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Forever a Part of Our Story

The vast majority of children in Holt’s sponsorship program live with their birth families. For these children, Holt sponsors provide vital support while their parents work to get back on their feet — and ultimately, regain their ability to independently care for their children. But for a small number of orphaned and abandoned children, Holt sponsors stand in the gap while the children wait to join loving adoptive families in country or overseas.

Their monthly commitment ensures these children have everything they need to thrive — from food and medical care to the nurturing care of devoted caregivers. And often, when the children go home to their families, their parents will reach out to their former sponsors with letters expressing their heartfelt gratitude. Below, we share two recent letters from Holt adoptive families to the sponsors who cared for their children while they waited to come home.

Dear Holt Sponsor,

Nattinach before she came home to her family.
With the support of sponsors, Eden Nattanich was able to stay in a loving foster family in Thailand while she waited to come home to her adoptive family.

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.

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FINALLY, October 21st 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!)

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.

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We had a wonderful bonding experience in Thailand and returned back to the US 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) | Las Vegas, Nevada

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Dear Sponsor for Yeon-ho,

Hello! We are writing to thank you for your sponsorship of our son, Yeon-ho, through Holt International. With your help, our son received wonderful care while he waited in Korea for his adoption into our family. Most significantly, your sponsorship helped fund his placement with a very loving foster family. Because of this, his transition to life with us was much easier than it could have been otherwise. While saying goodbye to his foster family was very difficult, Yeon-ho knew the love of a family because of your donations. His life is forever impacted by the love and care he received during the first two years of his life with his Holt foster family as well as the excellent medical care he was given by Holt.

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Davis before he joined his family in the U.S.

 Yeon-ho’s American name is Davis Yeon Orth. He is our first child. We traveled to Korea twice for his adoption – once in January of this year and again in March. After a very long wait, Davis was placed in our family forever on March 6, 2014. After spending a few extra days in Seoul together, we made our way home to Brentwood, Tennessee.

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While waiting to come home, sponsors helped Davis stay in the loving care of a foster family in Korea. “His foster mom was amazing,” Lori writes. “I miss her every single day and wish she could still be in his life like a grandparent.”

Davis is such an amazing child, and we are so thankful to be his parents. He is so energetic, smart, and funny. The nurse at the Holt clinic in Seoul nicknamed him “PowerMan,” and the name fits him perfectly. Davis is so very strong and can play for hours without ever stopping to rest. He is also a very intelligent child. While language was a difficult part of our transition as a family, Davis started learning English very quickly. He instantly loved the alphabet. His favorite letter is Q! His English language ability is really taking off right now, and we are so thankful for how hard Davis works to learn to communicate. Davis also loves jigsaw puzzles. At the age of two, he is wowing everyone he knows with his ability to work very advanced puzzles. He amazes us each day with his great personality!

Our family is growing! We are currently in the early phases of the process to adopt another adorable little boy from Korea. We have named him Park, and we expect to bring him home in late 2015. While we wait, we hope that Park has a wonderful sponsor just like Davis had in you!

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Again, thank you very much for caring for our child while we endured a very long wait to become a family. You stood in the gap for our son even though you did not know him. Your support mattered to him, and it matters to us. We are forever grateful for your love and sacrifice for our son.

Adoption is a beautiful thing, but it is born from tragedy. As an adoptee, our Davis will forever carry the burden of the deep loss of his birth family. But you helped make a way for Davis to have a family and for us to have a son. You will forever be a part of our story.

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We would love to be in contact with you if you are interested. Also, if you have anything you would like to share with Davis for his scrapbook, we would appreciate hearing from you.

With deepest gratitude,

Lori and Steve Orth | Brentwood, TN

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