Today is Gotcha Day!

I woke up at 3am and was wide awake. I think I had been dreaming that I was late for Gotcha Day or that all our bags wouldn't fit in the car or something. Either way, I've been up for several hours feeling excited about our special day.

Today is special for so many reasons. It marks the day where we have truly seen God answer our prayers for a child. He has given us the desire of our hearts- a family. How incredible to know that He hears us and that His plan was for a child on the other side of the world to fill that empty space in our lives! We are so thankful to be back here, bringing a child home when we know many families in the US are still waiting to bring home their babies. While we realize we had no control or influence over the timing of our adoption process, our hearts still ache for the families who have been waiting so long. We will never cease to appreciate how lucky we are to bring Caleb into our lives permantently today.

Today also marks the last day Caleb will spend in an orphanage. We are very fortunate that he receives excellent care at his orphanage in comparison to other orphanages across the world. He is loved, well-fed, talked to and held as much as the caregivers can manage. However, none of that can substitute for the love of a true family. We are excited to show him how much we love him and to see how he flourishes in the future.

Today also marks the day where we will try to thank the caregivers who have cared for our son over the past months. How do you thank someone for that? We know this day will be hard for them too as they have bonded to him and in many ways been his mother. It is difficult to find words to thank them, but we will do our best today to let them know how full our hearts are and how grateful we are for them.

We will be thinking about Caleb's birth mother today - feeling thankful that she chose life for him and that she had the courage to choose what she felt was best for him. Although we don't know who she is, we are thankful for the role she has played in his life and will always thank God for the life she gave him and the child she gave us. We pray she will be comforted as we know there will be days she will think of Caleb and wonder where he is. We pray that she will somehow have peace and know that he is with a Mommy & Daddy who love him with all their hearts. We are honored to be his family.

Lastly, today marks the last day Caleb will wear pink or purple! We can't wait to dress him in his Gotcha Day outfit and to post a million pictures of him here with us. We'll update here as soon as we can, although we have no idea how long everything will take today.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us with prayers, encouragement, friendship and support throughout this adoption journey. I guess you could say the journey has come to an end as we will carry our precious Caleb out of the orphanage today - but in many ways it's just a new, wonderful journey that has begun.

Love,

Betsy & Bryan