KATE IS HERE!

She is ours.....(well, at least to VN!) Loving on Daddy...

!


and Mommy





Yes, the title is accurate. The phone rang this morning as Matt and I were talking about our plans for the day. It was Ninh (our in country facilitator) and he wanted to know if we could be
ready in 30 minutes to leave for the Giving and Receiving Ceremony? Holy cow-- we were not expecting this until Wednesday but needless to say we were overwhelmed but thrilled that we would be holding Kate in a few short hours.

The day was a whirlwind of events. The drive was beautiful. The trip is about 3.5 hours from Hanoi--bumpy but actually not as bad as I thought it would be. The scenery was breathtaking. Our travel group was so excited,almost giddy. We have a great group that we are with. Once we got to the orphanage the nannies quickly handed us our children. We loaded onto the bus to change them and have the ceremony in the town. We knew Kate was ours from the second we laid eyes on her. She is so very sweet and we are calling her our little monkey because she loves to be held and grabs on for dear life! She has a cold and I was very worried about her because she definitely had a fever. Next stop was lunch at a place in town. It was a very interesting experience. The food was good and Matt even tried the fresh roe!

After lunch we returned to the orphanage to spend time with the caregivers. Kate's nanny is La. She described Kate as "easy" and "pleasant" We had a chance to watch her with her T.Q. friends. She was not feeling well at all and wanted to be held, which I of course did not mind a bit! The nannies and the people in Tuyen Quang are so kind. They all truly care about these children and it was very emotional when it was time to leave. Kate slept almost the entire way home and crashed hard at the hotel. We are in love!

At Long Last She is Ours Forever!