Ian Meets Chuck & Lu

Yesterday was a very important day for Ian. Finally after two months home, he finally met our dear friends Chuck and Lu!

Our very first apartment, 13 years ago, shared a wall with theirs, but in the two years we lived there, we never did more than wave to them in the hall. Several months after we moved, we ran into them in a bookstore nowhere near our previous residence, and we've been close friends ever since.

Chuck and Lu were the first people we told of our plans, and became some of our strongest supporters in our quest to adopt. They also wrote a letter to our agency on our behalf, which is required to be approved for the home study portion of the process. We had a lot of family friends and coworkers who would have done a great job at providing a recommendation for us, but it was important to us to have Chuck and Lu perform this duty. We knew anything they said would be genuine and from the heart.

So through the chaos of the last two months, it was next to impossible to get together with them. Shawn's parents graciously offered to host a quiet (LOL!!!) dinner at their house so we could introduce Ian to them in a familiar place. Other than Martha Stewart, I've never met anyone who could pull off a casual dinner party on the fly and make it look effortless, like Trish. I don't know how I could ever repay her for her never ending generosity in this area. We are constantly showing up, making a big mess, and then leaving...and she probably has the place spotless again within a few minutes...humming a tune the whole time. I suppose her ulterior motive is getting to see Ian, which is fine with me.

Ian immediately liked Chuck and Lu. He is pretty easy going anyway, and it helped that they brought him a fun toy, but he really did carry on business-as-usual after they arrived, occasionally walking over and showing them a truck or pointing at the ceiling fan. It's possible that he might have been the best behaved little boy ever.

We gave them some gifts we brought back for them from China; something special from each stop we made while there. Several items were particular to Ian's home province, and because they played a role in bringing him home, we wanted them to have a piece of Ian's birthplace.

It was a great night and Ian was visibly much more relaxed with them than just about anyone else new that he has met so far. He enjoyed being held, talking (which to Ian is 'da', 'uhh', 'bub'), and playing with both of them.

Below are some pics from the night.

Ian with Lu... Having a great time with his new friend.

Here kid, try this (cheese...mmm! Who doesn't like cheese?)

Here kid, try this (lime... Hmm, interesting. Wait, I take that back. Ewww!)

Here kid, try this (Beer! For those speed dialing our social worker, the pic is for shock value. We didn't really give him any)

The cool gift from Chuck & Lu... A zoo truck carrying a lion and tiger. We made sure the tiger couldn't get loose and attack. Ian has the farm truck just like this, so he knew exactly how it worked.

A few glasses of wine later :-)