Sorry for the absence! As you can imagine since Wednesday, we've been kind of busy. We are home now, and I sit in my comfy bed and type while trying to stay awake at least until 9pm. Boy, I just hate jet lag!
Wednesday was probably one of the most difficult days I've experienced. I thought I was nervous on Monday, but that was nothing in comparison to the nerves that overtook me on Wednesday. Foster Mother & Father were both at Holt when we arrived to bring Emmett home. Emmett has certainly made an impression on everyone at Holt, practically the entire place was tearing up at his leaving. Foster mother hugged me, openly weeping and said - "Please take good care of him". A charge I don't take lightly. She has loved him completely and without reserve, and I can only hope to live up to that standard.
Wednesday night, back at the hotel, was overwhelming. As we tried to pack up a few things in preparation for our early departure the following day, Emmett grabed his shoes and said many things in Korean that we just didn't understand. From his reaction and persistance, I gather he thought he was going back to Foster Mom's house. When we finally put him into his PJs for the night, it hit him that he wasn't going back to Foster Mother's - at least not tonight. He cried for about an hour & a half. Not a hysterical cry, but a soft weep, which broke Craig and my hearts completely. We held him, sang to him, rocked him, and finally he fell asleep firmly planted between us in the bed.
Today has been an excerise in patience, endurance, and steadfastness. I think these will become my mommy mottos! P-E-S (yes, I've been at Hewitt too long that I now have to make an acronymn out of everything). The check in and security lines in Seoul were brutal to say the least. It's tough for any 2 almost 3 yr old to stand patiently in line - heck, it's hard from some adults. It's even harder when you're parents only understand about 10 words you say. Ah-neeyo (No) became my most practiced Korean word. All in all, Emmett did a great job throughout the day. He slept about 4 hours during the flight, which is more than Umma and Appa have had in two or three nights! He has begun testing his boundaries already (ah - 3yr olds), which has been frustrating. But boredom seems to be his worst enemy, so we'll have to watch out for that. Our arrival in Chicago was celebrated with family only, and it seemed that Emmett was not too overwhelmed by all of the people. He's generally a social little guy, so maybe people don't overwhelm him as much.
Moby (the dog) made quite an impression when we got home. To the extent that Emmett was afraid of him completely, and I mean paralyzed with fear, for the first few hours. He is slowly starting to warm up to Moby, now that Moby has calmed down from the initial excitement. Hopefully this will be a short lived thing - as neither are likely to be leaving the home any time soon. We will be praying for Emmett's fear to subside.
Our biggest stumbling block by far is the language barrier. You can tell it frustrates Emmett, and Lord knows that it frustrates Craig and I. I lost count of the number of times he said something to me with his sweet little "huh?" at the end, which is my que to respond - and I had to say "I don't know". I think those will be his first English words "I don't know".
Now, we have to sleep. It's only 8:34, but I think I've come close enough to my goal. Glad to be back on U.S. soil.
No comments:
Post a Comment