Tucker's Homecoming Day

Five years ago today, we brought Tucker home from Seoul, Korea. The memories of that day still resonant in my mind.

When we flew to Korea, we met Tucker the first full day we were there. We sat nervously in the reception room waiting for our appointment to meet with him and his foster mom. When they walked in, his foster mom did not notice us sitting there, but we immediately knew that the baby she was holding was our son. We had looked at his pictures for 6 1/2 months and had watched the videos that had been sent to us, so we recognized him immediately. During that first meeting, we just wanted to hold him and smother him with kisses. He, of course, wanted his foster mom since he had now clue who these two crazy white people were.

Several days later, a taxi took us to his foster parents home and we got to see the place where he lived his first 8 months of life. We met his foster dad, we gave gifts, we communicated through an interpreter as best we could, but our eyes were fixated on this little bundle of energy. The visit with his foster parents told us one thing - this little boy was deeply loved. This couple had been foster parents for 20+ years, but they had never had one child as long as they had had Tucker. They were deeply attached to him. The adoption agency had informed us that we would take possession of Tucker that night since we were leaving early the next morning for Dallas.

A few hours later, it was raining sofly outside. Another family was also recieving their son that night. We were all waiting in the lobby at the adoption agency with the social worker and the director. The other little boy had arrived - Hank. He was 18 months old and was a non-stop talker and walker. It seemed like we waited for hours, but in reality it was probably 15 minutes before Tucker and his foster mom arrived. She was quite flustered that she was late and was very apologetic.

She held Tucker so tightly as she started to cry. She placed him in our arms as the director prayed a blessing. She stood there and started to sob and Becky put her arms around her. And the three of us stood there holding each other as I held Tucker. She continued to kiss him and touch him.

And my heart started to break. This precious woman who had given countless hours to care for this little boy was selflessly handing him over. And I kept thinking of his birth mom, who had done the same thing in this same building 8 months before - handing over her son selflessly.

Our social worker stepped up, put her arms between us and the foster mom, and gently said "It's time for you to go". We repeated "thank you, thank you, thank you" through our tears as we stepped to the elevator that would take us to our room. The foster mom followed us, holding her hand out to Tucker and sobbing, The social worker stood behind her, holding her.

And the elevator doors closed.

It was the slowest elevator ride up those 5 flights. We walked off the elevator and to our room. It was the first time we had been alone with Tucker. He looked at us, and the bottom lip began to quiver. And then he began to cry, then sob, and then wail. Our agency had told us that children, even babies would grieve their loss and that this could happen, but Becky and I thought "surely not our child".

Tucker cried for 2 hours - non-stop. We went down to the family room on the 4th floor to visit with the other families staying at the adoption agency who were waiting to receive their children. Hank, the other boy who received his new family that night, was running around in circles, playing, laughing, and have a great time. His new mom was trailing behind him. The other families looked at Hank and smiled. Then they looked at us and would stop smiling. They kept repeating "it will be ok" over and over. Looking back now, I think they were talking to themselves instead of us. We could see the apprehension that was building up in their eyes thinking "what will my child do when he's placed in our arms?"

Tucker finally quieted down and went to sleep. We pushed our two twin beds together and had Tucker sleep between us. The next morning, he was quiet. It took a lot of coaxing to get a smile or laugh. Once we got on the plane, he preferred the flight attendants over us, but we made it home with just a few breakdowns (and one major throw-up on take-off).

Once we arrived at DFW, we knew the quiet moments of just the 3 of us would end as Tucker would be meeting his brothers and extended family. As we walked through the hallway to the doors leading us outside of customs, we heard shouts of "here they come!" What a sight it was to walk out and see 50+ friends and family welcoming us home. Aidan and Noah ran up to meet their baby brother. We were a family of 5 now.

The last 5 years have flown as my little bundle of energy has become a Daily boy. Each child in our family brings a different flavor and facet. Tucker is our sanguine son. He never meets a stranger, knows everyone's name, plays with anybody, loves all animals (especially worms right now). He's all boy through and through. He's our little fearless jock and still our cuddlebunny. He has a great sense of humor and loves to tell knock-knock jokes.

And most of all, he's our son.