Adoption Celebration

We celebrated Kailee's 9th Adoption Day on Monday, April 19.  She got to do one of her favorite things...go out to lunch with Dad!  We have done different things over the years to celebrate and remember each child's adoption, but the favorite is to go out to lunch. 

Tonight we were watching some video footage of meeting Kailee for the first time in Vietnam.  Such a sweet little baby girl!  We had to make two trips to Vietnam to complete the adoption.  For the first trip Marcia(mother-in-law), my mom(Linda), and I traveled to Vietnam for nine days.  It was an exciting trip of discovering Vietnam... new foods, new people, and new experiences.  We stayed in a beautiful, but extremely narrow hotel(20ft wide) that often saw adoptive families with new babies.  I only got to hold my new baby once on this first trip as she was staying in a city three hours away.  So most of our time was spent sightseeing in Hanoi. 

One month after returning home, we got a call that our paperwork was complete and we could now make our second trip to Vietnam to bring home our baby girl.  Steve and I left Ethan and Tyler at home with family as we spent three weeks in Vietnam to complete Kailee's adoption.  We picked her up within a couple days of arriving in Hanoi and got to enjoy our new baby as we discovered Hanoi together. 

It is so fun to be able to share our memories and love of Vietnam with her now.  It is so hard to imagine our tall, English speaking, Alaskan/American girl growing up in a remote village in Vietnam!  What a picture that paints in my mind!!  We are so thankful for Kailee and that God placed her in our home, family, and our hearts!  We love you, Kailee!