Happy Family Day Haven!

10/4/09. Haven now...and then.

8/8/08. Haven's Referral Picture at almost 2 Months Old.

10/19/08. Haven at 4 months and 1 week old when we first saw her.

Hi all,

Haven is 16 months. Last year at this time, Mike and I were in Vietnam, and the boys were in SD with Dave & Sherry (Mike's brothers family). I know I'm a bit late posting. However, I wanted to wait so I could post about her Family Day Anniversary as well.

Mike and I left Omaha on Thursday the 16th of October. We'd driven the boys to SD on Tuesday and had gone back to Omaha on Wednesday. We landed in Vinh, Vietnam in the middle of a monsoon (literally--I've never ever seen rain like that before) on Sunday, October 19th with our first tarmac (not gateway) plane exit. We drove to the orphanage up in the mountains and by that evening we were driving away with our baby girl in our arms. The next day it was official. We landed back in Omaha on Sunday, November 2nd to a big welcoming party just in time for Eric's 3rd birthday on the 3rd. It's sometimes hard to remember that she came home differently than the boys. We're very busy running after 3 little ones, but our hearts are very full. What a blessing! It also makes us think of Haven's birthmom and all she had to give up for our family to be what it is. We're thankful for her loving choices and to our Heavenly Father for Preserving Haven in a Safe Place. Little Hanh Phuc sure lived up to her name meanings (Haven's Vietnamese name for those that need a reminder) of Happiness and Blessed from Above. She is quite the happy little girl.

Well, on to what Haven is up to. She's running all over the place getting into lots of fun stuff and keeping Mommy really busy. She loves to help which like most toddlers is super sweet but not exactly helpful. She's also getting a bit sassy which is probably good considering the rest of us. She says lots of words, but not always together, and doesn't always repeat the same ones. She knows lots of animal sounds as well. She loves to read books. We hear this from the church nursery as well. We also hear from any nursery worker that is with Haven for the morning how much of a joy it is to be with her. She really is such a sweet little girl (and we're not the only ones who think so--LOL!) She loves to sing, dance, and play our piano on tiptoe unless Mommy holds her. She seems to still be slimming down so for those that like to know her sizes (Grandmas) she's wearing 24 month one-piece outfits and 18 month separates although many of her shirts would be 24 months. She's really long.

Our Family Day celebration was kind of spread out over a few days. Mike is on-call all week Monday to Monday so we went out to a local Vietnamese restaurant on Sunday for lunch after early church. Then we spent the evening out at one of the State Parks enjoying probably the last nice day of the year. Monday night (her actual Gotcha Day) we had a little cake and each kiddo got a couple of small presents. Haven's will be things from Vietnam and related to Vietnam each year.

There's lots of pictures so enjoy. You can click on an image to see it larger. It's fun to see how much she's changed in a year from the above pics to the ones below.

Blessings,
Shae