Money for a Change

Awhile back, I had blogged about being frustrated with my kids and not appreciating what they have and so on. Some of the frustration was with myself and allowing this to continue. I had decided that both my older kids would get jobs this summer because all allowance would stop come June 1st.

You would have thought we had asked our oldest to pay us rent too by her reaction! She doesn't handle change well, she gets that from her father. Her idea of being home for the summer was being able to have fun....but for four months she wasn't going to work? Not in my book! She can have more fun if she has spending money, right? The very next day after the knock out drag out fight, she went job hunting.

My son had applied at several places, this being harder for him since he has no work experience. How does one get work experience if places want experience?

A few days of waiting was really getting to us, all of us! We were getting impatient. Our son got an interview and was offered a job right then and there, wow! But that store was going to be moving to a new location and would be even further from our house. He had another interview with the same store chain, closer location but the interview was six days away. I said to wait, my hubby wasn't so sure, my son was kind of disappointed, but we needed to be patient again and wait for the second interview.

Yesterday was the best day with both kids receiving job offers! And yes, my son will be working at the store that is closer to us. See what patience can do? He even starts training today after school! I'm so glad both will be working this summer and I know they will love having earned their own money! I am one happy Mama!

Migraines are a Pain in the...

Obviously the head, but really they are a pain in the patooty! I have had migraines for years and having a high pain tolerance, I am able to 'fake it til I make' and go on with my day like any other day. But seriously, when they last more than two days, it really gets me down. Trying to do just the normal things, keeping your eyes open, walking, talking, cooking, cleaning, laundry, driving, paying bills...I think you get the point.

Back in 1999, I was very sick of my migraines and demanded a CT scan since I have no medical history. Something was found, that I actually had a brain! Ha, ha, really, there was something but had no relation to the migraines, your brain itself doesn't feel pain, it's the outside nerves surrounding the brain that feels the pain.

Long story short, I had seven hours of brain surgery, I've written about this before on here. And so the migraines continue, lucky me. I have meds, but sometimes these things just want to keep me company for a few days, again, lucky me. I want to scream, but that would make it worse.

Birthday Gift

So I had mentioned I could barely contain myself regarding what my family got me for my birthday. And in my usual persuasive way, I was able to sweet talk my family into giving me my present a day early! They didn't have it wrapped, I didn't care, that's a waste of paper anyway! I closed my eyes and I had to guess what it was.

OK!!! I have to come clean! I knew what it was already!!!! Tuesday night, as I drove my youngest daughter home, she burst out with how excited she was for my birthday. Then she continued to talk about her phone upgrade and what she was going to pick. Trust me, I was just listening. She went on about the the iPod and iPad....BINGO!! That was it! I know she felt bad immediately, so I let it go. To tell you the truth, I was a little deflated that I had guessed it.

Sure enough, my present was the iPad. I acted very surprised and I was truly excited about it. I had been talking about it ever since they came out, but my usual self, I could not bring myself to buy it. I am typing on my iPad right now. I am getting used to the touch keys and all the apps, my youngest loaded them on here. I only play the bubble wrap game, the rest she plays. She loves this thing!

This is a pretty amazing toy, I can check my emails and everything so I really don't need my tiny laptop, do I? Especially since the letter i is still sticking The Apple store was out of the iPad case so I ordered it online, of course! There were other cases available, but not the original one.

My family is the best, they spoil me rotten and know me so well. Now if I can just purchase the online books I'd be in heaven. It's hard for me to buy regular books in the store, I feel like it's a big waste of money when I don't read the books again. I know, I know, I talk about
enjoying life and doing things for yourself, I'm trying! And I am getting better.

Always a busy weekend around my birthday with Mother's Day too. I have an entire weekend of being spoiled. Life is good and my family is AWESOME!!

Leftovers and the Same Old Same Old

I am stuck in a rut. Been a stay at mom now for over 19 years, wow! Don't get me wrong, I love being a stay at home mom. It's the dinners that are in a rut. I try to be creative, make a variety each week, but now that it's been over 19 years of doing this, it is getting really hard. I know what my family likes and dislikes. They each have their favorites, they like the same old same old. But for me, I like variety and love trying new things. So do I go crazy and really go for the gusto and start trying new recipes?

I guess making the same old same old is also because of my kids' schedules. I know how to make the dishes, my family loves them, so it doesn't take me long to make them. Three kids and their activities, especially during dinner time takes it's toll. Guess I really got in a rut of fast food and take out, but secretly, I love that! It's my family, they love when I cook! I guess I should take that as a compliment. But like I said, 19 years of it, *heavy sigh*...

