor said that considering where the stones were at, it was in Rachel's best interest to have the stones removed as soon as possible.  After some back and forth phone calls with Tricare & Josh getting involved, Rachel's referral for the operation went through that day, so we thought she was good to go.  However, Tricare covers a private or semi-private room, which this hospital didn't have a lot of, so we had to wait an additional two days for a room to come open for her.  It was such a frustrating process!

Entering the International Clinic...

Balloons make everything feel better, especially when they come out of a cool machine!

Finally, we received the call that a room was open and we needed to bring Rachel in.  I snapped this picture as we were headed to the hospital.  She didn't say much on the way there, which was not normal for her, so I knew she was really nervous.

I finally talked with her a little bit about my experience with kidney stones when I was little and how she was going to be fine.  I told her she had SO many people praying over her and that God was going to be with her through it all.  By the time we reached the hospital she was feeling much better.....

The first thing we had to do when we arrived was get her registered.  Again, we our translator met us and was with us the entire time.

We were then led to the Pediatric Nephrology department.  I actually took this picture so I could show someone in case I got lost...lol.  Thankfully I never had to do that :). It was very interesting being the only foreinger in the unit.  Like everywhere else in Seoul, they doted on Rachel and took really great care of her. 

She and I had a big laugh over this one...she looked at me and said "Mom, are they going to feed me snake?  I AM NOT eating snake!"...lol...

Next, they had Rachel change clothes (they gave her a cute little pj set that she loved) and then they got her IV's hooked up.  I was so thankful I brought my kindle, otherwise she wouldn't have had anything else to do.  I was surprised they had 110V outlets too, so we could keep it charged for her.

Our first night in the hospital was spent doing a lot of pre-op stuff and making sure her body was fully hydrated for the operation.  She also got to experience Korean hospital food.  It wasn't that bad and no she didn't have snake :).  

By this time, our translator had left and it was just the two of us. She did give me her cell number in case I needed it.  Rachel needed to go to the bathroom and I had no clue how to ask. The nurse spoke a little English, but not enough to understand what I was saying.   Thankfully, I had my Itranslator app and it worked out great!

 I realized why it had taken a couple of days for Rachel to get a semi-private room as we entered the nephrology wing.  Most of the rooms around Rachel's held anywhere from 4-6 kids in them.  Rachel's semi-private room held her and one other patient.  The picture below is the other side of her room.  I assume the child she was sharing a room with was a long term patient.  His mom had lots of things in the room, like they have been there for a while.  The refrigerator we shared was completely full too!  She didn't speak any English so I never talked to her.  She did however help me with a couple of things in the room I didn't know who to operate.  Our first night was rough.  For one, it was really hot in the room.  Mix that with the fact that every time the other mother would open up the refrigerator it would make our entire room smell like kimchi, mixed with strawberries, and other items...it was not good!  It was so bad that poor Rachel got sick on her stomach and they had to give her some medicine.  Thankfully, the medicine made her super sleepy, so she had a great nights rest.  I was not so lucky, the bed I was sleeping on was more like a doctors exam table that you sit on when you go to the doctors office. Then,  another mom came to visit the mom who was in there and they stayed up until 1:00 am talking :(.  I was glad though that Rachel slept well!

The next day Josh came up to be with us (thanks to our wonderful friends for keeping our boys). Rachel was so glad to see her Daddy.  I love this picture of them....she was getting nervous again.  Josh started brushing her hair and reassuring her that everything was going to be ok.  Then we both prayed over her and I left to go with her to the operating room.

I was able to stay with her all the way until right before they took her back.  They asked her would she like to be put to sleep with me there or in the back in the operating room.  She said she wanted me there to hold her hand.  By this time, I was trying my best to hold my emotions together.  They gave her the medicine in her IV and I'm telling you within 10 secs she was out!  I wasn't expecting it to be that fast and when I saw her eyes roll back I just lost it....I knew she was going to be ok, but that was my baby they were taking back to operate on.  I got myself together and then went upstairs to be with Josh.  They had told us it would be anywhere from 3-5 hours before we would see her again.  It all depended on if there would be any complications removing the stone.

Would you believe that an hour later we got a text from the operating room saying that Rachel was out of surgery and would be in her room within the next 30 mins!!!  Josh and I couldn't believe how fast the surgery and her recovery time was! The doctor came in, showed us the stones ( which were small) and told us that Rachel did great!! It was SO good to see her smiling face again!!!  She was tired and sore, but doing well.

We had to stay one more night and by the next day around noon, she was up walking around and they were checking us out to go home!!

It's now been a week since her surgery and she is doing fabulous!!! We went for her follow up appointment on Friday and her stone analysis had come back.  It all came down to the fact that because of her family history she will be more prone to get a kidney stone and she needs to drink more water during the day, especially when she is at school.  That my dear friend, is an easy fix.  

Thank you all so much for the prayers that were sent our way!!!  

Until Next Time,

Michelle

Wordless Wednesday: Rachel's Winter Cheerleading

Day Date: Flying Pan Blue

Today, Josh took the day off, so since our three older kids were in school and our AMAZING housekeeper was here to watch Michael (we are truly blessed to have her), we decided to have a day date!  

There was a restaurant we have been wanting to go to ever since we arrived here called the Flying Pan Blue.  It was highly recommended by my dear friend and blog extraordinaire, Trish.  If you are moving to Korea or are already here and have not found her blog, I HIGHLY recommend that you do...you can find it here.  

