Fun, Fun, Fun..... Not So Fun

This week has been great.  My sister-in-law and her two boys came for a visit on Tuesday.  We had planned to go to the Martin Nature Park to hike, eat lunch, then go swimming.  However, when we arrived at the Martin Nature Park, we quickly realized it's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.  Instead, we went to a park and let the kids play.  The kids didn't seem to mind the change of plans.  After lunch, we went swimming.  It was the perfect day for swimming.  

Tuesday evening, we went to the Court of Arms ceremony for Boy Scouts.  My son got his "Scout" patch.  When we got home from Boy Scouts, we had to pack our bags to go to the lake on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, we headed to the lake for some relaxation and fun.  After a quick trip to Wal-Mart for some burgers to grill for dinner, we got out on the lake.  The kids had a blast tubing.  It was fun to watch them bumping around in the water. 

We made it back to the cabin around 6 p.m.  The officer grilled our burgers, while my daughter drove me around in the golf cart.  She's a natural at driving.  It was a great evening.  

I woke up about 7 a.m. and went for a walk.  I walked down to one of the small lakes by the cabin. The sun was coming up.  It was a beautiful morning.  I went back to the cabin and took the kids swimming for an hour.

They were the only people swimming.  The kids enjoyed "mining" for black rocks along the shore and jumping off the docks.

We packed up and went into town to eat breakfast.  My daughter had a "Glitz & Glamour Night" at church from 7-10 p.m.   I took her up to the church.  Everything was decorated cutely with pink and black.  There was a photo booth, a place to make bracelets, tiaras, picture frames, paint fingernails, and other girly things.  My daughter was very excited.

The officer decided to take my son to Frontier City, a local amusement park.  It's been years since my son has been there.  He loved the roller coasters!  He wanted to ride a ferris wheel.  I think it might have been his first time. 

I dropped my daughter at the church and was supposed to meet a friend for a quick bite to eat at 8 p.m.  I went to Mardel to kill a little bit of time.  When I left the store, I got a text from the officer.  It stated, "First, I'm okay.  But will need you to come to the hospital emergency room.  Had some issues with food and they will..."  I immediately called him.  He said he had a hard time swallowing some meat and he couldn't get it out.  He went to the emergency room and they couldn't get it out either.  They were going to have to put him under, send in a scope and pull the meat out.  That's about all he said.  I got off the phone and cancelled dinner, called my sister, Mistie and asked her to meet me at the hospital to pick up my kids and then went to the church to pick up my daughter.

We got to the hospital about 8:40 p.m.  As I was driving in, the officer called me.  He finally was able to tell me the story about what actually happened. The officer and my son ate dinner at Earls.  The officer had ordered the rib dinner.  He took exactly three bites.  The first bite went down fine.  The second bite, not so much.  The third, not so much either.  He immediately knew something was wrong.  He went to the restroom to try to "assist" the food coming up.  Fortunately, the meat was not lodged where it would blocked his windpipe.  He could still talk and breath.  The officer said he was in the restroom for 40 minutes.  All this time, my son came and checked on him every five minutes.  The officer gave him to money to pay the bill.  He paid the waitress and boxed up the food.  He was such a trooper.  The officer decided to go across the street to the after hours clinic.  He told them what happened and they told him he would have to go the emergency room.  That's where he texted me.

My sister actually beat me to the hospital.  Bless her, she had four of her kids with her.  :)  She tried to find out exactly where the officer was.  He was in Outpatient.  I finally found out where he located, which was not easy with no one manning any of the information desks.  I called from the Outpatient waiting room phone and the nurse informed me they had already taken the officer back for his procedure.  I knew he was fine, but I didn't know where my son was.  The nurse told me he was with her and he was fine.  She immediately brought him out to me.  He was shaken up, but was fine  He had been so brave.  He went home with my sister.

I waited in the waiting room for about 20 minutes before the nurse came and got me.  The officer's procedure was finished and he was in recovery.   When I went back into recovery, he was still asleep, hooked up to all kinds of wires.  He came out the anesthesia pretty easily.  The doctor came in and told me what exactly he did.  He removed the two pieces of meat that were stuck.  Basically, the officer gets acid reflux which creates scar tissue on his esophagus.  When that happens a stricture is placed around his esophagus, making it smaller.  Eventually, he has a problem swallowing food.  Since he had no food in his stomach and only a little time had passed since the food got stuck, the doctor was able to dilate his esophagus.  That was a blessing because if he had waited longer, we would have had to schedule the esophagus dilation in a week.  

So thankful that God watched over the officer and my son through the whole ordeal and that my son and the officer were able to stay calm.  

