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Adam and I are now surfers. Adam took a lesson on Tuesday with my dad and brother, and he loved it so much that we went again together yesterday. We’re hooked. We both did really well for beginners and caught several waves. We love it. :). We’ll post pictures soon. I think we’re going to go surfing again tomorrow afternoon.

In a couple of minutes, we’ll be off to see my cousins Becky, SC and Wade up at my aunt and uncle’s beach house. My Grandma Rau has been staying up there this summer, and we just found out that she’s in the hospital today. She has had cancer for a while, and she had a rough day today. I love her so much. She’s my hero. We’re going to visit her in the hospital this afternoon and then take my cousins back to Ocean City with us to spend the night. Tomorrow we’ll have a cook out at my older cousin, Lori’s house with almost all of the cousins and all of the aunts and uncles on my dad’s side. And Grandma. Even if she feels bad, I’m sure that she’ll be there tomorrow. She’s unstoppable.

It is so good to see so much family this week before Adam and I leave. After tomorrow evening, Adam will have met all of my extended family. The whole family is spread in all corners of the USA: New Jersey to Maryland to Illinois to Southern California to Seattle (and now to Korea).

It has been a great week, and there’s more fun to be had. Talk to you soon.

By the way, our visas came in today, so everything is now in order. We can get into Korea! :).

-Jessica

Hello from the Jersey Shore! We had a really nice morning with Mom and Dad L. They drove us to the Nashville airport early, so we had time to sit and have coffee together and start the day easily. When it came time for us to go to our gate, we all prayed together about our year ahead then gave each other tons of hugs and kisses and said good bye.

Our flight was pleasantly uneventful. I slept the whole time, and Adam read. We landed in Philadelphia and met up with my parents who have already been out in New Jersey for a week with friends. We went into Philly for lunch and saw some of the historical spots like the Liberty Bell, Liberty Hall, some place where Benjamin Franklin lived, and other cute, historical, brick and cobblestone places. Then we made our way back to the airport to pick up my brother and his wife, Jeff and Meg. I am so glad to spend the week with Jeff and Meg. They live in Southern California, so we don’t get to see much of each other. This is going to be a great week.

We drove up to Ocean City, and we got a whif of the sea. Ahh. Now we’re getting settled into the condo, talking about what the week will hold, and we’re about to head out for pizza and our first stroll of the summer on the boardwalk. This is the greatest place. We are just across the street from the boardwalk, less than a block from the ocean. Very soon, we’ll sit on the balcony and listen to and watch the waves.

:). It’s good to be on vacation. Have a great week.

-Jessica

Good morning. It has been a long day of packing, and I don’t think we’ll sleep before we depart for the airport at 6:00 a.m. Our bags are packed, but we realized that we don’t have the space to bring our 800+ CDs, so we’re feverishly ripping our favorite CDs onto our computers. Can’t live without my Bjork, U2, Imogen Heap and Christmas music.

Adam says hi. hey. hi guys. He’s falling asleep.

-JLo

Today is our last day in Nashville for a while. Adam is working hard packing our bags, and I’m at Sam & Zoe’s coffee shop checking in for our flight tomorrow and looking for emails regarding our visa. We now have so much empathy for people trying to emigrate or get green cards. We’re just trying to get work visas, and there are so many hoops to jump through. It will work out, but it’s more of a last minute process than I expected. I’m tired of having to learn patience!

We had a great party last night and saw a lot of good friends. Thanks Gene’ for hosting us. It was perfectly chill and a great send-off. We will miss our friends and family. We (specifically, I) have been pretty weepy today. A week at the beach is exactly what we need to get reset for the next phase. We’ll be there tomorrow.

Have a great day. Much love.

-Jessica

Today was my last day at work. It was a long but nice day. I feel a good sense of closure there. I had a good three weeks to train my replacement, Kelly, and she is well on her way to out-shining me. I had lunch with my department and interns on Friday, and they gave me thoughtful gifts and kids words. Many people have shared their intentions to pray for Adam and me, and I took the chance to talk to several people and tell them how I appreciate them. I am glad to go on such good terms, knowing that they’ll be great without me but happy to have me back if I come this way again. Thanks, EMI Christian Music Group.

I had a really nice experience with Kelly last week. She was feeling overwhelmed by all there was to learn for the job, and I was feeling overwhelmed by some kinks in our Korea preparations. She asked if I felt like taking a break, and we went to a picnic table out behind the building, and we prayed for each other. It was such a simple gesture, but it settled me. So often when I was young, my mom, dad or even a friend would take a moment to pray with me right at the moment I needed it, but somehow I forgot the value of that. Thank you, Kelly for reminding me of the value of prayer. Especially prayer at the moment it is needed.

This evening, Adam and I went to the Finch home. They are friends of ours from church, and the wife is Korean. She met her husband when he was stationed in Seoul in the 70’s, and they married and eventually ended up in Nashville. She invited us to their home for a Korean dinner with some of their Korean friends. It was a lovely evening. Conversation was a little slow in starting, but it became quite a beneficial and enjoyable evening. We learned some about cultural quirks and taboos. They also shared their perspectives of the English Village where we are going to work. We were really glad to hear that they knew of it and had positive impressions of it. It seems to be on the cutting edge of English language education over there. We are so excited to go.

One of the men told us that when he moved to Nashville, another Korean told him that Nashville is a boring heaven, and Seoul is a fun hell. Seems pretty telling.

They also talked about the relations with North Korea, and they assured us that we would be safe and that most South Koreans have a compassion for the oppressed Koreans within the North Korean borders. Apparently many South Koreans believe that Korea will be united again before too long. Adam and I keep shaking our heads in disbelief at what we are getting into. It feels like we are entering into something so significant, but we have no idea with that thing is.

Man, we can’t wait.

So, tonight we will go home (well, back to Granny’s where we’re staying until we leave) and watch an Alias DVD. Then, tomorrow we pack!

Much love. If you’re an EMI friend checking in, thanks again. I’m grateful for you, and I’ll miss you.

-Jessica

Hello. You may be stopping in to learn about our preparations for South Korea. Thanks for your interest. Adam and I have thought about revisiting this blog for a while, but we have been busied with all kinds of things like finishing our jobs, moving out of our house, releasing my CD, seeing as many friends as many times as possible, getting all of our paperwork for Korea in order, getting all of our personal business in order, and spending a little time with each other as well. It is a fun and overwhelming time. We feel that we are on the brink of a significant life change. We are moving to the other side of the planet after all.

We will be leaving Nashville this Saturday morning to spend a little over a week in Ocean City, New Jersey. This is the vacation spot of my childhood and one of my favorite places in the world. We will spend a very restful week with my parents and brother and sister-in-law before we leave from there to fly to Seoul on Monday, July 31 to arrive on Tuesday night, August 1.

So, here we begin again, and we will do our best to share this journey with you in an interesting, though not alway concise, way. Also, I apologize for our long silence on here. Adam and I have been through an interesting and difficult year in many ways, but we have come out on top and the stronger for it. It’s hard to write candidly when you are struggling, and so we opted not to write. Please think to pray for us while we go, especially in times of silence.

Thanks and we love you. We’ll share more as the journey unfolds.

-Jessica