How To Talk About Adoption - From An Adoptee

Linking up with Shay and  Erika for another random discussion. Last year they did a Workin' It them, and this year they are doing How We theme. I love it. This month they are chatting about talking to adoption to kids. Now I have no adopted any children...yet, but I do have some experience as I am ONE of the kids that has been adopted. I write a little about being adopted and my top asked questions here.

Meet my family.

Front row: Mr., Mini Fox, My Mom, Me

Second Row: Brother, Baby Fox, Sister, Dad

So today's topic is talking about adoption to kids, I thought I would share my experience as someone who is adopted. Obviously my parents couldn't hide that I was adopted...Hello I'm Korean, they are most definitely not. My brother and sister (if you have a question about that, I answered that question you might have here) are also adopted, my sister being 5 years older than me and my brother being 9 months younger than me. Yep my mom went from 1 to 3 kids in 6 months.

My parents were always open and honest with all of us being adopted. There was never a time when we didn't know. From babies they would talk about how we were adopted, even though we couldn't talk or fully understand they were constantly telling us how lucky they were to adopt us. All of my cousins knew too, it was something that we all talked about. We read Horton Hatches The Egg a lot. At the end, my mom would always say: see it doesn't matter that the bird laid the egg, Horton was the one who loved and cared for the egg. Even though I didn't carry you, I love you just as much even more than any mother/father could and am so thankful everyday to God for him sending us you. 

Now that I am older, we have always told Baby Fox and Mini Fox that I am adopted and so is Uncle M and Auntie N. We have told them that our birth parents couldn't take care of us and that they did the most selfless thing they could, and gave us to Nana and Ampa (Grandpa), so that they could love and care for us. That Nana and Ampa couldn't have kids of their own, and they wanted kids so badly so they adopted the three of us.

Also my parents were ALWAYS super open with us about questions we might have. Every once in a while, they would ask us, do you have any questions about adoption? Just in case we didn't want to bring up the subject. They would be super supportive if any of us wanted to find our birth parents, although in my sister and brothers case they know way more information than they do mine. That's their story to tell, not mine.

So that's how my parents told us we were adopted. I know this was sort of a prompted post, but any other topic of adoption you want me to discuss? I'm pretty much an open book and no question is stupid, seriously, if you thought it then I'm sure others have too. Ask away!

What It's Like To Be Adopted

I posted this a couple of weeks ago on The Blended Blog, but thought that I would share it here as well. Most of you know, but just in case you don't, here is my family.

Let me break down this picture for you:

I casually mention being adopted here, but that's about it. I don't know why, maybe it's never come up? Whatever the reason, I'm talking about it now.

Background: Clearly my parents could not lie to me and tell me otherwise, so they have been up front and honest from the get go. Actually my brother and sister (see people above) were also adopted, not from the same biological family, but they have always been up front and honest with all of us. I was born in Seoul, Korea and was adopted and came to the United States when I was 5 months old.

Most Asked Questions:

Are those your real brother and sister?

To me they are, I call them brother and sister, just as you may call your siblings brother and sister. They may not have the same blood line as me, but they will always be simply brother and sister.

Do you ever want to find your biological family?

Every adoptee is different. I feel like my biological mother did the most selfless thing she could have done as a mother and gave me up for adoption because she knew she could not care for me.  I am grateful for the family who adopted me and consider myself so lucky to have been adopted into a family who loves and cares about me so much. That being said, for me, I do not have a desire to find my biological family.

Do you ever want to go to Korea to see where you are from?

Yes, one day I would like to go there and see where I once came from, and if possible would love to share that experience with my family, both immediate and extended.

Do you ever wonder if you have biological siblings?

I do actually, and maybe that would be a reason to try and find my family, but for now I am happy where I am in life. Although when I was younger I always wondered if I was a twin and was separated at birth, haha. How cool would it be to find out you have a twin like these girls did. You can find a documentary on their story on Netflix.

I am very open about adoption and love answering questions. As a kid I would rather people ask questions then speculate and/or talk behind my back. So ask away, anything you want to know?

