Monster Jam!

Coming back to winter after living on an island for the past 5 years presents some practical difficulties- mainly no winter clothes! My mother-in-law greeted us at the airport with winter coats that she bought for the kids, and I dug out my winter coat, which I had saved from my Minnesota days. It was 10 degrees when we arrived in Chicago, and since then, the temperatures have dropped below zero. We’ve also gotten fresh snow!

My kids liked it for a day or two, but now don’t ask to play outside. Despite the cold, my daughter still walks around the house in bare-feet and even takes her shoes off in the car! You can take the girl out of the islands, but not take the island out of the girl I guess! Another new thing for my kids- static electricity! Jack just tells everyone- DON’T TOUCH ME! He is zap-paranoid!

Something fun that we got to do that we don’t get in Guam: MONSTER JAM!! I was thrilled we were able to go. I’ve spent a fortune thru the years on monster truck toys and video rental, but this was the real deal. We got to see Monster Jam plus go to a big-rig truckers show. My son said this was the Best. Day. Ever!

Happy Halloween!

Guam kicked off the Halloween celebration for the US last night. We went trick-or-treating with friends on Anderson Air Force Base. Jack was a Harley rider (like his Daddy!) and Emma was a princess (like her Mommy heehee). A great time was had by all, and the kids are now overloaded with candy! Happy Halloween to all! I hope you have a great time.

A Performance To Remember

This past Sunday my kids did a singing/dancing performance in church along with the other kids from Sunday school. This is the second time they have performed since we joined the church. The first time they performed, Emma danced her heart out (as usual), but big brother Jack didn’t move. He was miserable and wanted nothing to do with being up there. That wasn’t Jack’s first experience with stage fright. He hates this kind of stuff, and I’ve sat through many other similar performances. However, he has had some good moments too, so I know it is possible. After he didn’t dance during the last church performance, he seemed to regret it, and the Sunday school teachers have been telling me how well he has been doing in class. They said he has really gotten into their latest routine. Last Saturday evening, I got the call from their Sunday school teacher…Can you please dress the kids in green shirts and blue jeans because they will sing on Sunday? Ugh, I felt a bit apprehensive the moment I got the call because I knew I would have to break the news to Jack the next morning.

On Sunday, once Jack realized they were going to sing, he rebelled, saying he wasn’t going to church. I fired him up and got him out the door, but on the way to church, he started in again. "I don’t want to do it Mommy!" he cried. "I can’t even sing all the Korean words!" I told him it was ok, that he could just dance and not worry about singing. Then, I pulled out the big guns…."Jack, if you dance, I will get you an M&M McFlurry and let you play Game Cube!" (trust me, we have to clear off the dust on the game cube cause I never let him play!) He took the bait and promised to try.

I dropped them off at their class and went to the church service. As the time for their performance neared, I kept looking over my shoulder for the kids to show up in the back of the sanctuary. When they finally appeared, I saw them all lined up and spotted Jack with a troubled look on his face. I knew this was agony for him. While the congregation finished singing a song, they entered the sanctuary. Emma gave me a wave and flashed me a confident smile while Jack was looking at the floor. The Pastor introduced them, and they went up. Jack was next to Emma, and of course, all the kids looked adorable! The music started, and I held my breath. I saw Jack make the first move, but wait…they stopped the music. There was a technical problem, and they had to restart the song. Ugh, could we possibly get him to start again?? But, when the music started, Jack (along with the others) started dancing!! Oh, what joy and relief! My good friend Christine was sitting up front and turned around to flash me a thumbs-up. I was so proud that I had tears running down my face the entire song. I once had a friend tell me she cried through an entire rendition of the very cheery Jingle Bells at a preschool performance because her 3 yr old was singing. That is the way it is when you are a mom! Sometimes you can’t help but cry.

