Gung Hay Fat Choy

Look what we did today...

A friendly Korean church about an hour from us

invited Korean adoptive families to a Lunar New Year Celebration.

They made Bi Bim Bop

and it was so good!

Charlie preferred the oranges.

Reuben slurped three bowls of tofu soup.

Peter enjoyed the main dish.

Oops, too close.

The woman in the brown shirt back there...
She has been waiting to be matched with a Korean child for three years.
She and her husband started the process the same time we did for Charlie.
We feel so blessed to have Charlie home with us.

After lunch we began our instruction on how to properly bow to our ancestors.

Here's Reuben practicing his bowing.

I didn't do any bowing, but it felt awkward and

kind of wrong to be bowing down to anything other than God.

When we were in Korea to adopt Reuben we happened to be there for the Lunar New Year and we saw WooSeok's parents create a shrine/alter to their ancestors and bow to it/them.

It's a piece of their culture that I don't fully understand.

On to a Korean hacky sack competition.

These Koreans are very enthusiastic game-players,

including kids and adults in their sports.

I only hackied the sack two times.

Holder of the hacky sack.

Hold on.

I'm going to look up the Korean name for it...

Jaegi.

But, you should have seen Paul!

He pulled out his secret jaegi skills.

A Korean man said to me, "I bet he's a really good soccer player."

Ha.

Ha, ha, ha.

He might be.  He probably is.

Of course, he would actually have to play soccer in order to find out.

Paul was clearly the best nonKorean jaegi player.

And he was very handsome.

Fun day.

As for the Gung Hay Fat Choy title... when I taught first grade I was handed some curricula and asked to teach about Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year.  It said you're supposed to shout, "gung hay fat choy!" and it means "happy new year!"  Fast forward to that one time when we lived in China... when Lunar New Year came around I confidently called out a hearty gung hay fat choy to my Chinese friends and they had no idea what I was talking about.  Sorry to all those first graders I totally misguided.  I hope that was one of those lessons that nobody remembered.

Funny, Smart, Sunny, and Cute

Paul is hilarious.  This is how I know...

He went to the grocery store with all three boys so I could rest and have some Me time.  Not the funny part, but very heroic and loving, which are also necessary elements for a good story.  On his way out the door to the store I mentioned that I'd like some ice cream with bits of goodness in it that I could eat in the evenings when the children have disappeared into the night.  Look what the funnyman brought me:

He said, "You'll either thank me or be mad at me."  I laughed because I was not expecting .03 ounces of ice cream.  And I laughed, and maybe even cried, because I wanted more.  Lesson learned.  Go to the grocery store myself.  Or, perhaps, be more specific in my requests.  Or, thank my husband for controlling my portions of unneeded fat and sugar.  He is so thoughtful.  And ridiculous.

Paul's Missouri Grandparents came for a visit.

We love them dearly and think they are cute.

They go south for the winter.  I forgot to speak of their wisdom.  South for the winter is so smart.

And I felt like a flight attendant all day with that scarf around my neck.

I think it made me stand up taller.

Coffee, tea?

 The reigning Quilt Monster

 Guess what we're working on?

Potty training.

Throughout the day I hear the toilet lid shut and I head to the bathroom to find

This One taking his bear to use the toilet.

Then he uses wet wipes and puts on a new diaper.

He is figuring out his world.

 We had two warm days this week and we spent them outside,

soaking in and storing up all the sun we could get.

Peter successfully led us through this maze at a nearby nature preserve.

It was shaped like a bat - the flying mammal -

not the unfortunate tool the Giants are using to win World Series games.

Bleh, Giants.

Bleh.

Let's move on.

Mid maze.

Like my necklace?

Remember that time I bought a bunch of stuff I didn't really want at the Turkish shop in California?

This is from that.

I'm kind of fond of it now.

After the prairie maze, we toured some trails and crunched the leaves.

Paul came too.

I don't have any photo editing capabilities on this computer,

but if I did, I'd zoom right in on that cute couple.

Pictures Again

 This is my life with three boys...

 We did our lessons on the front porch one lovely morning

and Charlie kept busy parking the tractors.

 Saying 'cheese' with a fudgecicle

 Fudgecicles always remind me of swimming lessons at the Y when I was a kid.

For a quarter we could get one out of the vending machine.

So yum.

 Charlie also enjoys playdough while I formally educate his brothers.

Hammer, hammer.

 Reuben loves to pick from the garden.

Can you guess what he is harvesting?

 Our crop of rainbow carrots.

Orange, purple, yellow, and white.

 Our first trip to Turkey Run since I don't know when.

 Checking out the water under the suspension bridge.

 A sassafras snack

 I am the funnest mom ever!

 Funnest!

And he has a sweet face.

 This week's history lesson was about Mary, Queen of Scots whose husband tried to kill her so he could be king and when she fled to England hoping her cousin, Mary Queen of England, would help her, Mary had her beheaded.  Huh.

So in response, Peter painted plaid fabric...

 ...to make his own Scottish kilt.

So sorry about your pyscho family, Mary, but we enjoyed the project.

In order to balance out the times when my boys wear skirts,
I allow feats of wrestling to keep them tough and manly.

 I missed it when Charlie jumped in...

...but here's the swollen eye as a result.

I offered a little sympathy,

but not enough to weaken him.

He'll be wiser, quicker, smarter for the next wrestling match.

What have I become?

A mother of boys.

I Will Eat the Kidney

I did.  I ate it.  Several.

I was mentally strong

as I soaked and rinsed and floured and fried them,

knowing that chicken livers are the highest source of iron.

Enormous amounts of iron is what my body needs right now.

See how calm and peaceful I am?

It's like I do this.

Like I fry bloody chicken organs.

And then the oil started popping

and a piece of liver clung to my shirt.

My toughness began to melt away into

how I really wanted to feel:

disgust.

I have very little experience with frying food.

And with raw animal body parts.

The opposite of my favorite things.

 

 Have you ever bought chicken livers?

You probably have.

Locals here have told me the gas station

sells them hot and ready to eat.

Who knew?

Well, they come in a tub for $1.29 at Kroger.

Never again do I wish to buy them.

Or eat them.

Or smell them.

Or taste the lingering after-taste on my tongue.

 Instead,

I will stick to green smoothies.

1 frozen sliced banana

1 cup orange juice

and a blender full of spinach.

The way iron should taste.