Harmon Party of 3 and More!

Baby Update

We are 11 weeks into parenthood! Wow! Sam is growing like a weed (he’s already 16lbs

and very strong!), we’re not sure if his name was prophetic (given his name Samson) or if he’s just decided to grow into it… so careful what you wish for! Same goes for our prayer to have a “go-baby,” because we’ve got that too! Sam’s happiest days are when we are out about or in social situations. He loves the stimulation, seeing new things and being close to Meg or Chase’s chest (thank you Nathan and Morgan for the Ergo-Baby carrier). He loves moving his arms like a wacky waving inflatable tub man (you might have seen them at a used car dealership somewhere) and we currently have learned that he is afraid of being in tunnels while in the car.

If you have the app, Marco Polo, you can view regular updates on his “Samcast.”

We have been fortunate to have help in this major transition, Bob and Kelle (Meg’s parents) were here for over a month which was so helpful in those early days when Meg was still recovering. Sam is their first grandchild and it was sweet to share this new season with them.

Our church small group has also been supportive and Meg joined a mommy+baby group that has been a great resource and community!

Korean Wedding

One of our dearest friends, Toms Lee had a wedding in Korea in late May. Being present to important life events of our friends is really important to us but so is taking care of a 6 week old! We went back or forth on what to do and eventually settled on Chase going to Seoul to be a part of the festivities. We didn’t feel super great about Meg being alone with Sam for five days but Meg had a brilliant solution to invite our friend Annie Jameson to visit and help us out! Annie lives in Guatemala and was willing to fly across the world and love our baby on just a few weeks notice–what a friend!

What a treat to be surrounded by friends and family even in the midst of raising a newborn halfway across the world.

The wedding itself incorporated many visual elements including an introduction video of the couple before the ceremony took place. The background screen changed from a starry night sky, to a majestic gothic cathedral, to a wildflower sunset all throughout the ceremony! While there was lots of bowing and two musical guests, there was not a moment to “kiss the bride” as we are so accustomed to in the US.

Overall, it was a great time to eat good food (Korean food is top tier in the Harmon Household), see many dear friends and celebrate Toms and Jimin in their new life together.

Service Project

We’ve been trying to get creative in finding opportunities to interface with students, so we asked our colleagues in Salzburg if there were any service opportunities with the Ukrainian Orphanage they work with (they came to camp last summer if you recall!). Fortunately, they had a great idea and we ended up inviting our students to act as “chaperones” for the Ukrainian kiddos at an amusement park in Austria! Chase took four Munich International School/Garmisch military base kids along as well as two adult volunteers (a great chance for them to learn about Young Life!).

The time was really special as the Ukrainian kids don’t get a chance to get out much (they live in a no-longer-in-use hospital near Salzburg, which is not exactly Club Med) so the fact that there was a chance to give them a day just to be kids was really special AND it gave me the chance to earn some "relational capital" with the MIS students. Young Life in Salzburg has continued relationships with them and it was a fun collaboration and while there are many ways to serve, Chase might prefer service projects that involve amusement parks LOL!

English Day Camp

"We're here to turn that frown, upside down!"

After Korea, Chase helped put together an English day camp for 15 German speaking kids from Munich. Chase’s role was to run the games and mixers, as well as run around in a gorilla costume. He and his German buddy Chris were the “Certified Language Boosters” and even got to show off our celebrity friends! It was a great warm up for the bigger Young Life camp later this summer and also a fantastic time to collaborate with our German coworkers.

Hardest part: describing the game of kickball to Germans that have never heard of kickball and do not have a concept of baseball. It turns out there are lots of nuances and rules that aren’t necessarily easy to grasp. Try explaining as simply as you can (and having someone translate) a force out ( i.e. someone on first base must run to second but if your on second you don’t have to run if nobody is on first base), the concept of a foul ball, when you need to tag a runner vs just stepping on a base and finally “tagging up” after a pop fly (I gave up trying to explain that one). It was an awesome week.

Sam's first Young Life club!

What’s Next This Summer?

As Meg returns to work later in July, we are already preparing for summer camp. Chase will be serving as program director and Meg will be primarily on baby duty and helping as able. Additionally, we have a bevy of visitors including Meg’s Aunt Jane and her friend Laurie, Matt and Laura Guchee, hopefully my dad and his partner Donna, and possibly an end of summer reunion with Bob and Kelle Guchee. Good thing Sam loves people! We are also looking forward to Sam’s first flight. We are headed to Sicily with friends from church to visit their family on their olive and orange farm (yes, this is what European dreams are made of).

Thank you so much for your continued partnership. It’s been two years already here and we feel so incredibly blessed to be sent by our amazing community. May the Lord bless you in new and impactful ways this summer!