I need meals that don't take forever to make, that is key for me. I guess it's time for me to make a menu for the week again? I used to do that when we were living pay check to pay check and would be very frugal at the grocery store. But even when I have a plan in my head of meals, schedules change and there goes my idea out the door.

I am also very aware of the quantity of food I make because I do not eat leftovers. It's very rare if I do. And of course, my family has followed in my footsteps. But now my son has been growing, even moreso, and the portions I was used to making isn't enough. And now my daughter is home from college and we are back to a family of five.

I have even tried hiring specialty chefs that come into your home and cook a week's worth of food and freeze it for you. The guilt got to me and that only lasted about two weeks. That was a wasteful way of trying to be creative.

How many more years of home cooking do I have left? Yep, a lot, my youngest is only 11 years old. I have no clue what to make for dinner tonight...

Being a Little Kid

And I am talking about myself. A week ago, my hubby told me that he finally thought of an awesome birthday present for me...well that did it! I wanted to know right then and there what it was! "Tell me! Tell me! I will let you know if it is awesome or not!" Hee! Hee! Didn't work. He wouldn't tell me but continued to tell me that it was awesome...ugh!

So then we were at Costco last Saturday and of course, I stop by the jewelry and look at the shiny objects and say to my hubby, "Is my awesome gift this shiny and sparkly?" He just rolled his eyes at me and then went on a rant about how difficult I am when it comes to gifts and how I tell him NOT to get me anything yet I talk about jewelry every time I see it. (Though, we don't buy our jewelry at Costco, we know a wholesaler for this sort of thing). Okay, so I LOVE jewelry, REALLY love jewelry. Did I say I love jewelry? I wear all of my jewelry too, why keep it in the box? That is why I am so picky about it.

But really, how many rings can I wear on a daily basis? Right now, I only wear rings on both my ring fingers so it's not like I have every finger used up already. That's NOT the look I am going for.

What is it that I'm looking for then? A big ole rock like you see on the big movie stars' fingers? Cha, that would be nice, but have you seen the price tag for those? And yes, you probably guessed it, I demand quality diamonds and jewelry, no fauxs, no man made, the real thing honey. No wonder I drive my hubby crazy. I am very picky. I even have a wish list at our jeweler, how easy is that?!

When it comes right down to it, I can't push the 'enter' button and make the purchase or have my hubby make the purchase because trust me, he would buy me whatever I wanted in a heartbeat.

I am really bad too, my youngest daughter, she is more excited about my birthday than I am and she can't wait. So I try to get it out of her what the awesome gift is. She's better at keeping a secret now that she is older, but when she was five years old, she spilled the beans about every gift the family had gotten me before my birthday. I know, I know, I was mean for 'workin' her and taking advantage of a little girl. But that's me, I'm a little kid still and I WANT TO KNOW NOW!!

I promise, I won't try to get it out of my daughter...I can wait until Saturday...I think...

Children's Day in Korea

Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday, but I never knew there was an actual Children's Day in Korea. Now it makes sense that Sunday's service at the Korean Church was dedicated to children.

Here is a very interesting article from Korea:

Orphans on Children’s Day

By Hannah Kim

In a perfect world, there would be no orphans. Every single one of the world's 2.2 billion children would be doted upon by their parents. And every day would be like May 5 in South Korea when nearly 8 million kids are sure to be spoiled on the national holiday set aside as Children's Day.

But obviously we do not live in a perfect world. There are currently 143-210 million displaced children worldwide, and nearly 15 million who will ``age out" of the adoption system and consequently lose their chances of finding a home. And the excruciating reality is that these kids are innocent victims of social ills induced by adults, which is why we have a communal responsibility to care about it.

In Korea alone, there are nearly 10,000 new-born babies every year who are abandoned for various reasons, and only 3,900 of them are adopted into new homes. One may naively assume there would be very few neglected children in the prosperous modern Korea, or at least none being sent abroad. Inarguably, there has been a declining rate in overseas adoptions in the recent years, but this is only due to a precipitous drop in the Korean birth rate. Still, roughly one of 250 Korean children is adopted into an American family.

