Alivia's Gotcha Day

a beautiful couple holding their young flower girl

We love reading about all the creative ways that our customers use an Add-A-Pearl custom pearl necklace to celebrate the special moments and milestones in their lives. Before reading this story from Stacy Tiefenauer-Wilfong, a valued customer from Boone Terre, MO, we didn't know very much about "Gotcha Day", but we were happy to learn about it!

Did you know that "Gotcha Day" is a term that describes the anniversary of the day when a child joins a family by adoption? Sometimes it's also called "Homecoming Day" or "Family Day". These lucky adopted kids get to celebrate both a birthday and a "Gotcha Day", which typically fall on two different days!

Some of our customers buy Add-A-Pearl cultured pearl necklaces as gifts for their child's "Gotcha Day" and then continue to add pearls to those necklaces for all the most important milestones: birthdays, graduations, holidays, engagements, weddings, job promotions, or even "just because".

Continue reading Alivia's story and enjoy the meaning behind the Add-A-Pearl necklace she started for her daughter Alivia.

We had tried for years to have a baby with no luck. We underwent fertility treatments, visited multiple doctors, endured miscarriages, and more...but nothing worked! While I was resting my body, a friend of mine knew a girl who wanted to give her baby up for adoption. We met with her, and it seemed like a perfect fit! 

The day we met the birth mom, she was 30 weeks pregnant, and our sweet baby girl Alivia was born seven weeks after the initial visit. Talk about a whirlwind! We only had seven weeks to completely prepare for a baby. Alivia was born on January 6th, and after we were discharged from the hospital, we headed straight to her baby shower! The five-pound bundle of joy attended her own baby shower. 

The adoption process takes six months, and I knew we had to plan something fantastic for the miracle who had just blessed our lives. I had read about "Gotcha Day" celebrations for older adopted kids and decided that's what we would like to do. Not only does she have her own special birthday celebration on January 6th, but she also has her own "Gotcha Day" on July 20th. 

During the six months we waited for the adoption to be finalized, I searched for the perfect gift to give her. My dad had bought me a music box for Christmas every year, but I would need to store that type of gift. I thought about dolls, but they again take up space; I wanted something very meaningful. 

When I found Add-a-Pearl, I knew immediately it was the perfect gift. We buy her pearls every year, and we're planning to have the necklace ready for her to wear on her wedding day. We had a "Summer Just Got Sweeter" themed "Gotcha Day" party right after the final hearing, and she received her first pearl! She's only four now, so she opens the gift every year and gets excited about the necklace. Next month, she will get the same necklace for the fourth time with more pearls, and I can't wait to see what she says. 

She's so funny right now that she will probably question why she gets the same necklace every year. She doesn't understand adoption yet, but we will tell her she's adopted. I'm hoping the Add-A-Pearl necklace will add a deeper meaning to the entire situation when it does occur.

We're so grateful to hear about Stacy's experience, and we can't wait to get updates from her as Alivia continues to grow and achieve all of life's most amazing milestones. Would you also like to celebrate a daughter or other special relative with an Add-A-Pearl custom pearl necklace? You can choose from cultured or natural pearls and then select both your pearl size and the number of pearls you'd like to gift. You can also choose from 14K yellow or white gold or sterling silver.

Just like Stacy said, an Add-A-Pearl necklace doesn't take up a lot of space like many gifts. In addition, it can be stored in a beautiful jewelry box like our Ballet Slippers Musical Jewelry Box or our Silver-Plated Heart Jewelry Box. A young girl may not appreciate the significance right now, but she'll be grateful to have the necklace - and the memories associated with it - as she grows into a woman. Start your necklace here.

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