the day we became *so happy together*.

two days after first meeting choi boy, we headed back to the agency to pick up cb. forever. :)

when i first shared about this last year, we were still a little shocked and processing the fact that we had truly become parents to a 15 month-old. here are a few more details about how the day went down...

cb and his foster mom and his foster sister were already at the agency, taking care of cb's pre-flight report and finally well baby check. we were ushered into the playroom, where we were greeted by this cutie pie:


again, the attempts at eating a christmas ornament because he thought it was fruit = major indicator that our little guy was quite the eater. :)

cb and his appa got busy playing with the toys, especially in the play kitchen.





meanwhile, i tried to ask as many questions and write as many answers as i could. but i couldn't help but sneak in a few hugs here and there!

before we knew it, it was time for our send-off. it was definitely bittersweet to say our goodbyes to cb's amazing foster family. we hugged and prayed and promised to keep in touch.



soon enough, we were in my aunt's car, driving away with an unfazed choi boy, who was munching away on a large bag of shrimp chips. ;)


i love that last picture. it's classic cb. and i love that i know that now!

amazingly, cb was quite comfortable with us from the start and seemed to be pretty much at ease about leaving with us and hanging out with us at my aunt and uncle's.





though we did see some grieving when we were settling cb down for a nap and again at bedtime, for the most part, he was pleasant and lots of fun. :) as crazy as it might sound, i think that because he was a little bit older (15 months), he had a bit of an understanding of what was going on. and i also think his foster mother prepped him for a long time about who we were. i know, it sounds bananas, but it just felt like...somehow...he knew.

we spent that first day just being *together* and getting to know our boy. we watched some (clearly riveting) korean television,


read some books (to a clearly riveted toddler),


played with my aunt and uncle's crazy dogs,

who *really* were riveting! ...and i'll stop using that word now. ;)

gave our water-loving boy a bath,


and cleaned.

an obvious choice for a bonding activity, i know.

at the end of that first day, we put our boy to bed. he cried and was sad at the loss of his foster family, but he let us comfort him and fell asleep in my arms.




as we lied down next to him, we marveled at the fact that we were his umma and appa and thanked Jesus that we would have the joy and privilege of raising him.

today, 365 days later, we celebrated our first family day. and every day since then, we have continued to marvel that we are the ones that are choi boy's umma and appa. and we continue thank Jesus daily that we have the joy and privilege of raising him.

happy family day, cb. we love you with all our hearts.