Her name is Grandma

And it is spelled like this:

H E A V E N.

Since she lives in Germany, and we live in Korea we are literally worlds apart. But no distance is too great for our Grandma to come and visit us.

Her specialties include getting down on the floor to color with us.


Letting us help in the kitchen.


And NEVER being too tired or worn out for a bedtime story.

Her mere presence gave me the courage to venture onto the Korean Expressway on my own to get us to the flower market in Seoul.

And even made us feel brave enough to do a day at Everland.

Where we saw bears on a safari.


Had a never ending supply of 1000won to feed the birds.

Got pictures of the Everland employee uniforms.

Got to go on the Flume Ride, TWICE, because Grandma can't say "no" to these two faces.

Road on multiple roller coasters.

And got to ride the carousel THREE times in a row, because grandma has even less ability to say "no" to these two faces.

And while the picture of grandma on the flume ride will be one that we will smile at forever, it will be the little things that we remember forever. That she came when we were so, so far away. That she played with us, laughed with us, went to the park with us, came to lunch at the elementary school with us. And that she bought ALL the Yu Gi Oh cards from the BX for us.

That she was simply here.

And for me what is most significant is the fact that she hasn't forgotten what it's like to have a house full of little kids, and that she honors the challenge of it right along side me. Never once did she make me feel like what I am doing is insignificant or easy. All along the way she quietly reminded me that I am engaged in a mighty work and she is proud of me.

Thanks for coming Mom. We miss you already.