1st Gotcha Day!

On Wednesday, August 13th 2007, Taylor was placed into our arms as our forever daughter for the first time. On this day, Taylor was taken out of the baby house in Astana, Kazakhstan! In many ways, it seems as though it was only yesterday that we became a forever family. It is so hard to believe that it has been a year! Over the past year we have witnessed so many wonderful things and have never felt more blessed than we do now.

When we met Taylor, she was very tiny. But now she is a walking, talking, destructive machine! She has grown in so many ways, both in physical and mental means. She has such a vocabulary, and it still amazes us when she will walk into a room and actually point something out. Take yesterday for example, I broke my toe over the weekend so it is taped to another toe, and in walks Taylor, sees it and points while saying "Oh, Crap." I mean, she is astounding! Now, that was not something that we meant to teach her, but instead of saying something "else" we have been saying that. She picks up everything. We are even spelling things now and she just repeats the letters! Her height and weight is still small for her age, but hey she is following her chart!

Our lives have changed for the better and I cannot think of a better blessing. We are more patient (yep, had to learn that real quick!), and are always looking forward to life. Taylor makes us smile all the time, and we are truly happier because of her.

Now I know that this post sounds very cheesy, and I am getting emotional just thinking about the past year, but this is probably one of the best posts. Because Taylor is home with us, and this past year has meant so much, I cannot help but cry a little tear of happiness.

For Gotcha Day we celebrated both on the 13th with Taylor, myself, my sister Stacey and our friend Chris. We went for ice cream, played in the water, and made Taylor feel special all day. Tony had to work and had a meeting in the evening, so we celebrated with him on the 14th. We had a cake from Milford Bakery which had the Kazakhstan flag with "Happy Gotcha Day Taylor" on the side. Tony also brought home a flower made of cupcakes. We had cake, and all played for the evening. They were both wonderful days! Taylor had the expression of happiness on her face all day!

Happy 1st Gotcha Day Taylor! We love you very much!