Before I knew it the song was over, and the kids were filing out of the sanctuary. Jack’s eyes met mine, and he gave me a big grin and did his best "AJA AJA FIGHTING" arm-pump. Soooo cute! I pumped my arm back and then gave him a thumbs-up! Of course, Jack was thrilled after church, and the kids got ice cream along with Jack’s game-cube time. On a side note, the Sunday school teachers all wore pink shirts to go along with the kids green shirts. My kids’ Korean School teacher is one of the Sunday school teachers. In the car on the way home, Jack smirked and asked, "Mommy why did Sonsaengnim have on a pink shirt?" He and Emma both giggled. I said, "To match the other teachers." "But Mom, he’s a BOY!" he replied. I told him that in Korea it was ok for guys to wear pink. And, if you watch the dramas, flowers, ruffles, polka dots, and a hint of lipstick are all ok too! LOL Ok, I didn’t tell him that. BTW, my two are at the end of the first row in the photo. Jack is wearing dark green, and Emma is next to him.

Where were you born?

God Bless my Emma. She lives in "Emma’s World" for sure. She is smart and tops her class in reading and writing, but it isn’t because of me. If I try to teach her something, she stares at me blankly. Learning sight words, she could write it ten times, and when I ask her to repeat the word, she will say "I dunno." Yet, she somehow gets it. She is just our space queen. Some Emma-isms: floating in the swimming pool, she asked the girl floating next to her "So, why are you all wet?" During our flight home from the mainland, I left to use the restroom, and she asked her Daddy, "why did Mommy get off the plane?" She calls my sister "lady in the green van" because she can’t remember her name. Anyway, she is delightfully spacey and keeps us laughing with her comments.

So tonight, the kids were playing a game with Daddy, and he asked them to write down where they were born. Emma was stumped. Now, she has been raised with a K-drama addict as a mom, we’ve traveled to Korea as a family, and attend Korean church. She goes to Korean school and is learning Korean. We say a prayer for her birth mom in Korea every night at prayer time. We eat Korean food several times a week. I even have the Korean flag hanging in our kitchen! But, after all my efforts to teach her about her birth country, she ponders a moment then responds, "Australia! I was born in Australia."

Hubby and I are still laughing. Dang, I’ve got some work to do….

Emma turns 6!!

Today is my beautiful daughter Emma’s 6th birthday! Of course, we had a party last weekend and celebrated with all our friends. Ok, I’m a mom and have to brag! Emma is such a sweet loving confident child. With my son, who is such a momma’s boy, I feel that all I do effects him, yet with Emma, I feel that I’m just along for the ride. She has developed into this cool little person, and all I’ve done is watch. Friendly and outgoing, Emma is always ready to share a hug- be it a best friend or a stranger. She loves her music, singing, and dancing and is always ready to perform! She is especially hilarious singing Korean pop songs- she “knows” all the words…ok not really, but it sure looks like it. She once took the “mic” at a party at our house and sang along with Jewelry’s Superstar for some of my Korean friends. It was sooo cute! I do know she has the entire High School Musical OST memorized! Her teacher told me the other day that Emma is “all girl” which is so true, but she’ll still pick up frogs, geckos, and lizards too! I love it!

On her birthday, I can’t help but think of her birthmother. On this day, I feel a bit inadequate as her mom. Yeah, I’m her mom, but I’m not responsible for bringing her into this world. I have her birthmom to thank for that. In a world where abortion is readily available, I’m grateful for her b-mom’s courage to carry the pregnancy to term and then go through the pain of placing her for adoption. I can’t imagine a greater love and sacrifice. So, on this day, I pay tribute to her b-mom, who is no doubt, consumed with memories of the short time she spent with her daughter. I cannot share with Emma what her actual birthday was like….what the weather was like, where her b-mom was when labor started, who was at the delivery, what her first days of life were like. These are precious and most likely bittersweet memories that belong to her birthmom alone. I can only hope that one day, Emma can sit and hold her b-mom’s hand and hear her story first hand. For my part, I will do my best to love and raise my wonderful daughter well.

Happy Birthday my sweet Emma! I love you!!

School Has Started!!

