Hopefully anyone that knows us knows how endlessly grateful we are to the foster families who cared for our boys before we could. The anxiety of wondering how your baby is loved and cared for by others during a long wait can be grueling. A big reason we chose to adopt from South Korea was because of the wonderful foster care system and knowing our little ones would grow and develop in a family while we waited to be a family of our own.
Especially as first time parents we were mega-wrecks thinking about where Simon was growing up and was he loved enough, etc. etc. Then about 5 months into our wait I got a surprise phone call that Simon's foster family had sent a CD of pictures! At this point we only had 2 pictures of Simon so this was SOOOOOO exciting and then we got it home and opened it up and there were 205 and photos. Basically a flip book of everything Simon had done in his first 9 months with all 4 family members hugging and smooching him nonstop. And then we were like, ok. We can chill. He's good.
We still talk about Simon's foster family a lot in this household and so naturally we were all so thrilled that we were able to schedule a visit with them while there. Simon was super super excited and I think Steve and I were both very emotional. We were meeting with them after having already had about 4 hours of activities at the agency and meaning no nap so I was a little worried. It was also an hour after our last visit with Arch so we were sitting around burning time there at the cafe. About 20 minutes before we needed to go to the meeting Steve took Simon to find a bathroom and wash up so he would look good and spiffy. And then the two of them came flying back in the cafe where I was waiting and Simon was bouncing off the walls yelling " I saw Umma!!" and I was like, "What I missed it!?!?!" In hindsight it was probably good I missed this emotional run in because I probably would have lost it. Steve said she saw him and they both were excited and she picked him right up to hug him. So Simon was going mad grabbing at me to get going and then we get to the check in room and are told that we still have to wait 15 minutes because there wasn't a room for us. So that took FOREVER but we ran into Simon's Foster Dad as well and he came to say hi and then took a necklace out of his pocket that we had given Foster Mom. It was a necklace we had made from one of the pictures they sent us.
Eventually we all were there (Simon's foster brother and sister came along as well) and brought into a playroom (the irony being that now that we weren't meeting with Archer there were playrooms available). I think by this point some of Simons' exhaustion was kicking in and he was becoming a little clingy to me. I noticed that Foster Mom brought in like a million bags and she was busy grabbing things and the translator told me that she had asked if she could bring food to our meeting. She seriously had provided an entire feast of all of Simon's favorite foods from when he was little, complete with drinks and everything else we'd need. At first Simon wanted to show them his magna forms and build some things for them. I ate a bunch of food. They asked us some questions and we also reminisced about our first meetings and our first few days of having Simon after we all said goodbye 3 years ago. The Foster Sister, seems to understand English quite well so anything I said I could tell she understood before the translator interpreted it. She also brought her phone with videos she had of Simon when he was a baby. Foster Mom said she didn't even know she had them. Simon and I watched some videos of him when he was probably about 10 months old. I'm almost more taken aback by it now because at the time there was just so much going on that the magnitude of seeing Simon at 10 months of age wasn't really hitting me. We had brought with us a couple of baby board books that they sent home with Simon. He still likes to look at them sometimes but we just say what's going on in the pictures so we thought it would be fun with video Foster Mom reading the books to him. Simon sat in her lap and she read both of the stories. I was blinking back a lot of tears and towards the end of the story, she had to pause a few times because she was too choked up to talk. They also brought Simon some gifts and Simon gave a few gifts to his Foster Mom as well. Simon played kitchen a little bit and went around serving everyone food. The visit seemed to end quickly and before I knew it were were taking final pictures and packing up to leave. We sorta grabbed all of our stuff and made it in to the hallway to finish getting ready to go so the next people could use the room. Once in the hallway, Simon sat in my lap and his Foster Mom took his shoes and put them on him and tied them. I could tell she did not want to say goodbye and was enjoying caring for him. We found out that they stopped fostering babies just a few months ago. I'm guessing it is just so hard for families to care for children for years and then have to say goodbye to them. They commented to us that all babies are special but that the first baby is the most special. Simon was their first. After some more hugs we really had to say final goodbyes with promises of keeping them updated through pictures. Simon fell asleep about 20 seconds after we walked out the door. I'm really grateful for the visit and pictures. Simon has been proudly telling everyone how he got to see his brother and Umma and Appa in Korea.
