Korean New Year 2011 & AP Friends

In preparation for the Benefield's 2011 Korean New Year celebration, I just placed my first online order with HMart!  After our surprise package of Korean snacks, we now know that we need MORE!  They are so good.  We could probably find comparable foods at the local grocery store, but the ones with Korean writing are so much more fun! ;) 

Today, I ordered the things I needed to make New Year's Rice cake Soup (Thanks ML for the recipe) and Bul Kogi (Korean barbecue).  I'm so excited to attempt Korean cooking, but I'm almost positive that I'm going to screw it up.  Thank goodness no one who'll be eating it will know if it tastes right or not! ;)

If any of you have any yummy Korean or American recipes, please send them to me.  I'm always wanting something new to cook besides the stuff I fix every week.

Today started off sucky. I left my office post office keys at home in my jacket pocket. (Thanks DH for bringing them to me.)  Woke up with sinus crud, again, but what's new?!? Looked at old pictures and realized just how much weight I've gained.

BUT
Then, good news started popping up all over Facebook from my AP friends!  So many EP approvals, referrals, new pics, etc.  It just makes my day!

I was thinking yesterday about the months spent waiting prior to John McRae's coming home.  Every time I went in a store, I wanted to buy him something.  Before our travel call, I was afraid to purchase anything.  The first thing we bought him was from Little Seouls and it was a stuffed doll and a book.  For many months, that's all he had in our home.  Then, after EP submission, we started buying a little.  After EP approval, things got crazy.  The kid still doesn't touch half of the stuff, and some of it he never even needed.  If I knew then what I know now, I probably wouldn't even have bought a crib or done a nursery because it isn't like the kid uses either of the two!  He won't sleep any place but with me at night, and his nursery doesn't even have a crib anymore (It's in my bedroom) because we needed the extra space for toys that are played with in the living room!  You live, you learn. :)  It was so much fun buying for him before he came home, and it is still lots of fun...but the kid doesn't need anything and we have no room left to store anything else.  So now when I go into a store, I always think of that special time in our lives when we were preparing for our baby boy.  It's still hard not to pick up a $1 toy every time I run to the dollar store, but I've tried my best to refrain. 

So, my advice to those of you who are in that last minute prep mode, take time to enjoy yourself.  Don't stress over what you have or don't have.  Don't stress over attachment and bonding.  Don't stress over what you are going to wear.  Don't stress over gifts.  Don't stress about what he/she is going to wear.  Don't stress over if you have everything washed and ready today.  Don't stress if you didn't get the last minute projects done before your babe's arrival.  Don't stress over the what ifs.  It's all going to work out, because it is in God's hands and in His perfect time.  In these next few weeks, take the time to do something you enjoy, SLEEP, go on a date with your husband, take some time out for your kids or animals that you already have at home, go visit someone that you've been missing, take a weekend get-a-way, get a massage and a haircut, go shopping for YOU...you catch my drift.  Things might be rough the first little while home, but you will get through it and I can tell you from experience that none of that worrying is going to do anything but take away from the happiness and the excitement of the moment.  I'm so happy for all of my AP friends that are finally seeing movement in their processes.  The wait after JMc's EP approval was the very worst to me.  Please be assured that you will all be in my constant thoughts and prayers!  If any of you need anything, please let me know! Love you all!!! =)

Info on Korean New Year below.

Love,

Stacy

Korean New Year is the most important festival in Korea. It is a family oriented holiday. Korean New Year is also commonly known as Seollal. Korea follows a lunar calendar and for this reason, the dates of Korean New Year vary every year. Korean New Year 2010 was celebrated on February 14 while Korean New Year 2011 will be observed on February 3. Seollal 2011 will be observed on the first day of the lunar calendar. The New Year celebrations in Korea last for three days and the three days are declared as public holiday. Apart from the Korean Lunar New Year, they also celebrate International New Year with the rest of the world on January. However, the enthusiasm and grandeur with which they celebrate the traditional New Year is missing in the International New Year celebrations.

