Vacationing in Virginia

What an adventure! Over the 4th of July weekend, we flew to Virginia to see my brother, Tim, and his family. What made it so adventurous, you ask? Most of my siblings and my mom and dad also made the trip, so altogether, there were 17 of us "Wallaces" blissfully enjoying each other's company! Our first stop when we arrived in Virginia was to tour the Air and Space Museum in Dulles. We got to see some amazing historical aircraft. I thought the coolest part was the Shuttle and spacecraft exhibits.

The next day was the 4th of July. There were big plans on Tim's army base for Independence Day activities, including a concert and fireworks. Tim has recently become the conductor of this army band and this was to be his first big concert. We all went down to the field as activities got under way with food vendors and activities for children, but as we lingered, waiting for the concert to begin, stormy weather rolled in. It became obvious that the weather wasn't going to blow over anytime soon, so the concert and fireworks were cancelled. It was a huge disappointment for everyone, especially Tim and Mom and Dad. Tim even had canons set up to go off during the "1812 Overture." We did our best to move on with our vacation...what good does it do to fume about things that are out of our control?

On Saturday, we had birthday party fun! We decided to celebrate all of the kids birthdays together because we never get to celebrate with Connor, Ella, and Laney (Tim and Cindy's kids) and a lot of the cousins have summer birthdays. So, we went mini-golfing and go-cart riding and then we came back for an awesome supper Tim made and a "Hawaiin Luau" party complete with a Volcano cake and pinata.

We decided to go to a beach on Sunday. We drove to a little beach by Historic Jamestown where the kids could swim in the ocean without too much concern about the tide. We had a great time splashing and playing with water guns and digging in the sand. After a picnic lunch, we spent some time exploring history at Jamestown. We saw a reinactment of the glass-blowing trade done in the 1600's when the first settlers came from Europe. We went back to the army base and settled in early so we could be well-rested for our big day in Washington D.C. on Monday.

As I think about what to write about our day in D.C., I'm realizing that I'd rather not relive all of the sorted details...I'll just point out a few life lessons I learned: you can't trust Mapquest; the subway was more complicated than I remembered; 17 people can't get anywhere quickly; you can get lost on an army base; and never, ever do I want to be a contestant on "The Amazing Race." Now I'll choose to focus on the positive. We got off our trolley tour at the Lincoln Memorial. There's something about walking up those stairs and into that huge room with Lincoln's statue that is just overwhelming. Even with a "not-so-impressed" four-year-old, I was able to take in a moment of awe at the importance of Lincoln's presidency. My personal highlight of our day in D.C. was our next stop, the Korean War Memorial. It wasn't there when I went with Close-Up in 1990. Also, with our upcoming trip to South Korea, it had an intensely personal connection for me. If South Korea was overtaken by the Communist forces, there would not be any international adoption program and we wouldn't be getting our Sophia, so I just stood there, looking at those soldier statues, thinking, "Thank you...thank you..." After that, we walked over to the Vietnam War Memorial, which was also very meaningful since Chris's dad, Chuck Rose, fought in that war. It's so overwhelming to see all of those names carved in that long black wall.

We flew back home the next morning, relieved to be getting back to a regular schedule and our own personal space. It's so important to realize that even when things don't go as planned, we still have so much to be thankful for. We treasured our time with my youngest brother Tim, who we are so proud of; and Cindy, his wife, who made us all feel welcome and comfortable and at ease; and their kids, Connor, Ella, and Laney...such fun cousins for Jacob to play with!

Thank you, Ted, for driving us to the airport and thank you, Amanda, for picking us up. We are so thankful for great friends! Thank you Sue, for figuring out the trolley situation...that was very enjoyable for our family. Thank you Pete and Paula for figuring out how to get us from point A to point B. Mom and Dad, thank you for putting up with our ambitious plans without a single compaint. Tim and Cindy, thank you for letting us invade your home, eat your food, and for all of the driving you did. You are wonderful hosts!

