Exactly five years ago today, we met our sweet little Sara in person for the first time and brought her home. Yay for Gotcha Day!! We don't want to make it like another birthday, exactly, but we never want Gotcha Day to go by unnoticed, either. Sometimes we take her and the boys out for milkshakes, sometimes we bake a cake together (she helps in every step of the baking), and once we took her to a Korean restaurant, where we found out that almost everything they served was spicy, so all she could eat was rice. But we always make sure that during her special treat, we talk with her about that special day we brought her home.
We knew that today the kids had tutorial classes, and Taekwondo and boy scouts were scheduled for this evening, so we celebrated last night. We asked her what she wanted to do, and she chose dinner at her favorite Chinese buffet, then we all came home and pulled out the keepsake box that has her baby things in it, and the diaper bag the escort gave us at the end of her flight from Korea to us. That diaper bag still has the two baby bottles they sent home with her, with her name written on them in both English and Korean. There's one last diaper with Korean writing on it, a magazine they gave us, and a letter that we think is her final healthy check-up statement from the doctor to the Korean adoption agency (which, of course, we can't read). Her foster parents sent a small photo album of baby pictures they took of her when she lived with them, so we looked at those pictures too. We also took out her Hanbok (a garment Korean children wear on special occasions, like their birthdays or on New Year's Day). And we talked a lot about her adoption.
Since we looked through all of her momentos and pictures from when she was still in South Korea last night, tonight she and I sat down and looked at the pictures we took here at home when she was a baby. We saw the pictures of her original Gotcha Day, and the photos of all the days following, when she was first getting to know her home. Sara loooooves talking about when she was a baby, and seeing pictures of when she first came home, and pictures of her foster home in Korea. I'm especially glad we have one photo with her foster mother holding her; I think it means a lot to her to see the lady who cared for her until she came home to us. I will forever be grateful to the many people who played a part in bringing our daughter home.
Happy Gotcha Day, Sara!
We knew that today the kids had tutorial classes, and Taekwondo and boy scouts were scheduled for this evening, so we celebrated last night. We asked her what she wanted to do, and she chose dinner at her favorite Chinese buffet, then we all came home and pulled out the keepsake box that has her baby things in it, and the diaper bag the escort gave us at the end of her flight from Korea to us. That diaper bag still has the two baby bottles they sent home with her, with her name written on them in both English and Korean. There's one last diaper with Korean writing on it, a magazine they gave us, and a letter that we think is her final healthy check-up statement from the doctor to the Korean adoption agency (which, of course, we can't read). Her foster parents sent a small photo album of baby pictures they took of her when she lived with them, so we looked at those pictures too. We also took out her Hanbok (a garment Korean children wear on special occasions, like their birthdays or on New Year's Day). And we talked a lot about her adoption.
Since we looked through all of her momentos and pictures from when she was still in South Korea last night, tonight she and I sat down and looked at the pictures we took here at home when she was a baby. We saw the pictures of her original Gotcha Day, and the photos of all the days following, when she was first getting to know her home. Sara loooooves talking about when she was a baby, and seeing pictures of when she first came home, and pictures of her foster home in Korea. I'm especially glad we have one photo with her foster mother holding her; I think it means a lot to her to see the lady who cared for her until she came home to us. I will forever be grateful to the many people who played a part in bringing our daughter home.
Happy Gotcha Day, Sara!
Oh Mary,
ReplyDeleteI love Sara's sweet story. I didn't know the details, and to read them made tears come to my eyes. Tell Sara that Ms. Cindy said, "Happy Gotcha Day!" I love and miss you!