Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Jeremy at 15 Months Old

Dear Jeremy,

Earlier this year, shortly after the start of the school year, your preschool teacher asked for all of the children in the class to bring in a photo of themselves when they were younger. I was so thankful that the teacher was sensitive to her students that have been adopted (two of you this year!) by simply asking for a photo of you from when you were younger, but the implication was...bring a baby picture!

One of the things that has been a little sad for me is that I didn't get to meet you until you were 23 months old, and the earliest photos I have of you were from when you were 19 months old. Granted, I LOVE the chubby cheeks in those photos, but you were definitely a toddler at that point.

Thankfully, another adoptive mom encouraged me to network with other adoptive parents to see if anyone had any photos of you at a younger age from their travels to Ethiopia. So I decided to put a post on Facebook in a group of adoptive moms that I am a part of. Remarkably, another mom who is a Facebook friend of mine wrote me within 24 hours asking me if you were from northern Ethiopia. I said yes, and when she asked me if you had spent time living in a specific orphanage, I said yes again. Then she said that she thought she had a photo of you from a visit she made there in January 2010, but she wasn't sure... so she sent this photo and asked me if it was you. Once again, I answered "YES!!! YES it is!!!"


There you were, sitting on the floor with the chubbiest cheeks, shaved head, the same eyes and eyebrows that I know and love...and the final confirmation was that second toe that still sits on top of your big toe! (You and Zachary both share that trait!) I wept with joy as I gazed at a photo of the baby I never got to know, the baby I had never seen before! I'm so thankful for this photo...it is a treasure! And just like that...we have a baby picture of you!

Parenthood is an amazing journey, and I'm so glad you are mine and I am yours,
Mama




8 comments:

kmrf said...

That Photo is an amazing gift! So happy you got it.

Anonymous said...

That is so awesome, Tracy!!
Jeremy, you are such a cute little boy!!

Anonymous said...

He's so cute! This made me cry!!
He looks the same but younger!
So Beautiful!!

Love,
Sarah

The Busters said...

Still SO HAPPY about this!! Such a sweet little one. XOXOXO

J said...

What a lovely gift! And gosh, the internet is a BEAUTIFUL thing, right? :)

Christie said...

I love this! I'm so glad that she had this picture and that you have a glimpse at an even younger Jeremy! Yay! I treasure the youngest picture we have of Myla from a traveling family.

Ginny said...

Wow that is so beautiful. He was a gorgeous baby and I'm so happy you get to treasure this photo for a lifetime. It will be awesome for him someday too I'm sure. He's turning into such a handsome little boy!!! Merry Christmas Owenses!!!

Liz and Josh said...

Hi Tracy! Thank you for your encouragement. The beach was Cancun, MX. It was really gorgeous!

I'm excited to have found your blog - your boys are absolutely precious. This long adoption process gets hard & it's so nice to find other families (especially with siblings) that have gone through it. I think it will still be a really long time before we get a referral, but we're hanging in there. I'm "Liz Smith Bruns" on Facebook if you have a FB account. Blessings!
Liz