Family Update

OK, so here's the latest scoop on our family.

Emma handled the return to Korea pretty well. Her teacher at her preschool said she was speaking in English for the first few days. Emma's Korean returned to normal just in time for summer vacation. The school is closed for two weeks in the summer and winter.
On Tuesday morning, Emma came into our bed for a little while. When it was time to get up, she said, "I think I need to throw up." Sarah rushed her to the bathroom just in time for Emma to puke in the sink. Emma spent most of Tuesday either puking or sleeping. Our friend Helene got the unsavory task of cleaning up after Emma while we were at English Camp. Today, Wednesday, Emma seems to have gotten over the vomiting, but she still slept most of the day. Around 3pm, she started to show life again, and she felt good enough to request McDonalds for supper.

Sarah and I are working at KNU's Summer English Camp. It's actually kind of fun. In the afternoon today, I helped with the sports festival. We had all kinds of relays (balls, hula hoops, human wheel barrels), and the kids and adults had lots of fun watching the chaos of colliding balls and bodies. Good laughs all around there.
Sarah is busy administering her annual makeover to our home that follows our trip to the USA. Every year, she buys some new material or other decorative touches, always under the guidance of her artsy sister Elizabeth. She has installed some new shelves, and she is planning new pillows for the couch and new curtains for our room.

My back pain is back. Sunday night, when I was laying down to go to sleep, suddenly shooting pain went from my left shoulder blade to my neck. This is very similar to what happened this winter, so I decided to take action immediately. I went to the doctor on Monday morning, and she said it's probably just a muscle problem. Unfortunately, it is likely to recur. She prescribed some muscle relaxers, and she said regular stretching will help. There's no more shooting pain, but I'm still stiff.
I recently found out about the fall soccer tournament for Nazarene "youth" in Korea. Here "youth" is defined as anyone under 30, so I still qualify. We're trying to field a team from our church, and some of my buddies from pool night might also play. The first game is in late August. I'll keep you posted.

Also, Sarah, and I just finished reading Open House by Elizabeth Berg. It was an Oprah Book Club book, but we weren't overly satisfied. The basic story is that the lead character's husband moves out and files for divorce. In the process, she has to rediscover who she really is. She makes some new friends and tries some new things and grows quite a lot amid all the grieving. The biggest downer for us was that when her husband tried to reconcile, she spurned him (based on her newfound self-knowledge and confidence). However, at times, the writing was excellent, especially in getting at the emotions of the lead character. It was so realistic that I wonder if the author wasn't being autobiographical occasionally. I'll give it 3j's. It was OK, but not great.