A Gotcha Day Experience
Scott and Julie Watson adopted their son Jonathon through the China Waiting Children Program in December 2007. The Watson’s have two biological daughters who are big sisters to Jonathon. The following is an excerpt written by Julie describing their Gotcha Day experience. The pictures are from their family life once returning home from China.
We drove out of the airport into a beautiful and remote country side. Lily (our guide) called the adoption center to let them know we had finally landed, and she told us the kids were there waiting for us! …When the van finally stopped and Lily announced we were there…we grabbed the luggage which held our orphanage gifts, Scott got out the video camera, and we walked in the front entrance of the office building. Directly to the left was an office with glass doors, and standing right in front looking out at us was Jonathan! I recognized him immediately! Scott started filming, and our guide, Lily, ran up to Jonathan & started hugging & kissing him. I went up to him, but he ignored me at first. It was fine, all I can say is he was much bigger than Scott and I had anticipated. He’s healthy and strong, and as cute as a button. Scott took out some little books and brought them to Jonathan. He loved them… Jonathan sat on my lap. They had taught him to call me ‘mama’ and Scott ‘papa’. Then he kissed me on the cheek! I’m telling you, all the prayers that have been prayed over him about a smooth transition were answered. He took to Scott and I immediately. He ran around, he laughed, he played – I can tell they took very good care of him in the orphanage.
He sat on my lap in the van (no seatbelt & no car seats here) and stared around in wonder. When we got him to the hotel room, we gave him some toys and a sippie cup of water. Boy, did he love the water! We played with Jonathan and laughed with him. He played peek-a-boo with Scott and I. He is very, very inquisitive about everything around him, and he must weigh about 40 pounds! He crawled up on the bed with me and cuddled before he fell asleep. He is everything I could have ever dreamed of and more! God is so overwhelmingly faithful and powerful and giving!
We went back to the adoption Center to finalize all the adoption paperwork, and there were several families in the room being united with their adopted children. We walked in and a little girl ran up to Jonathan and hugged him. She must have been about eight years old, and it turns out they were from the same orphanage! Then Jonathan saw a little girl his age and ran up to her and hugged her. They were from the same place too and were bunkmates. It was the most precious thing – I almost bawled!! Seeing these orphans being adopted into loving families was almost too much.