Welcome to Minna's World!

I was born and raised in Anchorage, AK, with one brother and one sister. When I was 15, just two months before my 16th birthday, my dad got a job transfer through the US Dept. of Defense, and my whole family ended up moving to Pusan, South Korea. Talk about culture shock! Not only the culture, but the weather, too! We moved from one of the coldest places in America, to one of the warmest locations in South Korea. I attended Pusan American School, which was a small school for American children, located on a small military base where my dad worked.

After graduating high school, in a small class of 11 students, I went to college at the University of Washington - GO HUSKIES! I found a small Korean church nearby the college campus and met my husband there. I have now been married over 10 years, and I have 4 children, all about 2 years apart.

I moved to Seattle, WA, to attend the University of WA. Within two weeks, I found a small Korean-speaking church within walking distance of my dormitory. The first day I arrived at the church, I met Jon along with other college students, who attended the church.

Jon was the president of the young adults (college) ministry at that time. He led the meetings and played the guitar. I joined the church choir and began directing the children's choir shortly thereafter. Because Jon and I were both active in serving in the church, we saw each other 3 times a week, working in the Sunday school, in the church choir, and in the college ministry.

Eventually, we became prayer partners, praying together weekly for our church and for each other. After two years of moving to WA, God brought us together in marriage, with shock and amazement to our family and friends (mainly because I was still so young). I can only say that God's hand brought us together, and that we knew it was His will for us to spend the rest of our lives serving the Lord together.

I joined PEPS (Program for Early Parenting Support) shortly after the birth of my first son, Jeffrey. To this day, I keep in contact via email with 4 of the original 7 other moms in the group, two of which have moved out of the state. The program provided me with great support for child-rearing, and an outlet to just chat with other new moms.

After 6 years, I still receive Christmas photos of their families (and I send mine to them, too). I'd like to say thanks to my friends, Nisha, Katie, Stacie, and Judie for their friendship and support during those years. Since moving to Issaquah, I have not been able to attend the get-togethers, but I am amazed at how we were able to keep meeting regularly as a group for 4 years... and I hear that they still meet, though not as often.

After college, I got my first real job as a software quality engineer, working for Adobe Systems, Inc. in Seattle, WA. I was fortunate to get to use my computer skills, while working with Korean language software. It was a contract position that lasted 18 months, and then I decided to stop working to raise my firstborn son. After six months of leaving work, I got call from a recruiting agency who made a job offer that seemed too good to refuse (at the time). So I went back into the workforce as a software test engineer for Real Networks as a contractor.

After a few months there, Adobe Systems offered me a permanent position working as a quality engineer that paid even more than my contract work... so I took the job. After almost five years and two more kids, I was laid off (along with 100 other employees) during a large company-wide "re-organization." Now I have a new job title as "full-time homemaker," and this job is physically and mentally more demanding than any office job that I know of... It's worth it, though, and I really enjoy my new career.

After Jeffrey finished a year of kindergarten, and since I am now home full-time, I decided to start homeschooling, which means that I teach my kids at home, without sending them to a public or private school. At first, I read a lot of books about homeschooling, visited a lot of websites, and attended some meetings... basically, to see if this was something I really wanted to do and if it was right for me.

What really helped the most, though, was actually talking to moms who've done it, or are doing it now. Not all homeschooling efforts are successful, but God put people in my path who love what they do, enjoy spending time with their children, and don't have any regrets. Their children were shielded from negative peer pressure, exposure to drugs, inappropriate sex education, gangs, foul language, bullying, etc...

Instead, their lives were filled with individual "classroom" instruction, amazing field trip opportunities, applying concepts in the real-world, participating in volunteer opportunities, etc... It is a great opportunity to instill Godly, moral values in my kids, while giving them the tools they need to succeed in doing the Lord's work. My kids go to Sunday school on Sundays, Royal Rangers/Rainbows (scouts) on Wed evenings, MOPS (craft activities) twice a month, and Jeffrey has Taekwondo practice several times a week.

I teach Bible lessons, Reading/Writing/Math, and piano at home. There are no formal science or history lessons yet, but as my child develops an interest in a subject, then we check out related books from the library and study it. Another benefit is the child-teacher ratio... you can't beat that in a public/private school.

Since leaving the workforce, I needed to find some outlet for me to socialize with other women. Since my PEPS group was now too far away to be practical for me to meet, I decided (with the support of my husband) to find a MOPS (Mothers of PreSchoolers) group nearby. I found one very close to my home, located at Eastridge Christian Assembly in Issaquah. However, I was on the waiting list for almost 9 months, due to lack of space in their childcare program.

Now that I have been to some of their meetings, it was worth the wait, and I can't say enough good things about it. First, they provide childcare for all my kids: but it's not just babysitting.... they actually have a real planned program for the kids, including a crafts activity which my kids love, and they are learning about the Bible too!

Second, I get to hear about other women struggling with the same issues I face day-to-day in raising toddlers, which make me realize that 1) I'm not alone, and 2) other moms have much more difficulties than me so I should be really grateful to God for the children He gave me.

Third, there's a great speaker once a month to get new ideas and encouragement, plus a crafts time for the moms to learn simple projects that make wonderful, inexpensive gifts. So far I've made a homemade facial, homemade freezer jam, chocolate lip gloss, a scented candle, and a custom glass-etched picture frame.

Fourth, there are mentors (older women) who've "been there, done that" who provide Godly wisdom and prayer support. It's a really great time to relax and unwind from the daily hectic routine of raising kids. The best part of it all is that it is a completely Christian environment, with other Christian women trying to raise Godly kids. I absolutely love my MOPS group and my kids do, too!