The six of us stood with a week’s worth of luggage and looked from the small Korean mini-van to our fearless driver. Panic began to set in when I realized Holt was not used to seeing such a large party arrive to pick up a child, and there was good chance we weren’t all going to fit. Usually it was just one or two parents–not the parents, their kids, and their mothers. But not to worry. We just fit.
Most people (our agency included) thought we were crazy when we announced we wanted to take our 6 and almost 4 year olds with us when we travelled to pick up Ty (who was 2 1/2 at the time). We couldn’t imagine going without them. Why you ask?
- We have always travelled with our kids (remember this post about starting things early?), and we were confident they would do well even for 22 hours on a plane.
- We love teaching through experience and this was the opportunity of a lifetime.
- We were concerned about disappearing for a week and coming home with a kid who could (and did) rock their world. They had been pretty involved in our decision process to adopt and were actively praying for Ty. They wanted to be apart of picking him up and we thought continuing to involve them would make the transition smoother. They were able to meet his foster family and experience firsthand how different his birth culture is. They witnessed his intense grief over being ripped out of the only family he remembered which gave them an immense compassion for him. Since that grief had turned to anger by the time we landed at Dulles, we are so grateful their first impression of him was in Korea and not at home. Their compassion has proved to have no expiration date even as he continues to rock their world. To be honest, they have out compassioned us. Yes, I just used compassion as a verb.
- It turned out that both our mothers wanted to go along, too, which made the thought of taking the kids less daunting. They were a tremendous help and I’m not sure it would have been so smooth without them. We certainly wouldn’t have laughed as much. They were quite the pair in a foreign country.
I realize that for financial reasons, most families don’t even consider this. We are not rich. It was definitely a stretch but something we prayed hard about and eventually trusted God to provide for.
To read the posts about our Korea trip, click here.
I agree completely! We are going to Thailand soon to get our 2 year old daughter. We will be traveling as a family plus grandma. We have a 8, 6 and 1 year old. We always do things as a family and we will be gone 3 weeks. We would never leave our kids at home that long. I am glad to find someone who feels the same. Plus the older kids will remember the trip and have lots to tell their little sister.