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I was checking out Adopting From Korea - Mom Blog & Rant and I was happy to see that she’s back. Her latest post had an article from Interfaith Family that I enjoyed and thought I’d pass it on. The article is called Challah and Rice Cakes and it’s about introducing their new Korean adoptee to the Jewish faith. The article talks about the Jewish custom that would give their Korean adoptee her Hebrew name and then their celebration of her Korean tol (first birthday) the next day. I did not celebrate my son’s tol (as Korean tradition would dictate), but I found this article to be uplifting. The author talks about their Jewish tradition and their new Korean tradition with the… [more]

Here are some sites that have interesting Korean items that you can buy for your adoptees. I can just see my mother right now sighing in frustration. When my sister and I were little, you just couldn’t find things like this…now they are everywhere. Adoption Shop - This site is run by the same people as adoptionblogs.com. They have books, art, toys, videos, etc… It’s like one stop shopping. Korean Raggedy - I like these. It’s probably because I liked Raggedy Ann so much when I was little. A Korean Raggedy Ann has to be better right? Besides, they remind me of my favorite doll when I was growing up. I named her Sun Lee and my… [more]

This article in the phillyburbs.com kept popping up recently so I decided that I was supposed to write about it. The article is all about Verispan LLC. Verispan offers its employees an adoption benefit package and there is a short section about one of the families who used the benefit when adopting two children from Korea. I was reading the article and I was thinking about how nice it would be if more companies came on board. I suspect that adoption benefits will continue to grow, but unfortunately it is growing slowly. While FMLA makes it possible for many parents to take the time off without worrying about their jobs, FMLA is an unpaid leave of absence. There are many people out… [more]

We were up bright and early this morning to go to Build-a-Bear. We swung by and picked up my mother-in-law and then off we went. My son was eager to go. We’d been talking about it for the last few days. I wanted him to understand (before we got there) that we were making bears, but that we wouldn’t be taking them with us. In the three year old world, everything is “I want that” and “mine.” I was pretty sure that we would have a melt down if he didn’t have a good grasp of why we were going. The next problem was how to explain waiting children in a way that my three year old would understand (especially a slightly spoiled… [more]

At the Korean picnic that we went to earlier this month, we were given a DVD with a little video about Korea. When we got home, we put it in the DVD player and watched. We didn’t have a clue what was being said because the narration was all in Korean, but we watched. Prior to putting in the movie, we had prepped my son. We told him we were going to watch a Korean movie. I’m not sure that he had any real concept of what we were watching, but he was excited. He sat down on the couch next to my husband and settled in for the show. As the scenes flashed by, he would say, “We’re watching Korea.” Though we couldn’t understand what… [more]

When my son came, it was a nice bonus that he automatically became a citizen when the adoption was finalized. Though a part of me was sorry that we wouldn’t follow the tradition and stand in the courtroom the way my sister and I did, the larger part of me was relieved that I didn’t have to rush through the process. When I read this article in the International Examiner, I was shocked. Here is a young man, just a little older than my sister, who faced deportation. The majority of his life had been spent here and they might send him back to Korea because his parents had forgotten to ensure his citizenship. He is not the first adult adoptee with a criminal record that the… [more]

Mother’s Day has taken on new meaning since my son’s arrival. I still forget on a regular basis that I’m one of the celebrated. The other night, I was trying to decide what to get my mother for Mother’s Day and I was harassing my husband to think of something for his mother. He turned to me and said, “What do you want?” What do I want? What does that have to do with anything? Oh yes, I’m also a mother. The first Mother’s Day that I acknowledged was one of the worst days of my life. We had received our referral in March and May marked the second month of waiting. Everyone was excited… [more]

The truth is that there is no single way that you should celebrate Arrival Days (or whatever you want to call them). The more accurate title for this post should have been “How to decide how your families want to celebrate Arrival Day”. However, I don’t think that would have fit. Do you want a huge celebration like in Anne Tyler’s book Digging to America? Do you want to keep it as a small family event? Do you want to celebrate the day at all? Each way is valid. This year, we’re going to be throwing my son a kid party in September or October. His birthday is in December and things are just too crazed during the holidays. He’s been invited to a half a… [more]

Korean Adoptee – Denmark This site isn’t a blog, but it is a website set up by a Korean adoptee from Denmark. I wish that there was more of a blog attached to it because I think I would find her ideas fascinating. This site takes you through parts of her life and introduces her family. It gives you a glimpse at her reunion with her Korean family and how she has embraced Korean culture. Third Mom I don’t even have to look at Third Mom’s site because I knows there’s a good one right at the top. I wrote about her most recent post yesterday. Outsiders Over on the Viet Nam Adoption Blog, there… [more]

Third Mom has done it again. She’s made me think. There are some days where I just don’t think it’s possible for my brain to take in any more data and then wham…it hits me. Anyhow, Third Mom has one of her “open mike” posts up asking which ones is better – adoption or orphanage. My knee jerk reaction was to respond “of course adoption is better” and I had to force myself not to furiously attack the keyboard. I had to remember that what I feel does not always make it the better option. I am comfortable with my adoption and that comfort translated into being comfortable adopting my son. However, my experience does not always represent… [more]