"Gotcha Day" Celebration

We celebrated Sammy's 2nd annual "Gotcha Day" this past Saturday. "Gotcha Day" is the day that Sammy officially came into our custody and became a member of the Wood Family. What a moment that was!

Every year on this day we will celebrate the gift of Samuel Wondimu Wood and remember how blessed we are that God brought us together.

This year we celebrated by going to Walia Ethiopian Restaurant with the Santos family. It made the evening so much more special to have such dear friends (who are also lovers of adoption) with whom to celebrate it.

Brothers. 

The Ethiopians who were at the restaurant (some working and some dining) were fascinated 

by Sammy and our adoption story. One man was so touched by it that, as a gesture of 

kindness, he bought our table a bottle of authentic Ethiopian honey wine.  

They might as well be siblings. These kiddos love each other so much and have been 

together pretty much since day one.  

In honor of our trip to Tutti Frutti to get frozen yogurt, we had an impromptu dance party to 

the tune of "Rutti tutti fresh and fruity, watch (Sammy) shake his booty." Does anyone else 

make their kids dance for food on occasion? I get such a kick out of it!

The yogurt received high approval ratings. 

Silly Sammy. The much loved, much celebrated, much accepted child.

All day long Andy kept asking Sammy, "Who are we celebrating tonight?" To which Sammy would respond with all kinds of enthusiasm, "ME!!!" Earlier today I heard Sammy say to no one in particular, "Who loves Sammy? Mommy & Daddy love Sammy! YAY!" The journey of adoption is, among other things, the miraculous interweaving of hearts and lives in the beautiful making of a family. Thank you, Jesus, for the precious gift of Sammy.