Celebrating Family Anniversaries

My husband and I have been doing a lot of reflecting the past few weeks.  This time last year, we were in Poland meeting our youngest son for the very first time.  Looking back helps us to remember how far we have come.

We know that this is something we want to celebrate, but we are still trying to decide exactly how.  We know there are many ways to mark this big milestone…  We have read about “gotcha days, family birthdays, and the like.  But for some reason, none of them really feel quite right to us. 

There are so many dates that stick in my head as being the actual day that our family was really complete… There was, of course, the day we first met our son—it is a day I will never forget.  But then there was also the day of our court hearing; the formality of that day made everything seem so concrete.  But then there was also the day our “waiting period” was officially over—the day that our son was legally our forever son.  I am also partial to the day his new passport was stamped; seeing that official documentation made us realize how soon we would all be home.  Last, but not least, is the day we finally were safe and sound at home in the States.  So many milestones over those seven weeks we spent journeying to Poland and back. 

It seemed so complicated—which date will resonate with us as the day our family was complete?

We obviously cannot celebrate them all.  They do all indeed have meaning for us and we will remember them all for different reasons for years to come. 

For this year, we are planning to celebrate the day our two boys met for this first time. I’m not sure what we will call it exactly, but I can say with certainty, that we really didn’t feel complete until we had both boys under one roof (whether that roof was here in the States or in an apartment in Poland).  Those first days were precarious and exhilarating at the same time.

I’m sure how we celebrate these milestones will change over time, but as we are just one year in and the memories are still so fresh, we want to mark this anniversary with a lot of hoopla. At the same time, we are also trying to create a tradition that is something both of our kids can look forward to and celebrate as the day that we became one family. 

Do you celebrate anniversaries for your kids who were adopted?  What do you do to celebrate?  How did you decide which date to celebrate?  Click on the link below to let me know your thoughts in the AFC forum.

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