November is Premature Awareness Month AND National Adoption Month. Ironic, since premature babies has led me to adoption. A month to celebrate and mourn all at once.
I celebrate the adoption journey we are on. I celebrate our little miracle, Livija. I celebrate the babies that are saved everyday through the amazing technological advances. Babies like our Livija.
I mourn our sons.
The title of this post is a quote that meant a lot to me in the days following Livija's birth. It continues to mean a lot to me now. I feel that the many impossible situations we have faced in the past 3 years, are leading us to our next miracle. I just wish it wasn't so far away.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Our first attempt at Korea Night started out great. Imants had the day off. We chopped, we prepped, and we marinated. Our parents came to toast our first attempt at Korean food, as well as Imants' birthday. Then... the lights went out. We continued preparing, thinking this was a temporary setback. Why we thought this, I don't know. Afterall, it was October, and for some unexplainable reason we had about 8 inches of snow causing tree branches filled with brightly colored autumn leaves to come crashing down around us.
So we had pizza.
Korea night Take 2:
Our parents joined us as we finally made our meal. It consisted of cucumber kimchi, Dak-Galbi (spicy chicken), Kan-Pung Saewoo (fried shrimp with hot sauce), and Gaeran-Jjim (Korean style egg casserole). Recipes all gotten from our book Discovering Korean Cuisine.
The kimchi was good. The chicken was good but VERY spicy, since the 1 hour marinade sat for 2 days. The shrimp was amazing. The egg was watery but not bad. And my rice cooker made perfect rice. Overall it was a success.
By the end, my belly was full, I was loving Korean food, and my lips were on fire from the spiciness of it all (in a good way, of course).
This adoption process is very long, but I look forward to using the time to learn more about the Korean culture.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
This past weekend was my birthday. I was woken up to breakfast in bed and singing from Imants and Livija. I got an Abby Cadabby birthday card, and a rice cooker/poultry and fish steamer. Time to start cooking up some Korean dishes. We went to a Korean market today to get all the necessary ingredients, and then had an authentic Korean dinner at the restaurant next door to the market. It was my first experience with Korean food, and I loved it. Livija was even loving it, much to the surprise of the waitress, who warned us that some might be too spicy for our 3 year old. She tried a little bit of everything, and even leaned over her papa to scoop some up from his plate.
I ordered the bim bim bop, because I had heard of it before (and, I'll admit it, because it's so fun to say). I'll be sure to post an update on how our first "Korean Night" goes. Maybe if it resembles an authentic meal, I'll even include some pictures.
It was a great birthday weekend. Next year's birthday, I may not have both my babies with me, but I should have a picture of the one on the way. This thought gives me some hope.
I ordered the bim bim bop, because I had heard of it before (and, I'll admit it, because it's so fun to say). I'll be sure to post an update on how our first "Korean Night" goes. Maybe if it resembles an authentic meal, I'll even include some pictures.
It was a great birthday weekend. Next year's birthday, I may not have both my babies with me, but I should have a picture of the one on the way. This thought gives me some hope.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
A MOTHER FOR CHOCO
Many people have asked me if we have told Livija about our adoption plans. I feel she is too young (almost 3 years old) to really understand. So we decided to wait until we have been matched, and we can show Livija a picture so she can have something tangible that represents her baby brother or baby sister. In the meantime, I ask her if she would want a baby brother or sister one day (sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no). We tell her that families are formed in all different ways. Yes, there are the "traditional" famlies, but there are also the "nontraditional" families. I want her to grow up understanding that some families have two parents, some have one, some even have two mommies or two daddies. Some have step parents, or adoptive parents. Some babies are born to us and some babies come to us through fate.
Livija and I went to the library today and found a beautiful book called A Mother for Choco. It reminds me of the children's book, Are You My Mother? But with a twist. Choco is a baby bird looking for a mother. In the end he is surprised to find that the family he finds doesn't look like him at all. His mother is a bear, and his new siblings are an alligator, a hippo and a pig. Choco quickly learns, that families are made up of love, it doesn't matter if you all look differently.
I think it's the perfect way to introduce the idea of adoption to a 3 year old.
Livija and I went to the library today and found a beautiful book called A Mother for Choco. It reminds me of the children's book, Are You My Mother? But with a twist. Choco is a baby bird looking for a mother. In the end he is surprised to find that the family he finds doesn't look like him at all. His mother is a bear, and his new siblings are an alligator, a hippo and a pig. Choco quickly learns, that families are made up of love, it doesn't matter if you all look differently.
I think it's the perfect way to introduce the idea of adoption to a 3 year old.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
I've had a few complaints that some people were unable to post a comment on this blog. I have adjusted the settings, so hopefully it will work now.
Thanks for checking in on us!!
Thanks for checking in on us!!
Monday, September 15, 2008
THE NEW FALL LOOK
I hope you like the new look. I'm going to change the layout each time a new season comes. Hopefully by the time we get back to fall, we'll be on our way to Korea!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
WHERE DO BABIES COME FROM?
Someone on my adoption message board posted this article. I'm not sure who wrote it or where it came from, but I appreciated it and wanted to share.
BABIES COME FROM UNLIKELY PLACES
Where do babies come from?