As commonly known, the Korean War (1950-53) orphaned thousands of lost children and ``G.I. babies" found themselves out on the streets. Hence since 1955, the Holt International Children's Services and other groups have placed about 150,000 (out of 200,000) Korean children into American homes. It started when Harry and Bertha Holt, a devout Christian couple from Oregon, became concerned for their fate ― after watching a documentary about their plight ― and lobbied Congress for the passage of the Holt bill. As a result they adopted eight Korean children in 1955 when international adoptions were virtually unheard of. The children's arrival garnered media attention, and prompted American families nationwide to seek Korean children.

But what trended as a result of war and poverty morphed into a system that remained even after economic conditions ameliorated. Social norms of Korea's traditional society emphasized paternal family ties, bloodlines, and homogeneity; therefore biracial or fatherless children were not easily accepted, and the stigma associated with single motherhood forced many women to abandon their offspring. Most families (who secretly adopted) chose babies under a month old to pass them off as their own. The concept of ``open adoption'' with sharing information between birth and adoptive families is still an unconventional practice in Korea.

Nonetheless ― and perhaps inspired by to the likes of Madonna and Angelina Jolie who have 'flaunted' their adopted children from Africa and South Asia on the front cover of national tabloid magazines ― Korean society is warming up to the idea of adoption. Each year when the charity photo exhibition titled ``Letters from Angels'' features stars posing with babies available for adoption, almost all of them are adopted. More than 80 celebrities and 150 babies have been photographed since 2003 to promote awareness.

The US Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System approximates there are 510,000 children in foster care (who are temporarily placed in foster homes, group homes, emergency shelters, residential facilities, pre-adoptive homes and with relatives). The good news is that 70 percent of the children leave the system to be reunited with their families or permanently placed with relatives, mostly in less than one year.

The foster care system is not a silver bullet: there are still 114,000 children in the U.S. waiting to be adopted from foster care, with 20,000 children turning 18 annually and no longer eligible. Nevertheless, I agree ``a family within the country, preferably a relative, should be sought before international families'' as dictated by the UNICEF-inspired Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, and the Korean government should concurrently adopt a better foster care system to prop up its efforts to cease international adoption from Korea in addition to enforcing the domestic Adoption Promotion Law (2009) and other effective means.

Clearly, it is easy to respond numbly and view these figures as mere statistics. But the silent tears of the orphans and grief of the parents who cannot indulge, or let alone care for, their beloved offspring on Children's Day should compel us to coalesce in tackling the roots of the problems that cause the vicious cycles that make orphans out of innocent children.

In a perfect world, children would stay with their biological parents, and remain connected to their roots. Neither adoption nor foster care will solve the underlying issues of war, poverty, disease, famine, and neglect. But each of the 2.2 billion children is precious and deserves a place where they can call home.

Hannah Kim is a 2009 master's graduate at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, specializing in legislative affairs. She spearheaded the passage of the ``Korean War Veterans Recognition Act, U.S. Public Law 111-41," which was signed by President Obama on July 27, 2009. She can be reached at hkim@remember727.org.

A Silent Legacy Among Us

This weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to host a reception in my home for adoptees and adoptive families to meet Dr. David Kim. Ever since I met David in 2006, I have been hoping that I would be able to have him speak in Omaha. I can't believe this happened yesterday. So many people helped me to make it happen, especially my husband with his support. I get these ideas in my head, tell him my plans and he just nods his head and asks me what he needs to do to help.

We had at least 70 people or more in our house, I didn't get a chance to do a head count, it was that crowded. Having my home filled with adoptees of all ages and their parents, it touched me greatly knowing I was able to give them this once in a lifetime opportunity. Parents and adoptees thanked us for this special event, some were very emotional and I can understand where they are coming from.

I am a very emotional person and getting involved in Holt was a roller coaster of emotions. Everything I was able to experience was an amazing event for me. When I began volunteering for Holt back in 1999, I never knew where that would lead to. I would have never thought I would be where I am today, things happened for me very quickly within a five year period after my first trip to Korea in 2005. It really has been a whirlwind of involvement, but I know this is my purpose. I feel so blessed being able to see Holt from the inside. I want to be able to give people the opportunity of just a taste of what I get to be involved in.

I am getting so much better at controlling my emotions because I feel very passionate about our mission at Holt. To have witnessed the emotions and picture opportunities yesterday with David Kim truly touched me. I know the impact of this opportunity won't hit people until years later.

David Kim has been so instrumental in Holt, his involvement and contribution to the beginnings and now the legacy of Holt, this truly amazes me. His stories are incredible, his memories of the past 55 years is truly awe inspiring. Every person that meets him can feel his true heart and passion. I hope more people in the near future will have the opportunity to meet him. I have truly been blessed in this life!