Category Archives: Assistance

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 29

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

August 19, 2026-Hana finally had enough of a dry chicken tender and tipped her plate over, onto the high chair tray. I put everything back onto the plate, and after she had composed herself again (after about ten minutes), heated the meat in a slight water base. She finished all the vegetables and grains-and ate about half of the chicken, then pushed the plate away- There was nothing rude about the last action; she was just not a fan of what was probably a tasteless item. I think this girl will be happy when her pediatrician gives the go-ahead for adding herbs and spices to her diet. She is, generally speaking, a plate cleaner, not a plate dumper.

My granddaughter is on a larger mission. She can already stand, for ten minutes, with just one hand holding onto a bar of the playpen. She can take 4-5 steps, if someone is supporting her. Her speech has the appropriate cadence, intonation reflective of her mood and even a questioning inflection, when she wants to know something. I can usually interpret what she is saying, based on context.

There was good news, when her mother got home this evening. Yunhee will have next week off. Hana will turn eight months old on Saturday, and have her mother’s company for the week. She seemed to get a bit of what her mother was saying-and smiled at the three of us, one at a time.

HANA’S NOTE- Papa can be stubborn, and I guess I can be, also. He is not mean, though, and when I lose my temper, he just keeps calm. I need that.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-2002 This seemed to be a year for the abductions of girls, on a more open scale than in the past. There was the case of Elizabeth Smart, taken from her home, in June. She would be held captive until March, 2003. There was Erica Pratt, kidnapped near her home in Philadelphia, held in a house and able to escape, the next day, by chewing through the duct tape that bound her wrists and smashing a window. Some nearby children helped her get out of the house and alerted police. Other girls were not as fortunate; and some were killed, While the number of victimized girls was probably not any larger than the all too great number of such cases, every year, the media finally was getting sensitive to the phenomenon, in part because of the work of John Walsh and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The nation was also still dealing with the aftermath of September 11, and November 12, 2001-as well as the “Shoe Bomber”, who attempted to set of an explosive in his shoe, while on a Transatlantic flight, in December of the the previous year. A botched attempt to fly a plane into a bank headquarters, in Tampa and attacks on a Jewish pre-sschool in Los Angeles, in March, served only to keep fears raw. Then, in October, came the mass murders in Bali, 202 people being killed. We saw the Transportation safety Agency established=primarily at airports, but also at ferry terminals and at railway stations.

Through all this, Penny, Aram and I kept steady. I contented myself with substitute teaching, in two Phoenix school districts, and was able to offer continuity. Penny kept on as a second grade teacher, at El Mirage Elementary. Aram finished middle school and began his freshman year at Cortez High school, near our apartment. We had to deal with incompetent managers, after the man who had negotiated our lease left. Mold issues persisted, until I obtained the business phone number of the investment banker who owned the complex and called him to explain our situation. He sent his own crew out, from San Diego, and both our apartment and the next door neighbour’s unit were successfully relieved of mold. That sort of cooperation doesn’t happen very often, according to the attorney who helped us out on another issue. (Charges being added on, in mid-year.)

It was a fairly normal year for us, ahead of some doozies.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 28

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Family, Historical, impediments, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Social, Striving

August 18, 2026- Hana does not like it when her meal gets cold, especially the meat. She began fussing, but stopped when she saw that I was not reacting, and was just sitting and waiting for her to stop. I then reheated her chicken, and she finished it. She leaned over and put her head against my chest, when the meal was over and I had cleaned her up. It was her way of asking if I loved her, in spite of her little tantrum.

I love her the way I love her father, and the way I loved her grandmother- unconditionally. I don’t get sidetracked by her being disagreeable, nor do I reward her for it. She is seeing that there are rules that need to be followed, even when it is not what she might want in the moment. She is approaching toddlerhood, already. She has some agency and dignity, which is respected. Likewise, she is being taught to respect the agency and dignity of her parents-and of her grandfather.

HANA’S NOTE- I hate it when my food gets cold. But, I like to play at the table. Papa makes me behave.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-2001

In my years of handling disturbances, crises and other difficulties, I have had no trouble rising to the occasion and seeing things through to a resolution. I was not prepared, though, for a well-organized, slow-rolling absconding by two students, two days before Valentine’s Day. Multiple people were involved in this, and I, focused heavily on the day-to-day grind of running a residential school, was the last to know. Students told me, later, in shame, that there were one or two staff members, at least one parent and several of the residents who helped the girls, The kids didn’t think I’d be held responsible, when they did their part in the caper. I held myself responsible, though, and resigned that same night. The girls were located, the next day, and faced the law.

