A Little Moore Perspective AFTER Korea

Times, they are a-changin.  I can’t believe that we have been here for 2 months already!  And in that time I have seen many changes.  Walking to school, I went from being in sunlight to walking directly INTO the sun.  The days are getting shorter.  I went from being exhausted and feeling-like-I- need-another-shower-sweaty, to being slightly winded and chilly.  The students stopped screaming and cheering when I enter a room and now just greet me with an excited “Hi!”  We can now drive around the city in the back of the taxi and recognize where we are going.  We can see pictures of our city and find it familiar.  And when I walk home, I am incredibly blessed by a view of a mountain with changing trees on one side and a beautiful sunset on the other. 

Our children are changing daily and I am constantly surprised by how big they are getting and the new things they are learning and are capable of.  David and I are changing, too.  We have grown so much closer in this city where we really have few obligations or social commitments other than each other.  I have seen David blossoming in his new role and I can see how much better of a relationship he has with our children now because of it.

But there are more changes to come. 

Recently we had to make a decision about when we would be leaving Chuncheon and our home here.  After much prayer and consideration, we decided that we will be heading back to the States at the beginning of March.  Because in April we will have another baby.  In Korean, “oggie” means baby, and until he is born, we will call him Big Mac.

Actually, for a while I thought we should call him “sneaky” since he managed to hide from us until after we got here.

When we were considering whether moving to Korea was an opportunity we should take advantage of, we spent a lot of time praying together and asking the Lord whether we should go or not. When we first looked into the possibility, it seemed like it wouldn’t work due to many reasons, but particularly because of having a family and the commitment and expenses that would mean for the school. But as time went on, things began to change. We got in touch with a recruiter that told us that bringing a family over was no problem, and they were able to answer many of our questions and put to rest some of the misconceptions we had gotten from other people. God prepared our way and gave us peace about going.

However, one of the big questions we had before we left for Korea was whether or not Sarah was pregnant. She had had a couple cycles since Cadence was born, but then they stopped again. We did not want to sign a contract committing to teach for a year if we knew we could not keep it.

So we prayed “Lord, if we find we’re expecting, we won’t go.” We decided that would be one of our clear answers that we should stay home instead. So just to be sure, Sarah took a pregnancy test in July, which was negative. Still not seeing any signs, she took another just before we left in August. Again, negative. So with 2 negative tests we signed the contract and left for Korea.

Not long after we had settled in our new place in Chuncheon, Sarah still had not seen any signs so she took another test. This time it was positive! We were excited but also wondered what this meant for us since it was still so early into our trip, and by this time we had no idea how far along she was. With all these questions in our minds, we just let it be for a while. We knew that eventually we would need to determine how far she was, so we sought out a womens clinic.

Sarah explained the situation to the doctor who seemed a little confused.
“Did you take a urine test?” he asked.
“Yes, and it was positive, but I had 2 negative before this”.
“Well, you’re pregnant then!”
“No, you don’t understand. We don’t know how far pregnant I am! We need to figure out the due date”

He took us back to get an ultrasound. The baby was immediately visible on the screen. “Oh my, big baby!” he said. It sure was! The measurements showed this baby to be 14 weeks old. It was awesome getting to see one of our children only 14 weeks old on the ultrasound for the first time.

But how could that be? According to the dates, she was pregnant all during that time when she took 2 tests that showed negative? We’ve never had a wrong test before. And why haven’t there been any side effects (haha!  I love that he called it a “side effect!”) of her being pregnant? Or had there been? It seems that with the travel, a new job and the hike every day to school, it was easy to explain away being extra tired. And with all the new foods and smells (some of them extremely revolting!), it was easy to imagine why she might feel sick now and then. It didn’t take long for us to realize that we asked the Lord to give us a specific answer on whether we should go or not and in this way he did, by hiding this from us until the time was right.

Sarah had a rough time with it at first. She felt discouraged knowing we would possibly not be able to finish the year. She knew the Lord could even take away her cycles completely if he wanted us to see it through. But that wasn’t the plan He had for us. Cadence’s birth is also still really fresh in her mind, which was very intense for her, so she felt a little anxious knowing she was already so far along with this next one.

We both feel strongly that one of us should be home all the time to raise our children, and with Sarah being the one teaching, I was excited to take a turn staying home with the kids while continuing to run my business from a remote office. But we both agree that a new baby is Sarah’s arena, and her working after having a new child wasn’t a postion we wanted to be put in. The contract provides 2 months of maternity leave, and we considered whether or not we could stay. But that would involve the school rearranging Sarah’s schedule to teach all 4 classes back to back and even still she would be gone for 5 hours each day for the final 4 months. The more we weighed both options and again prayed, the more strongly we felt going home where Sarah can have this baby and stay home is the best option.

As we have moved forward with this decision, everything else has worked out wonderfully. The school was very sad to hear Sarah is leaving, which is hard, but it’s also a good thing as they really love her and hate to lose her. They were very happy with our offer to stay through for 6 months.

We knew that this situation was temporary, but we didn’t know how temporary.  We are sad to leave, for sure, but SO excited to welcome a new baby!  And while things for us are changing, we are so grateful that God is faithful and never changes.  Though I was questioning His timing (see Daddy’s Girl), now it is easy to see that His timing is perfect and allows the best possible situation for everyone involved.  We will stay to complete six months, which allows us to keep the flight reimbursement and the settlement fee.  If we leave earlier, we would have to pay these back.  But the six month mark is also when the school changes school years, so it is perfect timing for the school to write me out of the schedule and possibly write in a new teacher.  The six month mark is also the longest we can stay and still be considered safe for me to fly home, so this is the best for Big Mac, too!

While I was discouraged at first, God has totally changed my heart and I am so thrilled to have another baby right now.  I am really looking forward to a new little teeny-teeny, and Ezekiel can’t wait either!  He keeps calling him Baby Pretty.  We will be working with Cadence on how to say “baby,” and I will probably start a collection at work for suggestions for Korean middle names.

We are very excited to be coming home early as we miss everyone, but also sad that our time here will be cut short. But with 4 months still left we are confident there is still a lot to do and learn before we leave.

And by the way, it’s a boy!! :)