Meet The Park Family

This originally appeared as a feature article in Brecksville Living Magazine.

When Paul proposed to Daisy, he did it properly. He took her to a romantic setting--Wade Lagoon just in front of the Cleveland Museum of Art--dropped to one knee, asked for her hand in marriage, and gave her a ring. A Ring Pop.

Earlier during their courtship, Daisy had jokingly told Paul she would marry him even if he proposed with a candy ring, but it had to be grape flavored.

It was, and the rest is history.

The two had met 12 years earlier, while they were serving food for the homeless in downtown Cleveland with the Korean Central Presbyterian Church of Cleveland in Brecksville.

One thing led to another (including a grape-flavored Ring Pop), and Paul and Daisy Park were married in June 2012 at the Amasa Stone Chapel on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. They honeymooned in Greece, which sparked a formidable desire to continue traveling. The next few years saw them making two trips to Europe, with destinations that included Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Romania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. "We loved to explore and experience each country’s different foods and culture," Daisy says.

Travel with a philanthropic aspect

In 2013, Daisy made a volunteer mission trip to the Love and Hope Orphanage in El Salvador. She was there to help renovate the community’s hospital, and spend quality time with the kids at the orphanage, including a child she and Paul had been sponsoring there. "It was so nice to be a part of his life while staying there," Daisy says.

The next year, Daisy and Paul travelled together. "As a couple, we talked about going to a mission trip together," says Paul. "Since we were thinking about starting a family at the time, we thought it was perfect to go before having a baby."

Their mission took them to several rural villages in Indonesia. The area is predominantly Muslim, so they learned a lot about the religion. Their visit coincided with the holy month of Ramadan, and they were able to experience Eid al-Fitr, which celebrates the end of Ramadan. As foreigners, they were invited into people's homes and given coffee and/or dessert, or even a full meal. " It was an eye and heart opening experience," Daisy says.

The couple got pregnant with their first child in 2015. They were ecstatic. However, those feelings of joy were soon tempered when a test diagnosed their child with Down Syndrome.

Daisy recalls that time. "This was one of the most excruciating experiences we’ve had, we had so many questions and concerns. Are we going to keep this child? What’s our life going to look like? Can we do this?" she says.

Some of Paul and Daisy's concerns were put to rest when they connected with the Down Syndrome Association of Northeast Ohio. Through the organization, they were able to meet families with infants with Down Syndrome.

"Talking with these families and seeing these extraordinary kiddos, we felt that we could do this as well and that everything would be ok," Daisy says. "We also found assurances through our faith in God."

And so the couple's son, John, now age seven, came into the world. His parents named him after John The Baptist. These days John enjoys watching and participating in sports such as swimming, tennis, baseball Brecksville LIVING 6 and basketball. He is also fond of music, dancing and reading.

"We face many challenges and life can be tough at times raising a child with disabilities," Paul says. "But we know John is a gift from God and our family is truly blessed because of him. We are also grateful to be a part of the Down Syndrome community and to have met many wonderful families within this community."

Enter Ha-Joon

Last year, Paul--a tenured Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine--and Daisy-- an elementary school art teacher at Hudson City Schools District--spent their tenth anniversary on a plane to Korea. They were on their way to meet and pick up their adopted son Ha-Joon.

Paul reports that Ha-Joon, age two, is obsessed with cars. (The first word he ever said in English was, in fact, "car.") He also bears a physical resemblance to his adopted family. "People say he kind of looks like John and is meant to be part of our family, and we couldn’t agree more," Daisy says. "We believe he is a gift from God and that is why we gave him the English name Nathaniel."

Daisy reports that John is gradually getting used to having a younger brother, and all the sharing of toys--and parental attention--that comes with it. "John and Ha-Joon play so well one moment and then argue over a silly toy, which we guess is the norm for brothers at this age," she says. "They are super sweet to watch when they are getting along. Their laughter fills the whole house and it is so nice to see their love growing towards each other."

The Parks moved to Brecksville from downtown Cleveland in January 2019. They were searching for a school district that had a strong special needs program, and found it in Brecksville-Broadview Heights. There were quality of life concerns, as well. "We wanted to live in a place that had sidewalks and a neighborhood feel, where we could get to know our neighbors," says Paul. "In retrospect, we feel that we lucked out because our neighborhood is awesome!

"It is quiet, calm and safe, where kids can play knowing that the neighbors know which kid belongs to which family/house. We have a strong sense of community with our neighbors, where we have a group chat whenever we need to look out for one another," Daisy says. "There are many families with young kids in our neighborhood that are close in age, so we are looking forward to them to becoming good friends with each other and growing up together."

Recently, a church friend asked Paul if his life had turned out the way he expected. Paul's answer was a firm NO. He told his friend, "God has given us things that were unexpected and provided challenges that we never imagined. But having gone through these times, we realize that our life in many ways is better than we imagined, and we take comfort in knowing that God is crafting a story that is unique to our family."

And to think, it all began with a Ring Pop.