Especially as first time parents we were mega-wrecks thinking about where Simon was growing up and was he loved enough, etc. etc. Then about 5 months into our wait I got a surprise phone call that Simon's foster family had sent a CD of pictures! At this point we only had 2 pictures of Simon so this was SOOOOOO exciting and then we got it home and opened it up and there were 205 and photos. Basically a flip book of everything Simon had done in his first 9 months with all 4 family members hugging and smooching him nonstop. And then we were like, ok. We can chill. He's good.
We still talk about Simon's foster family a lot in this household and so naturally we were all so thrilled that we were able to schedule a visit with them while there. Simon was super super excited and I think Steve and I were both very emotional. We were meeting with them after having already had about 4 hours of activities at the agency and meaning no nap so I was a little worried. It was also an hour after our last visit with Arch so we were sitting around burning time there at the cafe. About 20 minutes before we needed to go to the meeting Steve took Simon to find a bathroom and wash up so he would look good and spiffy. And then the two of them came flying back in the cafe where I was waiting and Simon was bouncing off the walls yelling " I saw Umma!!" and I was like, "What I missed it!?!?!" In hindsight it was probably good I missed this emotional run in because I probably would have lost it. Steve said she saw him and they both were excited and she picked him right up to hug him. So Simon was going mad grabbing at me to get going and then we get to the check in room and are told that we still have to wait 15 minutes because there wasn't a room for us. So that took FOREVER but we ran into Simon's Foster Dad as well and he came to say hi and then took a necklace out of his pocket that we had given Foster Mom. It was a necklace we had made from one of the pictures they sent us.
Eventually we all were there (Simon's foster brother and sister came along as well) and brought into a playroom (the irony being that now that we weren't meeting with Archer there were playrooms available). I think by this point some of Simons' exhaustion was kicking in and he was becoming a little clingy to me. I noticed that Foster Mom brought in like a million bags and she was busy grabbing things and the translator told me that she had asked if she could bring food to our meeting. She seriously had provided an entire feast of all of Simon's favorite foods from when he was little, complete with drinks and everything else we'd need. At first Simon wanted to show them his magna forms and build some things for them. I ate a bunch of food. They asked us some questions and we also reminisced about our first meetings and our first few days of having Simon after we all said goodbye 3 years ago. The Foster Sister, seems to understand English quite well so anything I said I could tell she understood before the translator interpreted it. She also brought her phone with videos she had of Simon when he was a baby. Foster Mom said she didn't even know she had them. Simon and I watched some videos of him when he was probably about 10 months old. I'm almost more taken aback by it now because at the time there was just so much going on that the magnitude of seeing Simon at 10 months of age wasn't really hitting me. We had brought with us a couple of baby board books that they sent home with Simon. He still likes to look at them sometimes but we just say what's going on in the pictures so we thought it would be fun with video Foster Mom reading the books to him. Simon sat in her lap and she read both of the stories. I was blinking back a lot of tears and towards the end of the story, she had to pause a few times because she was too choked up to talk. They also brought Simon some gifts and Simon gave a few gifts to his Foster Mom as well. Simon played kitchen a little bit and went around serving everyone food. The visit seemed to end quickly and before I knew it were were taking final pictures and packing up to leave. We sorta grabbed all of our stuff and made it in to the hallway to finish getting ready to go so the next people could use the room. Once in the hallway, Simon sat in my lap and his Foster Mom took his shoes and put them on him and tied them. I could tell she did not want to say goodbye and was enjoying caring for him. We found out that they stopped fostering babies just a few months ago. I'm guessing it is just so hard for families to care for children for years and then have to say goodbye to them. They commented to us that all babies are special but that the first baby is the most special. Simon was their first. After some more hugs we really had to say final goodbyes with promises of keeping them updated through pictures. Simon fell asleep about 20 seconds after we walked out the door. I'm really grateful for the visit and pictures. Simon has been proudly telling everyone how he got to see his brother and Umma and Appa in Korea.
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