Woohoo, it was the first day of school today! For sure, both mom and kids were ready for it to start. It seems like the last few weeks, the fights between brother and sister have been endless! Jack, who is 7, started second grade, and Emma, who will soon be 6, started the first grade. I put them on the bus this morning then drove up to school to make sure that they found their way to their new teachers. I was most concerned about Jack, my little worrier, who very nervous when he got on the bus. However, my worries proved unfounded. By the time I spotted him in the mass chaos of kids, teachers, and parents, he had already hooked up with several of his friends. When I tried to guide him to his new teacher, he said "Mom don’t hold my hand!" Ok, well that is that- my guy is growing up. I briefly waived to my daughter as she was headed to her new class. She had met up with her kindergarten teacher from last year and was thrilled that "Ms. Bamba" was walking her to her new class (though I did find out later that she was very disappointed that Ms. Bamba wasn’t her 1st grade teacher!). As I walked away from the school, I felt a lump building in my throat and fought back tears. Day one of school can be hard on moms too!

Of course, when I got to the gym later that morning, Jay, the regular front counter guy, realized I wasn’t dragging in two kids into "Club Kids" and threw his arms up in the air- "School has started!" he cheered. I reached up and high-fived him. LOL Being a SAHM has it moments!

It All Started With Korean TV!

Last night, I was watching Sunday night game shows on KBS World. They have this soccer show that is a group of kids coached by different Korean celebrities. The kids play teams from other countries. In last night’s show, they were in England playing a group from an English soccer club. Super cute stuff…. Anyway, on they show, they had the "Free-Style" soccer champ who did all sorts of tricks with the soccer ball- bouncing it on his head, feet, legs, knees. Cool stuff and fun to watch. My son loved it.

So, this morning, my 5 yr old daughter Emma sat down at the kitchen bar to eat breakfast. She had already taken a bath and was dressed for the day. She was just digging into her Fruit Loops when brother appears with a ball, saying "Look Mommy, like THIS!" He proceeds to bounce the ball twice off his head, and before I could utter one syllable of "not in the house", the ball bounced off his head, onto the counter, and into the bowl of Fruit Loops. The bowl of Fruit Loops shot onto Emma’s lap, then to the floor, where the bowl split into 3 pieces. Hana the lab was quick to move in for the spoils. I cleaned up the bowl, then took Emma with me to the shower to hose her down. I was washing her hair when she slipped and did a face plant in our shower. Poor thing split her chin wide open. One look at the cut, and I knew she needed stitches.

Now, in Guam, medical treatment can be a bit scary. The hospital is not accredited and suffers from lack of doctors and money. In the past, I could use the emergency room on the Navy Base, but since we moved off base, we are no longer eligible to use them. So, I called our local clinic, which has a prompt care and was hoping they could see her. Yes, bring her in! Thankfully, my husband had arrived back in town Saturday night. I was able to call him at work to pick up our son, and then we were off to the clinic. At this point, Emma’s only worry was whether she would get a "girl band-aide," but I knew getting her to hold still for this would be next to impossible.

They took us in right away at the clinic, and I could tell there was some discussion among the nursing staff as to which doctor to get to do the stitches. I started getting nervous about the entire thing. I could tell a nurse we call "Auntie Fay" wanted Dr, Pittman to do it. We waited several minutes then they had me resign the consent to treatment form because they did indeed change doctors. THANK YOU Auntie Fay. As it turns out, Dr. Pittman, who we had seen before through family practice, has extensive experience in doing stitches on the face. Whew!

Dr. Pittman asked Emma "are you scared?" and she said "yes". He explained that the painful part was the first shot, but then she wouldn’t feel a thing. We tried to do it without holding her down, but one look at the needle and she was hysterical. So, they wrapped in a sheet, and we held her down. I basically laid on top of her! UGH! They used 3 shots to numb her, and she was screaming the entire time. Through her sobs, she demanded, "ARE YOU A DOCTOR?" and he said "yes" and she shot back, "WELL YOU ARE A BAD DOCTOR". We all couldn’t help but laugh. Finally, after she was numb, she did settle down to be stitched. As she was calming down, she said, "I’m sorry I called you a bad doctor. You are really a good doctor." It was SOOO cute! I kept my hands over her eyes, and she held very still. One of the receptionists came back to see her. She asked if we knocked her out! She said the entire waiting area could hear her screams of "bad doctor." I said they probably heard her in Saipan!

Ten stitches later we were out of there. Dr. Pittman said that mom probably needed a valium after that! Haha. Actually, I was very pleased with the care she got and so relieved that it went well. When we left, Emma even said Kamsahamnida to the Korean nurse that was helping us. As for big brother, no more soccer tricks in the house!