Linking up here

Fun Fact Friday

I don't have an outfit post for you today, so I figured since this blog is new and what makes for a good blog? Getting to know the person behind the blog, so I'm going to give you 5 fun facts about me, in bullet form, because I like lists (I won't even consider that part of my 5, see how generous I am?):

• I'm a Virgo through and through, if you look it up 90% of that is me.
• I was born in Seoul, Korea, was adopted and came to the States when I was 5 months old. My brother (9 months younger - yep you did that math right, my parents went from 1 kid to 3 kids in less than 6 months) and sister (5 years older, don't tell her I told you) are also adopted.                              This is who I call family:

 Starting from the left: Brother, Sister, Mom, Dad, Me, Mr., Baby Fox

• I majored in Electrical Engineering, how did I came to that major? It was a process of elimination, I didn't like anything else and I was good at math.
• I make lists on a daily basis, sometimes I write stuff down I already did for the day just so I can cross them off, or I'll write down, eat breakfast (duh) or/and make dinner just so I can feel accomplished for the day when I see things crossed off.
• Last but not least -  Just after graduation I bought myself a red Toyota Tacoma,  I named it Fred, and drove him up until I was 7.5 months pregnant when we bought a sedan, more practical to get baby in and out then a truck. I miss Fred dearly and sometimes wish we didn't have to sell him, I may or may not have cried a little when we sold him.

So there you have it, 5  6 fun facts about me. Until next time.

Friday Favorites #113

Happy Friday Foxy Friends, as you read this we are probably driving to Vegas to visit my brother and my Sister-In-Law. Hopefully there is no traffic and all goes well, fingers crossed! In case you didn't know the drive from where I live to Vegas is full of NOTHING, like desert wasteland...not much to look at. Let's get started with our Friday Favorites:

Did post much this week, just wasn't feeling it, and we had such a busy weekend that there was no time to get anything done ahead of time like there normally is.

Tuesday: What it's like to be adopted
Wednesday: More Spring Floral
Thursday: How to make an Under The Sea Backdrop

I'm also back this week with another hair tutorial. This time I'm showing you how I do my top knot...which I pretty much always reserve for when my hair is really dirty and I probably should have washed it the night before but was too lazy, haha.

I'm joining Desiree, Stefanie, Justine and Whitney for their new link up called A Year Of Color. Each month they want us to showcase the color of the month, however you want to represent that. This month is pastels. I love Spring because the flowers are blooming and the previous owners were obsessed with roses and put every color rose in our garden. I was so sad when we redid our backyard and had to get rid of a bunch, although they tried to keep as many as they could.

This smells so lovely, my allergies don't like it, but my eyes certainly do.

We have some more that weren't quite blooming yet, or they were almost dying so I caught it at the wrong time, but I'm so happy that the former owners took so much time to take care of these gorgeous rose bushes.

We took the kids to the Carlsbad Flower Fields on Saturday and then LEGOLAND, long day, but super fun. Here are some of the pictures, I won't bombard you, even though I want to.

The kids did great...with a lot of fruit snack bribes, each year it seems to get slightly easier...fingers crossed for next year.

I promised myself that I was going to take more pictures at Easter but my cousin was in the hospital so my mom, sister and I went to see her and visit, making us 3 hours late for Easter. But the Mr. brought the kids and they had a blast...I haven't seen any photographic evidence of this though.

We did get this gem of a picture though...I think this might be my only Easter dinner picture, oops!

Perhaps next week I will share some more Easter morning stuff, I'm tired and want to go to bed right now, haha, priorities.

Cutest little baby video...Baby Fox used to do the same thing, it was my favorite part of getting him up in the morning. If you're in a bad mood, just watch this video, you can't not smile.

This is me right now...haha! Anyone else?

Linking up here

Friday Favorites #114

Happy Friday Foxy Friends! I am extra happy because I am on a flight home right now! Woo hoo! Let's get started.

In case you missed it this week.

Monday: My Favorite Southern California Parks blog hop
Tuesday: My Favorite Non-Kid Parties
Wednesday: Yet another floral outfit, plus I made up my very own hairstyle

Vegas...it is actually family friendly. They have some great things for kids to do. If you are there you HAVE to hit up Container Park.  It's super family friendly, there is only one way in and out, and it has a huge jungle gym for the kids and so many places to eat. It also has a stage for live music, I guess it kicks all the kiddies out at 10 and becomes and adult only place, which is pretty cool. Plus the flame throwing Praying Mantis is pretty awesome too.



A few pictures from Vegas, we had a blast, this was dinner at the Container Park and they had the best Brisket Sandwich, yum!

My brother is the best Uncle and he loves the kids so much. I love seeing them together.

We went to a parot show, and for $5 you could go backstage and pet and take pictures with the birds, it was super awesome, worth it all day long!