Quick backstory about how we met, when we first found out we were moving to Yongsan the first thing I did was get on the computer and try to find out all I could about our new home. I looked and looked and could not find anything.  I could find blogs about Seoul, but not blogs that focused on being in the military and living here.  Somehow I stumbled upon Trish's blog, Six in Seoul. Her family was actually stationed here about 5 years ago and they have four kids, three boys and a girl, just like us. I immediately began reading it. She had SO much great information about living here ( things to do, places to eat, everyday life, etc.), that I ended up writing her a comment thanking her for leaving her blog up ( they had since moved to another duty station).  A couple of weeks passed and she wrote me back to say thanks and to let me know they were moving back here too!!  To make a long story short, we are now neighbors!  How crazy is that?

(taken back in the summer when we moved here)

Ok, back to our date.  I thought we were going to head straight to Itaewon, but Josh said he wanted to stop by the PX first.  Little did I know, he was planning to buy me a new watch!  I had been needing one for a while ( my last one broke )......and I love the one he picked out.

 After our little shopping trip, it was off to Itaewon for brunch.  The Flying Pan Blue was super easy to find ( we used Trish's directions).  It's located down an alley beside The Hamilton Hotel.

I didn't realize how small it was going to be.  The severs put us at a table that was in a little "nook" to the side.  We LOVED it...made our brunch more private.  This is the view from where we were sitting.

I loved how the light bulbs had wings on them <3

The food was AMAZING and the portions were HUGE!  I ordered Smoked Salmon eggs benedict and Josh ordered some type of pancakes that were covered with syrup, bananas, walnuts and topped with ice cream!!  Yes, you heard me right, ice cream and let me tell you, the food did not disappoint...it was SO good! I'm pretty sure we will be visiting the Flying Pan Blue several times before we leave Korea.

What a wonderful day, spent with my man.....

Until Next Time,
Michelle

Dragon Hill Spa...Korean Style

Today I got the chance to visit my first Korean spa.  I went with a group of ladies from our local PWOC group ( we had a board retreat day).  Korean spa's are located all around Seoul and are very popular, especially in the winter. One of the best ones around is The Dragon Hill Spa, which happens to be very close to Post and is where we went!

Several of the ladies who went with us had been before, which was great because they showed us exactly what to do and where to go. When you first enter the spa, there is a reception desk where you pay your admission fee (10,000 won) and are given your uniform ( a shirt/short set & hand towel).  They also give you a red or blue key ring, (red for women/blue for men), that is water and heat proof.  You use the key ring to open your lockers and to electronically scan anything extra you may purchase during your visit ( massages, facials, body scrubs, food, etc).

Next, it was time to place our shoes in the shoe lockers and head to get changed into our "uniform" for the day! This is where they separate the men from the women ( more about that later). We then proceeded to get on our respective elevator and head to the 3rd floor to change our clothes.  The 3rd floor is pretty much a big changing room with lockers to keep your belongings in, vanity tables, and a counter where you can purchase toiletry items, if you did not bring your own.

After we changed clothes, we went to the common area to enjoy some of the sauna rooms. The common area is a place where men, women, and children can go.  It had saunas of different  temperatures, arcade games, snack bar, massage chairs, sleeping rooms, etc.  A lot of families come here and spend the day just to relax.

A small group of us decided to try one of the "heated" rooms...it was 54 degrees C (127 F). We stayed about 15 minutes and then decided to go try out some different ones...(don't you love our uniforms..lol)

The outside of the sauna...

and inside...

Since we were so hot, we decided to try the cold one....it was 4 degrees C (39 F).  Some of our friends were in this one and telling us how cold it was, but after coming from the hot sauna it felt GREAT!

(yes, that's ice all around me)

Now, at the beginning of my post were you wondering why they separated the men from the women?  Well, here's your answer. This is also where I believe my stomach climbed up into my throat..lol.  In order to do the spas and to "truly" experience a Korean spa you have to get totally naked!  You heard me right, completely in the nude.  I'm a pretty modest, southern girl and when I first heard we were going to the spa, I swore up and down I would not go down to the bottom floor..that is where all the spas are, where you can get a body scrub, and where you have to be naked!  After a little encouraging from my friends and their good advice... "just keep the little towel (and I mean, handcloth they give you..see pic above) in front of you and look straight ahead", I decided to go.  So, half the group stayed in the common area and the rest of us went to the bottom floor. This is also where we left the cameras..sorry folks.

So, down the stairs we went!  The first thing we did was go to the showering area and clean ourselves.  Then it was off to the various spas...there were cold water ones, various hot ones, herbal spas, aroma spas and more.  We chose to get into two of the hot spas.  Honestly, after I got over the whole nakedness thing, I really did have a very relaxing time.

Next up, some friends wanted to do the body scrub...another adventure I said I would not do, but since I made it this far I thought why not!!  I handed the lady my key ring so she could scan it , then she motioned for me to lay down on the massage table.  Then she proceeded to throw a bucket of lukewarm water on me, place scrubbing pads on her hands and scrub my entire body.  Now, when I say scrub...scrubbing she did.  It felt like she was using brillo pads on me!  I thought for sure she had scrubbed an entire layer of skin off of me & I would look like a lobster when she got finished.....lol.  I will have to say though my skin is super soft!!

After our scrub it was time to head back to the common area and get ready to leave. I was really nervous about the whole "Korean" spa thing, but truly ended up  having a wonderful, relaxing morning!

Thank you ladies for a day I will never forget.....!!!

Until Next Time,
Michelle