It has been well over a year since my last post and what a year it has been. I have finally decided to come back to our blog after this long hiatus for many reasons but mainly because I love to reminisce and remember because when I do I become more and more thankful for the life god has choose for me and the many people he has brought to me.

Today as I was out for my morning run the last year ran through my head like a movie reel. So much so that I knew I needed to get it out of my head and into my blog. The need is there not only for me but so someday I can show this to Stella when I explain to her just how amazing her little spirit was from day one. Also, I want Sophia and Stephen to have this to remember too. What a year we have been through. What started as turmoil and stress has ended in blessing beyond our wildest dreams.

So I will back up now start from the beginning. On February 7th,2012 in Daegu, South Korea I went in for a second (yes I did say second) induction in hopes that this time around I would love the hospital with a bouncing baby in my hands instead of waddling out with a baby still bouncing in my stomach. This time around Stephen stayed with Sophia until my water broke and I was ready to push. So my labor was spent in a  hospital with nurses who did not speak my language. I learned quickly during my epidural that even with the language barrior the strong grip of a nurses hand and her caring demeanor calmed me down in no time.

Long story short after a few pushes all 7 lbs  of Stella Grace Thompson popped right out. She was amazing, perfect and I thought she looked just like me :)  From all accounts she was happy, healthy and perfectly fit right into our family.

Hello world.. It's been a while

Sorry for the lack of post here lately. We have been busy busy here at the Thompson house the last few months. Not to mention I am big , fat and Pregnant which in turn means I spend the majority of my down time (be it few and far between) Dozing off on the couch by 8 pm.....

So I will catch you up on the last few months..

OCTOBER
October was lots of fun.. We did a little sight seeing and purchased what we like to call our "Hoopty." AKA: very cheap car to get us from Point A to point B. With our new wheels we finally had a little more freedom here.



Here is our sweet new ride, circa 1996 baby!! Everytime I get in this car I feel like I need to blare Oasis , Alanis Morrisett .. maybe a little Radiohead?


Next up : Halloween
Our Sweet lil princess was the cutest Candy corn girl around. She was so cute she won first place in the costume contest :) Following in a long standing family tradition of winners. Stephen had many a win in his younger years and my Diet Coke can costume swept all the costume contests back in the day ;)

Always posing for the camera

NOVEMBER
November started getting cold here in Daegu and boy are we not use to the cold weather. In Georgia 50 was cold so we had to break out the winter coats and start to get acclimated. Sophia, always a lover of accessories was overjoyed when she got to wear  her Hello Kitty hat and finally use her new winter gloves.


Mid-November I finally put on my big girl pants, Sucked it up and got my drivers license. I was more than nervous to drive in the country. The Koreans, as sweet as they are, cannot drive. Not even a little bit. So my fear of driving here was very justified.
Lets put it this way, I have used my horn more in the last few weeks than in my entire life back in the states. I am also guilty of having a few bouts of road rage (but I will blame that on the pregnancy hormones;) Seriously, If I go into labor early it will probably be in the car. Mostly likly due to my blood pressure going through the roof. , All while I am dodging a 90 year old Korean meandering in the middle of the (very busy) street, while the cab driver next to me decided that my lane looks better than his so he will just come on over (even though my car is obviously using this particular lane of traffic)

DECEMBER
We started out December with our baby girl turning 3 years old. Can you believe it? She is 3 going on 13. Our lil diva  princess is turning into quite the little lady. She is all girl, despite Stephens attempts to thrown in a random train or race car here and there. She loves her princess dress and tutu's. You will find her dancing around our house in her princess crown and jewels at just about anytime of the day.

Dont mind the expression.. She was not wanting her picture taken

enjoying cake with two of her friends

Only a few weeks later I turned the big 3-0
You heard me right! I have joined the 30's club and have to say It's not so bad!! Stephen and Sophia spoiled me as usual and brought home a very yummy Birthday Ice cream cake (my favorite). Warning .. You may gain 5lbs just looking at this cake .. It was THAT good.

Christmas was bitter sweet this year. We were together as a family but were absolutely missing our family back in the States.
This was the first year Sophia was really excited about Santa. She was on her best behavior for the man in red. Stephen, who has acquired a Santa suit (HOW COOL), dress up Christmas eve and read our sweet Sophia a Christmas story before bed. She was beaming with excitement and couldn't stop talking about Santa coming to visit. (Is my husband not the BEST ??)

Christmas morning Skype session with Gma J

Waiting so paitently for Stephen to finish watching his football game so we could open presents.

Skyping with nannie and paw paw

Our rockin little princess

If this isn't the cutest picture ever!!

