20 Months

Twenty months of silence here on this lonely blog, but life here for our Munky family has been anything but silent. A quick recap to bring us up to now:

March 2010
After months of visits with several doctors in multiple cities, LMunk was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. She couldn't fully extend her left leg and it was pretty constantly swollen. She walked with a severe limp, and though she didn't complain, she tired out from walking pretty easily. We were able to be seen by the #1 pediatric rheumatologist and the #1 pediatric orthopedist in the country! LMunk began a course of medication that might help her condition, although there was about a 33% chance she might stay the same and about 33% chance she might continue to decline.

April 2010
GrampsH made a whirlwind trip to celebrate his and my combined 88th birthday. Fun!

June 2010
Our second trip to the rheumatologist in Seoul showed a bit of improvement in LMunk's JRA, so we continued with the medication.

July 2010
GrampsH returned with GramsH for a fun summer visit. We took a road trip down to some of the southern islands and saw some really beautiful parts of this country. GramsH and GrampsH got to experience a night in a traditional Korean house in an old island village.

August 2010
JMunk turned four and WMunk turned one, and somewhere between those birthdays we learned that baby VMunk was on the way!

The day before WMunk's first birthday we moved off-campus to a little one/two bedroom traditional beach house where we had lots of adventures in the year to follow, and that warrants its own post.

September 2010
I was asked to join the steering committee of Korea's first crisis pregnancy center. I've spent the last year working with the other officers and board members to get it up and running. They even gave me a title. I get to be the Director of Childbirth Education!I feel so privileged to get the opportunity to help women who have chosen life for their babies by ensuring they get a solid education in pregnancy and childbirth.

December 2010
We took a trip to Seoul to see the pediatric rheumatologist (Korea's very best) for a checkup on LMunk's JRA. We'd seen her doctor every three months since March and at the last appointment her test all came back clean. The doctor wanted us to continue with her medication in case her symptoms returned, but we'd been praying for God's healing, and I believed that if six months after her diagnosis her blood-work came back fine and she walked without a limp and hadn't shown any recent signs of discomfort, God must have healed her. So I stopped her medication. I didn't tell the doctor. At our December appointment, all of LMunk's labs came back completely normal! And her physical exam showed her to be perfectly healthy! God really did heal our girl, and even to this day she hasn't had any signs of relapsed symptoms!

December 2010-February 2011
After two and a half years, we finally got to return to the states for an eight week visit! We so carefully laid our plans, but as the Bible tells us in Proverbs 16:9, "The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." We sure did have a sweet time with family and friends, and it was a blessing to be able to bring home so many rich memories.

February 2011
Big snows! For weeks we had snow storm after snow storm. For us southerners, it was a huge deal, and we just hunkered down for days at a time. The girls loved making snow angels and snowmen and throwing snowballs. They loved taking walks in the snow even though it was up to their thighs. WMunk and his 8 month pregnant mama took it a little easier and snuggled up to stay warm in the beach house.

April 2011
VMunk was due three days before my birthday. JMunk was born on her due date, LMunk was a day early, and WMunk was three days early. Since I already share my birthday with GrampsH (or he shares his with me), I wasn't particularly keen on sharing the day a third way. And I couldn't imagine that laboring on my birthday would be any fun. So four days before my due date, labor started. And then it stopped. And then it started. And then it stopped, again and again and again over a full week's time. Our due date came and went, and I woke up on my birthday pregnant, not in labor. DMunk took me shopping all day far from home. We got back in town late, had dinner out, then went home for cake. I got about halfway through my slice when contractions really kicked in. It was around 10:00p.m. - on my birthday! - and there I was, fully in labor. We got to the hospital near midnight, and my little VMunk had a very timely birth at 2a.m., the day after my birthday. At least that's what her birth certificate says. To her GrampsH, and to all our family, and even to me, her birthday will always be the same as mine and GrampsH's, because in the timezone I was born in, it was still my birthday for several more hours when VMunk arrived. And I don't mind sharing a triple birthday. It's more fun.

June 2011
GrampsH and GramsH returned! It was just a short visit, but we were so grateful and so happy to have them around! And they were great sports squeezing into our little beach house with us. Eight people living in a one bedroom house with a tiny living room, microscopic kitchen, and just one indoor bathroom was nothing short of an adventure!

After their departure, we realized that having two more in the house really did make it more lively, so the girls each got a Guinea Pig. JMunk's was Happy Merry, and LMunk's was Ali Kapali.

July 2011
Our one year sojourn into the "real world" came to an end, and we packed up and moved back to the university campus where we were so kindly afforded a THREE BEDROOM apartment! It feels like a mansion to us! Who ever knew that such a small (by American standards) apartment could feel so huge! The children were happy to be around many friends their ages and have lots of space to play outdoors.

August 2011
JMunk turned five! And we added some fish to our little zoo. When DMunk had his birthday a week later, we added Bo and Luke Duke to the zoo.  And some more fish as the month drew on. WMunk turned two, and was very excited to get his first train set!

For JMunk, August was a really big month. She started back to piano lessons in earnest (she'd taken about a dozen lessons over the past year) three times a week, and she really loves it. And we officially opened the Issachar Academy, where JMunk is our first kindergarten student.

September 2011
Happy Merry and Ali Kapali both ventured on to piggy heaven last month. The girls were sad, but they've got a pretty healthy attitude about the little creatures.

What made September exciting for us was the purchase of our very own PIANO! DMunk and I finally feel like grown-ups, and our apartment really feels like home. It's so wonderful to have live music filling our home every day! 

And now it's October, and we've got lots of fun in store!