I fell back on Substitute Teaching, and Penny, having finished her semester in Mesa. did the same. We made the best of it, and truth be known, I was physically and mentally exhausted by my work at the Academy. I was actually glad to be done with it, and I was definitely done with school administration.

In August, Penny got a full-time job at El Mirage Elementary School, west of Phoenix. We moved to an apartment complex in midtown Phoenix, near what was then Metrocenter. Sierra Pines was, at first, reasonably well-run, and we felt fairly safe. I signed on to Substitute in two nearby school districts, while applying for various School Counselor positions.

On the morning of September 11, I went to a grocery store to buy a few items for the week. When I turned on my car radio, afterward, Morning Monkey broke into his playlist to announce that an airplane had just crashed into the World Trade Center, in New York. It hit me that this was a terrorist act. When I got home, Penny noticed that my face was ashen. She went to work and Aram went to his middle school. I stayed at home and was glued to the TV screen, going out only for a sandwich at lunchtime, just to reconnect with the outside world for an hour. My wife and son both came home early.

I would work at substitute teaching, the rest of the year, I went to the business of a Sikh man who was slain, in the aftermath of the terror attacks, and paid my respects to his family. Penny and I ate at Arab-owned restaurants, to show that we did not hold the average person responsible for the acts of extremists. On the long weekend of Veteran’s Day, we were visiting Penny’s parents, in Prescott. On November 12, we woke early and had the TV on. News came of another plane crashing into an apartment complex near the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, also in New York.The complex was home to many New York City police officers and firefighters. The official version was that this was pilot error. I sense differently, in my bones, to this day.

In any event, not much has been the same, since September 11, 2001.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 27

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Inner Struggles, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

August 17, 2026-Our girl is getting ever more intense about being able to stand, and about learning to walk. She can stand with support, for nearly five minutes and was taking steps, while her father was holding her up, this evening.

Hana is also practicing hand-eye coordination. Given some skinless grapes that had been cut into small pieces, she meticulously picked up even the smallest piece and put it in her mouth. She stayed focused on a particularly slippery morsel, getting it to her mouth after five tries.

HANA’S NOTE- I am going to be a helper, not a taker. So, I want to keep working hard.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-2000 Our world did anything but end. We rang in the New, at the home of a Baha’i friend, watching a variety of social viewpoints on TV, and having called Penny’s parents to wish them Happy Anniversary, as they did not feel up to traveling “in a time of uncertainty”, felt like this New Year’s Eve was unlike any other. There was, however, no finality about any of it.

We finished up our year at Salome, and moved on, once my Assistant Principal got the nod to run the school for the 2000-01 Academic Year. We spent the summer at the Fellmans’ house, in a rustic development called Kingswood Estates. It had a Homeowners Association, so we had to follow certain rules. Our long-haired dachshund, Lady, was very much with us. There were roving bands of javelinas in the community, as well as mountain lions, so we were careful not to let her out alone. On one early morning, before sunrise, I was walking Lady and we came upon a small family of javelinas. I picked her up and held her, while she instinctively kept quiet. The herd went about their business and left us alone.

Penny took a couple of classes at Mesa Community College, and so had an apartment in Mesa, which Aram and I stayed in, while I also tried to get a job in the Phoenix area. A week or so into the Academic Year, I was offered a Principalship at Mingus Mountain Academy, a facility for adjudicated girls. I took the job, knowing that we had the house in Kingswood for the year. I got off to a fairly good start, despite the lingering presence of my immediate predecessor, who was basically waiting for me to mess up, so that he could come back and “fix things” and the noisome Assistant Principal, who interfered with my work, more than helped. Still, I earned the trust of the girls and had a generally good relationship with the teachers and with the facility’s Executive Director.

