Newness

It seems like there is never a dull moment for us here in the Republic of Korea; so that is what this post is about. But, then everything I've posted on this blog has been new.

Tim and I's good friend Brad Hunt had a birthday in February so we spent a day walking around Seoul having a wonderful time with some of our dear friends here in Korea. It seems God continues to bless us with good friendships wherever we go.

Beautiful restaurant we went to 

On the subway with Mason, Clancy, and Alex

And I also had a birthday! I got to go home a couple weeks before my birthday I was able to go back to Indiana and see my family and some friends back home. I celebrated my birthday and Easter with my family which was a wonderful gift. It's amazing how special it can be to be able to spend a holiday back home with your family. My parents and siblings, and my "in-laws" still make me feel so loved when I go to visit them, especially on my birthday! I was only back in Indy a couple weeks and I spent quite a bit of time trying to locate Trigger, so I didn't get to see as many friends as I would have liked but I knew I'd be going back to Indy for a couple months this summer. I'll try to catch up with y'all then!

Love them all so much!

 My friends here in Korea also made Easter and my birthday very special. Clancy lives two doors down from Tim and I and she had us over for breakfast on my birthday - so fun and thoughtful! We went to church afterwards and it just happened to be the Sunday that the congregation sang "Happy Birthday" to the March birthdays. So I got to stand up in front of the whole church. After church, we met up with some friends from Kunsan AB who were visiting for the day. We all had lunch and Clancy surprised me with a homemade lemon cake! So delicious! And then Mason surprised me with a funfetti lemon cake he had made for me; so sweet (literally)! I felt showered with love from friends :) Tim got me what I've been wanting: a Korean mother-of-pearl jewelry box - gorgeous! Then to top off the evening, Tim took me to a delicious dinner at Pasta Vino - a yummy Italian place in Songtan. It was a lovely day!

Yummy birthday breakfast thanks to Clancy!

Thanks Clancy :)

My wonderful husband

Lunch at Chili's with cake!

My Korean jewelry box

Cake from Mason!

Some other new things around here are as follows:

* Well, you've met Roki if you read my last post but he is just too cute:

Mr. Mischevious

He loves water, go figure, but he loves the sink, the toilet, and even the shower ;)

He also likes to sleep in some odd places, like luggage...

...or the laundry basket

But he also crosses his paws like Chloe does!

* We got a scooter! And I've even learned to drive it! I ended up on the sidewalk outside the BX already (haha) but no one was on the sidewalk so no big deal ;) I'm still figuring it out, but I did drive all the way from the middle of Base to our home off Base so I figure that is pretty good.

No motorcycle, but at least I can drive this one!

* I make Korean yakimandu! Well, someone else makes it and I heat it up on the stove ;)

Yakimandu...our favorite street food

Mmmm-mmm good!

* Tim and I got named as a Fiend and a Fiendette! Tim's name is "Check" for "Check Six". For those of you who don't recognize that phrase it means to always watch your "6 o'clock", your back, while up there in the air flying; the squadron Tim is now part of uses "Check Six" as their motto of sorts so it is all over their Fiend party suits and shirts. So it was a natural thing to name Tim! He has been called "Check" for a while now but now it's his official call sign, at least until we go to the next assignment. By the way, out squadron is the 36th Fighter Squadron and our mascot is a Fiend...whatever that is ;) So the guys are called Fiends and the wives/fiances/girlfriends are "Fiendettes". That brings me to my name. Not every squadron names the wives/girlfriends as well, but the 36th does. We wives have to fill out a questionnaire before our "naming" party; one of the questions I had to answer was what my pet-peeve was. I said when Tim cuts his toenails and leaves the clippings sitting in a little pile on the coffee table - gross. Especially when I find the pile as soon as a guest walks into the living room - embarrassing and gross ;) Anyway, so they named me "Thirty" as in Nicki Thirty Six...Thirty Six, like our squadron. I think the ladies couldn't pass up naming me Thirty because of our last name. And it stands for "Toenail-Hating Innocent Religious Talented Youth"; it's a good name but not so sure about that acronym ;) So Tim and I are Check and Thirty around the squadron now.

Nicki "Thirty" Six

Andrea became "LOLO" and Jaimie became "SKOUT" - fun night!

The last thing I wanted to mention in this post was the state of things over here in South Korea. As I'm sure most if you have heard, the political climate with North Korea is pretty tense over here right now. That much is true, but what has been reported in the US is about as much as we know over here. That is pretty much all I can say about that right now, and honestly that is about all I know. Tim isn't at liberty to say anything different even if he knew more, not that I know he knows more. He doesn't say and I don't ask. It's safer for us all that way :) But Tim and I did have a lunch date the other day on a rooftop to watch the B-2 and F-16s flyover - very cool! Obviously that doesn't happen often ;) I see F-16s and A-10s frequently, but not B-2s. I always get a little bit of an eerie feeling when I see a B-2 but they are still pretty neat to see. Never a dull moment when you live overseas!

It was foggy that day so we could barely see them in the distance at first

Pretty cool!

Well, my friends, that is all I have for now but I will try to post again soon once I have more interesting things to say/show. We are going to Thailand in a couple weeks for a couple weeks, then Tim is off for some training within S. Korea and I'll be going to China for the Great Wall Marathon in mid-May! So excited for both trips and will post more after we get back from those. Then I'll be back to Indy for June and possibly July. Tim is still waiting to hear if he'll be in the States for some training this summer; if so, he will probably get to visit Indy as well for a little bit. Thanks for all your love and prayers! We miss y'all :)

Much love,

Nicki