The Fab Four Celebrate Moon Festival

The Fab Four were together again!  We gathered with many other families to celebrate the Moon Festival at Van Dusen Gardens.  We started the evening walking through the gardens with the lanterns, then back to the hall to eat the potluck dinner.  There was a story about what the Moon Festival is and why it is celebrated in Vietnam.  Then there was a skit about the Moon Goddess, and finally, a puppet show for the kids' entertainment.  A wonderful evening, and our first Vietnamese celebration since Molly and I came home.

Susan and I wore the ao dais we had made in Vung Tau when we were there together, and Molly and Quan were wearing the ao dais that Susan brought back from her first trip to central Vietnam 2 years ago.  Mylan and Ninh were also wearing ao dais that their Moms got for them in Vietnam.  We all felt very special in our traditional clothes, and I thought it was a lovely way to honor the heritage of our children.

Back to Our Beginning

I have been following a couple of families this week, who are in Vietnam adopting children from 'our' orphanage.  Wow, it's been very emotional for me, following a blog, getting emails and pictures.  I am so happy that more of the kids are meeting and going home with their forever families, and I am also a bit homesick that they are there now, and I am here.  I would love to go back to visit. 

So I started reminiscing about my first visit with Molly, and realized that I can now post the pictures that David took of our first moments.  They still make me cry!

The moment I first spotted her

Saying hello

I touched her arm

Picking her up...

And holding her for the first time!

Ðây là, con gái cua tôi!

(This is my daughter!)

Something Funny Happened in the Bath Today

Molly had a puzzling reaction to some of her bath toys tonight, and it took me a while to figure it out. 

Earlier this week, Molly finally discovered the plug in the tub.  I let her pull it out and watch the water disappear, and she thought it was great fun.  Her little tub toys sailed down the tub, got caught up in the swirl, and turned head-down into the drain.  She would pull one out, and another one went in.  When the water was all gone, she played in the empty, cold tub for a while, refusing to come out and be wrapped in a warm towel.  When I finally insisted, she was almost dry.

So, tonight, she had all her toys in the water, and a little penguin drifted down towards the drain end of the tub.  She almost jumped at it, grabbed it, and looked at me with a very worried expression on her face.  A few minutes later, the dolphin had drifted down.  She chased it, grabbed it, held it up for me, and started crying!  She was very concerned.  I comforted her, but didn't really know what to say.  Then a third toy was down there, and she again rescued it and cried, giving it to me, but also looking at me like I should have helped!

As I was putting her to bed, it suddenly came clear.  I think she thought the toys might disappear down the drain with the water, despite the fact that they never did before, and that the plug was still in the drain.  She may have forgotten some details.

I'm both amused and surprised at her level of concern, though.  I'm at a bit of a loss to know if this kind of fear is a phase that all kids go through, or if it is heightened by the losses she has already experienced.  Any thoughts out there?

Molly's First Step

8:10pm, September 14th, 2010

Molly took her first step this evening!  Actually, 2 steps, then she fell down.

We spent the day visiting with Aunty Rita and Ninh, who came to our house to play.  Molly got to stay up later than usual because she and Ninh were having such a good time.  She started pulling herself up to standing, and then from standing, she took 2 steps forward towards Ninh, then fell.  Rita and I both saw her, and we both had tears in our eyes!

Yayyy Molly!  Mommy is so proud of you.

Here are a couple of pictures from this evening.  I couldn't get a good picture because the kids were ALWAYS moving, but you can see them laughing their heads off.

Vung Tau 3 Orphanage Adoption News

My adoption may be complete, but I still follow the adoption progress of the kids I got to know at Molly's orphanage.  I had a conversation with Loan this past week, and got some news.

There is one family who is in Vietnam and had their adoption ceremony a few days ago.  Another family has received the OK to travel.  And there are 4 new babies at the orphanage since I was there.

I am in contact with some of the waiting parents here in Canada, and I know that they are anxiously waiting for news of progress on their files.  Unfortunately, Loan said that things seem to be slowing down a bit.

The government of Vietnam has recently adopted new adoption rules to be more compliant with the Hague Convention.  They will take effect in January 2011, but apparently there is a deadline of September 30th where files in progress before that date will be completed under the old rules, but any afterwards will subject to the new rules.  Therefore, there has been a big push to get as many files through as possible, before the end of the month.  This has put a lot of pressure on everyone involved, processing of files is slower due to the volume, and Loan is very busy!  You can read more about the new rules here.

However, all 'my kids' should be home in Canada before the end of the year.  (Should! one never knows...).  I am planning to make a trip back east with hopes of visiting the families once they are all back and settled in.  How wonderful it would be to see all those babies again with their forever families on Canadian soil!  I also have hopes of keeping in contact with the families as time passes on.  I feel that the children that Molly grew up with in the orphanage are part of her Vietnamese family, which includes their nannies, teachers, the Director Mme. Hong and Loan.  If I can keep in contact with them, Molly will have something of her past to hold onto as she grows up.  My time in Vietnam allowed me to form friendships and relationships with her Vietnamese family.  I want to keep them present in her life. 

Fab Four and More Long Weekend

Lesia and Mylan came over from Victoria to spend the long weekend at our house, so we got the Fab Four gang together, plus Merel, Nathan and Nhan.  The Fab Four are the Vietnamese kids adopted by the 4 single moms who got to know each other during the 2-3 year process.  But now that we have gotten to know Nhan and his parents so well, we will have to come up with a tag that includes all 5 families. 

Anyways, Lesia and Mylan arrived Friday afternoon, and we went out to pick up a few things with the girls.  Mylan tried out Molly's cart.  She also tried out Molly's hair clip.  Molly's bangs are really long, and I need to clip them back, but everytime I noticed Molly's bangs in her eyes, I found her hair clip in Mylan's hair!  Hmmm...

Later, everyone congregated at our house for skinny-dipping in the pool, a potluck dinner and kisses.

Rita and Ninh couldn't make it out on Friday, but we all went out to Fort Langley on Saturday to hang out in their neighborhood.  We took the 5 kids out for lunch, then played in a park for a while.  The kids had a blast!  They are unbelievably cute!

On Sunday, Lesia and Mylan treated Molly and I to a trip to the Vancouver Art Gallery.  We looked at the art and Lesia tried to educate the three of us about what we were seeing.  It was quite an eye opener for me, as I have never seen the inside of an Art Gallery before.  It was also Molly and Mylan's first time.  Thanks to Lesia for introducing us!  I'll be sure to expose Molly to more art as she grows up.

We had a lazy afternoon, then visited with Rita and Ninh who came over for the evening.

The next morning, we got up early, as I wanted to support a friend who was racing her first triathalon.  Nathan sent a text message inviting us to visit in the morning before Lesia and Mylan caught the ferry home, so we decided that I would drop Lesia, Mylan AND MOLLY off at their place for the morning, while I went to stand out in the rain to watch my friend cross the finish line.  It's the first time I ever left Molly with baby sitters!  Even worse, we were in a hurry, so Merel came down to the street, and I just handed Molly over and said: 'Goodbye, Mommy will come back soon".  On the street!

However, Molly was just fine.  She ate all their banana pancakes, played happily with Nhan and Mylan, and didn't show any signs of distress, which I'm happy for.  When I got back, she gave me a smile and said "Mum me".  We hugged, and I didn't put her down for a while. 

Sadly, we had to take our guests back to the ferry and say goodbye.  It was a great weekend, and we really enjoyed having them stay at our place.  Molly and I will miss them until they are back again.