It was, though, a 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. job, with no holidays (as the residents did not get to go home for breaks). There was a weekend crew, as school was Monday-Friday, so that was a relief. I worked Thanksgiving and Christmas, even working extra hours on my 50th birthday, as a resident had run off and we all needed to track her down. It took a few hours, but we found her. The girls were mainly from the city, and did not take into consideration that there were bears and mountain lions in the area,

It was a true labour of love, but I was a tad too trusting of some residents. The year to come would bear that out, with hard consequences.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 26

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, service, Social, Striving

August 16, 2026- Both Aram and I have told Hana the story of the boy who cried wolf. She has adopted the practice of crying every time her parents tell her “No” or make her wait for something. When I told her the story, this evening, she listened with rapt attention-and decided that crying about every little thing is not such a useful idea. Mental processing precedes the ability to speak.

We made a family outing to Carrollton, this afternoon, enjoying Korean noodles and a couple of dessert items: Three of us shared a piece of ice cream cake, then shared a Korean “Snowflake” bowl, which has fruit, ice cream and shaved ice. We mixed the three together, to make a fun treat. Hana watched all this, with a good nature, though her face said “Where’s mine?”

In the early evening, I went to a fund-raising bazaar, at the Plano Baha’i Center, and picked up about a dozen books for Hana, Some of them are mini-books that she can easily look at, for several minutes at a time. She was delighted, when I showed her the books.

HANA’S NOTE- When my Daddy tells me to stop doing something, using his Daddy voice, I have to listen. When Papa tells me about somebody being naughty, I listen to him also.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1999 The bottom fell out in Chilchinbeto, in April. I turned down a request by a Governing Board member for reimbursement, on an item that would have been double dipping. Between that, and the ongoing suspicion regarding the deceased Paraprofessional, I was terminated, effective June 30. I told the Board that perhaps a Dineh would be more to their liking. They did hire a qualified Navajo educator. (As it happened, they fired him, too, after a year.) I was able to upgrade the professional development of the teaching staff, send the eighth grade class to Hawai’i and to an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game and hire a competent financial services team. We would have continued on an upward arc, but for the insecurity of five people.

I continued to take Penny to see a neurologist, in Flagstaff, during the Spring and Summer. Eventually, we also began seeing an acupuncturist,and another neurologist, in Phoenix. Between all those services, her brain health stabilized. Aram went on a Tae Kwon Do tournament in South Korea,, and was able to visit his birthplace, Jeju, again. While he was away, we left Jeddito, and the Navajo Nation.

I secured a one-year appointment as Principal of Salome High School, in the desert west of Phoenix. I worked under a former professor of mine, who served as Superintendent. We got along, for the most part. My assistant principal was also in training to become the principal, the following year. At times, I felt like I was sandwich filling. At least, the Superintendent was mostly supportive of my efforts, save when I trod on his turf.

Penny worked as the lone Special Education Teacher, as we had but eighty students in the high school. She bonded well with them. Aram had a rough first semester, in the Sixth Grade of the Elementary School. He gradually, with professional help, managed to recover his equilibrium.

My outreach included a visit to each of the feeder schools, once each semester, as well as evening town meetings with parents in each of the communities sending students to the high school. These visits were well received. I got along well with the teachers and with the majority of the students. Keeping peace between the Hispanic and Anglo students required active mediation and conflict resolution sessions. I also brought in a program called “Responsible Thinking’, which Penny had studied in one of her classes at NAU. It was seen by some in the community as mumbo jumbo, and didn’t really get much traction.

We approached Y2K with a sense that there would not be as drastic a change as some were expecting.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 24

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 14, 2026- Hana and I took her Daddy to retrieve his car, this afternoon. While the initial plan was for him to merely pick up the vehicle, there was an extended wait for his service adviser to come back from lunch, so Hana and I went into the waiting area of the Service Department, which was large, cool and very spare. I entertained Hana with a water bottle, which she held and felt its coolness and its rough exterior.

Just when she was getting frustrated at not being allowed to drink out of it, her Dad and the service adviser appeared. Plans had changed. He was getting some further work done on the car, and we went back to the house. Hana was a bit tired, so she napped in the car seat, which is still rear-facing.

She babbled a lot, in an animated cadence, throughout the day. When I changed her diaper, this evening, she started mimicking what she heard as my voice, saying, in a raspy voice: “Wow, that’s a lot.” Her bubbly personality is emerging, more and more, as the days progress. It is truly a joy to be here, doing this work.

HANA’S NOTE- I want to be able to drink from a bottle!

