Inspired by a reader’s comments and Faith’s post over at the Hoping to Adopt blog, I decided to dedicate a post to covering things to buy now, things to buy in Viet Nam, and things to buy after you get home.

Things to Buy Before You Travel

A few outfits for your new child(ren). If you can, wait until close to your travel date and ask your agency to get up to date height and weight... more

After only having our daughter for a short time, one of the other moms in our group came back from shopping with a little doll for Ella. Her first doll! She was a handmade Vietnamese doll from Craft Link. She came with a little non la, but we weren’t sure about the safety of the lacquer on it going in the baby’s mouth, so it came off. Ella’s first dolly now sits on her dresser at home.

We had heard about Craft Link and wanted to shop there,... more

I’m still trying to wrap my head around how I feel about the holiday that is Birth Mother’s Day. The Saturday before Mother’s Day is set aside to celebrate birth moms each year. When I first head of Birth Mother’s Day I thought it was a great idea…now I’m not so sure. I have done some digging and found birth moms who whole heartedly support and some who vehemently resent the idea of Birth Mother’s Day. The general public may not have ever heard of this day, but it seems to becoming more common and well known within the adoptive community.

I... more

I have noticed that many adoptive parents (notably of internationally adopted kids) have issues of guilt when it comes to their child’s birth culture. Well, perhaps guilt isn’t the best word choice, but there is definitely a lot of thinking going on about removing a child from their birth culture and not being able to completely and authentically replicate it. I too have had these thoughts and my feelings change depending on my mood, but I have mostly reserved myself to doing the best I can to instill a... more

We went to our very first Families With Children From Viet Nam (FCVN) get together this past weekend and had such a nice time! It was such a relaxed, happy group of people that I was quick to forget that I was meeting these families for the first time.

There were about eight families there who are all at different stages of the adoption process. Some are still in the paperwork stage, some have recently returned home, others adopted before the shutdown; so it was really great to see all these different families come together... more

I came across an article recently that stated that the Board of Supervisors in Orange County, California is considering starting a Vietnamese language center in their county. There are other centers like this; that teach language and culture, throughout southern California, but none that I know of in my area of the East Coast.

Spreading cultural awareness and allowing people to immerse themselves in their birth cultures is a wonderful thing, and I’m jealous of the people who get to take advantage of them. My first thought after reading the article was that I wished we had something like this for Ella to experience.... more

I found this fun site that has a few different Viet Nam trivia games that will let you test your knowledge on the country and its history.

Some sample questions are:

* Let's start out easy, what city is almost at the center of Vietnam's coastline * Where did the Vietmanese defeat the French, thus securing their independence? * Guerillas of the Vietcong had especially strong holds on the mountain provinces in southern Vietnam, what is this region's name? * What... more

When I was first researching adoption I was a little confused by the term “culture camp.” Now that I’ve learned more about them, I’m very interested in going as a family when Ella is old enough to appreciate it. Culture or Heritage camps exist in all parts of the country and are geared towards helping adopted kids connect with their heritage and culture of their birth country. Aside from Viet Nam specific camps, there are plenty of multicultural ones that welcome adoptees from different backgrounds.

Here are the Viet Nam / Southeast... more

Here is a picture of the sweets table at our Tet party. Some things we will definitely be buying next year and some we will definitely NOT be getting again :)) Everyone there tried just about everything so it was interesting to see the different reactions to different foods.

We started off with what was supposed to by a green papaya salad, but I thought the papaya I had bought was bad, so I threw it out. Then my sister in law said that it actually does smell that bad and it was probably fine. Oh well...we served the salad... more

I am so happy to tell you that our Tet party was a success!!! I still can't believe how well it went and how good it felt to celebrate Tet with Ella and her/our entire family. My husband and I were so touched that every single family member of ours attended. 1 great grandma, 4 grandparents, 5 uncles, 2 aunts, 1 cousin and 2 friends. Our entire immediate family was here for us and for Ella and that was wonderful. It's nice to have a holiday that is centered on spending time with family.

Everyone was happy to try the new and different... more