Our Cramazing May, Episode XXI: Meeting Tom

I have tried to think of what to write...what to say that would add to the pictures.

There is nothing.  What follows are holy moments...

Seeing him in person for the first time was like something out of a dream.  You wait, you hope, you wonder, you imagine.....you get on a plane, and you travel for a week, and then, as if all of a sudden, the wait is over, and he's there.  Looking at you, wondering, scared, trying to trust, not sure what he's thinks about all this.  Tom is a beautiful child....to see his piercing eyes, his long face (like his daddy's!), and his unique littles fingers and toes with our own eyes.....it was beyond wonderful. 

I inched closer and closer, taking my time and giving him his.  Soudemani, his nanny, finally gave him to me.  But I gave him back quickly!  ;)  No need for more tears than necessary.  Big brother came in and tried to soothe him, and he's been doing so ever since.  Tom and Rex will always be close, I think, because of the bond shared in those first few minutes together.  And then, a request from Soudemani:  "Chocolates?"  We had brought some fruit strips, and the orphanage workers gave us some small hard candies (which of course I would never actually give a 2-year-old to eat!).  And then she left....and it was just us. 

Our friend, Tuna, captured the moments beautifully on film, and we again are so grateful for him.  One of the moments that I will always treasure was looking across the bed at Seth and seeing his eyes wet with tears, knowing that he was grasping the pain and uncertainty that his little brother was feeling.  Each of us was crying then, and although there was a certain sadness, there was real beauty there, too, knowing that out of our tears, God was melding our hearts together.  We were feeling his pain because we had already grown to love him so much.  We knew that the grieving would be necessary, so it wasn't a huge surprise, but it was very, very sad......for about 10 minutes.  And then sleep came.  Sleep, which we would discover to be his defense mechanism, grabbed him and wouldn't let him go for about the next hour-and-a-half, when Soudemani came back to get him, saying that it was time for him to eat.

Those first couple of hours with our son were precious beyond words.  I am grateful that we have the video and the photos...all I have to do is look again, and I'm right back at Basundhara.