While we wait...

We are still waiting for our travel call to come from South Korea. We don't expect it until August. In the meantime, we got to go to a travel information meeting at our adoption agency. It was so interesting to get the "play by play" of how our week in Korea will go. We will fly into the capital of South Korea, Seoul. It is 15 hours ahead of us, so our days and nights will be completely messed up. The flight will be at least 16 hours long. The climate in Korea during August will probably be hot and humid. After settling in at the guest house connected with the Korean adoption agency, we'll get to meet Sophia on the next business day. We'll only get to spend a couple hours with her before her foster mom, Mrs. Park, takes her back home. Depending on how that visit goes, we may or may not get to have another visit during the week. During the next few days we are supposed to (and excited to) absorb the Korean culture by visiting museums and shopping areas, (basically being tourists). We will be mostly on our own, but there is an extensive subway system in Seoul, so it should be fun finding our way around. We have few goals to accomplish before we come home. We want to take hundreds of pictures, buy 18 gifts for Sophia (one for each birthday as she is growing up), taste authentic Korean cooking to decide what things are worth learning how to make, and soak in as much "culture" as we can. We are getting excited for the whirlwind of travel and the homecoming of Sophia. Jacob is so cute about it all. I wish we could take him with, but the plane tickets are too expensive. Daily, he talks about his baby sister and all the things he will help her with when she comes home. Lately, I've been passing the time by starting to create a "lifebook" for Sophia. It's basically a scrapbook that tells the story, in kid-friendly words, of her adoption. It starts with her birth and has information about her birth-parents and birth-country as well as information about our process of adopting her. This kind of book is supposed to help adopted children feel more comfortable with the story of their birth and adoption, and it can lead to necessary conversations as they grow older about the questions they have about their birth-families. It is totally "up my alley" and I'm enjoying the creative process involved in putting it together. It is a bonding experience even though I haven't met my daughter yet. I've also been trying to figure out what kind of podaegi to buy. If you look at the picture of Sophia on her foster mom's back, you'll notice that she is snug and comfy in a baby carrier. It's called a podaegi, but there are all sorts of styles to choose from. It's customary for Korean moms to carry their babies around in a podaegi even when they are two years old, so I figure it will be a good way to soothe and bond with her right away. I'm hoping to order and receive it before traveling so I can try it out on a few babies. (Chris and Jason, I might need to borrow Luke)!

Starting off the Summer Right!

We love our tradition of camping on Memorial Day. Our church life group has been going on at least one (usually two) camping trips each year since we joined about 8 years ago. This year we went to Father Hennepin State Park on Mille Lacs Lake. Each year, it's a slightly different mix of families. This year we were joined by the Skoglunds, Ellisons, Radloffs, and Goodmans (Skoglund's neighbors). We had fifteen kids and 10 adults. It was a great weekend, full of campfires, fishing, beautiful nature walks, games, food and....mud! We had some intense weather on Sunday morning (hail and downpours), but thankfully it passed over and we were able to get on with our fun camping experience. The mud, however, was there to stay. I think the Ellison girls collected enough worms to feed all of the fish in Mille Lacs Lake! Jacob tipped over while riding his bike and got covered in mud from head to toe. The unlucky fishermen didn't get anything more than a couple of bites. Jacob dropped his new fishing pole in the lake, so Chris jumped in to retrieve it. What a great daddy!

Earlier in May, we traveled down to Rochester for a couple of days to visit Pete, Paula, and Michael. They had fun swimming at the "Y." Jacob was pretty excited when Uncle Pete let him use the shop vac in his garage. Pete put him to work by having him vacuum out his car. Later, we went to a nearby park to play. Jacob is so blessed to have a cousin who is the same age! They love being silly together. It will be fun to see how they play together with Ella when we travel to Virginia (she is just a couple months older than Jacob).

