Uijeongbu: It's where we're taking our LOA

We have been in Uijeongbu, Korea for the last 3weeks helping our daughter Mary and son in law Jimmy get over a bit of a rough patch in their lives. Our first week was marked by the recovery from the jet lag we collected on route from Germany to Korea. Our trip took us from Lörrach by train to Stuttgart, where we spent the night before going VERY early the next morning to catch the first leg of our flight to Korea. It was a good thing we had several hours of layover in Paris. The "enhanced" security caught up with us just as we were about to board the bus to the International Terminal at Charles de Gaulle Airport. We stood in one of several very long lines for a very long time. We did have time to do a little shopping in the international terminal before we boarded our plane for the 10 hour flight to Korea. Our route took us over Helsinki, Moscow, Novo Sibirsk, Beijing and finally into Incheon, Korea.
When we arrived, Mary, just beginning her 7^th month of pregnancy, was completely exhausted. Our grandkids were well past being "over stimulated," from the seemingly never-ending trips in the car going back and forth to Seoul on nearly a daily basis. Our son in law is still unable to drive himself regardless of when his commander needs him to work. Our first task was getting ourselves into "the military system" here in Korea. Within a week, we had access to the military installations, our ration cards, my driver's license, and we were enrolled in the military health care plan for Korea. Before the end of our first full week in Korea, Mary was getting a nap in the afternoons and not having to drive Jimmy every time he needed to go. God provided not only the means for us to come to Korea, but had gone before us to each of the agencies we needed to visit getting us enrolled without any problems. Little did we realize what was about to happen.
Very early on Saturday, I woke up with severe pain in my upper abdomen and chest that would not go away. Mary drove me to the closest Military urgent care clinic - on the other side of Uijeongbu; about half hour away. The sharp young medic figured out right away that whatever was wrong with me should be treated at the Army General Hospital in Seoul and sent me by ambulance. At about 3 o'clock that afternoon, after an X-Ray series, a lot of poking and prodding, a CAT scan, and a diagnosis of "Sir, you need to have your gallbladder taken out" the very young Army doctor sent me home with a pile of meds and instructions to return on Monday to see the surgeon. I saw the surgeon as instructed and will have my gallbladder out on 9 April - God is good all the time! I should be healed up in time for Jimmy's surgery on April 15^th and will definitely be ready to drive Mary to the hospital in Seoul when she is ready for her C-section.

Paula is having a ball caring for Emily and Joshua as well as doing laundry, cleaning and cooking for Mary. Jimmy is enjoying the homemade bread. I take Jimmy to work and pick him up as well as do much of the driving to Seoul. The other night I got to "play Army" with Jimmy while he was Camp Duty Officer. We had a great Easter celebration at the South Post Chapel on Yongsan Garrison this past Sunday. We took the kids over to a quiet section of Camp Stanley in the afternoon for a family Easter egg hunt.

Please join us in prayer: ~ Thanking God for his goodness in getting us to Korea and sustaining us;

~ Three upcoming surgeries: Jimmy's knee reconstruction, Mary's C-section, Ray's gallbladder removal;

~ Planning for our return to Germany later this summer

Your Co-Laborers,

Ray and Paula Milburn

See our Face Book page (http://www.facebook.com/rayandpaula) For updates.