Thank You, Sponsor, for Caring for Our Daughter

An adoptive family shares the thank you letter they wrote to the Holt sponsors who made it possible for their daughter to stay in a loving foster family in Thailand before she joined her family in the U.S. This story was originally posted to the Holt blog in March 2015. 

Dear Holt Sponsor,

I cannot describe the gratitude that our family feels for the support that you have provided over the past 2.5 years in our daughter’s life. With that, I wanted to take the opportunity to reach out to you and give you a personal and heartfelt thank you along with some updates on her.

My family and I are from Las Vegas, Nevada. My husband and I have a birth son (Kai) who is 5 years old, 2 huskies, and 2 little parakeets. My mother was adopted from China when she was four years old, and I have wanted the opportunity to give to a child what my grandparents gave to her so many years ago. Before my son was even old enough to walk, we began our process with Holt. Since then, Thailand saw flooding and coups and general political turmoil which delayed our process greatly.

FINALLY, October 21^st we were able to meet Nattanich in real life. She was super spunky, and even her social worker warned us that she was definitely in the midst of her terrible-twos! She wasn’t though. She was an angel. Still is. The saddest part of the whole journey was leaving her foster family. They were amazing people and the support that you provided assisted them in providing a wonderful and loving home for our daughter.

I have heard horror stories of the care that foster families sometimes provide, and this is most certainly not one of those. She is well loved, well nourished, has excellent hygiene, and best off all — beautiful teeth! My girl LOVES brushing her teeth. (My 5-year-old could learn a thing or two from her!)

The saddest part of the whole journey was leaving her foster family. They were amazing people and the support that you provided assisted them in providing a wonderful and loving home for our daughter.

We have found out some fun things about her, which probably were NEVER covered in any report. She is terrified of dogs, scary movies like “Frozen” and hates pasta. Her first English word was Balloon. She LOVES spicy food, coloring, and her big brother. She is potty-trained at 2! She loves taking showers — baths, not so much. She loves swimming and I immediately enrolled her into swimming classes when she got home. She is a little fish! She is also one of the happiest little girls that I have ever met. She is all smiles and is as warm and loving as a child could possibly be. We have lots of family and she is always excited to go see her Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunties.

We had a wonderful bonding experience in Thailand and returned back to the U.S. on November 1. Upon arrival, we changed her name to Eden Nattanich Nair. I went back to work in January and she has had a really easy time transitioning to her new life. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful little girl in our lives.

Also, I would love to get any photos or reports that you received over the years so I can add it to her lifebook and YOUR information or story or a photo of you and your family. As you know, many adopted children do not understand their path to adoption and have many holes. Any information I can gather together will be treasured by her in the years to come. Even at two years old she loves to look at her baby pictures and pictures of her old home.

Thank you again and please don’t stop sponsoring other children,

Lindsay Nair (and the rest of the Nair Family)