Adoption

I do not watch a lot of TV personally but when I see something about Adoption it totally sucks me in.  I saw a commercial for a show called "The Little Couple" and knew I had to tune in.  I had heard of their show before but had never watched it.  It is on TLC.  The couple, Bill and Jen, are little people and have been trying to have a family through many avenues and are blessed to now be adopting.

Well on the last episode they traveled to China to meet their new 3 year old son and bring him home-he is also a little person.

Being an adoptive parent myself I really appreciated how they portrayed adoption.  Bill and Jen had all the emotions I think most adoptive parents to be have.

But a lot of times on TV adoption stories are of infants and so once the new parents are handed their precious bundle it is euphoric.  Well the Little Couples new son is 3 and they did not edit out the hard time they had when they first met each other. He was crying and did not want to go to them, one time he even tried to hit them.  He clung to his caregivers not wanting to go to these strangers.

Bill and Jen were amazing.  As much as they wanted to just grab their son and love on him, they didn't.  They did not force themselves on him and let it happen in its own time.  I am definitely going to be watching the rest of the season to see their adventures as a new family.

When we adopted Naomi she was 2 years old.  When we got to the orphanage it was lunch time.  When it was time for us to meet she was taken away from her lunch and escorted into the room.

All I wanted to do was hold her and kiss her but she was unsure.  I offered her a doll and she took it but she did not come to me.  As a mom, who had been waiting months, to hold my little girl, it was painful but I understood.  I was a stranger to her.

But that moment she was finally placed in my lap, because she did not come on her own, was like giving birth.  But if you look at her face it is blank.  This picture truly shows what it can be like to adopt an older child and the varied range of emotions.

This picture was taken much later in the day, it is our first kiss, and she is starting to relax.  Naomi did not talk to me for a whole week-she said nothing.  At night when it was time to go to bed she would hit me.  It was hard but so so worth it.