Little "A's" Homecoming:
There is nothing in the world better than a
child to fulfill your life. All my grown years I knew that I wanted to have a
family. Well that never happened. The years passed and at the age of 36, I was
still single and did not have children. Oh, I had a wonderful career and had purchased
my own home, but there was still something missing in my life.
My good friend Darla had adopted from Vietnam a year earlier and her daughter Calli was the highlight of my life. Darla put the bug in my ear, "why don't you adopt?"
My final decision is when I woke up one morning and God said to me "this is what you need to do to complete your life." That did it, I started getting things put together.
Well after lots of thinking and checking out different agencies, I found one that I was happy with. So I began the long process in April of 1999 of paperwork and background checks and home study and by October of 1999, I had received INS approval.
Now the wait . . . nothing more could be done, just waiting to get to the top of the list for baby girls from Vietnam. By February of 2000, I was No.1 and then it stopped. No baby girl referrals. I went through the frustration and the anger and wondering did I do the right thing? Is God telling me that maybe this isn't the way? Well I kept my spirits up as much as I could, and every time the phone rang, I would think " is that the call?"
My best friend Andrea, who I have named my daughter after was suppose to travel with me. We were both so excited and anxious to travel and get my precious daughter.
Well . . . at the end of June 2000, we received a devastating blow that Andrea would not be able to travel with me, she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and they were to start treatment immediately. I was going to have to travel alone! I panicked of course, thinking could I really do this by myself and worried about Andrea and knew how much she wanted to go with me and knew how upset she was that she couldn't go.
On August 7, 2000, I received my referral. Yahoo . . . I got there as quick as I could, I arrived in Hanoi, on August 21, 2000. Then the paperwork started again . . . documents notarized and translated, then it was time to go to the province and meet my daughter. On August 24, my facilitator came to my room with bad news. I had lost my referral. I was devastated. Her grandfather had died taking a bath in the river, in the Vietnamese culture, everything stops for a year within the family. No adoptions, weddings, etc.. I was so disappointed and the tears came and my facilitator held my hand and said he had good news though, he had found another baby girl that was three days old. Her name was Nong Thuy Quynh. But . . . I had to wait another week before I could go see her.
My one week trip was now going to be delayed. I was there almost three weeks. So on August 30, we took the gruesome four hour van ride to the province. We went to the justice center in Lang Son, and were there only a few minutes when my facilitator looks at me and says here comes your baby girl. In walks this tiny, beautiful little girl that I only got to hold, kiss and hug all of 20 minutes. Then it was time to go. The rest of my stay in Vietnam, my thoughts were on my daughter. I could hardly wait to get home, so I could make arrangements again to come back to get her. I was told it would only be two or three weeks that I would be home, but it ended up being a month.
I arrived back in Vietnam on October 6, 2000. The handing over ceremony was October 9, Andrea was now six weeks old. This trip was quick and very busy. Monday . . . handing over ceremony . . . very heart wrenching. Andrea had been with her birth mother this whole time, so after many tears and hugs we parted ways, and I had Andrea in my arms. As the video camera was rolling, my wonderful daughter pees on me as they hand her over to me! !! It was awesome! Then Tuesday it was applying for her passport, Thursday I picked up her passport and flew to Saigon that evening. Friday was medical at Cho Ray Hospital and interview with INS. By that afternoon I had INS approval and on the following Monday, it was the interview with the Embassy and getting Andrea's visa. I had Andrea's visa in hand Tuesday afternoon and was on a flight home Wednesday, October 18 to Portland, Oregon.
The flight home was actually pretty good, Andrea held up really well, it was 11 1/2 hours from Hong Kong to LA, so by the time we got to LA, we were both tired and irritable. Made it through customs fine and then it was on a plane to Portland, Oregon. We arrived in at 6:45 p.m. on October 18, and my girlfriend Andrea was at the gate to meet us. We both hugged and cried together and she was so happy to finally see her namesake, Andrea Quynh Marie Davidson.
We have nicknamed her "Little A", and my girlfriend is "Big A". The first thing "Big A" did was buy her a tiara, she is the little princess in her eyes.
Andrea has adjusted well to America,
she is an absolute wonderful child, who I love more than life. I cannot imagine
my life without her. She is now nine weeks old and growing fast. Everyday I look
at her makes me realize that this was the most fulfilling thing in my whole entire
life.
This was an experience of a lifetime
. . . and yes, I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was worth every heartache
and every enjoyment of the whole adoption process. I feel like a very lucky woman
who is blessed with a very beautiful daughter.
Debby Davidson and Andrea Quynh Marie Davidson