I can thank Suzhou, China for bringing together today's guest writer and me. Although we are expats together in China, I actually knew of Becky before we moved. She and her family were a mentor family to friends of ours in the US. Both families used the same agency for their adoptions. I'm so glad to be enjoying this overseas adventure with Becky!
Becky and her husband, Dan, have adopted three children from Korea. Recently they were able to return to Korea and visit their children's foster mothers. Becky first shared the story of their visit with their agency's newsletter and now she is sharing it with my blog. Enjoy!
From Becky:
Since the day we met our oldest son in Korea, we hoped that we could one day return and again thank his foster mother for the love and care she gave him in his first precious months of life. Almost eleven years later, we had the pleasure of traveling to Korea with not only our oldest son Andrew, but also our son Nathan and daughter Erin, who were both adopted from Korea as well. After notifying Eastern Child Welfare Agency of our travel arrangements, they planned a meeting with all three of our children and their foster mothers. We arrived at Eastern for a lunch with the other families visiting from Australia and the United States, all of us excited and nervous to become reacquainted with the foster mothers. When it was the time for our meeting, we were led into a room where our foster mothers were waiting, all three having arrived early.
We were not prepared for how much love the foster mothers had carried with them all these years. These wonderful women who had cared for our children could remember every picture we sent and all the details of what the children were like when they were babies.
Through a very busy translator, our kids were able to tell the foster mothers about themselves and they were able to ask about each foster mothers' own children. We found out that all three foster mothers have retired from fostering and that they never forgot about any of the children they fostered. There was joy in their eyes as we told them of some of our kids’ accomplishments, they looked like proud grandparents.
The three women were very curious how Korean culture had been incorporated into the kids lives, even asking if the kids had learned to speak Korean. While the only memories my kids have of their early days in Korea are from photos, they quickly developed a bond with these loving women. After endless photographs and countless hugs, we found ourselves at the end of the reunion. What I didn't expect were the tears shed over saying goodbye again, not all that different than when we picked the kids up as babies.
Reuniting with our children's foster mothers was one of the sweetest moments we have experienced as parents. We originally assumed the visit would be a one-time opportunity, but since returning home, we can't wait to do it again!
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Day 1: 30 Days, 30 Posts: Adoption
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