“Gotcha Day” is the name in the adoption community for the day that the child came into the home. It corresponds to the birthday of a natural child. It is a day celebrated by many adoptive homes and a time for great rejoicing.
My wife and I were with a realtor looking for a new home, a larger home to accommodate young children. My wife’s cell phone rang and it was our adoption social worker who informed us that we had a baby, a boy named Caleb. He was a month old and was being cared for in a shelter.
We were so excited. We really were going to have a baby in the house again. About six o’clock in the evening on the next day, our phone rang and the state worker was sitting in front of our house with Caleb. She had not bothered to call to make an appointment. Luckily, my wife was at home.
She brought the baby to our door. He was covered with a worn and very dirty blanket. Caleb did not look well. His complexion was very gray. He could not focus his eyes on the person holding him. It was obvious that he had not been held in his 30 days on this earth. We had no medical information for him, other than that he had tested positive for cocaine at birth and that he had been in the hospital for two weeks and in the shelter with his three brothers for two weeks.
We had assumed that we would take care of Caleb until adoptive parents had been selected. Our reasoning had been that we were too old to adopt a baby. I cannot remember the first moment that I knew that he was our child, but it happened very quickly. By the time that my wife and I discussed it, we both knew in our hearts that he was ours.
He had been born into this world with very little chance of success. But things changed for this little boy on that day. Just as he has been blessed with the home that any child deserves, he has blessed his parents beyond measure. Today, Caleb is almost four years old and is thriving.
Related Blogs:
Adoptive Families–Special Days and Family Celebrations
Our “Gotcha” Day