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At Last: The Conclusion to the Heritage Report Odyssey!

Hooray! Meg did her Heritage Report on Korea!

For those of you wondering what the big deal is, well, maybe it isn’t that big a deal…but I’m hoping her change of subject signals pride in being Korean and willingness to acknowledge her adoption.

When I last wrote about this project, Meg said she was doing it on Canada. She began to draw the Canadian flag, but I put off helping her research the rest of the report in the hope she’d change her mind and do Korea.

She changed her mind four days before the report was due, but in spite of a slightly stressful weekend, I’m glad we waited to get started.

What made the difference? Our family engaged a Korean au pair to help with some live-in child care. She was a beautiful, smart, and engaging young woman who was great with kids. Immediately after her arrival, Meg decided to do her report on Korea.

My husband had a stroke of genius as well. The last part of the assignment was optional: “If you know why your ancestors came to this country, include that here. Get your parents to help you.”

I told Meg we could skip that section, as it was optional. I also toyed with the idea of explaining why my ancestors had come from Ireland. Of course, that would have opened the door for more questions from her peers as to why the report on her ancestry was on Korea while her family’s ancestry was from Ireland.

Charles informed her, “Meg, you are in the first person in our family to come from Korea…you ARE the ancestor.” Her eyes widened and she gave a little smile.

I told her she could choose whether to put that in the report. I also told her she could just say that she was the first Korean-American in the family without saying why she came. (The report had earlier sparked discussion of why some women in Korea feel they must give up their children, but for now we kept it basic.)

“I am the first person in my family to come to America from Korea,” Meg wrote. “I came because I was adopted. So my sister and I will be the ancestors of future Korean-Americans.”

Can you hear the Hallelujah Chorus,or is it just in my head?

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About Pam Connell

Pam Connell is a mother of three by both birth and adoption. She has worked in education, child care, social services, ministry and journalism. She resides near Seattle with her husband Charles and their three children. Pam is currently primarily a Stay-at-Home-Mom to Patrick, age 8, who was born to her; Meg, age 6, and Regina, age 3, who are biological half-sisters adopted from Korea. She also teaches preschoolers twice a week and does some writing. Her activities include volunteer work at school, church, Cub Scouts and a local Birth to Three Early Intervention Program. Her hobbies include reading, writing, travel, camping, walking in the woods, swimming and scrapbooking. Pam is a graduate of Seattle University and Gonzaga University. Her fields of study included journalism, religious education/pastoral ministry, political science and management. She served as a writer and editor of the college weekly newspaper and has been Program Coordinator of a Family Resource Center and Family Literacy Program, Volunteer Coordinator at a church, Religion Teacher, Preschool Teacher, Youth Ministry Coordinator, Camp Counselor and Nanny. Pam is an avid reader and continuing student in the areas of education, child development, adoption and public policy. She is eager to share her experiences as a mother by birth and by international adoption, as a mother of three kids of different learning styles and personalities, as a mother of kids of different races, and most of all as a mom of three wonderful kids!