When I adopted Ava Linh in Jan. 2006 I was very lucky to find an adoption agency in my home town of Cortland, NY that had a strong relationship to Vietnamese adoptions from 2005-2009 (while Vietnam was open). I have met several (like 30 or so) families from NY and PA who adopted from Northen Vietnam and more specifically from the two orphanages the families we traveled with to Vietnam adopted from - Thai Nguyen and Lang Son. Of the 6 families we traveled with, 5 live within two hours of Cortland. I feel fortunate to know that there are other children in the region that are from the same place as Ava and are similar in age to Ava. I am not sure how that will effect the future we give our children but to me it seems like a gift. Since we returned home from Vietnam three years ago - we have seen the families that we traveled with a few times, have attended two Tet ceremonies in Ithaca with families as far away as College Town, PA and Buffalo, NY, hosted our translater from Vietnam at our house and attended a party for him (with many families he had assisted in Vietnam), participated in adoption workshops for students at Cornell and Syracuse, served on adoption panels for parents considering adoption, and have had the opportunity to meet in person the people that I met online or on the phone during the adoption process and are now they raising amazing beautiful children from the same part of the world as Ava was born in the same part of the world where Ava will be raised. When I take a few minutes to think about this - I am awestruck and feel so fortunate to be part of this amazing new family of adoptive parents and their children.
How do I say thank you to Renee at Family Connections or World Child? How do I say thank you to the families that traveled ahead of me and advised me along the way? How excited am I when the families that called me just after I returned from Vietnam to ask for advice introduce me to their children and share how my blog or conversation helped them to bring their amazing children home. How comforted and scared am I when I meet college age student who where adopted and hear what it was like for them growing up in the USA? I am so lucky to be Ava's mom and I am very lucky to have so many new friends with children adopted from Vietnam in my life. Ava and I look forward to the Year of the Lion and to hearing where all of our family and friends life adventures take them. We hope the Year of the Lion brings you much prosperity, luck and love. Happy New Year!
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