Tuesday, July 10, 2012

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY!

Andrew and Annabelle on July 10, 2006...

Annabelle a few hours after we met:)

Andrew is not so sure about the sleep positioner.  I am sure the Ethiopians thought we were nuts!!

We had soccer camp this AM, and it went WAYYYY better than yesterday (read about it here).  Tonight we have VBS which is super fun, but it goes really late.  So this year our Gotcha Day festivities are limited to lunch.  I am not even sure if we will make it to Cafe LaLibela this year.  I thought, it has been six years, maybe the excitement is fading a little.  Then I posted a status about Gotcha Day on Facebook and cried like a baby.  So I guess it is still pretty fresh in my memory.
For those of you who don't know much about adoption, Gotcha Day is the day we "got" our kids.  With our first adoption we did not know about our kids on their birthdays.  So this is when we met them for the first time.  It is the bio kids equivalent to being born:)  So I guess the excitement will never fade.  Just as Mommas get sentimental recalling the day their children were born, we will continue to get sappy recalling July 10, 2006.
Brother and Sister:)

At approximately 9:30am Ethiopia time, we saw our two bundles being carried down the sidewalk at Toukoul by two sweet nannies.  I was handed Andrew, Bill was handed Annabelle.  They were Yecheneku and Hamelmal then.  All I remember is holding my son and crying.  The tears were for the sheer relief of having him in my arms after knowing him by his picture for a whole month.  Tears of joy, we were finally a family!  Tears of anxiety- WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!?!?  TWO BABIES?!?!  ETHIOPIA?!?!?  I even cried tears for their birth moms.  After the first time my eyes locked on Andrews, I was in love.  What a decision his first mom had made.  A miracle, there is no other word to describe what happened that day.  we went from a family of 2.  A sad, waiting family of two.  We were magically transformed into a family of 4.  Okay, those of you who do know adoption will attest to the fact that is wasn't actually magic.  There was A LOT of prayer and paper work and prayer and waiting and prayer and disappointment and more prayer and a really long flight and more prayer.
We should give him a pookie right?
Okay, maybe the pookie was not such a good idea!




  See the "face silky"?  We have only known her for 2 hours and she is already taking to life as a princess!  My face touching the bed?  I don't think so.  
Her other favorite position, being walked around by Momma.  For most of the trip this was the only time she was not crying:(  She wasn't at her best, she was a little sick.

Dressed in our jammies waiting to go back to the orphanage for the night.

Wait, we are going back where?!!  



Thank you Lord for giving us such an amazing reason to celebrate today!  Happy Gotcha Day Andrew and Annabelle!