And... no I won't be chewing the officer's food for him like a momma bird.  :)  

Easy Taco Casserole

I tried a new recipe tonight.  It was Easy Taco Casserole.  Someone on Facebook shared the recipe and the officer saw it on my newsfeed.  He said, "That Taco Casserole looks good!"  So was planned (which is the hardest part for me).  I tweaked the recipe using 2 lbs. of meat and instead of lean ground beef I used lean ground turkey.  This was a hit with the whole family.

I found the original recipe at Sing For Your Supper.  She calls it Easy Mexican Casserole.  

Here's the recipe:

 Easy Taco Casserole

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef
1 can Ranch Style beans
1 10-12 ounce bag tortilla chips, crushed
1 can Ro-tel tomatoes
1 small onion, chopped
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 package taco seasoning
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup water
sour cream and salsa for serving

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2.  In a large skillet, brown meat and drain off fat. 

3.  Stir in beans, tomatoes, onions, taco seasoning, soup and water.  Simmer over medium-low heat until everything is well combined and heated through.

4.  Grease a 9x13 casserole dish. Put down a layer of crushed tortilla chips, followed by a layer of meat/bean mixture, then 1/2 of the cheddar cheese.

5.  Repeat layers.  Cover with foil and bake for 20-30 minutes or until bubbly.

6.  Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.  Top with sour cream and salsa.

Tasty!

This Week On The Island

This past week has gone by quickly.  We've been busy.  For a couple of days last week, the kids went to visit their grandparents and their aunt.  They had a great time with them and the officer and I had a couple of date days.  Nice.

On Saturday, my daughter tested for her blue stripe on her green belt.  This is pretty much the way she felt during the whole test.

We got a pretty big smile when she demonstrated her front splits.

She had to demonstrate her forms, spar and break boards. 

It was a long three hour test (most of it is spent waiting on the sidelines), but she did a great job and she earned her blue stripe.

The rain has been wreaking havoc on my walking routine.  I have discovered if I do not get up first thing in the morning to walk, I am tired and a bit grumpy (according to the kids and the officer).  However, the rain did provide a little entertainment.  While on a bike ride, we found a drainage ditch.  They tried to ride as far in as possible.  They got about half way, but just decided to play in the water.  I even tried to ride through it.  I didn't get as far as they did.  We all went home soaking wet.

I made pizza for dinner.  I made pepperoni pizza for the family and a veggie pizza for myself.  I used a creamy alfredo sauce, an Italian cheese blend, a zucchini, a red onion, some garlic and a Roma tomatoe.  It was so good.  This is what I will make for me from now on.  I am not sure that it was any cheaper to make than purchasing it from Papa Murphy's, but it was good.  There is a cauliflower pizza crust recipe I have on Pinterest I want to try.  Maybe soon.

Today, we went to see Charlotte's Web with some friends.  I love the summer movies local theaters show for kids at a discounted price.  My son wasn't as excited to see Charlotte's Web as he was to see Despicable Me 2, but he got over it as soon as we sat down.  Sometimes any movie seen in a theater is more fun than watching it in your living room.  After the movie, we all headed to Sonic for lunch and then we walked around the Bricktown Canal. 

On our way home, we made a slight detour to Pinkitzel.  I let the kids choose a bit of candy.  There were Jelly Bellys, Cherry Sours, Gummi Bears, Gummi Jets, Mints, Lego candy, and Runts flying everywhere. 

I even found this huge Gummi Bear, which gave me goose bumps, that I loved.  I didn't purchase it because 1) I don't like Gummi Bears and B) it was $32!

I even got a little gift for the officer.

The kids enjoyed some of their candy while they did their schoolwork this afternoon. 

Baked Chicken Parmesan

My kids came home from Cousins' Camp at Grandma's house with a recipe in hand.  They told me Grandma made it and it was very good.  It was a recipe for Baked Chicken Parmesan.  I found the original recipe on Allrecipes.com.  My mom used Italian flavored bread crumbs and did not use the dry basil leaves.

I made it tonight and it was pretty easy to prepare.  All of my family loved it.  

Here's the recipe:

Baked Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients

3 T. of Olive Oil

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 C. of Italian flavored bread crumbs

2/3 C. grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 t. ground black pepper

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I used chicken tenderloins)

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9x13 in. baking dish.

