The Best Gift!

Last night, we received updated pictures and stats on dear Ada. On December 27, when these photos were taken, Ada weighed 16.3 pounds and was 25.2 inches long. She continues to grow and thrive at Picasso Orphanage and we feel like the luckiest people on the planet! Check her out--

The other referral photo

Waiting for Ada is hard, but all I have to do is look at a picture of her and suddenly things don't seem so bad. Its magic. So, I'm sharing the only other picture we have of her in hopes that it will make the wait easier for us all.

This photo was taken on September 20th and was part of our referral package. The day we received our referral (October 3rd), we were lucky enough to get two amazing photos of our sweetest pea... here is the second one:

The Wait

John believes that you deliver bad news up front, and all at once -- so here it goes:

1) The long awaited, much anticipated video of Ada is not coming after all. Apparently, there were some technical difficulties and all we know for sure is that we've been told to stop waiting for the video to arrive. Sorry for the chain-yank!

2) United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) changed the process for reviewing petitions to adopt/visa applications in Ho Chi Minh City in November. This means that we will be delayed in our travel to Vietnam. We had been hoping for an early January travel date, and now have our sites set on mid-February. Silver lining: The process change will add more certainty to the process and is a good thing. So, cross your fingers and hope that we'll leave asap!

3) We probably won't get any more photos of Ada during the wait.

Well, it seems less terrible now that its in writing. Fortunately, Ada is thriving and will be with us forever once we finally get to her!

I'm just saying...

Ada Minh Hanh is spectacular. I love her scowl. I really do. A colleague assured me I would see it plenty in the years to come, often to be accompanied by an eye roll and a guttural "Mo-om" which today just seems thrilling.

These photos were taken on Monday when our adoption agency staff in Ho Chi Minh City paid a visit to Picasso Orphanage.

Happy Coincidence

So, we learned over Thanksgiving that Ada's shower had been held on National Adoption Day. Who knew? Thanks to Tad and Barbara for clipping the article and bringing this to our attention!

Here's hoping this will be the week we get the long awaited video of Baby Ada -- we promise to post it as soon as it arrives!

Thanksgiving

Well what an honor it was to be there last Saturday for Ada's Special Day: The Baby Shower.

Thanks to everyone who came, and everyone who brought such a terrific assortment of goods not only for our darling child but for her orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City.

Especial Thanks must go out to the sponsors of the affair: Elizabeth Collins, Diane Tillotson, and Pat Jaurequi. The food was delicious and plentiful and the mood was of great elation. The decorations established an incontrovertable mood of fun. The newest pictures of Ada were framed and front and center. Don made wooden alphabet blocks to spell her name. And after that the deluge of gifts put me to work-so many thoughtful useful gifts! So many dear friends! So much pink! I am just beginning to learn parenting has many tools, clearly. And little girls get cute outfits and soft toys. Thanks to everyone. Kelly and I agreed it was a very special experience to be so surrounded by good wishes and positive energy.

Shout out: Kelly and I couldn't have managed all the opening without the considerable help of Evelyn Maxwell, Edie Irwin and Wren Stubbs. Word. Thanks also to Kevin Callaghan and Acme Restaurant for letting us set up shop for all of Saturday. And thanks to all the folks from out-of-town. We are very excited to be counting down to January with such a prepared environment!

Here's to a safe and happy Thanksgiving for everyone reading these words. Have a great one.

John

More pictures!

We sent a care package for Ada and the orphanage with our adoption agency folks who traveled to Vietnam last month. Unfortunately, the luggage was lost and they were unable to deliver the goodies to Picasso Orphanage when they visited. Fortunately, the luggage was found and the package was taken to the orphanage earlier this week by our agency's staff in Ho Chi Minh City. They were kind enough to take pictures and last night we received totally unexpected new pictures of Ada with her new stuff! They just kill me... she's SO CUTE!

John and I are so grateful to Ada's caregivers who are clearly taking great care of her! She's growing so quickly -- it's wonderful to have received another glimpse of our sweet Ada!

Ada in late October

The folks from our adoption agency returned from Vietnam with pics and video of the waiting children for us waiting families. We've gotten new photos of Ada, with video to arrive hopefully next week.

She's right at 3 months old here and looking good! She's grown the sweetest cheeks I've ever seen! Behold ---