Yes! She is my kid.. you would never know though with her organizational skills ;)  

That brings us up to date. Now that that holidays are almost over we are starting to gear up for Stella. She will be here in exactly 2 months.She is doing great!! She is a totally different baby than Sophia. She never stops moving and midnight dance parties in my belly are her favorite. Sophia was a lazy baby. I don't think I would have known she was in their if she didn't get the hiccup's all the time.
We have been slowly getting the nursery ready and I have been trying to prepare myself for the sleep deprivation I will soon encounter.

Here I am at 28 weeks with Stella in there growing strong. I am at 31 weeks now and feeling big as a house. 8 more weeks to go !!

Sophia is super excited to be a big sister. Although she is 100% positive that everything in Stella's room is hers .. not Stella's.. uh oh.

That is about all from South Korea. We are missing everyone lots but have been really enjoying our time here in South Korea. We can't wait for it to warm up so we can start exploring the area a bit more.

Lots of love,
The Thompson fam :)

School days

Our latest adventure is in education.

After much though and prayer we decided to put Sophia in a English/Korean preschool. It has been an experience for sure but she LOVES it.

Hesitent at first, Stephen and I couldn't be happier with the school and the amazing cultural experience Sophia is getting.

Thank goodness for technology! Sophia's teacher is able to text me with pictures and messages about Sophia each day. (oh I am so that mom and I just can't help it:/)

One of the perks of this school is it is free :) I have agreed to teach english to her older students a few days a week in exchange for free tuition! Yay!

Here are a few pictures on Sophia and her class. Our little blond haired baby always stands out In a crowd but she really sticks out in her classroom;)

And for your viewing pleasure... I threw in a few of my first official preggo pics. 19 weeks and counting!! We have almost hit the half way point folks! So excited !!!

Last thing ... Sophia loves to skype (so do we) so any family and friends out there ... this is your friendly reminder to get on skype and add us:)
Lots of love !!!
The Thompson fam


Her preschool class and teacher Ms. Cloie



Making riceballs at school.. Thats right! Our picky little eater now eats rice :)



Her and some of her friends!!



Waving to her mama ;)





Almost 19 Weeks (or 5 months) Pregnant with our Little Stella

My Baby Girl(s)

Almost home

Our Korean journey continues with our first bullet train ride. The ride was great and the Korean country side beautiful. However, getting 6 pieces of luggage , 4 carry ons, a car seat, a stroller and a very cranky two year old off in three minuets was another story. Thanks to some good ol fashion thompson team work we made it with everything & everyone.
Now we are looking at a 15 night stay in a hotel. After that we will say hello to our new home. Oh the beauty that is military housing. It is nothing fancy but it beats living in a hotel room!

Day one in daegu was spent walking all over. This post is so tiny I not only ran into one of the only three people I know here but also ran into Stephen. Totally different from Benning but I really do think we will like it here.

The first week here was filled with army mumbo jumbo .. aka a lot if hurry up and waiting, mindless briefings where someone reads word for word from a slide. ( I hate when ppl do this btw) Then some more waiting..

Our second weekend was spent exploring what is downtown daegu. I think i died and went to shopping heaven!! Store after store of very cool very corky stuff. These Koreans have a style all their own. Its a bedazzlers heaven ...even their appliances have flare!! I mean I have always wanted a pink sparkly refrigerator... But who would have guess they really exist!!!

We have indulged in the korean food. Stephen is in heaven ... I am still Leary. Case In point..I was so excited to eat what I though was a chicken skewer. These things looked amazing and smelled even better. Bless the man who spoke just enough English to warn me those were chicken hearts. Ugh!!

Oh and I bet you didn't know our sweet Sophia is a star? Well no, but it sure feels that way. The koreans love here and she loves the attention and occasional free gift lol .

Lastly, Stella is doing wonderfully at a whopping 6 oz. We met our doctor who speaks absolutely no english but seems nice :) we have a very nice translator who at times I feel I need a translator to understand lol. Oh the joys of an overseas birth. Honestly , we were very impressed and I am feeling a lot better about this whole baby in Korea thing :)

Hope that catches you all up!

Lots of love !
The Thompson fan

Ps this was written on my I phone which has a mind of it's own. That said ..I Blane all mistakes on the I phone also that's why the pics are so random.

Hello Korea!

In the past few months I have tried hard to imagine what to expect when we touched down in Korea. I had images in my mind but man it is NOTHING like I ever thought it would be.

Much cleaner, much more metropolitan  and so beautiful. The colors at night , the green trees and mountains during the day. Seoul is absolutely beautiful. We really do like it here. The Koreans are very friendly and LOVE Sophia... Sometimes to a point of freaking the poor girl out lol. 

