Where he leads me I will go.......: Korea

I have to first start off by saying a HUGE thank you to the whole Harris family. They made this visa run the best it could have been. It was great catching up with them and getting a little slice of home that I miss so much. I was able to share about New Hope and show off pictures of the cuties that live there. Because this was Andrew’s (their oldest) last 2 weeks in Korea before he leaves for school we were able to do some fun sightseeing. I have attached at the bottom lots of pictures from our adventures out and about and captioned them with where they were taken. I have learned that Korean’s LOVE to shop and you can find a store to shop in just about anywhere you look. One of our crazy ventures out was to the fish market. Lets just say that it smells rather fishy there and when you leave the smell follows you home. It was cool to see all the types of fish they have for sale there and they will just pull the one out of the tank you want and cut it up right there in front of you. You can even buy stingray, giant crabs and octopus legs! As Ms. Christy Harris says “it is the zoo that you eat!” We were also able to visit the Korean War Museum, which was neat to see the Korean side of some of the wars. It also had me thinking about all of the Irizarry boys at home! How much they would have loved every bit of it. One of my favorite places was the flower market. It was crazy the amount of flowers and all the different kinds the different stands had. You could get any kind of flower you could have thought of and all the accessory’s to make a beautiful banquet. They even had a whole section that was filled with bright and colorful fake flowers that from a distance you would have never guessed. Some of my favorite times over the last 2 weeks were just hanging out with the Harris family at the pool, watching movies, and eating yummy home cooked, real American food (like taco bell!) and going to ZUMBA.

I am so excited to get back to New Hope and see all those sweet faces again and get ready to celebrate 2 special birthday’s this month!!!! Right before I left for my Korea trip Joyce Hill the founder of New Hope went into a coma that she then had recovered from and was sent home. The day after I left they went back the hospital for a follow up and while waiting for test results Joyce went into a coma worse then the first time. At one point it was not looking good at all. Through lots of prayers and the Joyce’s amazing strength she was just moved this weekend out of ICU and the doctor’s believe she will make a full recovery. This is such an amazing answer to prayers. Here just 2 weeks ago they thought they had lost her and all the family begin arriving to say their goodbyes. Joyce still has a long road to a full recovery but I am positive with the amazing prayer warriors all around the world that she will be able to pull through this. You can find the latest updates of Joyce on the New Hope page http://www.hopefosterhome.com/

I just want to thank the amazing Harris family again for their support over these last 2 weeks. Also, I would like to thank all of you for praying for me during my trip.

~Stephanie