Summer Project, Ready or Not...

Here it comes...finally!  Am I ready?  Now isn't the time to question it, I have to be ready!  So will start off with some before pictures:

                                            The drilling begins:

                              All to get samples of the dirt....stay tuned...

What are You?

I have heard that question many, many times in my life.  Should I feel offended?  Usually I don't only because I've been asked that question so many times by many, many people, both white people and people of other ethnicities.  So how do I answer this question?  Usually I laugh inside because, there's that same question!

When I tell people I am Korean, most are surprised, not sure why since it seems really obvious to me, but most people assume I am Chinese.  But I have also been to Vietnam and Cambodia and the natives there thought I was their nationality.  I've also been told that I could pass as a native in Hawaii.

Then I had the incident of the person searching for her sister from Korea.  You can read that from my previous posts.  The one other question asked of me was what blood type was I.  I had absolutely no idea what blood type I am.  I've been thru many surgeries so one would think I would know, but it's one of those things I just didn't think I needed to memorize, but the other night, I was telling my hubby that a person's blood type should be on the driver's license.  He didn't see the need for that since that had nothing to do with driving, but why not?  What if there's an accident and you get sent to the emergency room?  Wouldn't it be nice for the emergency personnel to know immediately the blood type of the accident victims?  Being an organ donor has nothing to do with driving, yet that is listed on the driver's license.  So, I'm right, blood type should be on the driver's license too.

I called my general doctor to see if my blood type was listed in my records.  No, they don't do that unless requested by the patient, thus you have to pay for it because usually insurance doesn't cover that request.  Dumb.  So I called my OB/GYN since I had surgery last August and the nurse was able to look up my hospital records and it was listed there.  Finally I know my blood type!!

A Bittersweet Father's Day

Father's Day is always bittersweet for me since my father passed away when I was 18.  I truly miss my dad, especially in my grown up years.  So many milestones that happened and I didn't have my dad.  Becoming an adult isn't easy and to not have a parent there during these times is even tougher.  Then I have kids of my own and they never got a chance to meet my dad.  I feel sad about that, they would have loved him as their grandpa and he would have loved my kids.  

My kids do get to see a part of my dad thru me from my sense of humor and my zest for life.  I had thirteen years with my dad and I learned so much about living life in those thirteen years.  I hope I pass along these same traits to my kids.  Thanks to my dad for passing them onto me.  Happy Father's Day.

Why Does Life Give Us Lemons?

We go thru life with it's ups and downs, happy times, sad times, the good, the bad, and the ugly(the lemons).  Yes, it's all a part of life, but if I had my way, I would prefer not to have the lemons.  These lemons can come in various forms, physical and emotional.  I am human, I make mistakes and I learn from my mistakes.  I try to be a good person, but I'm not perfect.

One person's point of view is not the same as another person's.  We go thru our daily routine and wham-o, a lemon appears.  It's like when you have to pull a band aid off and you know it is going to really hurt and you know you are to pull it off really fast, but instead, the band aid slips from between your fingers and it's still stuck on your skin and now you have to pull it again.  It's the same as pouring salt into your wound; that same feeling of when hot water hits an open blister; when you accidentally scratch your sunburn because you had an itch.

Just when you think you've got the bull by the horns, that lemon gets squirted in your eye and you wince and squeeze your eyes shut and hold your breath.  You want to be swallowed up by the earth, be invisible, push that reset button...but you can't.  You have to face the ugly truth of your mistake and sometimes, you can't make lemonade.

My Youngest Will Be a Teenager...

Yikes!?  Saturday marks the official day that my youngest daughter will officially become a teenager, wow!  No more 'young' kids in the household, just teenagers and 20 year olds.  Does that make me old too?  Nah, just a mother to three wonderful kids that keep me young at heart by all that they do or is that the reason I am getting more and more grey hairs?  Will I break down and color my hair?  I sure hope not, I've never been one to be high maintenance and keep up with hair cuts, let alone hair color.  I'll see how it goes with the amount of grey.  Most of them are contained to the skunk streak that is hidden under my hair off to one side.  I'm not vain so I doubt I will color my hair.  Really, I doubt it...

A Calming Shawl

On Monday, I was in a horrible mood.  I hated it and I really wanted to get over it so I decided to start on a new prayer shawl.  I thought I could get my mind set onto something more meaningful and be productive at the same time.  It worked!  With each stitch, I would pray over it and get calmer by every row.

