BABY, BABY! OH!

So in my absent-mindedness, I just realized that I completely forgot to post some of the most exciting news on the planet in this blog about Sarah and my lives here in Korea.

Sarah and I recently learned that we are going to be parents!!! We're having a baby!!! We're extremely excited and thank God for blessing us with this incredible gift, blessing, and new chapter of life.

(not Sarah's belly....just a picture for emphasis...LOL!)

Sarah is roughly 12 weeks along as of now and her due date is August 31st. We will be having the baby in Korea, and then we hope to be back in the states by sometime in late September or early October.

The decision to go through the pregnancy here in Korea was an easy one to make. Not only is healthcare extremely affordable for us here, but Sarah's Korean doctor is also incredible and extremely professional. The hospital here is top-notch, AND we have a good friend here on staff as a nurse as well.

Not to mention, Sarah would have had to travel back to the states in her 8th month (a big NO-NO) and would have had to find a new hospital/doctor without healthcare for the final month of the pregnancy and the delivery.

Bottom line, our first baby will be born here in South Korea. This in and of itself is an incredibly unique experience that we will carry with us the rest of our lives, as will our child.

We ask you all to keep us in your prayers over the next few months. We're SOOOO excited for this new part of the journey on our already exciting journey abroad!

VACAY...Korean-style!

Cool artwork in Seoul's subway underground

One of the coolest perks while teacher with EPIK is that you get a hefty amount of vacation time during the winter break.


Sarah and I were blessed enough to have off of school from January 19th all the way through February 6th (we combined our 10 alotted vacation days with some long weekends due to South Korea's Lunar New Year holiday).

Sarah and I overlooking Seoul near the base of Seoul Tower

Sarah and I traveled up to Seoul during the first few days of our vacation. We had held out in going prior to this, and therefore we sort of lumped a lot of the anticipated sight-seeing of hot spots all into one all-inclusive trip.


For those of you who don't know, Seoul is roughly the size of New York and London combined. There is too much to see and do all in one trip, so it's always best to plan your visit in advance and map out the subway line stops in an efficient way.

Sarah walking down a street in Insadong

We got to see many cool areas of Seoul,  including Itaewon (hot spots for Westerners) and Insadong (small-town strip with lots of local touristy markets). We also got to visit some historic sights, including the Korean War Memorial and Cemetary and the historic Gyeongbok Palace.

Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul

We finished off our time in Seoul doing some shopping (H&M baby!) and seeing an incredible theatre performance called "Nanta" (thinking Jackie Chan meets Hells Kitchen meets Stomp).

Sarah got called up on stage during the performance of Nanta!

From their we head southeast to an area known as Hwatcheon for their annual Ice Festival. There we had the chance to go ice fishing, ice sledding, and walk around ice sculptures...all along a really cool river/canal that runs through the town.

Hwatcheon Ice Festival

We ended the vacation by spending a week back home in Daegu, lounging around, watching movies, hanging with some friends, and finally spending a day at Elybaden Spa pampering ourselves with some much needed TLC.

While many people choose to use their vacation time to travel abroad in Asia (China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam), we were struck by how much Korea itself has to offer for travel and leisure. No matter which you decide, you will have a lot of fun and a lot to do!

All in all it was a FUN vacation, and we feel re-energized and are rearing to get back into teaching!