James

James (Borya) is our second child by age, but 5th by order of joining our family. I met him in August of 2003 during the bonding period while adopting Bella. I was taken with him from the beginning, with his quiet manner, his way of taking everything in with his soulful eyes. I remember him as a kind, generous, helpful boy who seemed so much older than his 8 years. On my first day in the play yard, with Bella in my lap and a million other kids swarming around, he quietly asked me, leaning over my shoulder, if I would find him a Mama too. That's the moment he took up residence in my heart, and I vowed I would find him a Mama. I just had no idea at the time it would be me.

So, as the story goes, we lost track of him, then found him again, then developed a relationship with him through correspondance, then finally learned we could adopt him. And adopt him we did, five years after meeting him. When I met him again in 2008, he was just as I remembered: quietly observant, artistic, kind, helpful, generous, bright.

I still sometimes feel like I'm living in a dream when I realize he is home with us, part of our family. A dream that was started in a dirt play yard on a hot August day halfway around the world so many years ago. Borya. A dream come true .....