I do put a lot of prayer into every shawl I create so whoever receives it will feel the prayers surround them in their time of need.  This was a great healing project for me and got me back on track.  I'm even dwindling down my supply of extra unused yarn, what a major accomplishment and helping others at the same time, great timing!

A Horrible No Good Mood

Needless to say, this is just not one of my favorite days.  I am ticked off, I am mad, I'm frustrated, and I have no control over it.  I feel like kicking and screaming, punching something.  But no, I have to be the grown up that I am and just get over it....ugh!!!!!!!!

It's not like this whole thing came out of the blue either.  I've spoken about my frustration and dislike for it, but no, I'm still stuck with it!!  The thing is cursed, I need to be cleansed of it.

No Family Vacation

This summer, our annual family vacation to Vermont will not be a family vacation.  The boys of the family will be the only ones going this year, as a matter of fact, they just left this morning.  My plans were to go to an adoptee camp in Oregon, but those plans changed after finding out the youngest's cheer stunt camp would be happening that week I was to be gone and also landing on the same family vacation week.  So it was decided that the boys would go and the two girls would stay home.

It is kind of weird to think just the boys are going to Vermont, but this was also my choice to not go.  We have been going to Vermont for ten years now so I feel like I've done all that there is to do there.  I've posted about this before.  Plus, being in the condo in Vermont, I still did laundry, cooking and cleaning.  And now I feel I have a prettier view out my own windows at home and feel the peacefulness that we all are in search of.

Did my daughter have to stay home too?  Yes and no.  Stunt camp is mandatory, but usually it ends up this same week as Vermont so stunt camp is missed.  But I'm tired of having to pay for stunt camp and not having her go.  What a waste of money, we pay whether she goes or not.  Plus, I feel my daughter is missing out on learning new stunts with her team and it's also a time for team bonding.

No summer vacation for me this year, but I'm good with it.  I love my home, I love my scenery, I love the peacefulness around me.  I will be enjoying it all while I still drive my daughter around and doing the laundry, cooking, and cleaning.

I know the boys will have fun, they are with hubby's side of the family so they will have plenty of company too.

Great Friends are Hard to Find

We were able to visit with some friends last night that we used to do quite a lot with in the past.  We had moved out of the neighborhood, but was still close enough to still do things with them, then they moved out of the state.

Our kids were the same ages as their kids so we even planned summer vacations together.  We were able to reminisce about the vacations and had some great laughs over them.  But busy lives and the distance, the times together ended, but the memories are wonderful to hold onto.

Needless to say, we have not been able to find friends like these since.  Ones that you can just call at a moments notice and just hang out or go out to eat at the last minute or actually spend a week together and still like one another afterwards.

Will we be able to have more time once our kids are all in college?  I hope so, we were able to talk just like back in the day.  Both families have five years till the youngest one graduates from high school.  Until then, we have to make it a point to travel and see one another more, that's the key in a busy life, you have to make it a point and effort to stay in touch.

A Challenge Met

I know there is controversy over money for grades, so what is 'appropriate'?  How does a parent motivate a child to do well in school?  Some kids, they motivate themselves, others need a little more pushing.  All kids are different, thus need to be treated differently.  

All my kids are smart whipper snappers.  Me, I was average but that didn't bother me.  I was just trying to survive life.  But it's amazing to have three kids and all three are so different in their approach to life and school.  Does it make a difference if the child is the first, middle or last child?  I'm sure that does play a role in part of it.  We think we parent the same way for all our kids, but truth be told, we relax a lot more after the first child.  Does that mean we don't expect the same out of all of them?  No.  We expect all of our kids to do well in school because we know they are all capable of doing well.  Do we push and push?  No.  We encourage, but in the end, it is up to each child to determine his/her future.

Each child has different motivators too.  Some, it's money, some it's expensive clothes, some it's just trinkets.  Depends on the age of the child too.  Today's technology allows parents to check on their kids' grades daily.  This can also be frustrating seeing homework and test grades so I stopped checking and left it up to the child to check, trying to teach accountability.