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1997- I failed at a few things, this year. My lingering shyness, lack of athletic ability and self-doubt led me to fall down, in meeting the needs of a group of troubled adolescent boys, who started out just wanting to have my support and friendship. I had no problems, as a counselor, working with younger children and with adolescent girls. Middle school boys were, for some reason, a different matter- especially when their hook was basketball.

The other rough spot, for me, was resolving petty disputes between adolescents. I thought this was something that they should be able to figure out among themselves. A parent disagreed, and complained that I was not meeting her son’s needs. I thought back to how I was raised, and had my answer: My own mother would not intervene in any disputes that we had with neighbour kids..

We went back East, as usual, and visited Dave, Debbie and their kids, in eastern Pennsylvania. It was our first time meeting their daughter, Rebecca, who was holding her own with her two big brothers. We made a couple of other stops along the way. At one point, we stopped at a National Cemetery, in Illinois, to pay respects to a former sergeant of mine, who had been later killed in action. We also took in a couple of sites in the Abraham Lincoln National Historical Park.

This, though, was the last year of relative normalcy in our lives, for quite some time.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 23

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 13, 2026- Hana got a boost, this afternoon, from one of her physicians; Her functioning, in a key area, is showing stability. This particular area of health is measured every three months, until age 3. She is showing in the higher percentile, and is developing skills at a consistently high clip.

Hana listened very intently, at what the doctor was saying, perhaps storing information for later. She seems to know that certain things are more important than others. She has been very good about taking mid-morning medication, for example. She is also fastidious about beginning her mornings with exercise, even if she is on the changing table-which leads us to insist that she wait until the diaper is changed!

HANA’S NOTE- We drove a long way, in Papa’s car, to see a new doctor. The people at that hospital are very nice.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1996 Cracks started showing in our Jeddito life. Our next door neighbour died, during Spring Break, so we cut our southern Arizona jaunt short. The principal was fired, in mid-year and a School Psychologist took the reins, temporarily. Penny and a co-teacher had a program called Collaborative Literacy Intervention Plan (CLIP), which got results and kudos from the Governing Board.

My program went well, though there was some difficulty with the Superintendent, looking to find fault with our summer program, for no other reason than to have cause to eliminate it. The Board protected us, and despite some setbacks, such as a bus conking out, halfway up a hill on the way to Phoenix, we managed to get to several interesting places.

We went back East, as a family, for three weeks in July. A week was spent in Massachusetts and one week was spent in New Jersey. The rest was spent going to and from the Coast. We made the second of our visits to Bosch Baha’i School, in Santa Cruz, California, by taking a road trip. (The first was in 1994, by air.) Bosch is atop a high cliff, with breathtaking views of the ocean. We were there for a Spiritual Literacy conference. Afterwards, we drove down the Coast, getting our first views of Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara-the last being towards sundown.

I would be seriously evaluating my continued effectiveness as a counselor, in the year to come.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 22

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

August 12, 2026- Hana played Hide and Seek with me, this afternoon. She hid behind a curtain, and I pretended to not know where she was. She thought it was great fun, and laughed for a minute or two, before coming out from behind the curtain. This evening, when her mother sang “Itsy Bitsy Spider” in an atonal manner, Hana groaned. She knows how the song is supposed to go. She does like her Mom’s singing Korean songs, and would probably groan if I tried singing those.

She took four steps this afternoon, with my support. Walking has thus become an intermediate goal, and will probably immediately follow standing, once she can do the latter for five or ten minutes, with support. She can stand for about 30 seconds without support, which is pretty good for a seven-month-old.

HANA’S NOTE- I like Hide and Seek. When I start walking, I will hide in places Papa can’t find me. I will probably give myself away, though, by giggling.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1995 This was a year that I put up a swing set, for Aram and his friends to use. The neighbour kids were also welcome to use it. One boy fell off and bruised himself. Knowing his mother, and her desire to handle her children’s problems herself, I sent him home, once it was clear that he wasn’t badly hurt. In the night, though, he and two other mischief makers came and wrecked the swing set. His mother re-reimbursed me for the damage, but we had to take the equipment down and haul it to the dump.

Aram had friends in the Hopi villages, who were coaxed into meanness towards him, by older men. One of those men ended up dying in a roll-over, a few weeks later. There was prejudice, and there was a lack of self-control. The kind people on both Reservations helped us cope and we continued to be invited to social dances.

