Gotcha!

On February 25th, 2007, the orphanage director handed Chang Qiu Lu (Kate) to us, and we held her for the first time. This is known in the adoption community as her "Gotcha Day"! I love that term...it's so cute and cheerful, and is a yearly cause for celebration, somewhat like an anniversary or birthday. I cannot believe she's already been here for a year! The comments I hear most often from friends that see her is "She's very pretty/sweet looking." and "Oh my gosh, she has gotten so tall, and looks like a big girl."

I like that you can see Kate's name on her windmill.

We included my nephew William in the celebrations. William was adopted from Liberia 2 years before Kate. We all grabbed a glass of sparkling apple cider and said a toast to Kate and William, thankful that they are a part of our family, and sending postitive thoughts, remembering their birth families, who made it posible for us to raise these 2 neat kids.






There's something about her sweet little face in this picture I just keep staring at.



Here we have Kate's hair before her self-inflicted-bang-trim a week later.




Hey! How's it goin'?

I'm just walkin'.

Walkin', walkin'.

But don't blink, 'cause I'll be on the other side of the park before you can open your eyes!

Try me!





Homemade chocolate cake. Mmm, Mmm, Mmm.
Mommy gave me a extra big piece, 'cause me and Daddy were going to share. (Daddy let me have most of it though!)








We got home late in the afternoon, and decided to just let Kate stay up from her nap, and we'd put her down for bed a bit early. She didn't quite make it that long.

About 5 bites into her food, she was out, and didn't even wake up when we got her down, cleaned her up and put her into her pajamas. It had been a very full day...but a special one!