The end of the year came and finals were taken and grades are now posted instantly...let's just say my hubby and I were not expecting to have to meet our end of the bargain...SHOCKER!!  Needless to say we were speechless, but yet SO proud that the challenge was met and even succeeded it!  

I am the penny pincher of the family and really have a hard time pushing the 'enter' button, but surprisingly, I wasn't the one hesitating this time.  I think hubby was still in shock.  But how great will it be to see the total surprise on the face of our child for a job well done!!

And the Story Continues...

I received another message right before dinner so I had to work in reading and responding and setting the table...

I wanted to clarify that the sister this person was looking for, that she knew the exact date of her sister's birthdate...My given birthdate is May 8, 1967.  This sister's birthdate is June 23, 1967...see, not too far off!  So it gets weirder...

Another message pops up and she asked me if I have a scar under my chin because her sister had a tumor when she was one...um, I do have a scar under my chin...I have never really pointed it out to people because I never knew how I got it.  One would never see it unless I pointed it out to them.  I have yet to disclose this bit of info to this person.  I will need to see if I got this scar from some other childhood accident.

Mind you, I am doing all of this messaging back and forth on my Blackberry all while preparing dinner...it was crazy!

I keep trying to ask her if she is sure about her sister's birthdate and I tell her because I was just given my birthdate and name randomly.  She stated that her sister did not have her birth certificate with her.  Hmmmm...after the mother died, her cousin is the one that gave away her sister.

So she has her childhood picture of herself and a picture of her sister right next to her's on her profile picture so I try to compare my picture to that one.  Do I see any similarities?  The usual bowl haircut.  The nose, maybe, but the only other picture I have of myself is the one I received from the orphanage I was admitted into and the year later picture, my face is so much fatter than the picture this person has.

I ask this person if she is living in Korea now.  No, she lives in Colorado and her husband is from Omaha....what the what?  I live in Omaha!!  

I know, I know, I am anxious to chat more with this person so hang tight, I'll post more when I do!!


Post Script:  I just talked to my mom and she had no idea I even had a scar under my chin...

Interesting Note

First day of no school for my kids and I am awake at the crack of dawn.  Part of it is due to the stress my hubby is going thru at work so I know I am not sleeping well knowing he's not sleeping well.

So since I'm awake, I change my cell phone from phone only to vibrate, my daily routine.  I see that I have a friend request on Facebook and then a message from this person also.  I try to read the message on my Blackberry, but as usual, I can't scroll down on the darn message without it scrolling up and down on it's own accord, frustrating.

I decide to keep trying to read it on my Blackberry, I finally got it to settle down just enough to read the body of the message.  The message states this person is looking for her sister.  See, now you know why I HAD to read it right then and there.

What this person writes is eerily similar to my adoption timeline:  Her sister was born in 1967, though she has listed a different, but very close month to my given birthdate.  Then she said she thought her sister went to the United States in 1970 between September/October, my travel date to America was in September 1971.

This person has been searching for her sister for 35 years.  I wish her well in finding her and I hope I can be of some help to her and getting her information out to others I know.

My journey continues to search for any of my birth family members as this note shows, one never knows what kind or when I will receive another message...

Another One Bites the Dust

Another year of school done, finally!  I guess I have had summer fever for quit some time now.  Forget spring fever, I'm going straight for summer.  Not sure why.  I hate hot weather, I love spring weather.  No major plans for this summer either, no big trips for me.  My youngest daughter and I will not be going on our annual family trip to Vermont, the boys will be going though.  I'm done with that yearly trip too.  I'm in the mood for different views, new scenery and something new!  I want to go explore the world!  Well, just the U.S. will do for now.  I want to show my kids there is so much more to see right here in the good ole US of A!

I loved the trips to Vermont when my kids were younger, but now that they no longer want to attend the camps offered there, there really isn't much more to do.  I've done most of the activities for the adults too, the hiking, the site seeing and so on.  I feel I have a much better view from my house than I do in Vermont.  Last year I really missed looking out my windows at the lake.  Plus, we have the ability to be outside and being very active right in our backyard.

I am a person of routine, but not when it comes to traveling and seeing new sites.  I want to create memories for my kids with family outings so it's time to explore the United States so they too will want to take their kids traveling.

I'm anxious for the no routine of what summer brings, the kids hanging out with their friends, and having a houseful of kids streaming in and out.  Let the summer fun begin!