The Been Briefing

the past few days have been absolutely ridiculous. may i just say that again? ridiculous.

adventure #1: sarah gets my room when i'm gone... so i had to scrounge for boxes. where does one go to scrounge for boxes?? where else but walmart at midnight? has anyone else noticed that walmart is a culture all its' own? and walmart at midnight reaches a whole new level of culture? ha ha! i definitely feel strangely out of place there sometimes. anyway, mission accomplished, got the boxes, and now i'm about to start packing things up.

adventure #2: was still waiting for my letter of invitation and my ticket to arrive from korea by thursday morning.... bad sign. especially since it takes 24 business hours to process the visa at the consulate in d.c. and my plane leaves tuesday morning. you can imagine the prayers going on... what are they trying to do to me? give me an ulcer? LOL. my dear friend bonnie drove from the valley to make the trip up to d.c. with me... the papers finally arrived around 11am thursday (thank You, Jesus). we were packed and heading up 95N by noon.
yeah... well, we didn't really have a plan when we left (yeah... bonnie's a P... i'm a J - we figured this out on the trip) but we successfully managed the dc metro. "where are we, bonnie?" "i have no idea... you ask that guy. he looks nice." "i always ask. why don't you? ohhh, never mind." "i guess on the elevator the standers stay on the right and the walkers, the serious movers, power-walk on the left side."
"where the heck is the korean consulate? "um, i think it's that way... i don't think we're going the right direction. the numbers keep getting bigger. "holy mackeral, look at these buildings... which one's the korean flag? "ruth, you don't know the korean flag? "um..."
"uh, bonnie... i forgot my visa pictures..." "oh no... wait! look, here's a place to take them. uh not just one picture, but four, one right after another." "ruth, yeah... they look pretty bad... you weren't expecting that, were you? "bonnie, i forbid you from showing these to anyone. "oh look, they have everything for people like us. need more money, here's an ATM. need a computer w/ internet, here you go. even scissors and glue for your passport picture."
"bon, everybody speaks korean here. what am i thinking?"
me [filling out my visa application]: um sir, i don't know what my address or phone number is in korea. is that okay?
the korean man [holding up the letter of invitation- ALL in korean - giving me a 'you stupid american' look]: it's on here.
me: oh right, yeah, [completely embarrassed] since i know korean. LOL.

totally exhausted from d.c. stress and traffic, bonbon and i drove down to fredericksburg to spend the night at my sister rebekah and her husband bryan's home. it was SO wonderful to see them and little micah and nathan. bekah gave me a book with pockets to put stuff in that i want to keep. i promised bry i'll be broadcasting how amazing .heretoday. is (that's his band). how cool is that? my korean children will know about .ht. anyway, we prayed together and lots of hugs. phew. it's hard saying goodbye to bekah. i think i've started to go into denial mode. saying goodbye is emotionally overwhelming. i can't handle it.
then yesterday we had to do it all over again to pick up my visa. bon and i met our friend becca schooley at the metro (becca's going to spend a year in india with YWAM... leaves monday. holy mackeral!) and she went up with us. after picking up my visa we went to the korean cultural society, and i picked up some FREE (yessssssss!) korean maps and a travel book.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. tickets in hand. visa in passport. and i don't want to spend ANY MORE MONEY! ugh.

adventure #3: last night my college roommate lindsey martin drove up from williamsburg, and bon, linds, and i went to my starbucks. i took lots of pictures (digital cameras are FUN!). bon gave me a beautiful mug that a woman from colorado made (woohoo)! it reminded her of the mountains. so so beautiful. i can't wait to use it. bon started crashing, but linds and i had to have 1 more late-night sleepover.... out come the aerobeds and my down comforter, My Favorite Blanket, and my lamb. we stayed up late - lots of laughing to do. :)

it's saturday now, and i have to settle in to pack. hopefully will get to see devin and everyone from starbucks once more... and hopefully aaron chapman - old married woman that she is now ;) - before i head out. and of course.. family. still stuff to do.