Gotcha Day

On the eve of Gotcha day while Isaac is sleeping and Anna is at school I found the time fitting to sit and reflect on what God has done in the last year. I really thought I would post more once we got Isaac home, but found myself enjoying the moments as they passed and cherishing them all in my heart.

I am absolutely blown away by the fact that it has already been a year since we first gazed upon our son. I remember those first moments so well, every emotion that went along with them. The anticipation of our first meeting, the excitement of our second, and the overwhelming wonder when he was finally ours to bring home. The nerves were quickly overcome with joy with the pl
easant smiles and awkward cries from Isaac and us as we try to figure each other out. The complete awe as he and Anna began to form bonds that only siblings hold.

I had no way of knowing what this year wou
ld be like, it's was a journey only for the 4 of us to embark on. I read back to my last post and remember the first few months that included fear, questioning and many, many restless nights. But I also remember the times when I looked into Isaac's eyes and felt a love that could only be for MY SON, the one chosen by God specifically for us. I wondered if Isaac would ever learn to say Momma, it was fall before he did, but now I wonder if he will ever stop. Travis counted the times he said Momma in the 15 minutes we were reading books before bed a few days ago, the total in 15 min. 65 times! Isaac is definitely a Momma's boy. If I am around he wants to be right by my side. I will have to admit, I wouldn't want it any other way. I feel like with all the years spent dreaming of him, wishing for him, waiting for him, being by his side is the best place for me too.

Isaac has begun to show us his personality. He loves anything with wheels, especially the big three, trains, firetrucks and his new found love of tractors. He looks for tractors as we drive and points them out to anyone who will listen. Tractor is one of my favorite words to hear him say, along with AHH for Anna, brella for umbrella, nack for snack, and how he makes the sound that the animal makes rather than saying the animals name. He is talking a lot, wasn't quite that way when he turned 2 but has really exploded with vocabulary in the last few months. He has began to repeat what he hears and has started trying to sing some and do the motions to songs. He has a great teacher in Anna for that. He and Anna are, like all siblings, the best of friends or the worst of enemies. They play great together for the most part and Anna has yet to say anything about wishing she didn't have a brother. I think she understood the wait for him more than we thought. They both had a blast on our beach trip a few weeks ago, she loved the dolphins, he the sand! Isaac loves to do things to make us laugh, he impersonates his Dad by snoring when he pretends to sleep. He makes funny sounds and faces to see the reaction he will get. There are things he does almost daily that remind me of why God chose him  for our family, he just fits right in. Isaac loves to be on the go, he asked to go Bye, Bye a lot. He enjoys going to church, going to the ballpark for ball games and practice, going to the store (to look at tractors), and he loves to visit his grandparents. In the last year he has made the trip from Korea, traveled to and from Anna's school, got sick a lot (last fall and winter, including the flu), ate a million snacks, learned English, went to the zoo, went swimming, carved pumpkins, dressed like a monster for Halloween, celebrated Christmas, went to Thunder Over the Pond, celbrated half birthday and birthdays, went on vacation, rode on a train and tractors, and got to meet his forever family! Plus much, much more.  I think it has been a pretty good year!

We finally have a date set for our adoption finalization, praying that all goes well and he will be officially ours. It has been official in our hearts for a long time. We are going to celebrate Gotcha day together as a family tomorrow night, Anna has suggested that we go to Chuckie Cheese, how convenient! No matter what we do we will be celebrating God's amazing love and tremendous blessings in our lives. We still have terrible twos and impossible three's to deal with, but we count each day as a miracle. I hate to think of where we would be without the love of God. He opened our eyes to a greater need. A love beyond ourselves, beyond our fears, beyond what we were possible of, the calling of adoption. After all, we are all called to a greater love. He has adopted us, we are now children of God! Gotcha day is to be celebrated by all, God has us now, we have been redeemed and we are His forever.

I sing a lullaby to Isaac every night that goes like this:

We love you, We love you, you were chosen for us
We love you, We love you, we were chosen for you
God above sent his love and brought us together
God above sent his love and brought us to you!

Thanks for all you have done for us in the last year, thanks for the prayers, the smiles and the encouraging words. We don't know what the future holds for our family but we are trusting God because he has a far greater plan that we could ever imagine, he has shown us that already!

Happy Gotcha Day big boy!