Catching Up - March 2011

March is the beginning of so many memories, anniversaries and celebrations that last for the next 3 months.  I met Molly on March 5, 2010.  Here is my story of A Year Ago Today of the 2011 anniversary celebration. 

The next most exciting event this month was... we had a visit from Aunty Loan, from Vietnam!

Our adoption agency holds a big gala every year to raise money for the orphanges. They invite a delegation from Vietnam to come to the gala, and this year Loan was one of the guests. They were able to spend one night in Vancouver, then flew back to Vietnam from the Vancouver airport. We arranged to have a breakfast reception with them at our favorite family-friendly restaurant, and had an emotional, way-too-short visit with them.

Here is a link to another posting about Loan from last year, which explains why we love her so much. 

The other guests include Trang Dai, who is the woman in the picture holding Molly, above.  She is the director of the orphanage in Vung Tau where a couple of Molly's friends are from.  She owns the residence hotel where Molly and I lived for our last month in Vietnam, and was very good to the two of us while we were there.  It was really nice to see her again too!  The other two gentlemen are officials within the provincial government offices that have a part in processing our adoptions.  We don't meet them while we are there, but I am very grateful for their participation in helping Molly and I become a family.  It was wonderful to show them how much we love the children they allow us to adopt, and I was quite proud that as a group, the Vancouver families were able to show them our close friendships, pictures of the many activities the children have had together, and a desire to keep their Vietnamese heritage an active part of the children's lives.

Catching Up - February 2011

The biggest event in February was celebrating Tet, which I already blogged about.  The other special event was a visit from Aunty Margie and Uncle Larry.  They came through town with arms laden with gifts for Molly, and we had a fun time with them:

Catching Up - January 2011

Despite my lack of postings over the last 6-8 months, we have still had a lot of adventures, and there are stories I want to tell here so that Molly and I can look back at them later to enjoy the memories.  I'll get started now, and try to make each month a posting:

Molly's first snowman!  We were visiting the family that provides Molly's daycare, during one of those rare snow days we get on the West Coast.  We built a snowman, and were quite proud of it, but then Ginger ate the snowman's nose.

Molly's new hair-do.  I am still reluctant to cut her hair, but the bangs-in-the-face look just isn't appealing.  Early one morning she let me play with her hair, and I was able to get the bangs into a ponytail.  She was thrilled with it, and so was I.  She has such a beautiful face, and now we can see it!

Jonathan's birthday party.  We were thrilled to get the invitation and celebrate with Molly's little buddy.

A good time was had by all, but no kiddies in the picture as I don't have permission from the parents.