We’ve been having such an amazing time raising dear Evan, he is such a precious, smart, friendly and happy boy!
We sure are lucky. So his first birthday was a great cause for celebration!
On November 30th, we celebrated 12 months old, 6 months since he joined our family.
Here are some photos from the party and special day we spent with him:

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Missing from these photos – His first taste of ice cream! Blueberry Soy flavor.

We adopted Evan Binh Minh from Bac Ninh, Vietnam on June 17th, 2010 at the age of 6 months. Like most orphans, he was listless and quiet. But within only a month with 2 parents, his development was rapid, and he changed dramatically. Just look:

Here’s a link to the video if you want to share it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W04FnjG5TZA

This is a great example of the importance of children having a proper family care for them.

Over a relentless 5 year process trying to adopt an infant, I’ve learned that politicians, institutions, and even non profit organizations like Unicef around the world feel that it’s best children stay left abandoned in orphanages or foster care in their own countries rather than be adopted internationally.
That is no kind of life, and I think children deserve better!

But the diseased world we live in has much higher priorities right now than children… things like the stock market, military, and politics.