I missed it. Actually, I didn’t even know it existed until I read the article in The Korea Times. Well, I’ll know for next year.

Link: Korean American Day

It was the second year for the celebrations since the U.S. Senate designated Jan. 13 as Korean American Day in 2005 to commemorate the first Korean immigration to Hawaii in 1903 on that date.

It seems to me that they have a “special” day for everything now. Not that I begrudge anyone their special day, but they are getting hard to keep up with. Every time I turn around, someone is wearing a... more

When we were going through our homestudy to adopt our son from Korea, our social worker told us that one of us had to stay home for at least six weeks. It was a requirement. Truthfully, it wasn’t a hardship for me because I had already made plans to take the whole twelve weeks of leave that I was allowed through the Family Medical Leave Act.

When is a company governed by FMLA? • The employer has at least 50 employees.

When are you eligible for FMLA? • You have worked for the employer for 12 consecutive months. • You have worked at least 1,250 hours in those 12 months.

What should you know about FMLA?... more

Whether your child is adopted or biological, choosing your child’s guardian is a difficult decision to make. A part of the Korean adoption process is choosing your child’s guardian prior to your child’s arrival. Our social worker warned us that we would have to make the decision and we started thinking right away. My husband and I talked about it for a long time. We weighed all of our options and discussed several issues.

1. We wanted to make sure that our child’s guardians would wrap our son into their family. We didn’t want him to... more

On my other blog, I wrote about family trees so I decided that I would bring forward a post that I wrote back in April. Link: Family Trees

In April, I was writing about ways that you can identify a child’s adoption on their family tree. Though, in some cases, this is a good thing. I was recently reminded that not all children want to put reminders of their adoption on their family tree. Especially in the pre-teen to high school years, many children are striving to be just like everyone else.

As I point out on ... more

One of the things that I am constantly doing is fighting my earliest perceptions of Korea. A part of my brain is constantly seeing it through the eyes of M*A*S*H. When I was little, we watched M*A*S*H as a family and that was how I viewed Korea for a long time. It wasn’t a bad perception. It was just a little skewed.

Now, I know that Korea has its mega metropolis areas and the rural areas – just like here in the United States. However, I still often picture a dusty rural environment first. It is amazing how hard it is for me to shake those early perceptions.

In a way, I was a little disappointed... more

The agency that we adopted my son through is smaller and got tied up in all the political red tape. The last few months of the year were hard for a lot of the waiting parents because no children came home. The new year brought happy news and many families received the travel call. Their children are coming this month and you can feel the mood change on the message board.

I remember when we received our travel call. Though they warn you that you might only get a few days notice, we were given about two weeks. The air crackled with a new type of frenetic energy. Everything we did had more purpose after we received that call. A switch flipped inside my brain and it went from "something... more

I have been sitting at my computer trying to come up with something witty and profound to share with everyone. Truthfully, I think that I’m just too tired to come up with anything. So, instead, I’m going to write my congratulations to Ban Ki-moon (the new Secretary General of the United Nations) and, most importantly, the first South Korean to hold the position. There is a full bio on the UN website.

On the front page of the UN website, there is a quote by Ban Ki-moon – “I believe that life is precious and must be protected and respected, and that all human beings have the right to live in dignity.” I hope he remembers... more

For the last three days, I have been searching for my cell phone. I have looked under every piece of furniture and emptied every bag I have. We were all sitting in the family room after dinner and, as a joke, I turned to my three year old and said, “Do you know where Mommy’s phone is?”

My three year old popped up and grabbed my hand. “It’s in my old room,” he said. “Come on Mommy.” I looked at my husband in surprise and he just shrugged his shoulders. I allowed myself to be dragged up the stairs and into his old bedroom. He walked to a section... more

There are times when I talk about adoption and I watch as people’s eyes glaze over. I realize that they aren’t in the least bit interested in what I’m saying. It used to bother me until I really sat back and thought about it.

Someone complained to me once that everyone rallies around someone who is pregnant, but not around the adopting parents. Well, I’m thinking about it and I realize that the adoption process (before referral) is really kind of boring. It wasn’t exactly exciting for me while I was personally going through the process so why should it be interesting to anyone else?

My co-worker is pregnant. She just announced it and it started a flurry of questions.... more

While I was able to participate from the beginning in my sister’s adoption, I am well aware that my own parenting situation will be a little different. My son will be four (or five) when we are ready to start the process. My son will be able to grasp more than he can now (at three), but some of the process will still be hard for him to understand.

At four or five, the endless paperwork and the doctor’s appointments will seem boring. The need for immediate gratification will override any logical statements from his parents. I can’t even... more