Gotcha Day Celebration

Today we celebrated the one year anniversary of Caleb's Gotcha Day! We can hardly believe it has been a year!!!! If you care to re-visit what happened on that day, click here.

Bryan and I have been recalling memories from that day throughout the week. We have said many times this week, "a year ago today we were..." and thinking back on things we were doing: eating our "last supper" with the Turecks before Gotcha Day, packing our diaper bag with things for Caleb, changing Caleb into his Gotcha Day outfit, crying as we hugged his caregivers goodbye, trying to soothe hungry Caleb as we drove through Bishkek looking for his baby formula brand, and the list goes on and on.

We planned to make today special for Caleb and hope that in the future he will always want to celebrate his Gotcha Day, or Family Day, or whatever he wants to call it. We started off the day by going to gymnastics as a family. Bryan was excited to see what the gymnastics facility was like and Caleb really enjoyed having both of us there to do the activities. We jumped on the trampolines, walked on the balance beam, jumped in the foam pit (well, Daddy did that!) and let Caleb crawled 90 mph all over the place.

Jumping on the tramopline

Nervously holding onto Mommy on the trampoline

Crawling through the dinosaur tunnel

Jumping in the foam pit with Daddy

Trying to climb the rope wall

Practicing walking on the balance beam

After gymnastics we went to lunch at Chick Fil A. Caleb was such a good eater and even drank from a juice box for the first time! This was his first true attempt at a straw and juice box and we were thrilled with how well he did. Caleb loved watching all of the older kids run around in the play area. We then came home to take a nice nap and get rested for a fun-filled afternoon.

Trying a juice box for the first time

When Caleb woke up from his nap he played for a little bit and then it was time to get his Gotcha Day present! He was thrilled with just the tissue paper from the gift bag - but also liked what was inside: a toy airplane! We often tell Caleb that he 'came home on an airplane'. Since airplanes have been a recent favorite item, he really liked this new toy!

Opening his Gotcha Day present... of course Sophie had to be in the middle of everything!

I love my new airplane!

Mommy and her baby

Reading with Daddy before dinner

Pushing his car outside

Tonight we also had a special family dinner. Caleb loves lasagna and making a mess! He also got to enjoy Gotcha Day cupcakes with homemade buttercream frosting for dessert. It was a very special day and I'm so thankful we were able to be together as a family all day. I plan on making a Gotcha Day scrapbook for Caleb and documenting each year's celebration along with a letter to him for many years to come.

Caleb's Gotcha Day cupcakes

Lasagna / Cupcake Monster!!

We will never stop praising God for bringing Caleb into our lives. It's been an entire year and I still cannot believe God did this for us. His blessings far exceed our expectations and we could not be more grateful. We've reflected a lot on how much has changed in our lives and Caleb's life over the past year and I think it is fair to say that all of us are leading richer, happier lives because of one another. So many people tell us how lucky Caleb is --- but we are truly the luckiest of all. We could not ask for a more precious little boy to call our son.

Caleb, you are God's answer to our prayers. You have brought joy, healing and happiness into our lives that we could have never dreamed of. You are such a happy, intelligent, funny and brave little boy. We pray that God will continue to bless you with great character, courage and health. Most of all we pray that you would come to know Him at a young age and that the way we parent you would reflect His love for you. We cannot wait to see what God has in store for you and for our family. We love you without end! Love, Mommy & Daddy