A little history...

We are adopting Ava Linh from an Orphanage in the Thai Nguyen Province in Vietnam. (pictures added after adoption)

• Our journey to Ava started with friends planting the seed for adoption. Once we spoke with Renee at Family Connections in Cortland, NY we knew that we found our agency and social worker, September 19, 2006. We also knew that Vietnam was the country that we would be adopting from. Upon a review of recommended Agencies with licenses in Vietnam we chose World Child International. We completed our home study - interviews, paperwork, and proof that we are who we say we are in October. We received our referral October 26th. It was an amazing feeling to see her picture and know that, that little person far away in Vietnam was destined to be our daughter. We learned she was abandoned at a hospital on August 12th, 2006 and it is estimated that she was a week old.


• On October 4th, the date of her pictures and medical review, she was 7.25 lbs and 21 inches long. Her medical report indicated minor health issues associated with institutional care. Her t-shirt had the power rangers on it and it said "sparking wolf" so we knew she was a little fighter.

• To our pleasant surprise we received a second set of pictures on November 12th. She was even more beautiful with spiky little hair. She was sleeping in these pictures. Her little shirt had a cartoon on it that said "help me".... Now she weighed 10.5 pounds and you could see she had a crib mate.


• Today, December 8th, we received our third set of pictures - she is alert and has on a very cute sweater - it must be getting colder there. We have been told that we will probably travel during Christmas week - if it can't be sooner - seeing Ava for Christmas will be the best present ever :).
• Kurt and I spent about two weeks working on her room. There really is not a theme... The colors a natural tones - gold, brown, green, maroon - not very girly. But, we think it is pretty. There was a wallpaper boarder in the room (from the previous owners) that has a country feel to it with hills, sheep, deer, buildings, clouds, and angels. We like the boarder and what that they had done to the room so we just played with the trim. We painted the dressers with a sunflower theme and purchased a crib from one of Kurt's co-workers. We already had a rocking chair that Grandma Marva bought a few years ago for us to rock a grandchild.


• The Saturday after Thanksgiving we met a couple who are adopting twins from the same orphanage as we are. We ate at a very good Vietnamese Restaurant in Syracuse. The food was wonderful and it was great meeting with people at a similar place in their adoption process. It will also be nice for Ava to know that there are two other little girls that live less than an hour away who were in her orphanage during the same time that she was. When we left that night we thought we would see them in about a month for our trip to Vietnam. We heard from them a few days later and they left December 4th for Vietnam. They are with their girls right now - we are soooo happy for them and look forward to hearing how they are doing.


• Sue, Abby, Carol, Susan & Chris threw an amazing baby shower for us. The theme was a play on Kurt's last name. It was wonderful to see so many of my friends from my past job! We had a great time - when we had all the "baby stuff" at the house, in addition to items we had received previously - reality struck - we are going to have a house full of little girl clothes, toys, high chairs, books, bouncy seats, baby food and bottles - YEAH!


• Everyone has been so generous with gifts - new and used. We can't thank people enough!