Seollal or Korean New Year 2011 will fall on the 2nd New Moon after winter cosmic time. If you follow the traditional, it is noticed that Korean New Year shares the same day of new Year in China, Vietnam, Mongol, and Tibet. As Chinese New Year, Korean New Year is also called Lunar New Year.



The first day of Korean New Year is known as Sol-nal. The first day of celebrations is restricted within the family. All the family members unite and gather for New Year dinner. During the Korean New Year eve, the Korean people keep rakes and straw scoopers at the entrance or on the wall. They believe that these articles will save their family from any evil force.



All the people in Korea wear colorful and new dresses on the New Years day. This symbolizes a new beginning. Everyone gather at his or her respective house to greet the eldest family member. In Korea, there is a popular tradition of ancestral memorial rites, where the young members in the family bow to the elderly members. The elders pray for the good health and opulence for the young members. The elders also present money to the younger members as a good luck charm.



Without food any celebration is incomplete and Korean new Year 2011 is not an exception. All the family members sit and join in for the New Year feast. The traditional New Year meal include ttokkuk, a must-have dish, which is made of rice cake. According to the Korean New Year traditions, this soup can add extra age to a human being's lifespan. In fact, the Korean new year is the time, when every Korean calculates his or her age and everyone become one year older on the new Year.



Koreans also play a number of traditional Korean New Year games on the eve of New Year. Some of the games are yut nori, stick game, and see-sawing. Yut nori is a very popular broad game, which the entire family can take part in. The male members of the family fly kites. They also play jegi chagi is another popular game for men in Korea. Jegi chagi is more like football. The female members of the family play neolttwigi, a traditional game of jumping on a seesaw. The kids play paengi.

Terrific Tuesday

Yesterday was a good day, full of good news and unexpected boxed happiness.  If you know me, you know I love to receive packages in the mail.  When it is a surprise, it is even better!  I'm so thankful for my family and friends.  I know I say that a lot, but I truly mean it!!!

My Grandmother has been having blood pressure problems and yesterday she received the results from tests she had done on Monday.  There is nothing wrong with her heart, thank God!  Maybe knowing that will help her blood pressure stay under control from not worrying so much about it.

Yesterday was a good day at work.  I mailed out the last of the tax stuff.  Such a relief to be done with that!!!  We also had a district meeting last night with great attendance. 

My bff, Allyson, dropped by  my office to bring sweet little Harley to see her Auntie Stacy!  Such a sweet surprise. :)  She's just too stinkin sweet and her mommy isn't too bad either.  They brought John McRae some jackets, too.  Thanks so much! =)

When I got home from work, I had a sweet card from an adoption friend and another adoption friend surprised us with a box full of Korean goodies!  These two ladies are awesome and really pulled me through the last part of our wait for John McRae to come home with prayers, kind words and just really listening while I vented.  Not to say my non-adoption friends and family weren't great, but these two ladies really understood the anxiety, emotional hurt and just being really ticked off most of the time. ;) 

Lots of friends got good news yesterday concerning their adoptions, and I'm so ready to see them holding their babies really, really soon. =) 

If you are reading this, make sure to check out Leap of Faith's Facebook page.  Brooke informed me last night that her husband is working on our website.  So exciting!

It is a dreary Wednesday, but I had enough good things yesterday to pull me through until the weekend.  Mama and Granny are coming for a visit on Saturday.  So, that will be lots of fun!  Maybe we'll even get around to seeing PawPaw Johnson and Grandma Johnson over the weekend, too. If ReeRee has more snacks, we might drop by there, too!  Also, if my dear mother in law is reading this, some fried chicken would be nice as well! ;)

Lots of friends and family are needing prayer for sickness these days, so remember James 5:15-16. :)

Update on diet: I blew it again last night.  There's always today...right?  And if not, the folks carrying me will have to worry about it, not me!  Sorry, a little sick humor.  I apologize.

