Happy First Night of Hanukkah!

Hanukkah, the eight-day festival of light celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, of purity over adulteration, of spirituality over materiality. More than twenty-one centuries ago, the Holy Land was ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who sought to forcefully Hellenize the people of Israel. Against all odds, a small band of faithful Jews defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it to the service of God.
When they sought to light the Temple's menorah, they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks; miraculously, the one-day supply burned for eight days.
Today Jewish people light a candle for each day the oil burned. Starting with one candle and then adding a candle each night. On the last night the menorah is glowing from the candles and the miracle that is Hanukkah.

Let's Learn about Korea on Tuesday-Lesson #1

In our process of adopting from South Korea, we have been learning a lot about Korea. Part of the reason we decided to adopt internationally was so that we could incorporate another culture into our lives. We love learning about other countries, culture, and customs. While we won't be living in Korea, it will forever be linked to our child and our family and we look forward to embracing and incorporating Korea into our home.

So in that vein, LBOS will be posting about Korea every Tuesday so that you can learn along with us, if you'd like.

The South Korean Flag (pictured above)

The South Korean flag or "Taegukgi" has 3 elements. The white backround, the Yin and Yang in the center and the 4 trigrams are done with the idea of balance. The white backround symbolizes the "cleanliness of the people". The "Yin" in blue is the negative aspect of the universe. The "Yang" in red is the positive aspect of the universe. The "Yin" and "Yang" represent total balance and a continuous movement, within infinity merging as one. The four trigrams starting from the upper left hand corner and moving clockwise are: Heaven, Water, Earth, and Fire. You'll notice that Heaven and Earth and Water and Fire are across from each other. Again, balancing each other.

Hope to see you next week for our next lesson!

Here is the archive to all the "Let's Learn about Korea on Tuesdays" lessons. If you'd like to order a hard copy, go HERE.

Lesson #1-The Flag

Lesson #2-Christmas and Religion

Lesson #3-Taekwondo

Lesson #4-Hangul

Lesson #5-Hanbok

Lesson #6-Korean New Year

Lesson #7-Seoul

Lesson #8-North Korea

Lesson #9-Celebrities

Lesson #10-National Flower

Lesson #11-March First Movement

Lesson #12-K-Drama, K-Pop

Lesson #13-Baseball

Lesson #14-Celadon Pottery

Lesson #15-Nunchi

Lesson #16-Cherry Blossoms

Lesson #17-Kimchi

Lesson #18-Won

Lesson #19-Buddha's B-day Party

Lesson #20-Wedding Ducks

Lesson #21-Children's Day

Lesson #22-Gyeongbok Palace

Lesson #23-Names

Lesson #24-Markets

Lesson #25-Tol

Lesson #26-Soju

Lesson #27-Jinju

Lesson #28-Chuseok

Lesson #29-Pororo/Poong-Poongie

Lesson #30-Superstitions

Lesson #31-School

Home Study sent to DCFS

Our social worker has finished our home study and it has been sent to IL DCFS. They will (hopefully) approve it and send us our foster license. However, there is only one person who reviews the home studies, so let's hope she used all her vacation days up this year! We should get approval in 6-8 weeks.

Update...We actually got our Foster License in the mail yesterday! I think our social worker sent the home study sooner that I thought :) Now, we need "endorsement letter #1" from DCFS. I'm not sure exactly what that is. But I do know we need it for the next step, which is sending all our paperwork to Immigration, or UCIS for pre-approval. Hopefully we'll get the endorsement letter by February.

Christmas Kitty

Somebody likes the new addition to the living room...

We're Baaaack!

Dave and I are back from our fabulous trip to Italy. It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary and to take a break from our 'real' life.

We started out in Verona to visit my cousin Alessia. Her mother Rosa, boyfriend Marco, and Alessia were the ultimate hosts. They cooked us delicious, traditional, Italian meals. We always started with antipasti that consisted of prosciutto, parmesan and romano cheese, olives, bread and salami that Marco's father had made, paired with wonderful, light, sparkling, white wine. Next would be a homemade soup or pasta. Then of course, we would move to Rosa's living room for limoncello. Here is a picture of Dave, Alessia, Marco and Rosa in the kitchen:


Alessia and Marco took us around the city center of Verona on Saturday. Most people know Verona from Romeo and Juliet, and there is a statue to commemorate her. We visited the castle of the della Scala family and the arena. Verona has a few delightful walking streets that you can easily stroll to get a feeling of the city. We dined outside on some appetizers and our new favorite drink, the aperol spritz, at Piazza Erbe. On Sunday, we took a trip to Bardolino which is on Lake Garda. It was a great little lakeside town. I can only imagine how beautiful and lively it is in the summer months. We strolled the streets and had lunch at a pizzeria.