They come from joy and commitment and love and confidence. They come from sadness and want and loneliness and loss of faith. They come from the afternoon or the early, early morning or the dead of night. They come from years of anticipation, and they come unexpectedly, at the worst possible times, in cars and at dinner parties and during ice storms.
Babies come from prescriptions and syringes. They come from frozen test tubes stored in the depths of medical center freezers. They come from strangers who want to give an incredible gift to other strangers. They come from experiments and transplants. Babies come with help and without it, from good judgemenet and bad. They come from heaven, and sometimes they go right back.
Babies come from contentment. They come from discontent. They come from every continent. They come continuously, without end. Sometimes they never come.
And this week, one baby, one very lucky girl, is coming from China.
In her little life so far, she came to a mother who could not keep her. She came to an orphanage who loved and cared for her, but who wanted to find her a still better place. Her name and little picture came to an adoption agency, that brought them to my brother and sister-in-law. She came into their hearts, then into their arms, and very soon she will come into their home.
This baby, this week, will come to a new town, a new country, and a new family who is giddy to the point of being almost sick with excitement. She will come to a new room of her own, stuffed to the rafters with gifts and clothing from people who love her sight unseen, and to a new swing set, a little cabin, flowers gardens and fresh vegetables, and all of the attention she can stand.
She will come to a place where the supply of Cheerios and hugging will never, never dry up. Soon, she will come to Christmas lights and Fourth of July fireworks and birthday candles, more and more every year. She will come to a lacey First Communion dress, sleepovers and toenail painting with best friends, and bargaining with Mom and Dad about curfews and car keys. And in time, she will come to the understanding of what it is to be a daughter, not only of the two parents she sees at the dinner table, but of the two other people whom she will probably never know.
Where do babies come from?
They come from the sadness and want of a mother who must give her flesh and blood away. They come from lonely arms. They come from a lack of faith - or is it belief? - in the future.
But babies also come from the joy and commitment of new parents who never stop looking, no matter how far they have to search, They come from the love and confidence of an extended family who had infurled its many arms to embrace a little person whom they have never met but love without measure already. Babies come at the worst of times that miraculously, turn into the best of times.
And this week, one baby is literally coming from out of the blue on a summer afternoon from the airport, from China, direct from the arms of an angel.
COREY SUGGESTED THAT SOMEONE MAY MISS THE DISCLAIMER AT THE TOP... SO JUST TO REITERATE, THIS IS NOT IN REFERENCE TO OUR ADOPTION. I DID NOT WRITE THIS ARTICLE (I COULD NOT BE SO ELOQUENT).
_______________
BABIES COME FROM UNLIKELY PLACES
Where do babies come from?
They come from joy and commitment and love and confidence. They come from sadness and want and loneliness and loss of faith. They come from the afternoon or the early, early morning or the dead of night. They come from years of anticipation, and they come unexpectedly, at the worst possible times, in cars and at dinner parties and during ice storms.
Babies come from prescriptions and syringes. They come from frozen test tubes stored in the depths of medical center freezers. They come from strangers who want to give an incredible gift to other strangers. They come from experiments and transplants. Babies come with help and without it, from good judgemenet and bad. They come from heaven, and sometimes they go right back.
Babies come from contentment. They come from discontent. They come from every continent. They come continuously, without end. Sometimes they never come.
And this week, one baby, one very lucky girl, is coming from China.
In her little life so far, she came to a mother who could not keep her. She came to an orphanage who loved and cared for her, but who wanted to find her a still better place. Her name and little picture came to an adoption agency, that brought them to my brother and sister-in-law. She came into their hearts, then into their arms, and very soon she will come into their home.
This baby, this week, will come to a new town, a new country, and a new family who is giddy to the point of being almost sick with excitement. She will come to a new room of her own, stuffed to the rafters with gifts and clothing from people who love her sight unseen, and to a new swing set, a little cabin, flowers gardens and fresh vegetables, and all of the attention she can stand.
She will come to a place where the supply of Cheerios and hugging will never, never dry up. Soon, she will come to Christmas lights and Fourth of July fireworks and birthday candles, more and more every year. She will come to a lacey First Communion dress, sleepovers and toenail painting with best friends, and bargaining with Mom and Dad about curfews and car keys. And in time, she will come to the understanding of what it is to be a daughter, not only of the two parents she sees at the dinner table, but of the two other people whom she will probably never know.
Where do babies come from?
They come from the sadness and want of a mother who must give her flesh and blood away. They come from lonely arms. They come from a lack of faith - or is it belief? - in the future.
But babies also come from the joy and commitment of new parents who never stop looking, no matter how far they have to search, They come from the love and confidence of an extended family who had infurled its many arms to embrace a little person whom they have never met but love without measure already. Babies come at the worst of times that miraculously, turn into the best of times.
And this week, one baby is literally coming from out of the blue on a summer afternoon from the airport, from China, direct from the arms of an angel.
COREY SUGGESTED THAT SOMEONE MAY MISS THE DISCLAIMER AT THE TOP... SO JUST TO REITERATE, THIS IS NOT IN REFERENCE TO OUR ADOPTION. I DID NOT WRITE THIS ARTICLE (I COULD NOT BE SO ELOQUENT).
_______________
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