DSDW Meeting Day

The morning began with a power outage in our hotel - twice. We could see a storm cloud rolling on over the city... great - rain! We had to be in the lobby to meet Mo, our Holt Sahathai social worker, to leave together for our meeting at the Thai Department of Social Development and Welfare. This is where we have to sit before a board of "officials" and they hopefully give their blessing and one last piece of paper to allow Abe to come home with us. We arrived at the place on time, 9:00 a.m., and then we had to wait... and wait... and wait. I was very surprised to see at least 20 families there from all over the world. Only 4 families were there with Holt. We met our social worker that has been working on our paperwork there in that particular office... we wondered if she was also the one at fault for our file being misplaced and delaying our travel in January...? Oh well, she seemed nice enough, and it was obvious that these workers are constantly busy. Rob and Michelle were the first ones in from our group, and they were gone for what seemed like forever. Finally they came out and were very happy to have received the final approval. Matt and I were asking them what sorts of questions they were asked by the board. Michelle said it was pretty straightforward - so we felt okay. I was surprised at how patient Abe was in the waiting room. He was a little fidgety, but for the most part he sat very quietly and waited with us.

Finally Mo came for us and took us to another waiting area - this wait should be very short. She told us that we would be meeting with the Director of the Thai Adoption Board - great again! We both felt a lot of pressure after learning that little bit of information! A young lady came out of the Director's office and motioned for us to come inside - Mo had to wait outside. So Matt, Abe, and I went in on our own. We were asked to sit at a table with three women. One was an elderly woman, one was maybe in her mid-forties, and one was in her thirties. They each had our "file" that had been translated into Thai and were looking through it and talking to each other. Finally the oldest woman (clearly the one in charge of our meeting) asked us why we asked for a boy Abe's age. I told her that when we began the adoption process, we didn't have an age in mind, but when we found him we knew he was the one. She thanked us for choosing an older child as this does not happen very often. She next started asking about Abe's eyes. I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but we already knew that when Abe was about 2 years old he had a surgery on his eyes for a lazy eye. It was obvious to us from the moment we met him on Sunday that this was still an issue for him. She asked us what we thought about his eyes, and did we think this was something that could be corrected in the U.S. We told her yes, and that was that. She was looking over his medical reports, and looked very sad. She told us that Abe had had a very "troubled infancy" in terms of his health. He had been in and out of the hospital a lot for pnemonia, has had surgery for some sort of gastric issue, and then the surgery on his eyes. We told her we knew and understood, and she looked relieved. They asked Matt about the age children he teaches, and I told them I teach first graders. They liked that we are both teachers, and then asked what we thought about his achievement in school here. We told them that we haven't seen any report cards from school, but that he was reading a book with us before bed last night (one that has English and Thai in it). She started talking to Abe, and then asked me if it was a story about a fish and a frog - it was! He remembered the story! The main lady said she had to ask Abe if he wanted to go with us, due to his age, and we agreed (that was scary!) They had a long conversation, and then she translated that he said yes, he wanted to go to America, but only if Mom and Dad go together. How sweet! He wouldn't go with just one of us. :) She asked us how he takes care of himself, and we told her that he can shower, picks up his toys, and dresses himself. She said he told her that Mom helped him with his tie - I did - he was not at all sure about it this morning! Then he saw Matt's tie, and he was good.

She told us that they felt Abe was in good hands and would have a good life with us, and they would approve the adoption (finally!) They wished us well, and apparently told Abe to be a good boy - he nodded his head to them. We said our goodbyes, and then we left the room. Rob and Michelle and the other Holt families were outside in the waiting area, and we all sighed a sigh of relief that we were all finished here! We took some pictures and were on our way back to the hotel.

On the ride back, which was about 20 minutes, Abe told Mo he was hungry, and she translated for us. Thankfully we had packed some snacks and water to take along with us for him. He ate a little, and Matt snacked too, then Abe patted his tummy (his new way of telling us he is full) and gave the bag back to Matt. Matt continued to eat, and Abe said "Daddy ~~~~~" and motioned for Matt to put the bag away. That was too funny! We all laughed about that!

We had lunch when we got back to the hotel, and then after a little break we took Abe swimming again. He loves the water!

Tomorrow we meet at the U.S. Embassy for a brief meeting to get Abe's visa to travel home. Finally, we are almost done here!