Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Our First Family Day!

Lia: Then and Now
We successfully got moved across the state last weekend, and now we just have a huge mess of boxes on our hands. With all the craziness, I didn't have a chance to blog about our first Family Day on Monday. We DID celebrate (Chinese dinner with Grandma & Grandpa). It was low-key and perfect. Lia doesn't really "get it" yet, but it was certainly important for us to mark the occasion. She was just thrilled with the Disney Princess balloon that grandpa brought for her.  :)

A lot of adoptive families celebrate "Gotcha Day", but I deliberately chose the term "Family Day". Mainly, because our "gotcha" moment in Xi'an wasn't really something to celebrate. Of course we will always remember that moment, but it was intense and upsetting for Lia and for us... She was terrified, sad, and screaming, and we were nervous and worried and sad for her. Not exactly a moment you want to "celebrate" for all time...

The term "Family Day" just makes more sense for us. It is the day we became a family...and that IS definitely something to celebrate!

1 comment:

kitchu said...

sorry i missed this post (and so many others!). happy belated Family Day! i can't believe it has been a year already. Lia has grown up SO much! and i agree with you on the terminology and the reasons for it. we too feel it was a day that was filled with grief, fear, sadness, and the hardest transition of our lives, but particularly hers. We always called it "Ellis' Day" but truthfully, it was the day we became a family, so Family Day works much better.