birthday in the sky with diamonds

Meet Sun Ju (on the left) and Eunche (on the right). Yesterday was Eunche's birthday so we celebrated today with two chocolate muffins and some fun worksheets. Sun Ju is less shy about taking pictures so she posed obligingly with the standard Corean pose. Eunche, feisty Eunche, threw me a death stare, sucked on her popsicle with disdain and did her best "I'm too cool for school" pose. It's an improvement from before when even a picture like the above would've been impossible.

It was Sun Ju's birthday two weeks ago and I gave her a gift with a card. She's a little younger and gets super excited about such things and tore open her present and ripped open the card that I had decided to write in Corean. While the two were gigglingly non-stop at my many Corean mistakes, Sun Ju suddenly read the last line in which I had written, "I love you!"

You know those movie scenes where the girl tells the guy she loves him after the second date and he's like "Woa..." That's exactly what Sun Ju did. Her eyes got big and she was surprised to see the words. I still haven't concluded whether it was a good surprise or a bad one. Only time will tell, I guess.

I love these two very much. I only get to see them once a week, but I've been thinking of asking the orphanage if I can increase my visits. It's still difficult to hear a "Hello," or "Goodbye," or "Thank you," from them, but at least they acknowledge my coming and going with a slight nod or shake of the head. I'm not sure how these little shekkis wormed their ways into my heart, but I always do love the difficult ones.

Eunche and I had a rare conversation last week about adoption. I asked her if she'd like to be adopted and she answered yes, but that she would miss the orphanage. She then told me about another girl who had lived there that had eventually been adopted by her tutor. I saw in her face the want for a real family. The thought had crossed my mind before, but at that moment I desperately wanted to provide for her something solid and lifelong. I asked her what the possibility of her getting adopted was, and she said unlikely, seeing as she was older and adoption is still a bit taboo in Corea. I tell you... my heart shattered into a million pieces. How come the kids who need love the most, never seem to get it?