Let's Learn about Korea on Tuesday-Lesson #3

I hope you had a nice Christmas or Hanukkah. To help kick-start you into the new year, today's class will be about Taekwondo.

Taekwondo
Not all martial arts are the same. China has kung fu, Japan has karate and Korea has Taekwondo. It is a form of self-defense using only your body as a weapon. The legs and feet get the most action, but a strong arm is also used. When you see somebody in martial arts breaking a stack of bricks with their hand or splitting wooden boards with a flying side-kick...that's Taekwondo. The side-kick is one of the more popular moves:


Taekwondo is the most widely practiced of all the martial arts. Part of it's popularity is because it helps one to develop self-discipline, mental concentration, flexibility and physical fitness. People of all ages and gender can and do practice Taekwondo.

Home Study Approved

DCFS sent approval of our home study and our 1st endorsement letter. We got it much faster than expected. We will send this paperwork onto immigration. Again, you don't necessarily need to know what it all means...just that we're moving along!
Also, our social worker said they have gotten a quite a few referrals and a few families that aren't quite ready, so we are moving up the list a bit quicker. It's getting exciting around here!

Let's Learn about Korea on Tuesday-Lesson #2

Do Koreans Celebrate Christmas?
Welcome back class. Today we'll be learning about Christmas and religion in South Korea.
The 3 most popular religions in South Korea are Buddhism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. Buddhism has been in Korea since 372 A.D. and has influenced much of the culture. It may be surprising to some that Christianity is very prevalent in Korea. Many Korean Americans are very involved in the Christian community as well. Church is a very important way that Korean Americans connect with the community and their faith. South Korea is the only eastern Asian country that does recognize Christmas as a national holiday. So, while not all Koreans celebrate Christmas, it is celebrated by a large part of the population.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Wherever you may be in the world...

"A Home For the Holidays"

If you've never watched this annual show, I highly suggest you check it out this year. We've watched it for years and look forward to it again this year. It focuses on children here in foster care that need homes and success stories from children that have been adopted. Faith Hill and Kristen Chenoweth, both of whom were adopted, are just 2 of the celebrities that will perform. It's a touching show, perfect for the holiday season.

CBS-Tuesday, December 23 at 7pm CST

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.