HURRAY! The school year has ended! It's an amazing feeling to know that I won't be returning to work until Fall of 2009. I took a one year child care leave for next school year. Jacob and Sophia will both be home with me. I can't wait to see what joys and challenges this year will bring. Jacob's day care provider, Peggy, ended the year with her traditional spring concert. The kids all did a really great job this year.

Our baby girl!

It really is a feeling like I've never experienced before to know that we have a little girl who will soon be joining our family, but right now she is a world away being taken care of by a wonderful stranger. I hope I have time to write down in detail, how this all transpired so quickly...here we go...



As you know from my previous blogs, we were told that the waiting period for a girl was about 12-18 months from the time we finished our homestudy, which would have put us at October as the earliest we could possibly get a referral. Of course, I didn't want to get my hopes up, so I figured it would be more like March of next year. We were in a waiting "lull" trying not to become anxious or impatient. The whole adoption thing seemed like a thing that "would happen someday." So, when our new social worker (our original one changed positions at the agency) left a message for us to contact her as soon as possible, I figured she needed more info about Chris's new job, or something like that. On May 1, I got a hold of her during a break at school and when she said, "I have a referral for you," the immediate response in my head was, "There's a mistake...she didn't read our file closely enough...it's probably a boy and we want a girl." Out loud I said (in a very calm voice), "Really..." She went on to explain that she realized this was sooner than we expected so she wanted to explain why this referral came our way so quickly. On our medical condition checklist, we indicated that we would consider a child whose birth family has a history of mental illness. Many other couples indicated that they would not look at a referral with this issue. The other important piece of information was that the mother specifically requested a Christian family. After Kendra (our social worker) finished the prelimary explanation of the situation, she asked if I wanted more details. Without hesitation, I told her I wanted everything she had, so after she filled me in verbally she e-mailed me the paperwork with biographical information and pictures. In a nutshell, three of the birth relatives on the mother's side have some undiagnosed mental retardation issues, but Hyeon Ah (soon to be Sophia) is developing normally. The minute I got off the phone and looked at those pictures, I was ecstatic. I tried to call Chris, but couldn't get ahold of him (FRUSTRATING!!!) I ran across the hall to Susan Jolivette's room...she wasn't there (FRUSTRATING!!!) So I ran over to the special education department and grabbed a co-worker, Laurie Cox, to get her professional opinion about the situation. After showing the pictures and discussing the situation with 4 special ed. professionals, I was even more excited because they all said she didn't seem to have any obvious facial features that would suggest mental retardation, and all the other information suggested that she is developing normally. Needless to say, it was hard to concentrate for the rest of the afternoon as I was trying to teach Language Arts and Social Studies. When Chris and I finally had a chance to talk, I tried to be very reserved in my reaction because I wanted to get a true sense of how he felt about the situation. He was shocked and amazed and excited about the possibility. It seems like a "no brainer" now, but at the time, we needed to spend a few day processing the information. We went to Rochester to visit Pete and Paula and Michael, and Paula really helped me think through some of the issues and research things on the internet. The information we found about mental retardation seems to suggest that a majority of the cases are not caused by hereditary factors. We also knew that Hyeon Ah tested negative for the Fragile X syndrome and she was obviously not a child with Downs Syndrome, so that ruled out 2 of the 3 major hereditary causes. We also decided that we should have the International Adoption Clinic at the U of M look over the referral and give us their opinion. We took time to pray about the situation and I really felt like I needed to talk to as many people as possible before deciding. With every friend and family member we talked to we came to the same conclusion: there is no guarantee that any child will develop normally so why would we turn down a referral of a perfectly happy and normally developing child? Also, anything very severe could be detected by now and if other issues develop along the way, she will be our daughter and we will deal with anything that comes just as any family cares for its children. On Tuesday, when the clinic e-mailed their response to the referral, that sealed the deal. The doctor basically said that there doesn't seem to be any obvious reasons why Hyeon Ah won't continue to develop normally. We had so much fun telling Jacob about his new baby sister! We got it on video, so maybe we'll share it sometime. He is so excited!



