A dear friend of mine, Monica, told me about "Gotcha Day" when she adopted her two children from Christian Homes several years ago. She told us that it's a good way to explain to their children how they were adopted and got to bring them home. We have always talked about how that would be a good tradition to begin in our family but it seems that each year we get too busy and forget to celebrate. Well, this year was different. Because Ethan is 4 now, we decided it's time to start the tradition and make "Gotcha Day" special, so he can understand what a miracle he is! We were able to be at the hospital when Ethan was born, but he was not legally ours for 48 hours after he was born. Those two days were the most difficult becaus
e the birth mom has the right to change her mind during that time. We were fortunate to have a few hours on the evening that he was born, but the second day we didn't even get to hold him. We only got to see him for a very few minutes in the hospital as we met his birth mom's mom & grandma. That was an extremely difficult time. Then, on September 7 (Thursday afternoon) at 3:51 pm, he legally became our son! We got to take him home from the Abilene Hospital! It was such an exciting time! My heart stills beats a little faster when I think about the entire LONG 16-month process. He is such an answer to prayer. It's so neat to see how God worked everything out just perfectly even though we couldn't see that th
rough some of the tough times of that process...like another birth mom choosing us, meeting us, the church giving us a baby shower, and then having her change her mind and keeping her baby. However, God knew Ethan was meant for us and if we had adopted the other baby, we would not have Ethan! It's so much easier to be on this side of the trial, isn't it?So we celebrated Gotcha Day with sweet Ethan last week. We used the top of Ethan's birthday cake and he got to blow out another candle and open another gift. We had a wonderful time celebrating the day we "Got him!"
We love you so much, Ethan Daniel! You bring a smile to each of our faces every single day!
I love "Gotcha" day! I want to celebrate!
ReplyDeleteI love this kid very much and thank God that he was brought into all of our lives. what a blessing. I can't wait for the day I get to hold him in my arms and give him a hug and tell him how much is aunt amy (and family) love him very much and hwo truly glad we are that he is ours. You guys are great parents. Until the day I see him please kiss and hug him for me and tell him I love his wittle heart.
ReplyDeleteWhat a mixed bag that day was...excitement, expectation, fears, doubts, anxiety...God works all things out for good though.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of funny though. Evan is jealous of Ethan for being adopted. Evan doesn't have a gotcha day of his own :O
I had no idea Ethan was adopted! What a blessing. Gotcha Day is a great idea. We are seriously considering foster care, with possibility of adoption, but it's a long process. We'll see.
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