Gotcha Day

Today is the 3-year anniversary of the day we adopted our son. And, as is custom, our Gotcha Day would not be complete without our pilgrimage to Chuck E. Cheese. We had a great time...

It was quite funny, though. All day today has been "Daniel Day" and he has taken full advantage. Quite the little salesman, we would be in a store and everything he picked up would be necessary for our Gotcha Day celebration. "Mommy, Daddy...." I would hear his little voice say. "These gummy worms would be great for GOTCHA DAY." We'd just grin and tell him to put them back. Next it was a certain kind of "Gotcha Day" cereal... or popsicles... we finally did give in on the cupcakes...two blue and one pink (for our familial gender breakdown, of course)

We try really hard to balance the marking of this important day without making a HUGE deal that it makes him "special" or "different" from many of his friends. It is simply our way of letting him know that the day he officially came into our family is VERY important to us.

Boy, is it ever. It's a day that changed our lives forever.

It's the day when a young male Russian judge sat high atop his post and grilled us on everything from our childcare plans to our affinity for college football. Translated conversations bounced around the room like a lost pinball as Keith and I stood at full attention-- afraid to move a muscle lest we appear to have something to hide. After approximately 30 minutes, we were asked to step outside and await the judge's verdict. It was grueling.

Here was a child that had been abandoned at 4 months of age and we were willing to give him a good home--yet we had to defend ourselves as if we had been caught committing a crime. In retrospect, I feel like they were simply making sure we were all that we said we were on paper...but, nonetheless, it was a pretty scary encounter. We waited in the dimly lit hallway for what seemed like an eternity stairing at the tall, weathered wooden doors... wondering what they were discussing that could prevent us from becoming this child's parents.

Finally, the doors were opened and we were brought back in the courtroom. After quite a few back-and-forth exchanges in Russian between the judge and our facilitator, the gavel went down and Daniel became our son forever.

Although it had happened in my heart many years before, that was the moment I officially became a Mom. Daniel's Mom. The best job in the world.