Reunion

We got him! We met with our lawyer this morning – then headed over to the ICBF. First we had to sit in a waiting area for a room to become available. Both of us were thinking ‘where is he’ and decided it felt like a game show – Where is your son? Door number 1, door number 2 or door number 3? They then moved us into a meeting room where we met briefly with the Director. She explained to us that they are proceeding a little differently. Normally the parents would meet with the parents solo to discuss the child – how he’s been doing, his schooling, etc. With Johan being almost 12 they decided to do the meeting with him included – which I thought was a good idea. So they told us to wait a few more minutes while they went and got Johan. Tom said the anticipation was worse than Christmas!

And in he came – looking as handsome as always. Some of the anxiety melted into relief of seeing him again. It’s been such a long year – the time is finally here. We celebrated with the cake and soda then huddled over some paperwork. We were happy to get a copy of his school grades (he does well in all subjects – but excels in Math).

The biggest surprise of the day was that Martha was there. Martha was the chaperone that came with the Kidsave kids last year. She has been Johan’s social worker since he went into care. It was very special to have her there with us especially since we know how deeply she cares for Johan.

After the Director gave Johan the low down on the process and explained to him that we are now family and that there will be no more foster homes (bringing us all close to tears) I gave him the gift bag we brought for him. This included a new Troy Trojans t-shirt that Nana Sherry B had made for him and a small erector set that Tia Lee Anna bought for him. He just about had the erector set put together by the end of the meeting.

This afternoon we’ve been playing some Uno and Skip-Bo. We just got back from a walk to the store and are hanging out right now.

Tomorrow we have another meeting with the lawyer and we’ll be going to the market.

Hope you had a great day – I know we did.
Carrie

(will figure out how to post some pictures tomorrow)