I am the proud mother of a precious, spirited three year old boy. This little boy did not grow in my belly for nine months. He grew in my heart. Becoming a mother happens in different ways and for me it was adoption. My husband and I adopted our little boy, JO, in November, 2006 from Bogota, Colombia.
Meeting JO was the greatest moment of my life. My heart was filled with joy, but truth be told I was scared to death. Our meeting took place in an old office building in downtown Bogota. After we had been escorted through security my husband and I waited to meet our little one in a small room which had been decorated with pictures of other families who had been in this same place before us. After waiting for awhile, I began to think that maybe the agency had changed their mind or forgot our appointment, but in walked a woman carrying the most beautiful little boy I had even seen.
The woman handed JO to me then left the room. Finally we were a family of three. Both my husband and I were crying tears of joy. JO however looked at us with those big, brown eyes and decided to offer some comic relief to this intense situation. He spit up all over everything. Kevin, JO and I were covered in spit up and were still trying to clean ourselves up when the agency workers came back in. We left with JO that day and went back to El Refugio, the bed and breakfast we would be staying at for the next few weeks.
So life was perfect. You would think so, but in reality it is scary to be a first time parent, much less in a foreign country. I was so happy to have JO, but I was also very homesick. I missed my family and friends. I wanted them to be with me and offer advice about being a new parent. The first few days I was scared to be alone with JO. I had been around kids my entire life, but nothing prepared me to have one of my own. What if he cried and I couldn’t help him? What if I was not feeding him enough or feeding him too much?
As the days past, we got into our routine. We started learning JO’s likes and dislikes and bonding as a family. I got to where I could call home without crying. And we started enjoying our surroundings. We would go for walks and play outside. JO was growing and each day he became stronger.
The day finally came for us to go home. I was excited, but still sad to leave my temporary “family” at El Refugio and the country of JO’s birth. After saying our goodbyes we headed back home to start a new journey. Our journey as a family of three…
