Welcome!

 Welcome to my blog!  I'm using this space to document my family's upcoming trip to South Korea. I have been to South Korea twice before. Once to meet my oldest son and bring him home. And then again, 2 1/2 years later, to complete my family and bring home my youngest. My children have never been back to South Korea. It is the land of their birth. It is all they knew until the day this strange American couple showed up, took them from their homes and changed their lives forever. I choose to tell myself that this was for the best. It certainly worked out fantastically for me. I wound up with two children who fill my life with joy. And I do believe it was in their best interest as well. It far outweighed the alternative. But there is a part of me, deep inside, that sometimes feels a twinge of guilt. I took them from their country, their culture, their people. They had no say. What would they have chosen if they had?

It is now time to bring them back so they can spend some time seeing and experiencing their heritage. My oldest is 16 and my youngest will turn 15 while we are there. They are old enough to make a long voyage like this and appreciate the depth of this experience. 

Beyond that highly personal opening to this blog, I will likely share very little about my boys' own personal stories. They have the right to choose the information that is and is not shared. I predict that all of our emotions will be high and intense during various parts of the trip, but again, those emotions are not mine to share. Instead, I will share my experiences, my impressions, and my emotions alone. Anything beyond that will be shared with their permission or not shared at all.

As I sit here writing and beginning the very early stages of planning, my mind is wandering back to my last visit to South Korea. It was April of 2012. I can smell the unique scents of Seoul- the smell of exhaust from the heavy congestion of traffic, the smell of food prepared by countless street vendors, some of the same smells I encounter when I step into our local Korean grocery store. I remember the efficiency of the Korean culture- the public transportation system was seamless, and the bullet train running through the country allowed us to travel far outside of Seoul in an extremely short amount of time. But most of all I remember the graciousness of the Korean people. While exploring the streets and neighborhoods of Seoul, Luke and I often needed to stop and ask for directions. We looked for young people when we needed help. They were the most likely to know some English. Time and again we learned that when we asked for help, people didn't just give us directions. They walked with us to our destination. Their hospitality knew no bounds. I can't wait to go back.