Our first meeting with Kai!

This is the day we have waited so long for. The first time we see our son in person. The first time we hold him. The first time we kiss his sweet little face. We took one look at him and instantly fell in love all over again. He is just perfect. We feel so blessed God chose this little boy for our family, so blessed to call him our son.

We took a taxi to Holt a little after 1 yesterday afternoon. We arrived at the building just before 2 and just as we walked up to the door a car stopped in front. A woman and small boy stepped out. My face just lit up. Is this my boy? I grabbed Justin who had Lydia and said look, I think this is Kai. After taking a closer look I realized it was not. We quickly went into the building hoping he was already there waiting for us.

When we arrived they put us in the waiting room. The room was very familiar...I believe it is the room were the families wait to meet their babies for the first time. We waited for almost 30 minutes or so when we heard a knock at the door. In walked a lady with another little boy. Again, my face lit up. I began to stand up, but the lady quickly said no, no this one’s not yours. She asked which little boy was ours, and we told her Seung Gi. She said, oh Seung Gi. Our favorite boy at RC. She proceeded to tell us DJ was in a meeting and would be with us in about 10 minutes. She was going to walk us over to the RC where the party was to take place.
Around 2:45 the door opened once again and DJ greeted us and we were on our way. Lydia loved her. She held her hand along with mine the entire way to the RC. She talked to her about her brother and told us how much she loved him and that we were going to love him too. Just a few minutes later we arrived and were greeted at the door. We took off our shoes and were given some slippers to wear. We took the elevator up to the third floor.

As soon as we got off the elevator, we were led to Kai’s room. Standing in the doorway was sweet Zoe. She just smiled and we waved hello to her. We met Zoe’s parents online and found out they only live a few hours from where we live. Her parents asked us to take a care package for them, so she will be receiving that when we visit again over the weekend.

Before entering the room, they directed us to a sink to wash our hands. Once we finished we turned around and there stood Kai’s caregiver with our little boy in her hands. That is when I melted and the tears began to flow. I walked over towards him and began rubbing his little arm. He wasn’t too sure of me at this point. We followed them back into his room where DJ told me to hold him. As badly as I wanted to hold him, I was hesitant to just take him out of the hands of his caregiver. I went ahead and reached for him and he started to cry. Ok, cry isn’t exactly the word. He began to scream and tears began to stream down his face. He started reaching back for his caregiver and pushing me back with the other hand. I didn’t want to scare him, so I tried to give him back. They said no, no this is omma. I tried to sit on the floor with him, or next to me, or even across from me. He wasn’t having any of it. We gave Justin a try, but again…tears:(

He made his way back to his caregiver’s arms, and began to calm down. He chews on his little finger as you can see in the picture when he is upset. Lydia made her way near him and he LOVES her. He became all smiles and sat very close to her. She feed him some type of corn puffs and he was hooked. We just sat back and watched the two of them bond. They are so adorable together. A few minutes later one of the ladys left the room and he took off crying after her. He became so upset and was crying so hard his eyes must have been closed and he ran right into the wall and hit the floor. I felt so bad for him. We tried holding him for a few more minutes before the party started, but again he was not interested in us.

When it was time for the party to start, they dressed him in his traditional Korean hanbok. There were also two other boys there that were celebrating their birthdays as well. It was so neat to be part of this special day. DJ carried him up to the room…it was beautiful how they decorated for these little boys. They took each one by one and took pictures on the table. Then part of the Korea tradition is to let the child pick a toy to see what they will be in the future. Kai choose the gavel…looks like he will be a judge.

Towards the end of the party Kai finally started to come around a bit and let us hold home. It was bittersweet. I loved every minute of it. I just held him close to me and kissed his little face. I was in love. We took a few family pictures, but once everyone started flashing the cameras he got upset again.

A few minutes later DJ told us she needed to get back to the office and I thanked her for the meeting today and that we would see her on Monday. She gave me a strange look and said, no you have to come with me. It broke my heart. I didn’t want to give him back. We kissed him and told him we would be back soon. We also asked if we could visit over the weekend and they said that was fine. So now we look forward to our second meeting with Kai on Saturday morning. Can’t wait.

Please pray our second meeting goes well and Kai continues to open up to us.

Much love to you all!