2.  In a bowl, blend the olive oil and garlic.

3.  In a separate bowl, mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and pepper.  

4.  Dip each chicken breast in the oil mixture, then in the bread crumb mixture.  

5.  Arrange the coated chicken breasts in the prepared baking dish, and top with any remaining bread crumb mixture.

6.  Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Sister from Another Mother

About two weeks ago, I received an email.  I looked at the subject line and automatically thought it was spam.  I've had several spam comments on my personal blog and many on my coupon blog.  So I deleted the email without reading it.  I went on down my email list and saw another email from the same person.  I could tell it was a comment I needed to moderate from my blog.  Since it was the second email, I opened it.  This was the comment left on my blog:

"I hope this doesn't show up twice.  I tried to comment earlier but it hasn't shown up.... perhaps you have to approve comments?  Anyway... I would like to contact you about your adoption from South Korea.  We think my wife is from the same orphanage.  I tried to email you via the address that is listed but got a delivery notice that it was a bad address.  Would you mind emailing me at.....?  Thanks."

I read this while I was relaxing from my morning walk.  I thought, "Well this could be legit, or it could be some wackadoo that has read my blog."  Then a few hours later, I got a Facebook friend request from him.  I thought it was him because they had the same first name.  So I did what any normal person would do, I became a Facebook creeper.  I looked at his profile and his pictures.  He did indeed have a Korean wife and two cute, cute kids that looked a lot like mine (half white/half Asian).  I decided it would be okay to email him.

I had no idea how he found my blog.  I do not have it set where you can Google it and find it.  He would have had to have had an actual link to get to my blog.  I emailed him.  I wrote that his wife was more than welcome to email me and send me a Facebook friend request.  I gave him the name of the orphanage I was adopted from so he could verify if we were adopted from the same place.  He replied and told me he would have her friend request me and then replied again and said, "my wife's mom remembers your mom."  Her dad had been in the air force also.  By now I am completely convinced that I will have something in common with this unknown woman.  

Later that night, I received a very long email from the man's wife.  Her name was Nikki.  The first thing she wrote was that her husband had found my blog though my mom's blog.  That put my mind at ease.  Next she told me she and her husband were born again evangelical Christians and she was so blessed to find out the same was true with me and my family.  

Nikki then dove right into her story.  She was born in Gunsan, Korea in late 1972.  She was left under a street lamp and taken to the police station. They in turn took her to the Ilmagwon Orphange.  We actually had the same last Korean name as everyone did at Ilmagwon.  We were all named after Mrs. Park.  In addition, we also had the same first name, Myung.  Mr. Kim (the son of Mrs. Park who runs the orphanage now) said I was named after the Myung Police Station.

Nikki then proceeded to tell me about when she came to the USA and a quick recap of her life.  She told me her mother remembered my mother, my adoptive father (because of his unusual name, Skyler) and me specifically.  They had kept in contact with Mrs. Park for a while, but had lost touch with her.  They were happy to hear that as of last year, Mrs. Park was still alive.  When we were in Korea, Mrs. Park had told us that there were only five babies adopted though the Gunsan Air Base back then.  Mrs. Park had heard from four of us.  Nikki is the fifth baby.

Nikki told me she had read all of my blog post of our trip to Korea.  It was very surreal talking to her because she knew so much about me from reading my blog and I knew next to nothing about her.  Although after reading her first email and learning about her story that was so similar to mine, I felt a connection to her.

She also told me exactly her husband had found me.  Nikki had tried to find out more information about adoption. She found the adoption agency, but they had world wide locations.  She didn't look into the Ilmagwon Orphanage.  They were possibly feeling lead to adopt.  Nikki's mother said they should look into adopting from the Ilmagwon Orphanage.  Nikki Googled "Ilmagwon Orphanage" and came across my mom's blog post.  There were links on my mom's blog to my Korea trip posts.  Viola.  

We have been emailing back and forth past several weeks.  It's been so amazing to see how God has worked in both our lives and how our paths have crossed at this time.  It's so strange that two little girls born months apart in the same little small town and taken to the same small orphanage would find each other 41 years later on the other side of the world.

We have found out Mrs. Park is still alive.  We have both grown up not really interested in finding our birth parents. Probably mostly due to the fact there's probably not much of a chance we could find our birth parents.  Her testimony is great.  God has always drawn her to him.  Just as he has me.  It will be interesting the see the rest of journey for her family.  I also look forward to getting to know her better.  We may have an opportunity to get together later this year.  Exciting!!!

This Week on the Island....

This week was a long week of fun! On Monday, we spent the day with the officer.  I blogged about that here.  On Tuesday, my friend, Van, brought me a special surprise.  It was her first Pinterest project.  I think she did great.  Thanks Mrs. Van!

