To celebrate or not celebrate....that is the question

On Tuesday our family celebrated Sophie's Gotcha Day at P.F. Chang's.  Their food is yummy even if it's not really like what we had in China.  The morning of "Gotcha Day", I began to ponder if we should even make a big deal out of this.  Being the mother of an adopted child, you are faced with different issues than with biological children. You have different worries.  That morning my worries went something like this,  "is this just one more thing that will make Sophie feel different from everyone else.  Is this just one more thing to single her out that she is adopted?  We don't have a day like this for Madison or anyone else in the family.  Maybe we shouldn't make a big deal out of it."   Then as I began to ponder this question I realized that this day is not just about Sophie.  This day is so much more than that.  This day represented a time in our lives that God showed us how big he is.  God was more real to me in China than any other time in my life.  Gotcha Day is a reminder that God is faithful even when it is in his time and not ours. Gotcha Day is a reminder of what happens when you let go of what you want and allow God to work his will for your life.   Gotcha Day is a reminder that families are God's design, not ours, and that he does make beauty from ashes just like he promises in Isaiah 61.  Our family came home from China changed by the grace of God.   None of us are the same and that deserved to be remembered and celebrated.  So as the years progress we will celebrate Gotcha Day and I will use this as a time to teach my daughter not that it's just about her but use it to teach her how big, how wonderful, and how faithful God is.