Got'cha Day, 3 Years In

Today is a special day in the life of the Schmitz family.  It was on this day in 2011 when we met and welcomed a fantastic little boy into our former family of three.

Caleb RongBo Schmitz has been such a blessing to us that it is almost impossible to remember what life was like before he entered our lives.  It's no different with Robert James either.  It's hard to remember what we did with our time before we became parents.

This day is always special and Caleb seemed really excited about it this year.  Today, by coincidence, we had our penultimate meeting with a social worker to send info back to China on Caleb's progress.  We are also having a sleepover with family friends' boys, Jack and Max, so it's a L.O.U.D.  night at the Schmitz house!

Little Caleb on Dec. 5th, 2011 in a courtroom in Changchun, China "signing" his name on the adoption papers.  That red circle is an ink pad and he had to put thumb prints on the docs as his signature.  He was likely terrified by what kind of nut jobs were taking him away from his life and making him do stuff like this!!

Dec. 5th, 2012 -  our domestic adoption was finalized here in downtown Des Moines!  The judges name?  Robert James, of course!

I'm certain this wasn't on Dec. 5th last year, but we didn't do much to celebrate since Caleb had recently had mouth surgery and was on a liquid/blended diet.

Three years on and I'm thankful every day that we didn't let any fears and doubts we may have had to deter us from following through with our decision to adopt!  I'm sure there will be many, many challenges coming up as he grows up but I'll take those times as some day, the house will be back down to two and I'll be wishing for the crazy days of their youth again.