Surviving

It has been a rough couple of weeks for the Kolbes in Korea. Two weeks ago today, Max got sick with some sort of stomach virus that made her throw up a lot and stole her energy. Fortunately, I had the week of Sept. 20th off of school due to a Korean holiday called Chusok. We had made some fun plans for things to do as a family during my vacation, but they did not work out. Elisha and I did lots of things together while Corrie took care of Victoria, who eventually got better.

Just as Max recovered and got her energy back, I came down with what she had and Corrie contracted a cold. For a day or so, it seemed that Elisha would be spared, but then he also caught the stomach bug. The weekend of the 24th was not a good time for us, but we put out a call for help and, thankfully, some of our friends from school and Church helped us by cleaning the house, bringing food, and watching the kids (or at least Max who had more energy than the rest of us put together). I missed school on Monday and Tuesday. Going back Wednesday was hard, but I survived and since Thursday, things have been a lot better.

Yesterday, we went to Seoul Grand Park. A big park that has an amusement park and a zoo. We went to the zoo and had a wonderful time. Corrie and the kids had been there before on their own so they had a lot of fun showing me the animals. We saw gorillas, chimps, and monkeys, meerkats and prairie dogs, giraffes and pygmy hippos, but I think my favorite were the rhinos. They are so big and powerful looking. Going to the zoo was one of the things that we had planned to do during my Chusok break, but you read what happened to those plans. It was very nice to do something like that together as a family.

Victoria and Elisha both are talking up a storm. Max is using simple, but complete sentences and E is baby-babbling, but both of them are very cute. Elisha will be one in seventeen days! That's crazy!

Thank you all for your prayers and support. I don't know how we'd make it without our powerful God and loving Church-family and the care from all of our friends back home.