Lots of love and thankfulness,
The Benefields

Misc. Ramblings

Well, I didn't get the three day weekend like some of you, but I'm going to make the best of it.  Our weekend was laid back, but very nice.  Friday, Daniel and I had a date night.  We went to eat and to Sam's.  Sadly, I wanted to buy groceries on my date, but we needed to get back to get John McRae to bed.  It was really nice to actually eat a meal in peace, though. :)  Thanks Gran and Papaw for watching him! Saturday morning, John McRae went for a haircut.  After his brief nap, we went visiting.  We stopped by to see ReeRee & Uncle Mike, and then to see PawPaw and DD.  We had lots of fun, and ate way too much.  John McRae even got more Christmas presents and both places!  The kid has so many toys now that they are stored in EVERY room of our house.  That's OK though, because he loves playing with them all!  Sunday, we had a lazy day around the house, but I did manage to clean out John McRae's closet and dresser.  It's amazing that the kid already has two garbage bags full of duds to give away.  It's so much neater now, and I really feel like it was a major accomplishment.  Also, Daniel finally took down our tree yesterday, and I took the Christmas cards off of the laundry room door.  We loved all of our picture cards this year.  John McRae especially loves looking at them, so I'm going to put them in an album for him.  That really sums up our weekend, and we are already ready for the next one...and it is just Monday.

Emma and I have a little weekend get-a-way in the works, and I'm really excited about that!

So, an update on my dieting...it's non-existant, but today is a new day and I'm going to really try to stay motivated.  Amy and I plan to start exercising this week, and I hope the rain this week will not hinder us.  If any of you are also fighting the battle of bulge, let's keep each other on track! 

If you've not checked out Leap of Faith on Facebook, go see!  I've added some links this morning that are really helpful!  Tell a friend, too!

That's all I've got, but I'll leave you with a hint of what I deal with everyday...and I LOVE IT!  John McRae is So funny! :)

Happy Korean American Day!

Today, January 13th, is the "Korean American Day" in the U.S., declared in 2003 by the U.S. Congress as such, and followed by some state governments, to celebrate Korean Americans on the occasion of the centennial of Korean immigration to the U.S. Jan. 13 was chosen because it was on that day in 1903 that 102 pioneer immigrants arrived in Hawaii from Korea, who worked in sugar cane fields. Now, Korean Americans number nearly two million. The U.S. is home to the second largest overseas Korean community in the world after China.


I was doing a little research and wanted to share some websites I've enjoyed.

http://meetjohnsong.com/2009/01/14/celebrate-korean-american-day-i-love-the-hyphen/

http://www.ikadayfestival.com/index.php  It would be so awesome to have something like this in our area or a little closer to home!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Korean_Americans

Love,
The Benefields

Two Tear Drops

The purpose of my post is not to depress my readers, but I heard this song on the way to work this morning and wanted to share the lyrics.  This has never been a favorite of mine, but I was sitting in line waiting on my breakfast and really listened to the words this morning.  It makes so much sense in a lot of areas in my family's life right now.  The more I think about it, I know He wanted to get my attention and really think about some things.  If you think about it, adoption is a lot like these two tear drops.  One for a mother loved her baby and chose to give the child a life that she could not provide, and the adoptive family who received a true blessing.  Tears of sorrow and tears of happiness.  Yesterday was a rough day, but "I guess the good Lord giveth and the good Lord taketh away."  A broken heart never goes away, but He has a way of helping you deal with it and always knows best.