Then it was on to Venice. Though we were only in Venezia for 24hrs, we definitely felt the magic of that city. St Mark's is one of the most beautiful churches in the world. Here is a picture of us from the terrace on top of the church:

We then toured the Palazzo Ducale. We then took the vaporetto (water bus) to a point far from our hotel and just wandered our way back. Venice is such an amazing city to just get lost in and see what you stumble upon.

After Venice, we headed to Florence. We realized the benefit of November travel when we were able to walk right up to Michelangelo's The David and the Uffizi Gallery with no lines. The David truly is amazing and leaves you in awe. The Duomo, which can be seen in the picture below is truly magnificent:


We also saw San Lorenzo and the market there and Santa Croce and the leather factories. We did most of our shopping in Florence. If you're on our Christmas or Hanukkah list, there's a good chance your gift came from Florence!

After Florence, we headed back to Verona. We so enjoyed our time with all of them. It was nice to just BE together.
Here is a picture of me and Alessia in her apartment:



After we had our teary goodbye from Verona we headed to Milan. We spent the afternoon and evening walking around. The city was very alive on a Saturday evening. We went inside La Scala opera house and as luck would have it they were practicing for their production of Don Carlo. So, we got to see opera performed at La Scala!

We loved our trip...we loved drinking espresso 3-4 times a day...we loved the food (pasta, antipasti, pastries, olive oil, eggplant, black cabbage, anchovies, steak, pizza, fish, etc)...we loved the beautiful, sacred, churches...we loved strolling the walking streets...we loved the centuries old art...we loved aperol spritz....we loved the fine wine at a cheap price...we loved spending time with family...and we loved being together in this unique country.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving with lots o' food, football, family, friends, laughs, and lots to be thankful for!!

*yes, we're still in Italy

Ciao for Now

Dave and I are headed to Italy! We'll be going to Verona, Venice, Florence and Milan. Not that we need a reason to go to Italy but:

1) It's our 5 year anniversary on November 22...yeah us!

2) My lovely cousin, Alessia and her mother Rosa live in Verona. We last saw them a year ago and can't wait to see and spend time with them!

3)It's our last hurrah.

Everyone says to enjoy this time of baby freedom while you can. Does eating great food, drinking all the wine and cappuccino we can, seeing beautiful art, shopping and visiting family in Italy count? I think so!

Arrevederci!!

What's with all this waiting?

I had a question about the waiting. Why are the children 8-12mos old when they come home? Why does the process take so long?

The South Korean government has been understandably trying to increase domestic adoption and has added some new rules to their adopton policies. 2007 was the first year more children were adopted by Koreans domestically than abroad. One of the new rules included a 5 month period where a child could ONLY be adopted domestically. After 5 months if the child is not adopted domestically, they can be referred internationally (that's us!). The amount of paperwork that needs to be done in both the U.S. and Korea after a child is referred internationally to get travel clearance takes approximately 3-6months. So, that's why he will be anywhere from 8-12 months old, when he comes home.

Adoption is a long process. As you can see from the timeline, there's a lot that needs to be done. There's a lot of filling our of paperwork, getting paperwork approved, backround checks, fingerprinting, physicals, scheduling appointments, etc. There are also a lot of families looking to adopt from Korea. Really, I think having a certain period of waiting is good. There is a lot to be done and a lot to learn. I say that now, but I know we will have some low moments of waiting.

"When you're feeling low and the fish won't bite...

...you need a little bit o'Seoul to put you right."


We got an update on where we are on the waiting list. We are approximately #20 on the list for a boy. Our agency has been averaging 3 boy referrals a month. Some months have more, some have less. If that pace continues, we could expect a referral about June 2009. Then we would travel to Korea 3-5mos later to bring him home.

We honestly have no gender preference, but the chances of a boy are about 99%. The most desired child by couples all over the world, for various reasons, is the youngest, healthiest girl...leaving more boys available for adoption. So, our agency and many others do not let first time parents request a gender. That's just fine with us...we will be MORE than THRILLED with a boy!!! We can't wait for the day that our referral comes and we can share him with you.