Today Jonah's foster family held a reunion for all the babies they cared for over the years. The oldest "baby" there today was 20 and the youngest was 4.
This family cared for many babies over the years. It was so great to see them again. We have visited over the years at events for our adoption agency, but never with Jonah, and we hadn't been to their house since visiting Jonah 9 years ago.
When it was time for Jonah to leave the hospital at 5 days old, we brought him to this foster home through Bethany Christian Services, our adoption agency. This was a hard decision to make, but because of some possible red flags, Bethany advised us to not bring Jonah right home from the hospital. With having 3 children, we didn't want them getting too attached to Jonah if for some reason the adoption would fall through.
Jonah's foster family was amazing! We were so blessed and comforted leaving our precious bundle with this family. Since we were also a foster family for Bethany, we knew this couple. We had been through foster care classes with them, and us foster moms often helped and encouraged each other during difficult placements. So even though we so wanted to have Jonah with us from the beginning, we were very happy that our friends would be caring for him until the Termination of Parental Rights hearing in three weeks.
During those 3 weeks Jonah was in foster care, we would visit him about twice a week. One time just Andrew and I would go, and the other time we would take Abigail, Stephen, and Lydia.
We would visit Jonah for about 2 hours. The joke was the little guy would sleep most the time we would be there. If we were lucky, we would get him to open his eyes for a few minutes. Sometimes we would even get a few sips of formula in him.
NOTE: Jonah was very sleepy his first few weeks and wasn't the best eater. He would tire easy and had a hard time coordinating breathing/swallowing. The foster mom was so concerned over this that she brought him to the doctor. That led to a visit to Children's Hospital where Jonah was diagnosed with Laryngomalacia, floppy/excess tissue near the voice box. 90% of the time it clears up on its own which it did for Jonah. So Jonah's time with the foster family was actually probably a bit stressful because of his eating and breathing issues. What a great foster mom for sitting up so many nights just watching over Jonah to make sure he was breathing ok. What love!
So even though our visits weren't filled with lots of activity from Jonah, we cherished every moment we could have with him those first 3 weeks.
We are so grateful his foster family opened their home to us to visit.
After 3 weeks in foster care, the hearing to terminate parental rights happened. Even though it seemed like everything was going to go smoothly, we anxiously waited at the foster family's house to hear news from our social worker at the courthouse. Finally the phone call came. Parental rights had been terminated, and Jonah was now "unofficially" our son! In six months, Jonah would officially become a our son when we appeared before the judge for the final phase of the adoption.
Shortly after receiving the phone call, Jonah's birth family and our social worker arrived at the foster family's house. This was a beautiful time to take photos of all us together and to have a placement ceremony. During the placement ceremony, Jonah's birth mother placed Jonah in my arms as the social worker read some touching words about adoption. This will remain one of the most meaningful moments of my life when Jonah was handed to me by his birth mom. We are so grateful for this wonderful gift she gave us!
Many great and moving memories for us happened at Jonah's foster family.
Driving to their house today, on roads I hadn't been on in 9 years, so many memories came flooding back to me. I remember being so anxious to get their house so I could hold little Jonah. The ride there always seemed to take forever. I remember pulling into their yard and having to hold myself from just barging into their house without ringing the doorbell because I was so excited. I remember sitting in their living room holding Jonah and watching the clock because I didn't want the visit to end, but I also didn't want to be a nuisance to the family. I remember how hard it was to say good bye to Jonah when it was time for us to head home. And I remember the tears I cried as we would drive away because I felt like part of my heart was being left behind. I remember the anxiety of waiting for the phone call from the courthouse and the pure joy of driving home that same day with Jonah in our van, finally coming home with us!
All those feelings came back to me- what an incredible adventure little Jonah has been for us. We didn't travel across the ocean for like we did for Ben, but his story is just as amazing.
So today was a very special reunion!
Getting ready to leave the hospital
and head to the foster home.
Jonah is 5 days old.
Visiting Jonah at 10 days old at his foster home
Jonah today at the reunion, almost 9 years old.
The funny thing about this last photo is Jonah was so excited when he saw this surf board. Batman rides a surfboard in Season 3 of the 1960's show. So Jonah is posed on this surfboard pretending he is Batman. I think that was probably his favorite part of the reunion, besides the 2 hamburgers he ate!
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