Our flight was long. Made longer by a 2 hour delay on the tarmac. Sophia had her moments. There were a couple times I contimplated jumping from the plan;) After 27 hours of straight travel we touched down in Seoul. We hit a few speed bumps trying to get max out of customs but after a few phone calls we were able to have him the next day:) 

Our Hotel is pretty nice and in a great location for us to walk or take cabs just about everywhere. 

I am lucky enough to have a friend here so on Thursday we went to the Aquarium and Sophia LOVED it!! We also ventured out on our own the other night and found a Korea restaurant . No one spoke English but we were able to figure out what to eat and everything was delicious. That right there gives me hope ;)

We are staying here in Seoul until Stephen is finished in Processing into his unit. Once that is over we will head down to Dague where we hopefully have a on post house (aka tinie tiny apartment)  waiting for us. Fingers crossed.

We are all doing well and really enjoying our time here so far. People are friendly and the weather has been great! Now if we could just shake this darn jet lag ...

Here are just a few pictures from our trip :)


Six pieces of luggage, four carry on's, a stroller, a toddler and a car seat= A lot of work !!



I thought I would share a happier moment from the flight ...

Fun at the aquarium

This is some kind of beef bulgogi .. It looks gross but it was sooo yummy!!

Much Love !
The Thompson fam!

Last post from the States

Moving is never easy. Lets faces it stinks! Moving across the world stinks even more. The hassles that come with it are pretty much unimaginable. That is until they hit you square between the eyes, seeming to come out of no where.Thus, leaving you to scramble for solutions as fast as possible.

Then there is the saying goodbyes.I know I just have to get use to this part of the Military life but it is never easy. We were able to say good bye to our family a few weeks ago and as always that is NEVER easy but went fairly well I would say. If you ask Stephen he may tell you differently, considering when we left my mom's house Sophia and I were crying until what seemed like we hit Kansas City. LOL!

Saying good bye to friends is a whole different ball game. You just never know if you will ever see them again. You hope you will. With the military crisscrossing us all around the world there is always that chance but it's still sad. We were blessed with a few very close and amazing friends in the time we spent at Benning and saying good bye made me realize just how much I will always cherish their kindness and friendship. It also left me wondering how will we ever find friends like these a world away?!

Hands down the hardest aspect of this move has been watching Sophia try to figure it all out. I have been trying to prepare her but lets face it preparing a 2 year old isn't very easy. I knew it had been bugging her a little but it wasn't until last night just how much. It broke my heart , after crying for a good half hour my sweet little girl said "mommy I sad"  I asked her why and she said she wanted her house, her daddy's car and then continued naming off friends and family. Talk about heart wrenching. I know this will all get easier as time goes on but man that stung. She is just looking for something familiar in this crazy nomad life we have lived this entire month.  

I remember my mom once telling me (at a time in my life when I was hurting) that she could feel my pain and was hurting for me. I know now exactly how she must have felt. 

My goal is to make our time in Seoul all about sweet Sophia. She deserves it! I am praying we only stay a few days and  then can get to Daegu and find a place we can call home. Once our stuff is finally delivered I know our little munchkin will bounce right back into a routine. 

As for Stephen and I think we are still a little numb to the fact we are moving a world away. I mean here it is 3:15 am the morning we are leaving and it still hasn't sunk in fully. It won't be until the ripe smell of Kimchi hits me in the face will I believe it :) 

With all that being said, I wouldn't change this for anything in the world. The struggles will make us stronger and bring us closer. The adventure we are about to embark on is once in a lifetime. 

The best part about this whole situation is we will be together and really when it comes down to it that is all that matters. 

Hopefully next blog will be filled with pictures from our adventures getting to Korea:)  

Much love,
The Thompson Fam :) 

Busy is an understatement!

To say the last month has been a blur doesn't even explain our life! Since the beginning of August we have said goodbye to all of our things until we see them again in Korea (hopefully by October.)  We have made the cross country journey to Iowa and Kansas and then back to Alabama again. We have spent a week in a cabin in the woods (literally a cabin in the woods) with no Internet or phone service. Talk about feeling secluded. Now we are happy to be back in the 21st century staying at a friends until we head to Atlanta on Monday.


We also had found out some exciting news this week... Our sweet little peanut is a GIRL ..Stella Grace:) We couldn't be happier.. I really thought it was a boy only because this pregnancy was SO different from what I experienced with Sophia.Now that we know she is a girl..  I went ahead an purchased her first bow today and my bow lady has agreed to ship all the way to Korea .. YAY!!

Here are some pictures from the last month.. Until next time.. Much love from the Thompson fam;)

Last night with the fam

Aunt Amy gave Sophia her first real hair cut!!

Our Cabin in the woods

This really has no relevance to anything but .. isn't she just so cute!

Next time you read this blog the Thompson family will officially be in Korea :) Wish us luck and please keep us in your prayers!!