Thanks to Heather...

I received an email from Heather (from the CHSFS-DTV Yahoo group). She adopted her 2nd DS from the VL care center in November 2006 and shared this pictures of Colin Nhan (on the right in the Red shirt) with me. What a wonderful gift we have received!

Our Little Boy Has a New Name...

Call it post jog/run-endorphins, an ephiphany, or just a great idea but Eric and I have decided to change our son's (I just LOVE saying that) name from Vo Phuc Nhan (last, middle, first name) to Colin Nhan Heberlig.

After my jog/run with Melissa and Laurel (two of my friends from Charlotte Mommies), I came home and spoke to Eric about my thoughts regarding this little guy's name. It was my hope to retain his Vietnamese heritage and culture, while at the same time giving him a name reflecting the merging of our lives.

So, to honor Eric's Irish heritage (his maternal grandfather was born in Ireland...and I do love the "Fay" clan - they are like family to me), our son's first name will be Colin. Now, I've seen several different meanings for Colin but the one I like best is dove (representative for peace). In honor of his Vietnamese heritage, we wanted to maintain the first name he was given at birth, Nhan. Nhan means "patient" or "patience," which is very appropriate for our journey. His (and our) last name, Heberlig, is German/Swiss in origin.

A Call From Dr. Douglass

Before I begin this entry, I wanted to share the infant photos we received of Colin Nhan. Even at 3 weeks of age, he has a wonderfully intense gaze, as if he's studying the world and what it has to share with him.

At 1645 (4:45 pm for you non-military or non-healthcare people), we received our phone consultation from Dr. Douglass. Over the course of the next half hour, we discuss the Dr. Douglass' review of his medical records and pictures.

Dr. Douglass was pleased with the amount of data available for physical measurements. At his medical checkup on May 20, 2007, his length was 86 cm (33.9 inches) and weight was 13.5 kg (29.7 lbs). On Western growth data charts, he has consistently been at the 50th percentile. This is great, considering that this little boy has been living at the orphanage since he was 3 days old.

His photos checked out as well. Dr. Douglass placed him in his lowest risk category, "average."
This certainly helped solidify our decision to accept the referral. After completing the call and discussing Dr. Douglass' comments, we called Yen at CHSFS and gave her a verbal agreement for accepting the referral (which leads to another piece of paperwork for us to fill out...the neverending process - but ALL so worth it!)

He turns two on August 18th, so he'll probably be 2 1/2 by the time he comes home. I can hear Eric now..."terrible twos...I'll be exausted."

Let's hope Colin is a much better baby than his Daddy =D (hehehe).

We Have a Referral!

Today has been nothing short of a blurred, whirlwind of a day. Our lives have taken a pleasantly unexpected turn today when we received a call this afternoon from Yen (our Adoption Coordinator for the Vietnam (VN) program at CHSFS). Yen, through a conference call notified Eric and I that we were being presented with the referral of a 22-month-old little boy living in an orphanage in the Vinh Long (hence and forever abbreviated VL) named Vo Phuc Nhan.

All I can say is that I fell in love with that sweet face. He is the most adorable boy I have ever seen! We have also received basic biographical information (fortunately, we have serial growth measurements from his 3 wk checkup to his most recent checkup in May).

From what I remember in the deep, deep subconscious brain-firing neurons from my pediatrics course (in nursing school about 10 years ago) regarding growth and development charts for toddlers, our little boy is developing at a normal rate physically.

Our next step is to have his picture and medical records reviewed by a physician with specialization in international adoption. Fortunately, we have a physician in our area, Dr. David Douglass at Cabarrus Pediatric Clinic in Concord (For the Children International Adoption Medical Services) who provides pre-adoption personal phone consultations. We're off to his website to take the next step in our journey!!!