its almost time

We have been apart for 8 weeks now, and have 2 weeks left!! woohoo!! We all survived! It was a lot harder on Jake than me. I have the kids, schedule, and life keeping me very busy here. Jake comes home to an empty apartment, and living in a foreign country. People often forget about him (us) when we are gone, and think "Oh he's just busy" which he is very busy, but he is still alive, and loves hearing from people! This has been the biggest challenge living overseas how disconnected we feel. I am so grateful for our family, and friends who truly make a huge effort to make sure to keep up with us! We so appreciate it. 2 weeks no more long distance for us!! This was the longest time we have been apart, and not sure if Jake will let it happen again! lol

Jake has had 4 quality starts out of 6, and getting into the groove of things. He pitched last night 6 innings 2 runs (1 earned) 5 strikeouts, and a loss (AGAIN.)  It's kind of hard to get wins when you don't have run support (we lost 2-1) .. Jake has pitched pretty well so far minus a game or two, but we can't get any run support so has only had 1 win...

Here are his latest games minus the one from tonight.

						Date Opp Role Dec ERA WHIP IP NP R ER H HR SO BB HB GS 4/19 @NC SP W 1.13 0.75 8 94 1 1 4 1 8 2 0 76 4/13 @Doosan SP L 3.00 1.33 6 97 2 2 3 0 2 5 1 54 4/7 Kia SP L 6.14 1.50 7 ⅓ 108 5 5 9 1 6 2 0 44 4/1 Samsung SP 7.20 1.80 5 98 4 4 8 1 7 1 2 39 3/27 @LG SP 3.00 1.50 6 102 2 2 7 0 7 2 0 55

Hopefully we can start getting some runs, and wins! I know we will, its so early in the season! Two weeks ago Jake was shagging balls during live bp, and got struck in the back of the neck with a line drive. He didn't even know he got hit, and couldn't feel his body for a few minutes or his pitching arm for about 20 minutes. He puked, and pretty sure he had a concussion. It was very scary for him thinking his career may be over when he couldn't feel his arm. STUPIDLY, he didn't seek medical attention (other than the trainers) or go the hospital. He doesn't really believe in doctors it's amazing God has given him a gift to be smarter than doctors so felt like he didn't need to go... BOYS.... I know why he didn't want to go because he was pitching the next day, and didn't want to miss a start! Thankfully he woke up and felt fine other than sore. He seems to be okay and thankful it wasn't as serious as it could've been.... Of course all of us here were freaking out, and very worried about him... That ball had to hit him over 50 mph if not double that..

Some exciting things other than getting hit in the head.. Jake has been doing the first "baseball chapel" in Korea.. He started it a few weeks ago with Jen our great friend who works with FCA. Jake had a few guys show up so that was really exciting! In the states there is something called baseball chapel, and each team has a chaplain who gives a short message on Sundays since they can't go to church. Usually the chaplain's wife will do one for some teams (mostly in AAA) and was a great resource for us ladies. I have always loved baseball chapel, and they send out morning devotions on email I have done for as long as I can remember. Jake isn't sure how well this will do, but even if one guy comes is great! He has another friend coming on Friday, who is a really cool guy. Grew up in Texas someone from our church knows him well, and he moved back to Seoul with his wife and two boys a fews ago. He doesn't speak really good Korean, teaches at a very popular international school. I wish I could tell all of his story, but can't for privacy and security reasons. He is coming on Friday to the field. 

Jake has another foreign player on the team, Michael who was there last year in July, and they get together a lot! The pitching coach is also American who played for nexen I want to say over 6 years, and that has been awesome for Jake to have his pitching coach be American. He is the only one in Korea. None of the wives are there yet since everyone has school age children. The Brighams and I leave in 2 weeks and Im freaking out!!! I am dreading that flight and think age 1-2 is by far the worst to fly. Cope will be quite the handful, and not sure how I'm going to do this other than us doing loops the entire time on the plane. He doesn't sit still at all anymore. We thought about doing the night flight, but think he would do best with flying during day and then hopefully sleeping half of it through the night. Lots of prayers May 9th for our 24 hours journey over. 

When I booked 5 non refundable flights is the day I went to the doctor for Cope again. He has been sick for months now. I told him we are moving in a month, and the doctor said I would not fly with him. When we flew to Arizona his ear drum ruptured.. poor guy. So I called the ENT, and they didn't have anything until the end of May. I begged them, and explained our situation obviously he didn't technically meet the requirements yet of how many ear infections (4 in 3 months) he needed for tubes, but was getting up there. They said if they had a cancellation would try to get me in sooner, but got in April 26th. Then we had to go back to the doctor again, and he said I really would try calling back so I did, and was able to be moved up to the 23rd of April which really was pushing it on time and surgery. We anxiously waited to get in and saw 3 doctors that day. The first hearing test one said his hearing was borderline as we thought the way he pronounces words. She said no way will he get tubes before we leave, and needs to be re evaluated in a month.. umm thanks, but your not helpful.. The next two doctors were amazing, and both agreed he needed tubes!! They also were concerned about the long flight and what it might do to his ears. The doctor said it might be really hard to get on the books, but he would go check. Came back and said how about tomorrow? I almost puked. NO TIME to panic, and I was so relieved along with so grateful!!! God had answered our prayers, and was appreciative for a few doctors who cared about Cope. My mom and I left with him at 6:40 am, and Robin took Stella for the morning. Cope did amazing, and woke up a little fussy but after that was back to his normal self! We couldn't believe how quick he bounced back. It was really hard on Jake not being here with him for that. He was relieved for Cope, and us to get this taken care of, but knows we have been under a lot of stress lately. I am praying now my kids can both start feeling better before our journey over. 

I am so excited for our family to be reunited and our adventures of Korea. I really want to enjoy this year, and not focus on coming home. I have thought lately since we are "old" this might be our last season... I hope it's not, and want to just enjoy our time over there experiencing SK together, and traveling as much as we can! In a blink we are 30! I really feel like we are still 19, and just started dating. Its incredible looking back to see all the places, and people we have met from this little white ball! The Brighams will stay a little over 2 weeks, and will help us get settled. We will miss everyone, but am thankful for technology!!