Courtney, Teddy, Tariku and Kenneth Hammons have expanded their family of two to four in 10 months' time. (Hilary Flynn Photography)
|
|
By CAROL STUART
For Brentwood Home Page
Last year Brentwood’s Kenneth Hammons wasn’t a father yet. This year he and wife Courtney packed up for a long road trip to Oklahoma to see his own dad and other family – with their two 5-year-old sons from Ethiopia that they adopted five months apart.
Courtney brought home first son Tariku’s best friend Teddy, who is deaf, from an African orphanage back in January. After joining the family last August, Tariku began moving things around in his room and closet to make space for Teddy to move in too – and Courtney and Kenneth got the hint and ended up granting his wish.
“It's like add water and instant family. It’s pretty quick,” Kenneth said by phone after crossing into Oklahoma yesterday, with three more hours left in the car.
 |
| Teddy, left, and Tariku were best friends at an Ethiopian orphanage. Now they are brothers. (Hilary Flynn Photography) |
“It's been a lot of fun and a great learning process, going through it, taking on little Teddy here with him being deaf and special needs, and trying to learn sign language and trying to communicate with him and to develop that relationship better with him. That's been probably the biggest challenge.”
Teddy has grown leaps and bounds in a quick time while also trying to learn both the English language and more about sign language at the same time, Courtney said. Tariku, meanwhile, took a while to transition –bonding immediately with Kenneth but withholding hugs and having other behavioral issues with Courtney due to abandonment issues with women figures in his life.
“It has gotten phenomenally better. Teddy is far more emotional, he wears his heart on his sleeve, and parts of that are starting to carry over to Tariku. He’s starting to see that and see that it's OK,” she said. “We've got a long ways to go but we've come a really far ways.”
Mom says the new Dad had to be convinced to take on a second child, one with special needs, in so short of a time. Due to special circumstances (Teddy was adopted by another American family who decided not to return home with him), the Ethiopian courts moved up the adoption from the normal waiting period.
Also, last May both Kenneth and Courtney’s jobs were affected by the historic Nashville-area flooding, with him working for Gaylord Opryland hotel and her working as a wedding planner with a contract for all destination weddings at the resort. In addition to the exorbitant cost of two international adoptions, Courtney also had 60-something weddings moved or canceled when the hotel flooded and lost $20,000 in income.
“In looking back, he wouldn't have had it any other way,” Courtney said. “And he does everything for them and involves them in everything he does.
“He comes home from work earlier now because the boys are home, and by earlier I really just mean on time. He has stopped working with me as much, so Saturdays are really his days with the boys, so he hangs with them, whatever they do.”
Last weekend Kenneth and his new sons had a campout at a friend’s house “just trying to expose them to all things boys, things I'm not going to expose them to. I am not camping in June,” Courtney said.
Kenneth is generally off on the weekends, which helps out a lot especially during Courtney’s wedding events.
“It’s really good, to know that they’re having that time with Dad,” Courtney said. “He puts them to bed every night. I go in and say good night, but he reads them both a book and puts them to bed. It's great that they have that opportunity, because they didn’t before.”
 |
| Kenneth, who will celebrate his first Father's Day, with the newest addition to the Hammons' family, Teddy. (Submitted photo) |
It was a difficult time during Courtney’s busy bridal season in May, after the boys were out of preschool at Brentwood Baptist’s Youth Christians School. “There were like three weeks like, ‘Oh my gosh, what do I do with them? Hello, it's May, when everyone gets married,” she said.
But now both Teddy and Tariku are attending the eight-week Camp Summer Sign, a 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday sign language program at Brentwood Baptist’s deaf church.
The Hammons, who had joined Brentwood Baptist Church the year before adopting, hadn’t been aware of the deaf congregation or other great services for the hearing-impaired offered in Williamson County. Gate Communications of Franklin has given them sign language interpreters and teachers whenever needed, they said.
“It’s amazing … to see how far Teddy’s come and how incredibly welcoming the community of Brentwood has been to not only him but our story and such,” Courtney said. “The deaf church at Brentwood Baptist has gone above and beyond to help us.”
She was also thankful that the church’s preschool also allowed Teddy to join in mid-year, primarily to help with socialization. Tariku could have gone to kindergarten last fall, but went to preschool to help with language skills.
While Teddy and Tariku are currently working on sign language at Camp Summer Sign, the Hammons also have taken in two church interns this summer who are missionaries.
“At night whenever they got done, they stay with us and they help us with sign language throughout the evening,” Kenneth said. “We don't want the boys to speed past us too much. They’re going to learn way faster than we are.”
 |
| New dad Kenneth Hammons helps Teddy and Tariku at the skating rink. (Submitted photo) |
The new brothers also played on Williamson County rec soccer teams this spring, and coaches learned how to communicate with Teddy by getting in his sight lines. “His team never knew that he was deaf,” Courtney said. “He was just another little boy out there kicking the soccer ball.”
When Courtney brought Teddy home from Ethiopia after New Year’s, a welcoming party greeted them at the airport – led by Tariku and Kenneth.
“As soon as Mommy and Teddy come walking up the aisle, Tariku ran right over there to give him a great big hug. And then they just picked up right where they left off,” Kenneth said.
“Honestly, at the end of the day, they really needed each other,” Courtney said. They balance each other phenomenally.”
Several of Kenneth’s family members haven’t met both boys yet, especially Teddy, so that’s part of the reason to be on the road this week.
“It's exciting. It'll be the first Father's Day with the whole family. I'm just pretty proud and excited to spend that time with the wife and the two boys, and then to see some of my family meet the boys for the first time,” he said.
“It means a lot that the family, just kind of everybody coming together. It’s not really Father's Day – it’s everybody, it’s the family thing.”
 |
| Teddy and Tariku have been attending Camp Summer Sign offered by Brentwood Baptist's deaf church. (Hilary Flynn Photography) |
But during the long family road trip, there hadn’t been any “Are we there yet” comments – just two 5-year-olds looking out the window at the sights.
“We’re just so lucky that they don't ask that question,” Kenneth joked.
Asked what he might have learned from or appreciated about his own dad after being a father, he said:
“You just never know what's going to come your way. He was just always the type of guy that kind of rolls with just whatever came along. And I think that’s kind of what helped me most.
“You never know what kids are doing to do or what they’re going to say. So you just kind of have to learn to adapt and go with it. Then everybody kinds of learns from it and they grow stronger with one another.”
|
Email
Print
