My social worker as well as all the staff at ESWS were gracious and kind during my reunion with my birth mom. I never forgot how much effort they put into my search from the minute I walked into the agency to the day I flew home. I suppose that is why I chose ESWS to raise money for last year. Meeting the children and just seeing their little faces and knowing I laid there once too resonated so much with me. I love my agency, but those little babies were the once I wanted to help. I planned on buying $5,000 in supplies at a local Costco, but thankfully the staff at ESWS had a plan for the money and knew what would be the most beneficial to everyone it would touch.

       While I was not organizing the money and the fundraising, I was volunteering every other day from 1pm-4pm in the older infant department. Korea was getting humid by this point and I remember sweating, a lot. Most Koreans are used to that humidity, I personally wanted to run into an airconditioner and live there, but thats a different story. The babies were amazing. I mean genuinely amazing and I fell in love immediately. One baby in particular I only met once, but I attached to him so quickly. I think as an adoptee I have the ability to become sincerely attached to people, animals and children who are not my blood. I think it is because it is all I know.

      To be honest, I sacrificed my job to venture on this trip. In my heart, I knew I would not have a job coming back, but something in my heart was pulling and I could not resist it. The children I met changed my life and my career path. I always thought I would go back to tennis and survive on a court. However, my heart knew I could do and be more than just a tennis instructor. I wanted to make a difference in young childrens' lives just like the social workers, my foster mom and my adoptive family did for me. I call myself an infant teacher now, but the definition of that is so much more. My "children" and the children we provided those diapers for taught me exactly what being alive meant.