 

The officer had to work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday all day.  Most nights he didn't not get home until 11:30 p.m.  I had a lot of plans for me and the kids.  On Tuesday, we went to see Despicable Me.  It was a summer  $2 movie special at the Warren Theater.  The kids love being able to go to the actual movie theater.  We arrived early.  There were a lot of people there.  The Warren was showing Despicable Me 2 for free for all the children who attended Plaza Towers (an elementary school that was affected by the May 20, 2013).  

We purchased our tickets.  I also treated the kids to a large popcorn and drink.  One free refill on the large sizes.  The kids were giddy with excitement.  They thoroughly enjoyed watching Despicable Me on the "big screen".  My son would often turn to me and say, "I never noticed that when we watch it on tv."  They gobbled down the popcorn like it was candy.  We all felt sick afterward, but you gotta have feeling at least once in your life.  :) 

I cannot for the life of me remember what else we did after that movie.  Probably because I was one day away from being 41.  

On Wednesday, the kids and I headed back to the Warren Theater to watch Despicable Me 2.  This time we had my nieces, Abbie and Kylie joined us.  My friend, Jill, and her two kids were supposed to join us, but her youngest got sick so her oldest son was the only one who could come.  This time we did not get the large drink and popcorn.  We learned our lesson from the day before.  It was a very cute movie. 

 

After the movie, we went swimming at my niece's neighborhood pool.  My niece Abbie was trying to teach my daughter a cheer leading lift.  She tried, and tried and tried...

 

and finally she got it.

The water was just a bit chilly, since the weather was in the 80s.  However, if you hung out in the water, it wasn't too bad.

On the way home I had this short conversation with my son:

Son:  When you are younger, getting older is fun!  When you are old..... (his voice trails off when I look into the rear view mirror at him)
Me:  What's that brother?  I can't hear you!
Son:  See?  Exactly!!!  When you get old, you can't hear either!  Happy Birthday Mom!


My family has had a lot of fun making fun of me getting older this week.  Especially the officer, who likes to spend the next two month emphasizing that I am four years older than him - that is until his birthday in September.

On July 4th, we went to my mom's for dinner.  My mom and Papa Bill cooked out. My Grandma Margaret came from Shawnee to eat with us.  My mom even tried a new recipe from Pinterest.  It was an onion casserole.  Five onions, sour cream, Parmesan cheese, and crumbled crackers as a topping.  She made a cake and homemade banana ice cream.  Yummy!

When my mom gave me my present, it was in a Walmart reusable tote.  Inside was a fan you can wear around your neck (to keep me cool while I'm walking), a Academy gift card (so I can get some new walking shoes), and hand held mister fan (she must know that I really don't like to be hot), and a 4 x 6 white index card with the singular word "meatloaf" on it.  Every year she makes me a couple of meatloaves.  Love them.  Since I will never make it myself, due to the raw meat squishiness, she loves me enough to make it for me.  We had it for dinner tonight!

We headed over to the local college where the city puts on a fantastic fireworks show.  We met up with other family.  The weather was just perfect!  The fireworks were great, even if they set off car alarms around us.  I don't think we got home until 11:45 p.m.  Both kids were asleep before I hit the highway.

Overall, it was a great week spent with family.  And turning 41 wasn't so bad.  Even if I left the crockpot plugged in all day yesterday without anything in and forgot to plug it in today when I had something in it.  More of these things to come in the next few years I suspect. 

Pre-41 Birthday Celebration

The officer has to work on my birthday. All day.  So yesterday he took the day off to celebrate my birthday.  It's the big 4-1. 

The day started early.  I woke up around 6:30 a.m. to go walking.  The officer walked a 1/2 mile with me.  He went back home and cleaned the garage while I finished walking.  

After my walk, we went for a family bike ride.  The weather was wonderful yesterday morning - low 60s.  We rode for about 30 minutes. 

After our bike ride, we headed to Hefner Lake.  The kids went rock hopping.  The officer took a quick little nap down by the water.

Since I got to choose where we were going to eat, there really wasn't an argument.  We went to the Korean House Restaurant.  Beef bulgogi, kimbobs, jap chae, and all the sides.  Can you say yummy?

This is my daughter telling me how many kimbobs she had eaten by the time lunch was over.

 

After lunch, we went to Braums for dessert.  I didn't eat ice cream at Braums.  Instead I waited for my FREE birthday drink at Starbucks. 

We took the kids to tae kwon do.  We had another of my favorite meals for dinner - taco salad.  While we ate dinner and watched Swiss Family Robinson, the officer made cupcakes.  I think the kids enjoyed them. 

It was a great day.  Beautiful weather.  The majority of the day spent outside enjoying that weather.  Awesome food.  Most of all time spent together with family.