(Bill Anderson/Steve Wariner)


Two teardrops were floatin' down the river

One teardrop said to the other

I'm from the soft blue eyes of a woman in love

I'm a tear of joy she couldn't carry

She was so happy she just got married

I was on her cheek when she wiped me away with her glove

I could tell from the look on her face she didn't need me

So I drifted on down and caught me a ride to the sea

The other tear said we've got a connection

I'm a tear of sorrow born of rejection

I'm from the sad brown eyes of her old flame

She told him they would be lifelong companions

Left him with questions and not any answers

I was on his cheek as he stood there calling her name

I could tell he had a lot of my friends for company

So I drifted on down and caught me a ride to the sea

Oh the ocean's a little bit bigger tonight

Two more teardrops somebody cried

One of them happy and one of them bluer than blue

The tide goes out and the tide comes in

And someday they'll be teardrops again

Released in a moment of pleasure or a moment of pain

Then they drift on down and ride to the sea again

Last night I sat in the waiting room

The nurse walked in and gave me the news

It's a baby girl and they're both fine

An old man sittin' not 10 feet away

Just lost his wife and he said to me

You've got a brand new angel and I've lost mine

I guess the good Lord giveth and the good Lord taketh away

And we both wiped a teardrop from our face

Oh the ocean's a little bit bigger tonight

Two more teardrops somebody cried

One of them happy and one of them bluer than blue

The tide goes out and the tide comes in

A whole new circle of life begins

Where tears are a part of the pleasure and part of the pain

'Til they drift on down and ride to the sea again
Two teardrops floatin' down the river

Two teardrops floatin' down the river

War Eagle!!!

Although we do not support every detail of their program this year, the Benefields are long time fans of Auburn University and Auburn Football. 

War Eagle!!!

ICY Monday in MS

What a great weekend we had! 

It ended with a bunch of cold,

freezing rain, though.

I should have taken some pictures,

but at 10:45am outside my office, this is the speed limit sign melting.

Friday was another milestone in our adoption process.  We had our 2nd post placement visit with our social worker.  We weren't nervous about it at all, because John McRae is adjusting just fine and our social worker isn't the type to make you nervous at all.  We had a good visit, but John McRae felt a little uncomfortable so he turned into a baby the entire time we were there.  He stayed in one of our laps the entire time, which is very uncommon for him.  In general, he is a very busy little boy! Right when he knew we were leaving, he blew our social worker a kiss and waved by to her. Haha!  He then felt safe, and started doing a few of his tricks for her in the hallway leading out of her office.  When he saw his Thanksgiving and Christmas card we had sent to her, he pointed at them and said really sweetly, "me."  I was glad that she could finally see that he wasn't a mute and that he was making tons of progress. Because of the holidays, we are running a little behind on our post placement visits, but went ahead and scheduled our final visit for February 8th.  After that, Holt will send us our paperwork to finalize the adoption!  So, we are hoping that we will be completely done by March!

After leaving our visit, we met up with the Daniel family who are always a lot of fun!  Daniel and I met this sweet family at our adoptive parenting class last January.  They are traveling to Thailand to bring home baby James in about 6 weeks.  We can't wait to meet him and will probably have to have a slumber party at their house before he arrives!

It is still so amazing how wonderful our experience has been, and how blessed we are.

John McRae had a really great Saturday.  He and I were going to meet Charlotte for breakfast, but decided it wouldn't be too smart to mingle with that crazy crowd fighting over the last loaf of bread in Wal-Mart.  So, while Daniel went to the local grocery store for a few necessities, John McRae and I snuggled on the couch and watched cartoons.  It was so nice.  Just this week has John McRae decided to sit on the couch or in the chair by us under a blanket and watch tv.  John McRae was all about loving and unsolicited kisses this weekend...he is such a sweet little fellow.  It's more than nice!

Sunday was another lazy day.  Every weather channel gave a different forecast. So, all we could do is just look out the window from time to time to see what was happening outside!  Our power blinked around 6pm, and went out at 8pm.  We are all electric so we went to Daniel's parents' house for the night.  That was John McRae's first overnight stay there.  He was a little freaked out by no power.  He doesn't like the dark At. All.  He woke up in a good mood this morning ready to play.

So, that was our weekend.  It doesn't sound very exciting, but it was a lot of fun!

Date Night

For John McRae and Judah.

Thanks Todd & Brooke for having us over.

We enjoyed the food and fellowship.

