by Leslie Gould
Acknowledgements
First, my thanks and love to my husband, Peter, for his undying optimism toward my writing and toward life. Second, a tribute to our brave daughter Lily Thao. Although this is not her story, her adoption inspired this novel. She continues to fill our hearts each day, just as she did the moment we first saw her photo. She and her siblings, Kaleb, Taylor, and Hana, are our greatest joy.
A special thanks to my sister-in-law Abby Khanh Gould for providing insights into her homeland, to my brothers-in-law Quy and Thoa Gould for being the amazing young men that they are, and to cousins-in-law Ben and Connor Peterson for leading the way in the six Vietnamese adoptions in our extended family. Thanks also to my parents-in-law, Tami and Rod Gould, for their example in adopting and to my parents, Bruce and Leora Egger, for their example in supporting orphans.
I’m grateful to Vickie Hollingsworth, Kate Commerford, Dee Lee Gibson, and Birgit Lee for sharing their adoption stories and to Nicky Losse of Children’s Hope International for reading the manuscript in its early stage. A very special thanks to Nancy, Tracey, and Jack Truitt for countless memories during our travels in Vietnam and for priceless stories since, which now include Maddox. I also want to acknowledge the other families in our travel group and their wonderful children.
Thanks to Anaïs Theron for her support while I wrote, to Rod Richards for his quick research skills, to Dorothy Heins for introducing me to her dear parents, David and Barbara Pink, and to the Pinks for the tour of their cherry orchard. A very special thanks to Diane Noble for her sage editing advice.
Most important, I want to honor God the Father, who designed adoption and uses it to create families for his purpose. The paradox of adoption is truly the good that he works from heartbreaking loss.
For more information on international adoption, contact Children’s Hope International at 1-888-899-2349 or visit www.childrenshope.com. Please also visit www.lesliegould.com. I would love to hear your adoption stories and comments.