Reunion

I've spoken some here about the ins and outs of our open adoption.  And while there are some definite draw backs to having an open adoption, by and large for us, it is a really good experience.  Part of our agreement with K is that we will visit.  We don't really have specified times in which this will happen, just that it will.  And while there is nothing binding us legally to do so, we feel its a really important piece of our adoption puzzle.

Visits are tricky though when his birth family is a 14 hour drive away.  This meant that this year's visit including take a 1-year-old on a plane.  Not something I recommend.  But we all survived the trip and are so thankful that we went.

Our adventure started when we left the house at 7 am on Saturday morning.  I was so excited and anxious about the trip that I woke up at 3:30 am and couldn't fall back asleep.

Our first flight was then delayed an hour and a half meaning we were going to miss our connecting flight.  We were able to rebook for a later flight, which also meant we would be spending over 3 hours in the Dallas airport.  This made for a long day with a very cranky baby.

Abraham sprawled out across both of us and fell asleep, finally, about half way through the first flight.

He decided lunch was torture in Dallas.

Until the nice men at the table next to us let him play with their dogs.  Happiest. Baby. Ever.

A rare photo of him enjoying the view.  He found opening and closing the window shade far more enjoyable, unlike the passengers around us who had to deal with light, dark, light, dark.

Look who's excited that we made it to the hotel at 5:30 that night.

The next morning we had some time to kill before K was able to meet up with us.  We went down to LSU to visit the tiger habitat they have on campus.

And then finally in the afternoon, we were able to experience what we had done all this travel for.

Abraham and his birth mom, reunited.

He wasn't quite sure what to think of his new biological brother.  He mostly just wanted to stick his finger in the baby's mouth.

The next morning we got up and did the whole flight thing back home.  Thankfully this time there were no delays and Abraham did a lot better.

Overall it was a great visit.  It was really fun to see K watch Abraham, love on him, and enjoy seeing what a fun baby he is.  She's extremely respectful of us as Abraham's parents, so the visit went really smoothly.  We love having her be a part of his life still and also respect the important roll she has played in it and will continue to play as he grows older.