We went, as a family, to a Baha’i school in the Midwest, during the summer. Aram was sleepwalking, a couple of nights, and we were taken to task for this, by the Administrators. We were able to keep better watch on him, after the third night, so nothing bad happened during the rest of the camp. On the day we left, however, he went by himself to the playground, climbed up on a piece of equipment, and suffered a mishap, which resulted in us taking him to the ER. We assured the administrators of the school that we did not hold them responsible for what he did without permission. The rest of the journey was error-free.

We lost Penny’s paternal grandfather, the inventor and businessman, Abraham C. “Al” Fellman, in late summer. “Grandpa Al” was 95. He had invented the Fellman Boot, the first combat boot with a non-slip tread. It was adopted for use by the U.S. Navy, in World War II. To think that two of my uncles wore this boot, on their respective destroyers, during the Battle of the Coral Sea, and the Battle of Midway, is quite a revelation. Al was a gracious and graceful, gentleman.

Life continued to be mostly a positive experience.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 19

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Entertainment, Family, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 9, 2026-

The day “started” just after midnight, with several gunshots audible, across the alley. All four of us awoke to the noise. Hana was looking around but was being very quiet. Aram and I stood watch upstairs, and he called the Plano Police to report the n=sounds. It appeared that a cruiser came by later, but as we heard no further sounds and only saw a neighbour girl’s boyfriend dropping her off a bit later, then all lights in the nearby houses go out, we went back to bed.

Hana, Yunhee and I got up around 6:30. Aram slept in, then we enjoyed Yunhee’s chicken and waffles around 10. Hana expresses a wish that she could eat them, too. That day will come, but for now, it’s all puree. We do make it a point to have her sit in the high chair and have something at each meal. Lunch and dinner are the big meals for her.

I made a huge dent in the remaining pile in my storage unit, this afternoon. One more good load will empty the unit and save several more dollars each month. I can then start culling my excess items in earnest, once more.

HANA’S NOTE- I did not like those banging noises last night. Something told me to keep quiet and not cry. Mommy stayed with me, so that helped.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1992 We made the hard choice to not renew our visas, and so Penny and Aram flew back to Arizona in late January. They stayed with her parents, in the RV that they had driven across country, settling at a park in Prescott. I stayed behind, to complete my contract, taking seven of my freshman students on a circular field trip around Jeju. Their task was to prepare English-language mini-guides to each place we visited. After that was finished, I took a personal journey, mostly by bus, around the Korean mainland, starting in Kwangju and going up through Cheonju, Taejon and Seoul, then over to the east coast, including Soraksan and one last visit to the Demilitarized Zone, then down to Geongju, the ancient fortress town, with its impressive tumuli.

I flew out on March 1, having left a lot of camping equipment behind in Jeju. The University ended up giving it away to students. We had the bulk of our household put in a storage unit in Prescott, until we found a permanent place to live. I arrived “home” on March 2, and we settled into a residential motel. We stayed there for about five weeks, and during that time, I struggled with reconnecting to American life. There were a couple of auto-related mishaps, though neither involved other drivers and only one involved another vehicle. I was able to immediately get on board as a substitute teacher, in three school districts. Penny also did so, and we took turns staying with Aram. In April, we got a town house, in a nice neighbourhood on the west side of Prescott. Her Dad came and stayed with us for a week, while he made arrangements to fly his dog, Buddy, back to New Jersey.

In May, I was hired by Penny’s old boss in Keams Canyon, as school counselor at the newly opened Jeddito School. In August, we moved up to Keams Canyon, Aram entered pre-school, which was a half day. Penny had to go back to New Jersey for an operation, so Aram went with her for the two weeks. They also went back in November, for the Second Baha’i World Congress, which was held in New York City. I stayed behind and focused on my job of tending to the needs of 900 students.

By year’s end, I was finally regaining my equilibrium.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day18

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 8, 2026– Hana wished for only one thing: A chew toy, something that means a lot to a teething infant. We were at a Korean restaurant, enjoying things like Suntubu (Spiced tofu soup), Tonkasu (Pork cutlet) and Naengmyun (Cold buckwheat noodles, in soy sauce). Hana is not ready to eat any of this. Her meal waited at home, so she sat, just waiting with varying degrees of patience. I promised her that next time, with her parents rushing about and getting ready, I would make sure to bring her favourite teething ring of the week.

