Last year on this date (the last day of work before a week break due to the Christmas holiday) we received the call - "Please set up your flight arrangements to assure that you are in Hanoi on January 14th. Your Giving and Receiving Ceremony should be the next day." Wow - we had waited so long for that direction and now was the time to really do it - but, if we did not make our arrangements on that day, we would have to wait until after the Christmas holiday - I would never have been able to focus on Christmas if I did not have things firmed up - I am a bit anal like that... I got busy making travel arrangements and figured I would go into work when I was on vacation the following week to complete the work that I was not doing - the plan worked and we received our daughter 23 days later - feel free to look at the older posts in my blog to see what we were feeling. Sooooo a year later - I was much more productive at work and I absolutely can't wait to spend the next 11 days home with my daughter.
Kurt and I were very lucky to have adopted from Vietnam a year ago. Things have changed very significantly with regard to Vietnam adoptions over the last few months. Here is a video clip about the experience that one family is having with their Vietnam adoption http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/11/30/cho.adoption.delay.cnn?iref=videosearch
Basically - the US government is investigating the adoption of the babies more thoroughly (but after the adoption in Vietnam was completed and the families have gown attached to their babies) and the families are not allowed to get a Visa to bring their babies home. I can't imagine what it must have been like and is like for the people involved in this mess. My thoughts and prayers are with them and hopefully our fellow blog readers can make a difference by contacting their government officials.
Well, on to happier things - Last night I wrapped presents for our first Christmas together - I think my favorite things for Ava are two ornaments I purchased from Mandy's Moon " Our First Christmas Together 2007" and one to represent last year "Waiting for Ava Linh 2006" . Last year I also purchased my favorite item from the same store - a "Huong" Precious Moments tree top angle - Ava's Vietnamese name is Huong. We decorated our Christmas tree and Ava was a big help. Here are a few pictures...
1 comment:
I remember one year ago very well -and how much we were thinking of you this time last year! Isn't it amazing to remember and experience what a difference one year makes? Merry Christmas to your wonderful family.
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