For those not familiar with adoption lingo (and there is lots of it, trust me) “Gotcha Day” is the terminology used to identify the day a family is united with their adopted child. Today just so happened to be our “Gotcha Day” for Samuel! After three-plus years of paperwork, prayer and more paperwork (there is even more paperwork than adoption lingo) we met Samuel David this morning. Words just cannot express how phenomenal the meeting went.
To be honest, Mary Ann and I were prepared to meet a crying child that did not want anything to do with us. I know that sounds a bit negative, but we were told that in these situations the child is often in a not-so-joyous mood. Samuel certainly was nothing of the sort. He walked into the room to meet us grinning ear-to-ear. I stuck out my arms and Samuel just came right to me – it was truly awesome. We sat with the psychologist/social worker assigned to Samuel (see pictures below) and asked questions about his daily routine, etc. During the conversation we received a baby picture of Samuel and a journal put together by the foster mother. This journal is amazing. It is an entire notebook full of pictures and daily entries about Samuel. Samuel was very well cared for.
We left the office at approximately 10:45 AM and came back to the hotel. Maribel, our interpreter dropped us off and told us she would meet back up with us a little later to show us around the town. So we took Samuel up to the hotel room. We tried to get Samuel to sleep, because according to the schedule we were provided he typically takes a morning nap. Since today was not a typical day he did not partake, maybe tomorrow, more on the whole sleep thing in a bit. We hung around the room for a bit before we met up with Maribel. Samuel was simply amazed with everything. I guess this as good a point as any to list the things he likes:
1. Pushing hotel elevator buttons (come on, what kid, or adult for that matter, does not like to push the buttons)
2. Play Dough (he prefers blue, but yellow suites him fine as well)
3. Little toy cars
4. Coloring in his coloring book
5. Milo (chocolate milk)
6. Water
7. Lays Potato Chips
8. Washing his hands
9. Turning on-off the TV
10. Turning on-off the lights (loves it)
11. Throwing stuff (he is a lefty BTW)
12. Saying “Chao” and waving good-bye to the waiter at the hotel restaurant
13. Walking around without his socks and shoes
14. Brushing his teeth (yes, that’s right, brushing his teeth, Amelia and Dalton can take lessons from this little guy)
15. Going for a stroll around town/Walk in the park
After going out on the town and eating lunch surely Samuel would be ready for a nap? Nope, not yet. There was still much fun to be had with Mom and Dad. So we played with him, played with him a little more and then played with him more. Anyway, we forgot how much energy a 2 year old has. It is an amazing amount. I think it is a toss-up between Samuel and our dog Lexie for who has the most energy in the Universe. This little guy can go non-stop for a long time. Shortly after 8:00 PM this evening Mary Ann was able to rock Samuel to sleep. It seems like Samuels foster mother likely rocked him to sleep each night.
We are emotionally and physically drained, but I would not change a single thing about this day! Welcome to the family Samuel!
Samuel FINALLY sleeping:)
He is sooooo sweet! every time I watch that video I cry. God Bless you and your family and little Samuel! Love you guys!
ReplyDeleteThank you Molly. He is a sweetheart and he is a character too:-) God is so good! His foster mom put her info. In his photo book and journal, so I sent her a message and she was so happy that he was doing good and asked God to bless us (as you can see he already has!)
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