We had a hectic few days of gathering some paperwork and photos to send in our acceptance packet to Korea, but it got in the mail on May 14 and now we have a 10-14 week wait before travel. Korea will give us the "okay" and then we'll book the tickets immediately. We think it will most likely be in August. Chris and I will be in Korea for 4-5 days. Jacob will stay home with my sister's family. We are naming her Sophia Hyeon Ah Rose. Her birthday is August 3. We'll have to have a "gotcha" party/late birthday party for her as soon as she adjusts. I'm gearing up for a difficult adjustment because her bio said she is very attached to her foster mom and has "stranger anxiety" (doesn't every one-year-old?) So, please be praying for us, especially the flight home.



It'll be a fun summer preparing for our little girl. Here's a picture you've probably already seen, but isn't she adorable?

Spring Break!

My spring break started a day early because I had to stay home with a sick Jacob. He's had a cough for over a month that hasn't seemed too serious until it morphed into something that caused a fever. So, I took him in for a chest x-ray...the doctor didn't say "pneumonia," but I think he has a slight case. Anyway, he's on antibiotics and is doing better. I can't tell you how good it feels to be able to get something done around the house. As we speak, I'm letting the dough rise for my first ever batch of Amanda's famous "Love My Buns" recipe. I'm sure I'll mess them up because she seems to leave out at least one important direction from each recipe in her cookbook (I think it's done purposefully so none of us can rival her experitise in the kitchen). :)

I get to make my oboe debut at church tonight for the Good Friday service. I'm a bit nervous, but unless all the band members were lying to me, I didn't sound too bad at practice. It's good to know that I still remember how to play it after 17 years of neglect.

Today Jacob said, "I wish I had a baby sister." Further along in our conversation, he said, "We'll have to get a highchair and new baby food. I ate it all." Kids are so funny. Jacob's favorite thing to say lately is, "Guess who I love?"...."You!" I love this age!

Here's what I learned today about Korean food. I really want to figure out how to cook some of these dishes, but it's overwhelming because it seems so different. It'll be fun to experience it when we go to Korea to pick up our girl (still seems like a far-off, maybe-some-day, kind of adventure):
A diverse array of foods and dishes can be found throughout Korea.Korea was once primarily an agricultural nation, and Koreans have cultivated rice as their staple food since ancient times. These days Korean cuisine is characterized by a wide variety of meat and fish dishes along with wild greens and vegetables. Various fermented and preserved food, such as kimchi (fermented spicy cabbage), jeotgal (seafood fermented in salt) and doenjang (fermented soy bean paste) are notable for their specific flavor and high nutritional value. The prominent feature of a Korean table setting is that all dishes are served at the same time.
Kinds of Traditional Korean Food
1. Bap (steamed rice) and Juk (porridge)Boiled rice is the staple of Korean cuisine. Most people use sticky rice, which sometimes has beans, chestnuts, sorghum, red beans, barley or other cereals added for flavor and nutrition. Juk is thought of as highly nutritious and light. Many varieties of juk exist, for example, juk made of rice, red beans, pumpkin, abalone, ginseng, pine nuts, vegetables, chicken, mushrooms and bean sprouts.
2. Guk (soup)Soup is an essential dish when rice is served. Ingredients of different soups include vegetables, meat, fish, shellfish, seaweed, and beef bones.
3. Jjigae (stew)Jjigae is similar to guk but is thicker and hardier. The most famous jjigae is made from fermented soy bean paste. Jjigae is usually spicy and served piping hot in a heated stone bowl.
4. Jjim and Jorim (simmered meat or fish)Jjim and jorim are similar dishes which are prepared with vegetables and soaked in soy bean sauce, then slowly boiled together over a low flame.
5. Namul (vegetables or wild greens)Namul is made from slightly boiled or fried vegetables and wild greens mixed with salt, soy sauce, sesame salt, sesame oil, garlic, onions, and other spices.
6. Jeotgal (seafood fermented in salt)Jeotgal is a very salty food made of naturally fermented fish, shellfish, shrimp, oysters, fish roe, intestines and other ingredients.
7. Gui (broiled/barbecued dishes)When cooking gui, marinated meats are barbecued over a charcoal fire. The most popular meats of this type are bulgogi and galbi. There are also many fish dishes which are cooked this way.
8. Jeon (pan-fried dishes)Jeon is a kind of pancake made from mushrooms, pumpkin, slices of dried fish, oysters, unripe red peppers, meat or other ingredients which are mixed with salt and black pepper, dipped in flour and egg and fried in oil.
9. Mandu (dumpling)Mandu is dumplings stuffed with beef, mushrooms, stir-fried zucchini, and mungbean sprouts. Pork, chicken, or fish is sometimes used instead of beef.

