Blog Carnival III: Adoption Photos

The writer's over at Grown In My Heart are hosting another adoption carnival this week and I decided to play along! Here's what we're supposed to do:

Carnival III: Photos of Adoption. What is your most treasured adoption photo (or two)? Block out faces if you have to, find a scanner, or simply tell us about it if you can’t post it. We do understand that. Adversely, if you don’t have one, tell us why you don’t.

Yeah, I couldn't decide on just one picture, so you get to see a few! I think all of these are on our Adoption Blog, but I don't think they were ever shared here. It was fun to go back over all the pictures we took when we were in Vietnam in 2007, but I knew even before looking at the photos which ones were my favorites.

This is one of several photos we received as part of our referral. I love it because it was the first tangible thing we had to link us to our children. I love that one shirt has the word "boys" on it, just in case you didn't know they were boys (and trust me, we knew!) and that the other shirt is pink. What you don't know about this photo is I had to crop it to make it acceptable for public viewing. I guess everyone wanted to make sure we knew 100% that Matthew and Nicholas were boys. :-)

Referral Picture: Matthew-left, Nicholas-right.

The next photo is one we took when we walked into their room at the orphanage. Their caretakers had dressed them the same, and put them in the same cradle so we would be able to see them together as soon as we walked in the door. Those outfits are one of two things we have from their time at the orphange. Although they never wore the hats or the onesies after this day, I have saved them to give to them when they become adults.

I honestly have no idea who's who in this photo.

The next two photos were taken just a few minutes after we arrived at our hotel. Dan took a ton of pictures the whole time we were in Vietnam, but the two below remain two of my favorites.

Nicholas

Matthew

The last image was made by our dear friend Aimee while we were still in Vietnam. The three pictures above (not including the referral picture) were the ones we sent via e-mail to friends and family. Aimee took those three photos and created a baby announcement for us. Although we never sent announcements in the mail to anyone (who has time with twins???), it is also a favorite of mine, and one we shared via the internet.

(Click to enlarge)