Wongs Loving Life: 6 weeks home

Sometimes when I am driving and I look into my rear view mirror and see my sweet son in the reflection I can't help but to well up with tears. James has been home six weeks already, and in many ways it feels like he has been with us so much longer, but I still can't believe that we got to be part of this miracle. That we were chosen to parent this amazing little boy.

I am still amazed that twenty one months after we sent the initial paperwork to Holt... after all the figerprints and applications...classes and bloodwork...visits with social workers and numerous setbacks .... the little boy that we saw for the first time when we recieved his referral is asleep upstairs... in his home...our home.

The journey to James wasn't always easy... but we stepped out in faith and knew that if God brought us to it he would bring us through it ...and he sure did deliver. I feel so blessed that I am able to parent another child, that I am James' Omma.

James is amazing. He is full of life and spirited just like his big sister. He loves to dance and the boy got rythm. He likes to watch things closely, take it in, and then try to do it on his own. He loves to eat and eat - and eat some more. Thomas the Train is his favorite - he calls it a car. Anything with wheels is a car.... oh wait, he calls boats cars too.

He loves noodles, dumplings, soups and fried rice....Pizza and pasta are favorites too. He loves anything his sister is eating and always wants it too. Corn on the cob is his favorite veggie and the boy loves him some bananas. He loves to try new things and if anyone is eating around him they better be ready to share.

His vocabulary is increasing.... He says Mama ( he uses this for me as well as calls me Omma), Daddy, Cat, Ear, Nana, Car, Dog (in english and Korean - mong mong) and balloon. His receptive language is amazing already. If I tell him its time for bath he heads upstairs, if I tell his its time to go bye byes he gets his shoes, if i tell him to put something in the trash he does, if I tell him to give hugs or kisses he does, if I tell him its time to eat he goes to his highchair .... just pretty amazing.

When I think back to six weeks ago I didn't know when we would get to this place. James grieved hard ...he would be playing out in the yard and then start searching for his foster mother calling out Omma...he didnt trust me at all. He hated to have me change him, was terrified to take a bath, didnt want to eat, and just pushed us all away. I would sit on the floor beside him because my touch didn't comfort him and I wasn't the mother he wanted. I would be lying if I said I didn't question how we would ever get past it and if James would ever accept us as his family. I would be lying if I said that he was the only one crying.

Nothing could ever prepare you enough for watching your new child grieve the loss of the only life they had known. I don't think I could even put into words how horrible it was to watch this little boy hurt and confused over where his family was and know that the one thing that he wanted I could not give him.

Now here we are six weeks later and so much has changed.

He doesn't cry all the time anymore..... only if he doesnt get what he wants ( he still is stubborn just like his foster mother said) or is very tired. Oh, and if he has to share his Omma. He hates for me to do anything for Zoey - he about loses his mind when I brush her hair in the morning - I think somebody forgot to inform him that he wasn't coming home an only child. Wonder how he was with his foster brother!?!

He is cuddly and snuggly and gives kisses all on his own.

He would snuggle in my lap all day if he could. He loves to be in the carrier and just like to stay close to me - which is normal being the last Omma he loved so much he lost. In time he will feel more confident that I am here to stay - forever.