13 today

Some people are straight forward, easy to understand and easy to love. Thomas is not one of those people. Thomas is complicated. He was born in Bangkok Thailand 13 years ago. He had a life threatening special need. It was corrected by surgery. Today he is healthy. But because he needed treatment, and because he was probably born to a poor family he was abandoned in a shopping mall. I'm sure his family abandoned him to try to save him. Not everyone has triple A health insurance. I'm sure he was given up for love. But he lived in an over crowded orphanage until he was almost 7 years old. We met him when he was 3 years old. We tried to adopt him right away (6 months after we met). Thailand was busy trying to apply a new adoption system. His papers sat on a desk for over 2 years. It kind of makes me mad. I wonder how he would be today, how much more secure he would be if we had only come 2 years earlier? But that's water under the bridge. We came as soon as we could. And he was a spoiled boy. They called him the gangster. He got candy just to be good. But he was very skinny and sick. He was allergic to milk. I guess they didn't know that. It took years to get him healthy. And it may take many more years to heal the pains of being "unwanted". But he was always wanted. He is an amazing person. He has learned English and German. He is a good student. He has many gifts. He can play the drums, and guitar. He builds great Lego (like a pro). He is a great video game player. He plays good soccer. He is good at most sports. He cooks well. I could go on and on. I'm thinking of changing Thomas' school. I could use some wisdom about this. I also pray Thomas can make new friends that accept him for who he is. I pray he will be really happy (know one has a better smile). Sadly, I have not seen enough of his smile, it's a hard age. He needs to find his path, and then maybe he will be OK. I'm glad he is my boy. I found him in an over crowded orphanage in Bangkok, but he is a prince. You may think he is lucky to have Juergen and I as parents. I guess he is. But we are the lucky ones. When I look into the future, I see Thomas established. And he is the kind of person anyone would be proud to call son. I had a dream once. In the dream Thomas grew up to be most like Juergen. If he grows up to be like Juergen, the world will be extremely blessed! I can not imagine anything better!