Our Second Meeting with Wesley

Hi everyone, this is Michelle’s husband, Brian or as I like to be called, Wesley’s dad. Michelle is taking a little nap and dealing with a little case of what we think might be heat rash (for those that know Michelle well, this isn't entirely surprising). We just came back from our second visit with Wesley. This morning we arrived at Eastern Social Welfare Society around 11am and met in the chapel with 4-5 other adopting families. We watched a video on Eastern and all the amazing services that they provide and then had the honor of meeting the President of Eastern, Dr. Kim. She gave us some more background on the both Eastern and Korean culture and how they both pertain to adoption. We then had a group luncheon where we had time to talk to some of the other families that were there picking up their children.

After lunch, Michelle and I had our second visit with Wesley, our social worker and foster mom. This time FM brought a few of Wesley’s favorite toys which she gave to us to keep along with some Pororo (Korean animated character) items, his hanbok (traditional Korean outfit worn on his first birthday), photos from the past 14 months and a few other goodies. The meeting started off with Wesley being a little apprehensive and clinging to foster mom, similar to our first meeting with him on Friday. For almost the entire time he played with a soft toy/photo album that we had sent him with our pictures in it (see below).


As the meeting progressed he started to warm up to us a bit more. At one point Michelle started playing peek-a-boo with him and he started to laugh for a little bit and then he cried. He still is not sure what to think of the crazy woman with the curly hair but he will come around. Anyway here is some video of that encounter. It was wonderful to see the two of them interacting.

Then something totally unexpected happened that took me totally off guard. As Wesley was playing with his book he started to inch his way over to me little by little in a sort of scooting motion, backing up towards me. Foster mom explained to us that he likes men better and before you know it Wesley was curled up next to me. It was an awesome moment for me and one that I will never forget. I will be perfectly honest with everyone it took every ounce of strength I could muster to fight back the tears of joy that were welling up in my eyes. I didn’t want to scare him but it was an amazing feeling. I had connected (even just for a few moments) with my son.






The visit ended on a high note (sarcastic) with foster mom stepping out of the room and Wesley started to cry for her. I picked him up and tried to calm him and even walked around with him but he continued to cry until she returned – this was a small sample of what is probably to come on Wednesday as we head home (11 hours in the air, 2+ hours in the car). She put him on her back and wrapped him up in the carrier and then they left. The next time we see him will be Wednesday when we get Wesley forever just before we leave for the airport. We're heading out for dinner - I am taking Michelle out for some BULGOGI!!!!!