Then we hit up the butterfly garden, the kids loved it. I'm thinking of getting a butterfly farm thing for our house...anyone have any suggestions?

I wanted to take the kids to see the Bellagio fountains, and we made it just in time and got a great view.

I just love this picture with Mini Fox and my brother.

In other happy news I won a giveaway from Elizabeth and Amy! This time a $50 gift card to Erin Condren...I am so stinkin' excited! I've wanted to try one out, but never did...because price. But with $50 off, makes it more in my price range :) Can't wait for next year to order one! Wait...hold the phone...I just went to her site to check some stuff out and they sell the cutest pj's for a super reasonable price too! Thank you ladies for making my week!

Joining The Blended Blog's Friday Loves where we share fellow bloggers content that we loved for the week.

First up is Andrea from Living on Cloud Nine, she wrote an awesome post on embracing our weaknesses and finding strengths instead.

 

Stephanie from Wife Mommy Me is hosing a fitbit challenge and the winner will receive a $25 gift card. If that's not motivation to walk more and get healthy I don't know what is. I would totally do this if I owned a fitbit...but I don't, but if you do, go sign up, you're already wearing it might as well be in the running for a gift card. Check out the details here.

Last week I shared some frequently asked questions I get about being adopted. So when I saw Sarah from Tuckered Up share an IG auction to help a couple adopt a baby, I couldn't wait to share it with you guys! Read about the couple here. I see a few thing in here that I want to snag up, get cute home décor plus help a couple adopt a baby I'm in! If you can't participate, totally understand, just send a few prayers their way.

I just love Chip and Joanna Gaines, they are the cutest couple. While watching tv at my hotel, I caught the cutest episode ever...then after trying to find it to share here I found out the wife passed away, but I am so glad that she got to see the house in person and enjoy it for a little bit before passing.

Let's keep going with this theme...some more make you feel good home make overs. Mila Kunis did a full home reno on her parents condo and it might be the cutest thing ever. She was super pregnant too, and man can I just say, I wish I looked that good 9 months pregnant?

And then I guess this could make you feel good? Give you some endorphins? Anyway, this popped up in my YouTube feed and right off the bat I wanted to try it. Although the picture that is here, isn't even the people that are in the video. I did this last night in my hotel room and I am fairly certain that I looked like a drowning rat, I know what I was doing was not nearly as cute as what they were doing. I do know as I'm writing this I'm a little sore, although that could be the 7 miles I've run over the past 3 days.... in any case, it was a fun workout and will be adding it in the mix.

What are your plans for the weekend? We are going to see a local high school performance of Beauty and the Beast.

Linking up here

Three Tips to Balancing Work and Home Life

Before I start, go check out my post on The Blended Blog about being adopted and the most frequently asked questions I get.

Today I'm linking up with Shay and Erica for Workin' It Wednesday: this time we're talking about Balancing work/home life. This topic is so hard, trying to balance work and home life. Obviously you're working to provide for your family, but you don't want to work too much, so that you miss out on the everyday life. So here are my three tips to balance those two things in your life:

| ONE |

I leave work at home. I know I have it easier than most, but when I leave work I don't think about it, I don't ponder what happened at work, what I should have done different, who I should have talked to, who I need to email, etc, you know the list could go on forever. My mentality is that work will still be there when I am come back. The work/emails/phone calls will still be there, no on is going to die. I don't work in an E.R. where it is actually life and death. So unless someone is going to die, it can wait till tomorrow.

| TWO |

Enjoy the family time, I try to not be on my phone when we're doing things with the kids. While it's nice to constantly post to FB, IG, Snapchat, etc, I want to see the things happen in real life and take pictures, but I do not have to post to social media in that moment. I can do that when the kids are in bed.

| THREE |

 I take personal time off of work for the important things for the kids. I know not everyone can do this, but I will take days off of work or work half days so that I can go to all of the school functions for the kids. I know it's hard to do sometimes, but when and if I can I make an effort to do so. I know how much it meant to me as a kid to look up and see my mom or dad standing there in the audience.

| Bonus |

I do admit we other people help us out around the house, pool guy, gardener, someone cleaning. Our thought is, we don't have much time to spend after work and on the weekends, we don't want to spend it doing those things. Time with the kids is too precious. Plus knowing us, it would never get done. Keeping it real here.

That's how I balance my work and home life. What do you do to help balance it all?

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a $50 store credit to the cutest boutique ever!

Linking up here