A special shout-out

Long before we traveled to China, way back in October when we first knew we would be adopting Jesse Yong, one of my co-workers at Civil Consultants took me aside a few days after we made the announcement. Neil needed to let me know that Jesse Yong had a friend desperately waiting to make his acquaintance.

Keep in mind, we -- Jason and I -- had barely gotten pictures of our little boy, and wrapped our minds around this whole concept. But Neil's little 3-yo boy Drew was already jabbering away about "me friend from China." (too cute!)

Day after day he would ask his dad if "me friend from China" was here yet. No, his dad said. It would be a while. Okay, maybe tomorrow, Drew would say, shrugging his shoulders. This went on for some time (keep in mind this was back in October....we didn't get Jesse until May, which is basically forever to a 3yo mind.)

Then Drew's thought processes shifted a bit. He figured it was taking quite a while, so he would have to start planning. He set aside a special toy that was not to be played with by himself or anyone else; it was for "me friend from China." The toy pile began to grow each day with new toys that were sacred -- Drew refused to play with them until he could play with "me friend from China."

Drew's little 18-month-old sister would occasionally wander over to the segregated items. And got summarily thumped across the head for her effort. "NO!!!!" he would cry. "Toys for me friend from China!!!!"

By this point, it was February, and we were still in for a long haul. I started to seriously be concerned for the health and well-being of the residents in Neil's household. Drew's mom could not put the toys away; little sister Lily most definitely could NOT TOUCH; Drew himself would not play with them.

Finally the day came and the Hendricksons went to get "me friend from China." Then finally they were back in the States. Then finally they were not jet-lagged and could start thinking in coherent sentences again (sort of) and getting back into life.....

Then Drew got ebola. Well, not ebola exactly, but some horrid vomity runny nose stomach thing that's just not fun.

But then he was better!!!!

But then Lily got it.

So eventually, at the tail end of June, the long-awaited day finally came for Drew and Jesse to meet at Civil Consultants' summer party this weekend.

Drew and Jesse spent some solid male bonding time analyzing The Pool (no, not the babes at the pool, it was really too cold for swimming. Well, except for Geoff's blue-lipped shivering kid who is insanely Arctic-ly inclined):



Then they took out water guns and chased each other and everyone else around the yard, dousing as many unsuspecting adults and children as possible (sorry, I didn't get any pics of that part, but you can see what's in Drew's hand).

Eventually the party wound down. When Drew learned it was time to go, he burst into tears. He didn't have enough time with "me friend from China."

So I promised to post a few pictures on the blog so that Neil would be able to console Drew until he would get to see Jesse again sometime soon....