Monday, April 29, 2013

He Knows he has a Family...for REAL!

WOW!  What a day.  I woke up to many new pictures of Reid from a traveling family, who not only got to meet him, but who got to hand deliver our first package to him with a treat, some pictures we made for him, and a photo album with many photos of our family and home.  He officially knows he has a family!!!  Maybe he knew before, maybe he didn't.  But it is official now. :)   Oh to have been a fly on the wall at that moment.  Can you even imagine being a 5, almost 6 year old boy and seeing so many of your friends being chosen and leaving with their families?  Can you imagine what that must feel like? I don't even want to think about it.  But I saw a boy in photos and video in spring of 2011 who was so happy, smiling...simply precious.  About a year ago or so, many of his friends started leaving with their families.  You could see that smile fade and his new face in pictures was heartbreaking.  It looked like his hope had totally been stolen from him. It looked as if he was thinking: Why is no one choosing me?  Will I ever have a family come for me?  How many more kids and friends will I have to watch leave?  Little did he know that we were watching him.  We were watching every agency he was listed with.  It just wasn't the right timing and we could not get approved to adopt two at once.  I think my face looked something like his in those later pictures when we drove by the exit for his orphanage on our way from Guangzhou to Hong Kong to head home with Lena.  Heartbroken....for him.  Fast forward 9 months and here we are!  He now knows he has a family!  Yes, one of his own.  He knows there is a family on the other side of the world who loves him.  He knows he has a lot of brothers and a sister.  He knows someone really does care, someone chose him.  He knows a family will be coming for him soon- soon he will be leaving and it will be his turn!  Yet, inside, I am sure he is scared too.  What will it be like leaving all you have ever known, every care taker who has cared for you since you were about 1 year old, every friend still there waiting for their families or waiting to be chosen?  What will it be like to go with a family to a new place totally different than where you are now- such different scenery, different smells, different food, and a totally different language?  These kids are my heroes.  They are amazing!

But for today, we'll focus on the face that says it all.  I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I did.
And Randi, words cannot express enough gratitude for the feelings I have today thanks to you and your family taking that package to our son!

So happy to see the kids are loved while they wait.


 Group pictures
 HAVING FUN!
                                                    Getting ready to get his package from Randi!


The candy came out first- I heard he shared it with every kid in the room...sweet boy!






 Checking out the photo album and the pictures we made for him!





 Randi said: "He was so, so sweet. He just stared and stared and was all smiles. I could tell he knew that you were his family. The workers read the book to him twice in the little bit of time that we were there, and he just looked so happy about it. He really liked the drawing that the kids did for him too. When he came to the candy he generously opened it and passed them around to his friends that were in the room."


Another friend said that he will know every picture and name because the orphanage will go over the album may times to help prepare him.  :)




 Showing his photo album to Jennifer who is one of Randi's daughters.  It looks like they were friends! :)




That's a lot of people checking us out! ;)




  More photos of the kids together!







4 comments:

  1. The best gift ever....until the day when you can wrap your arms around him! I know you couldn't be more thrilled today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are so lucky to know he got this!! Wish I knew whether Ben got his!! LOL! He just looks so happy looking at his photo album of his family. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is awesome Brooke! I hope things go fast from here on.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It was so awesome to be able to watch his joy as he looked at this picture book! We're heading home today. Remind me early next week (when I have a better Internet connection) to email the full size pics to you if you'd like larger sizes to print. Hope you get to travel very, very soon.

    ReplyDelete