Korean Benefit for Children

Last Saturday we attended an annual fundraiser put on by our adoption agency called, "Korean Benefit for Children." It's an annual event that raises much needed funds for the two agencies in Korea that, among many other things, take care of the babies being adopted until they can go home to their forever families. One of the agencies (Eastern Social Welfare Society) sent some representatives over to attend the event and we were thrilled to learn that one of the honored guests was Mrs. Oh, Ji Young, who was Claire's social worker during her time in Korea. We spent quite a bit of time with Mrs. Oh while we were in Korea....she, among so many other things, was the interpreter between us and Claire's foster family (who do not speak English). I fondly remember how she went out of her way to make Ben feel so welcome and special when so much attention was being focused on Claire. We were so thrilled to be able to spend some time with her while she was here and to hear updates on Claire's foster family.

Here's a family pic with Mrs. Oh!

I've talked about the Harstad's in previous posts....Claire was her foster family's first foster child and coincidentally, their second foster child, Tae, went to his forever family in Duluth, MN, a couple hours from us. We don't get to see each other very often, but we're in touch via phone and e-mail regularly. Margaret and Tae were able to make it down for the benefit, so here's a picture of us with Mrs. Oh. Tae is getting so big and is cute as can be!!

Ben and Claire are showing off their Korean Warrior Kites that they made

Here's Ben trying his hand at Taikwondo...can he break the board?

Success!