Fun times with fun folks.

P.S. Our grandchildren are going to be adorable! ;)

So excited, because...

My dear friend, Brooke, and I

are working on something awesome!

  So, if you are already a part of the adoption community or are planning to take the

 leap of faith

 and adopt in the future...

STAT TUNED!!!

God is talking, and we are listening! :)

Korean Alphabet Blanket

Thanks Peggy, we love it!  This is such a special gift that John McRae can treasure forever.  He's really happy about it, I can tell by the smile on his face! :)

New Years at the Beach

As you probably know, our little family loves the beach!  So, what better place to spend New Years?  They say what ever you do on the first day of the year is what you do the rest of the year.  So, I guess we'll be spending a lot of time at the beach and eating at Doc's!  That's certainly OK with me!

Daniel, John McRae and I left a little after lunch Thursday on our way to Orange Beach, AL.  We had a nice ride, and John McRae slept about an hour.  He wasn't fussy at all, he's such a trooper!  We arrived at the beach, unloaded at the condo, and then went to eat.  Ahhh, those 4 lbs I gained were so worth it. :)  Of course, we had to take a trip to Target for supplies.  Gosh, I wish Meridian had a target.

Friday, Gran & Papaw came to spend the night with us.  The weather was nasty so we stayed in most of the day, but that morning we were able to squeeze in some shopping in Foley.  We had lunch at Lambert's and it was really good.  John McRae got a little freaked out by the man talking on the loud speaker.  So, he got in my lap and went to sleep.  It sucked that he got spooked, but he was so sweet sleeping on my chest. That evening, Daniel and I went back to Foley for a little more shopping for John McRae.  I just love all of the children's outlets, especially Carter's.  We went by Publix and picked up a few finger foods for New Years.  We all fell asleep around 11pm, after the ball dropped in New York!  I actually woke up right at midnight, because John McRae woke up crying.  When I got him settled back down, I looked at the clock and it was 12:02am.  I hope that is no indication of our sleeping for 2011!

Saturday, we spent most of the day inside the condo watching football!  GO STATE!  We did manage to get out for lunch, and again, it was great!  John McRae had fun playing all day.  Gran and Papaw left out about 3pm in the rain.  Daniel, John McRae and I went to Waffle House for supper, and really enjoyed our meal.  Can you tell our whole trip revolved around eating!?!  We went back to Target, and then looked for John McRae a T-Shirt from the beach at the store with the shark out front.  They didn't have any in his size that weren't girly, though!  He'll get one next time...maybe March. :)  John McRae tried his best to get sick the entire time we were gone.  He coughed and had a runny nose.  Saturday night was spent mostly wide awake.  John McRae decided he was ready for every one to be up at 2am.  Mama and Daddy weren't ready to be awake, but there we all were...playing with Barney flash cards.  We went back to sleep a little after 4am. 

We woke up Sunday morning, and for the first time our entire trip...THE WEATHER WAS BEAUTIFUL.  Oh well, at least we had nice weather to drive home in.  I wanted to go get some pretty pictures at the beach, but didn't want to risk getting John McRae out in the wind after the night we'd had.  We went for breakfast at the Pancake House and boy was that interesting.  We probably won't be going back there, but the food was delicious!  We came straight through Mobile without going to the Flea Market or going to see my grandma.  We did stop in Waynesboro for cough syrup, though!  We got home and crashed.  Vacation can wear your out! :)

Thankfully, John McRae had a good night last night.  So, hopefully we'll stay out of the doctor's office this week.  He was a sad baby boy this morning when I dropped him off at daycare.  He wasn't screaming, he just had big, sad tears and was hugging me.  So sad, but I know he is having fun now with his friends. I'm already prepared for a clingly 27 lb toddler on my hip this evening, but that's perfectly fine with me, too! 

So, as the new year starts, I'm on a diet from my splurging over the past 4 months, and looking forward to 2011. 

Happy New Year!
The Benefields