(acoustic music) - We really love Oregon.

I don't know how it happens, but just day by day I guess you get a little more comfortable, get more used to things, and then eventually you've been there for a long time and you feel like you belong there.

(acoustic music) Hey boys, three minutes.

Are you done?

Did you brush your teeth?

- No, but I need some socks.

- Okay, let's go find some.

Here, oh, you already have socks.

Okay, I'll go get your seats.

Okay, love you Peter, have a good day.

Okay, see ya.

- Bye!

- Bye boys, be good.

- [Child] Ow!

- Through the plants.

With my kids, we decided to name them simple American names Peter and Thomas because growing up it was hard having a name that was so different from everyone else's names; and even now, a lot of people can't pronounce my name.

People think it's I-shawn or E-shawn, but I say it E-shen.

So my mom is Chinese, she's from Taiwan, and my dad is Caucasian.

Growing up with my mom being Chinese in Tennessee, I think all the kids in my family probably felt a little different, you know, having this mixed heritage.

Like, I remember she said somebody came up to her and was just talking really slowly, like, what's your name?

And she was so mad about that, because of course she can speak English.

And I think that had a big impact on me, you know, just the way people perceive others from other countries; I just always remember that.

I served a mission for our church in Korea, and my husband Ryan did also, and so even though we weren't working together or anything during that time, I think just experiencing that same culture gave us kind of a bond.

And so when the time came that we decided to adopt, we both just thought Korea, that's the place where we're going to adopt from.

Growing up with multicultural parents, I think my parents did make an effort to have us feel comfortable where we were and fit in where we were, and so with our kids too, with them looking different, because they're from Korea, I just wanted to make sure that they were going to feel comfortable where they lived and that that wouldn't have to be something that they worried about.

My kids in their classes at school, they're probably 50% Asian in their classes.

And so there are kids from India and Korea, China, all over.

Living here in Oregon I think there are just so many people from so many different cultures that everyone accepts each other.

There's the stereotypical Oregonian, I think it was in the 70's that the governor encouraged them all to grow beards, and that was kind of, you know, something that they were encouraging the men to do and so they'd look like lumberjacks and these rough, tough guys, but yeah it's people who eat organic food, and people who ride their bikes everywhere, and they recycle everything.

That's kind of the stereotype of Oregon, and of course there is some of that, and I think a lot of people have a little bit of that in them.

- [Child] Let's go!

So this is our garbage can for the stuff that is going to go in a landfill pretty much.

So they give us a little bit of space so we're not throwing away too much really, and then this big one is the stuff that we can recycle.

When I go visit family in other places of the country and they don't have their separate recycling bins, it's kind of unnerving because I wonder what they're doing with all their cardboard and their plastic; are they just throwing it in their garbage?

It's different living here I think, but it is cool too because there are so many different cultures and different beliefs that people have, different values that are all built into that also.

And so it's not, are you an Oregonian or are you Chinese or whatever?

You're just so many different kinds of people that whoever you are is great.

Come live in Oregon.

(acoustic music)