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:
That Photo is an amazing gift! So happy you got it.
That is so awesome, Tracy!!
Jeremy, you are such a cute little boy!!
He's so cute! This made me cry!!
He looks the same but younger!
So Beautiful!!
Love,
Sarah
Still SO HAPPY about this!! Such a sweet little one. XOXOXO
What a lovely gift! And gosh, the internet is a BEAUTIFUL thing, right? :)
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.
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!!!
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
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