Happy Gotcha Day, Nandi!

I can't believe that just a little over a year ago, I was standing at DFW airport with my mom - ready to board a flight to Brussels and then on to New Delhi.

I can't believe that one year ago TODAY I was standing with my mom in an orphanage in Pune, India and holding my beautiful daughter for the very first time.

Where did the time go?

Years are funny, aren't they? A year is really not that long, but yet I can hardly remember a time when Nandi wasn't a part of our lives.

How is it that this little girl, who I feel like I've loved forever, has only been in our lives for one year?

For those of you who were along for the journey, you probably remember my blog posts about those first few days in India. They were excruciating. And truth be told, it took about 7 months for everything to feel normal again. For Nandi to know us and for us to learn all about her and for everything to get turned right side up again.

Adoption is so beautiful but can be so painful. I remember thinking that we were cruel for taking her away from the only country and people and smells and sounds and language that she has ever known. I remember thinking that she's loved there. Her ayahs love her. And she's comfortable and happy. She doesn't know any different. I remember thinking that we were so cruel to do this to her.

And she grieved. Oh how she grieved. She cried and cried and after the first day, she refused to let me hold her for two weeks. She refused to look at me or acknowledge me. And during that time I honestly wondered if it would ever get any better.

And now..... we're a year later. And my goodness how things have changed. She is fully Americanized. She declined a Gotcha Day supper of Indian food by saying, "Ewww, gross! I no lika Indian food. I wanna cookies and ice cream!"

She loves to be held. She has fully and firmly attached to us. It's as if this is how it's always been....

Which is sad in a way. It is sad that the only Indian word she uses is "pani" (for water). Or that she doesn't like to listen to Indian music or watch Indian movies (the dance scenes) anymore.

In fact, just a minute ago, she came up and asked if she could watch Mr. Bean on DVD.

We will do our very best to help her remember and embrace her Indian heritage and background. Her Gotcha Days will be filled with pictures and memories and trinkets from India. Hopefully, one day when she's older, she'll open up her little hopechest and see 20 years worth of Indian treasures (one for each year) and remember how her Gotcha Days were a celebration of the merger of two cultures. I hope she knows how loved she is. How very much wanted she was. And how our family was complete the day she became our daughter.

She is so funny and so playful and so cute. She can be a right toot sometimes and a real firecracker, but she is also simply amazing.

I am honored and blessed and privileged to be Nandini's Mommy.

Happy 1 year Gotcha Day, Nandi. We love you!