So...why Korea?

안영하세요!

For those who may have missed it, we're going with International adoption.  I purposely did not discuss it much in our last blog because I knew I would want to keep my posts relatively short and to me this is a topic to be discussed on it's own. 

 

Of course, many of you may have already realized this just by reading our blog address and have started wondering what the whole completing the circle part was all about.

 

Most of my Facebook friends would probably not be too aware of the fact that my parents spent some time in Korea during the early 70's.  My dad was drafted during a time when most men were heading to Vietnam, but was lucky enough to spend much of his time in the military at a desk job in South Korea instead.  Adding to this deployment luck was that he was able to get my mom over there with him for most of the time he was there.  She worked as the secretary to a missionary near my dad's base and they were able to enjoy the time my dad was there together. 

 

At some point during their stay my parents decided that if a child was left at the mission doorstep they would try to adopt them and bring them home.  It was pretty typical that a child would be left there at least once every several months or so as the climate then and now towards single women with children was not good.  This would be one of the few years that a child was not left and so...that was that. 

 

Almost forty years later we are seeking out an adoption from the same country.  And while the fact that my parents considered adoption in Korea is certainly not the reason we are adopting from there, it does play a sweet tune on my heartstrings when I think about the connections.  I like to think that we are coming back to finish something my parents did not.  That there is a family member we were meant to add so many years ago and now finally are.  That we are completing a circle that began to be drawn so many years ago and then was never completed.

 

It's sooo weird for me to even say all of that.  I'm really not the "everything happens for a reason" kind of person.  

Anyway, all this to say my parents unfinished story would be one of the emotional reasons I have for choosing Korea.  The time frame to complete an adoption, length of travel time needed, meticulous health records, foster family vs orphanage setup there all helped me make a rational decision about it as well.  (I say I because Wayne really has left most of the decision making up to me on this.  He guides me towards good choices, but usually lets my planning side run free :) )

 

In the end, I can just simply say I want to.  Without any of the above reasons in place, I think I would still have been pulled to International adoption.

 

I mean, really, have you seen my extended family?  ;)