Dreaming of Korea

Do any of you watch Top Chef? If so, you'll know that Kristen won this season (finale was this past Wednesday). She was a Korean adoptee, and you know what she plans to do with her prize money? Take a trip to Korea. She said, through her tears, that she needs to see the people and country who made her. She is seemingly a well-adjusted adult. Her parents were present at the finale and they seemed to have a wonderful relationship. But it is still important to her to experience her roots. Her comments kept me up on more than one night because Camden recently told us that he is going to stop spending his birthday and Christmas money to buy Legos and Wii games because he wants to save it all up until he has enough to take the family to Korea. Hello, tears.

I'm not sure if we've mentioned it here, but we are in limited contact with Camden's birthparents. It happened as a result of visiting Eastern when we were in Korea 5 years ago to adopt Rory. And while Camden does not spend much time talking about his adoption experience, birth parents, or Korea, his plan to save money tells me it's pretty important to him.

But, seriously, does anyone want to tell me how to plan a $10,000 trip to another country? Because that's about what it would take for a family of 4, and that amount is just not anywhere in the budget. It's not even a matter of just buckling down and planning for it because I can't imagine how long it would take us to save that much money. It makes my heart hurt for him, and we'll keep doing our best to encourage him. And I hope that one day, he (and Rory) will get to experience Korea.

In other news, our weekend was busy, but good. We celebrated Rory's family day Friday with "scabetti" and game night (she chose Pick Picknic) and ice cream. Of course. 

Saturday involved a meeting in the morning for Brian, appliance shopping for several hours, trip to the library, and lots of chores around the house. Rory woke up with a fever Sunday, because we can't seem to go more than a couple of days without someone in this house running a fever. Brian had an early meeting, then he and Camden went to church while Rory and I stayed home. Sunday night, Uncle Jon babysat the kids while we went out to eat with a church group. 

The weekend was kind of over in a flash, and now it's the start of what is shaping up to be a busy week. I say, "bring it on."

A few phone/Instagram pics.

I think Camden decided staying home sick wasn't so bad after all since I let him have free rein with the iPad for most of the day, even while eating a bowl of soup for lunch.
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Rory decided to dress up as a witch for family night; her baby was Snow White. She's so silly. She also insisted on a candlelight dinner, and her baby ate with us.
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Why, yes, we did wake up to snow on March 2. It snowed most of the day, although nothing stuck.
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My sick girl camped out on the floor Sunday morning (no fever today, by the way, so I sent her to school).
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And I am ridiculously excited to use my new washer and dryer this morning. For the past several years, we've had to run each load through the dryer 2-3 times, so I have a feeling laundry day will be much easier from now on.
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Comments

I know what you mean--I have NO IDEA how we will afford to go back to Korea as a family. But it is so important. I just hope we can go at least once before the kids are adults.
Renee T. said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Renee T. said…
Yay for the new washer and dryer :)

They look awesome and think how much time you will save with the new dryer!
Amy said…
We dream of taking a trip back to Korea once Lukas is older but I have no idea where we think that money will come from. Have you thought about one of the heritage tours through Holt? I don't think it matters what agency you were with originally. Not sure about the cost either.
Love your boy's heart.

A return trip to Korea is on our list, too. The money is an obstacle, of course. :( BUT Josh and I talk about that if we managed to pay for all those adoption fees while he was in Seminary, then we can figure out a way to go back. We must. Our hearts are there and our boy's history. Praying about it!
Amy said…
Love reading your blog. We too adopted our children from Korea and couldn't figure out a way to pay for a homeland tour. However, when they were younger and we lived in Michigan, we sent them to FFIC's Heritage Camp in June which was a great way to meet other adopted Korean kids and get a taste of their culture.

Now we live in Asia and will be going to Korea this summer on our way back to the US. Obviously, our airfare will be less but we are doing the trip on our own and coordinating with the Korean agency. We are able to stay in the orphanage housing which will save us a ton of $$.

If you want more info, let me know.

Blessings to you!

Amy

atturner21 at gmail dot com
Lori! said…
Sweet Camden. I love the idea of camp! Airfare is just ridiculous!
Love your new toys!! Those were my runner up! Mine came in yesterday and I still haven't figured out how to use them...




I love each and every photo here... but I swooned most at the washer and dryer. New appliances make me super happy.

I will say in the whole "ohmygosh-how-can-we-stay-in-korea-for-a-month" freakout that I had... we discovered ways of doing lots of it pretty affordably. (Sans airfare... we'd have to jump on a bargain) Let me know if you want some sites.

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