Martin, Facilitator from Vietnam in town

When we were in Vietnam Martin was our adoption facilitator. He made our experience in Vietnam so much easier. He helped us process paperwork, manage the red tape and language barriers. He helped us get around town, find stores to purchase items that we needed, showed us the tourist sites, and even took us on some longer tours to help the time pass a little faster. He was invaluable - as was all the World Child staff. When we were in Vietnam a a year ago he said he was not sure that he would ever be able to travel to the US (remember that Vietnam is a third world, Communist country).

Well - Martin was here this weekend. He has been in the USA for few weeks working with World Child International to gain a better understanding the USA side of the adoption process and to help the American World Child social workers involved with Vietnamese adoptions understand the Vietnamese side of the process. We hosted him at our house for a few days. While he was here, he met with over 85 people (families that had adopted and families that were considering adoption). It was so wonderful to see so many children adopted from Vietnam in one room and to talk to their parents. We connected in person with families that I contacted when researching World Child, families we had traveled with, spoken to about our adoption experience, and met online - it was a great experience. It was also fun to spend time with 4 of the families we traveled to Vietnam with - all of our children are exactly 1 year older, healthy, and developing socially and physically like we would hope.

In addition to seeing all the people it was nice to spend some time with Martin in our home and show him the area of the world in which Ava will grow up. We were able to get to know him a little better as a person (who we continue to highly respect) and assured him through example that Ava is loved and safe in our home.

So - a year to the date from the day we left for Vietnam our Vietnam facilitator was staying at our house - The Lord sincerely works in mysterious ways!