She had not had an easy afternoon. When I finally got her to nap on my shoulder, and had brought her into the master bedroom, to put her in the crib, the Robo Disc was in there, cleaning the carpet. I brought her back out to the recliner for ten minutes. The cleaner announced that it was done, so back in the bedroom we went, and I put her in the crib. Ten minutes later, the yard crew showed up, four hours late, and started their lawnmowers and leaf blowers. Hana’s Mommy and Daddy arrived back from their errands, about that time, and she was only too glad to get out of the crib, the Master Bedroom being bordered by the back and west yards.

HANA’S NOTE- I don’t know who felt worse, me being woken up by people speaking words I only hear when Papa says his last prayer, or Papa himself, trying to make sure I got my afternoon nap.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1991- Nothing reminds a person how much they love someone like finding their loved one in unexpected distress. Of a March afternoon, as I arrived home earlier than planned, I found Penny with her ear cut, babbling and on her knees, in the bathroom. Aram, not yet three years old, was in the empty bath tub, bawling his eyes out. I took him out first, dried and clothed him and set him on a sleeping mat. Then, I tended to Penny, bandaging her ear, and picking her up off the floor and carrying her into the bedroom, then dressing her, Just at that moment, almost like a TV movie, her Korean language tutor came to the front door. I had Penny seated and let the tutor in. She called an ambulance and then told the apartment complex manager what had happened. Between the three of us, we got Penny in a chair and I took Aram in my arms and comforted him.

Long story short, the ER doctor found that Penny had an allergic reaction to Ibuprofen. He stitched the ear up and by the time he was done, she was again lucid and able to walk. The three of us went to a noodle shop and had a bite to eat, then caught a bus to the University complex. The next morning, my back went out and I had to slowly walk down to the bus stop and go downtown to a chiropractor. This is what happens when one has to lift another adult, who is deadweight, from the floor. Penny never again took Ibuprofen, to say the least.

The rest of the year saw my classes go smoothly, and our Baha’i activities, with some ups and downs, reach dozens of students and young workers. We went back to the U.S. for a few weeks in June and July, enjoying the beach in Massachusetts and fireworks in Livingston, NJ. Aram liked playing with his somewhat older cousins.

In October, though, we started getting pleas from Penny’s parents to return to the United States, when our visas were up for renewal. They were heartsick at not having their only grandson closer to them. After praying long and hard, we decided we would return- in the new year.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 17

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Hiking and Nature, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 7, 2026- Hana has now taken to crawling on me and “wrestling”, while I am lying down on the play pen mat. Her main focus is still very much practicing standing up with my support. She also likes to take two or three steps, while I am helping her stand. The girl is not about wasting time.

The pest control guy came today, and sprayed all areas where it will not affect Hana. He also recommended putting a capful of bleach in each sink drain. This will, he said, destroy any pheromones which the insects leave for those who come after them. Yes, cockroaches are social insects. I have seen them travel in pairs. Now, hopefully, they will travel somewhere else.

I have a car seat for the KIA now, so my next visit to the chiropractor will be with Hana along. The office is family friendly, so having her in the stroller will not interfere with the adjustment, which takes five minutes, tops. I will also be able to take her to the library. She has a special affinity for books, and loves to study the pictures-and the print, for several minutes at a time.

HANA’S NOTE- When I see Papa lying down on the mat, that is a cue for me to crawl over to him and grab his nose and ears. He laughs when I do that.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1990 We were pretty much in a solid routine at Jeju. I would take Aram to student plays, but I’d have to take him out, because he would laugh or call out, once he heard an echo. Nonetheless, our family was well-liked by many people on the island. Aram loved being held by pretty women and was already playing with other toddlers in our compound. We went to the Korean mainland regularly, particularly for Baha’i gatherings. We also went hiking, up Halla-san and on Songsanilchubong, with Aram in a carrier on my back. The Korean slang for a man doing what was seen as women’s work is ujima. I was called that several times, but didn’t care. My boy was my treasure.

Classes were proceeding quite nicely. I also served as editor of The Islander, an English-language student newspaper. The staff wrote several well-researched articles, which I usually proofread in my office. Penny had a strict rule that no one was to intrude on our family time. This irritated some aggressive parents of students, who wanted private tutoring for their children. Again, I marched to my own drummer. I worked well with my colleagues, but on my terms. (i.e., I didn’t drink alcohol, to which the professors were accustomed, having had several Baha’is on staff, before me.