"Gotcha Day" one year anniversary!

What a fun day! "Gotcha Day" is the adoption word for the day we "got" our two newest family members, Savanna and Samuel. Today was the one year anniversary of that day and we set out to make it special and memorable!

We began our day by wearing matching shirts that proudly displayed the Rwandan flag...

Though we "stuck out" at church, we were also congratulated by so many in our church who love, support and participate in adoption. Then we came home for lunch and enjoyed Africa-shaped cookies.....with a "heart" right on Rwanda (or close to it, anyway! Its a pretty small country!)

We had a relaxing afternoon preparing a Rwandan meal (Rwandan Beef Stew, prepared by Art and the boys, and Rwandan Honey Bread prepared by Shelly - Savanna slept through most of this...hence the "relaxing afternoon"! ) Then we played some games and read books and began dinner! The only thing we regret is not having Orange Fanta bottles, which is what the kids drank with every meal while in Rwanda! ...on the list for next year...

Finally, we watched videos of our first meeting with Savanna and Samuel, and some of our time in Africa. We also enjoyed a FABULOUS slide show put together by one of the other moms who adopted from Rwanda when we did. It was great to see how everyone's Rwandan babies have grown so much over the last year in so many ways!

This has been such a whirlwind of a year, and it was so good to slow down today and take a look at all the progress that has been made, the bonds that have formed between parent and child as well as between siblings, and the positive changes that have occurred due to time, growth and God's amazing faithfulness. We look forward to this new year with great expectations and anticipation over what God will do next in our family to draw us closer together and make us more like Jesus. If you have the time, sit back and enjoy the following slide show of our first gotcha day, today's celebration, and some favorite photos of the last year! Thanks for all your prayers and support!