Today marked a wonderful milestone in our house. Kai officially became ours 1 year ago today!
We celebrated with Chinese food and watching Kai’s China video together as a family. We talked about our favorite memories of that time, and gave Kai a lot of extra hugs. All day he proudly declared, “Today is KAI day!!”
It is hard to believe that we were in China a year ago. In some ways it seems like it was a short time ago, but in other ways it feels like so long ago. It really is almost hard to remember what our family felt like without him.
This little guy has brought so much happiness to every member of our family. Before he came home I was worried about him feeling left out. Our older boys are so close, and our girls are so close, that I worried about him being without a buddy. There was no need to worry. Each of our kids loves to be with Kai. They all adore him, and he happily follows along with any one of them.
Kai is all of the things that I was hoping he would be. He is happy, sweet, and incredibly intelligent. He is also so much more than I ever could have imagined. He is sensitive and deeply loving, and just thinking about him makes my heart melt a little bit. He has a way of stroking my hair and melting into me when he sits in my lap that just makes me want to freeze time.
Adoption brings along so many questions. Even though we had already done it once before I wondered if I would feel connected to this dear child. I wondered if he would feel connected to me. For some families this is process that takes a very long time of understanding, love, and nurture. I was prepared for that, of course as we took that leap of faith when we flew across the ocean.
In this case, there was no need to worry. This year has been absolutely wonderful. Not that we didn’t have a few bumps along the road. We did. Everyone does. But the love I feel for this sweet boy is so deep and absolute, it could break my heart.
I still feel in awe some days that Kai is here. I felt a deep connection to him for a very long time before I even knew that he could be ours. We thought our family was complete before his face touched my heart so deeply. I am so so grateful for this blessing. For this child that I didn’t realize was missing, but so wonderfully completes the circle of our family.
We love you Kai Yi!