I'll end my blog entry with a fun video of Jacob and his cousin, Michael performing a couple of songs while jumping on a mattress. Jacob doesn't get far into "Twinkle Twinkle" before running out of steam.

How hard can it be to remember a password?

I thought I had a system for keeping track of the 14,000 passwords I need to keep my life humming along, but somewhere along the line Google thinks I changed it and they insist on sending my password information to my old e-mail address that no longer exists. I seriously have spent at least 2 hours clicking on a million different links that claim they will help me, but really, they don't mean it. The whole process of trying to figure out a forgotten password can be so frustrating that it ranks up there with trying to teach the grammar rules of quotation marks to fourth graders.

As you can tell, I gave up on my old blog and I'm starting fresh...too bad I can't give up on the grammar teaching!

We've been keeping busy lately with bringing Jacob to ice skating lessons on Monday nights; dinner at the Ellisons for American Idol night on Tuesdays; TeamKid on Wednesdays; Life group on Fridays; and hanging out with Peter, Paula, and Michael on many weekends! My brother, Pete, and his family have been frequent guests at the "Rose Inn" because they have found a cool church they like in northern Minneapolis. We went with them today to "Hip Hop Sunday." I got "down with my jiggy self and busted a rap." My favorite line from one of the raps was, "He made me to be beautiful, but I pushed Him back like a cuticle." We probably won't steal any of their material to use at Grace, but it was truly cool to see such a vibrant, multi-cultural, young congregation worshiping in a way that allowed them to express themselves in a way that was authentic to who they are.

How is the adoption going, you ask? If the timeline holds true, we still have about 10-14 months to wait for a referral, but that means that our baby girl is probably in existance in a Korean woman's belly right now. That's cool... :) We recently had our fingerprints done as a part of the process to get the okay from the US government to adopt internationally. The last time we talked about the baby with Jacob, he said he wanted to name her Jill. We told him not to get too attached to that name (no offense, Jill).

Today I learned a little bit about the language of our daughter's birth country:

"Koreans are primarily one ethnic family and speak one language. Sharing distinct physical characteristics, they are believed to be descendants of several Mongol tribes that migrated onto the Korean Peninsula from Central Asia. All Koreans speak and write the same language, which has been a decisive factor in forging their strong national identity. Koreans have developed several different dialects in addition to the standard used in Seoul. However, the dialects, except for that of Jejudo (Province), are similar enough for native speakers to understand without any major difficulties. Hangeul (the Korean alphabet), which consists of 10 vowels and 14 consonants, can be combined to form numerous syllabic groupings. It is simple, yet systematic and comprehensive, and is considered one of the most scientific writing systems in the world. Hangeul is easy to learn and write, which has greatly contributed to Korea's high literacy rate and advanced publication industry." Here are a few examples of words:
나무 (na-mu) "tree"
사람 (sa-ram) "man"
손님 (son-nim) "guest"

Check out this quick video of Jacob on skates!