Our Little Movie Star

It's Wednesday morning in Korea and we are reviewing the video shoots from our meeting with Ty and his foster mother yesterday. It's safe to say now that a star is born, if not in Hollywood, at least in the Steele household. Our Ty is quite the performer as hopefully you can see from the attached video. The Korean expression "choom cho" is literally translated "dancing do" or "do [some] dancing". Our little star was happy to oblige.

Not only is he gifted in the performing arts like his mommy, but he has a great sense of humor, particularly when he is tickled as demonstrated in the other video attachment. He is playing with his new cell phone. (I'm going to have to upgrade my texting plan with Verizon.) We had heard he was a happy boy but he was not smiling in any of the pictures that were sent to us. What a blessing it was to see him giggle and laugh. God has filled our cup to overflowing!

Daddy, the videographer was busy filming our little star, but did take some time to chase Ty around the room which he seemed to enjoy. Mommy played footsies with him which made him laugh. We were even able to hold him and kiss him which was wonderful for a first meeting. Daddy had to hold back the tears as he watched his beloved wife holding and kissing his son. We have waited so long for this moment. Thank you Lord!

Although it was an emotional day, we didn't want Ty's first impression to be, "who are these weepy grown ups?" Carrie held it together quite well, by God's grace. But the emotions are just getting started. Today we take Ty from the comfort and safety of his home to a whole new world of different faces, sights, sounds, tastes and scents. The case worker said normally with children this age they like to schedule two meetings before we leave, but the one will have to do because of our flight itinerary.

It was helpful to see Ty in a comfortable environment as a benchmark for evaluating his future adjustments. It is hard to imagine what will be going on in his head when he realizes his foster mother is not here and he must now rely on a new mommy and daddy. We hope the videos and pictures we have taken of his foster home will be a comfort to him as he makes that transition.

We found out he had a fever last week so it would have been difficult to travel anyway. God's timing is perfect in every way. We will continue to put our trust in Him. We have no idea what to expect for our first night together and the long flight home the next day. Hopefully he will submit to the baby carrier or the stroller. The foster mother carried him in a front facing carrier and would usually lay him in his stroller for nap time, so he should be used to both.

Everything is happening so quickly now. It's hard to believe that in two days our blog title will change to "Brought Ty Home".