Thursday, June 26, 2008

Red Letters: Blog Buzz

Another chance to answer some blog buzz questions! This time I've chosen to answer this question.

Do you have any tips / advice / suggestions for your “Gotcha Day” for people preparing to travel to pick up their little one? This could include things that made your day special, an easier transition at home, etc. Tell us what worked (and what didn’t) for you.

I think each situation is different obviously. Our son was three when we arrived at our agencies transition home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We knew a little bit about him but nothing could have prepared us for his response.

We had the cameras ready, I was anticipating being hustled into this little room to gather ourselves, set up the video, get our stuff out of our hands, think, reflect, get even more anxious. None of this happened. When we pulled in our driver said: "do you see him"? We saw a small boy waiting on the steps. Ephrim yelled out "Baby Cho, your mama and daddy are here!" That little boy ran so fast I barely had the door open to scoop him into my arms. He was ready for his mommy and daddy.

While I wish we had more video and that David and I could have embraced him together instead of one of us fumbling for the camera and not wanting to lose this moment. I will cherish the pictures and video we do have. They are so unique, a moment frozen in time. This is absolutely something I would never change.

Bring lots of snacks, especially if you're adopting a toddler or older child. Silas LOVED digging through our snack bag. Sometimes he liked it, sometimes he didn't. It was all about the new things in his little world.

Coming home I wish we had video taped the kids' first meeting of their brother but we were all so emotionally overwhelmed we don't have many photos let alone video from that moment. I wish I had set that up prior to leaving so our friends/family knew to video our homecoming.

Preparing for Silas' first night home we wanted him to feel special, we had bought him several things to call his "own" at home. He loved having gifts, he felt so special, he was particularly attached to any item of clothing and always wanted to wear whatever it was. He really seemed to sense the feeling of family and we all loved watching his excitement. Going to bed that night we had him settle with us, he cuddled right down, we co-slept for the first week and that was so bonding for all of us. Another thing we would do all over again.

Enjoy the moments of amazement, yes, even the frustrating ones, share in your childs firsts, explore, take lots of pictures, and keep a journal. Just recently I went back and looked at my Ethiopia journal, it means so much to me to have that. It shows what was going through my mind at that exact moment.



4 comments:

Amy said...

nice. Way to post the blog buzz!

Brooke said...

This is a great post and it does indeed help me to prepare for the moment that we meet our son.

Thanks for posting it!

Angel said...

Good stuff. :0) Angel

The Taylor Family said...

Thank you for sharing a few moments of your early days with Silas. The love your family has for each other just shines through all your posts. It's beautiful.