We are over the moon to introduce you to our daughter, Nova Winter Larson! We are absolutely in love with her … she’s our Christmas miracle!
We became a family two weeks ago on December 4 at 10 a.m. in a government office in Changsha, China. We spent the first 11 days of our new life with Nova in China finalizing paperwork and waiting for her Visa before we traveled home last Friday and she became a U.S. citizen (woooo!!!!!). I feel like if we can survive that 14-hour flight together, we can survive anything … haha!
We had an amazing time in China. We fell in love with the country, the food and, of course, the wonderful people who took such good care of our little girl for the past two and a half years.
This photo was taken the first night we were “home” (in our hotel room). China adoptions happen all in one day, so when you meet your child, you are back to your hotel within hours and they are in your full-time care from that time forward. As you can imagine, this comes with so many advantages and definitely disadvantages as well. It was the most emotional time in our lives. The highs were so high and the lows were very low. At some point when we feel fully transitioned and settled here at home I’ll be able to put all that into words. But for now I’ll just tell you that adopting Nova was by FAR the best choice we’ve ever made in our lives, and we couldn’t feel luckier or more in love with her.
Today (when I am writing this) is our 15th day together and I swear to you that almost every day I say, “I think this was the best day of my life” … and it’s true every time. It just keeps getting better and better.
We are still getting to know Nova, seeing new sides of her personality every single day. She’s so hilarious. She loves music. When we first met her, the orphanage representatives who brought her to us told us that she is like a little adult, and that is so true. She copies everything we do, which is both adorable and terrifying. Haha!
Here’s a photo of Nova getting to know her gǒu gǒus (doggies). We’re so relieved she doesn’t fear them (that was one of our biggest fears) and they are warming up to each other slowly.
Now, to address a few questions I keep getting …
Yes, her hair was buzzed in the orphanage. Some orphanages do this to make it easier to care for the kids and I’m assuming to prevent lice. You can see her hair more clearly in this photo. It has already grown quite a bit in just two weeks. Nova’s hair and eyelashes are white, and yes that is the natural color she was born with. She was born with albinism, which effects the pigment in her skin, hair and eyes. Her eyes are extremely sensitive to bright lights (both natural and artificial) and that’s why we are teaching her to love her sunglasses (which she is doing GREAT at!) You can read a little more about albinism here.
I have also been getting a lot of questions about food. We know what she ate in her orphanage and we are still eating those foods everyday (she’s LOVES noodles), but not exclusively. While we were in China, we ate at a lot of hotel buffets and they’d always have a mix of Chinese and western foods, so we were able to try a lot of things in small doses, and so far we’ve only found a couple foods Nova DOESN’T like. She’s not picky.
Nova started to speak English words after four days of being with us. She currently speaks a ton of Mandarin. We felt lucky to have Mandarin speaking people all around us for 11 days to translate for us (and we still have people we can send videos to to translate, which is so wonderful to have!). We want Nova to continue to learn Mandarin. She loves her Chinese kids songs that we listen to every day. It’s so cute!
As far as English, her first word was “Dada,” which was crazy because we were saying bàba (Chinese) and papa, but then she just started saying dada on her own. One of her other first words was “Nova”! Today, she said her first three-word phrase (“Here you go!”).
Right now, she’s walking around our house all day saying, “Hello dolly. Hello dolly. Hello dolly.” Haha!
Watching her pick up language is honestly the most mind blowing thing I have ever watched. We’re keeping a journal of new things she learns each day and her milestones in bonding, and it’s been encouraging to zoom out and see how fast it’s all happening.
(From our first morning at home. I’ve never loved a grainy photo more!)
The most meaningful part of sharing our adoption story is hearing that other families and individuals are becoming aware, curious or interested in adoption. During our process, I became aware of so many little faces who are still spending this holiday season in their institution. It’s heartbreaking and it inspires me to do anything I can to spread awareness and support the children who are waiting. Some wait for longer than others. In our adoption group, there was a family adopting an 11-year-old boy and it was so incredible to see their family united!
Holt International (the adoption agency that connected us with Nova) has an incredible opportunity to give to these children during the holidays. You can choose all different things to give them, from education to food to blankets and coats. It would mean so much to me if you’d consider supporting children like Nova with a donation.
I hope you all have a lovely holiday and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for all the kindness and love and support you’ve shown to our family!!! Love you all – Elsie
P.S. You can read all my previous adoption story posts on my family blog. I am still on my maternity leave, but I’ll be back to regular posting here on ABM in January!
Credits//Author and Photography: Elsie Larson.
Im new to your blog. Just read about your beautiful daughter and your adoption story. Congratulations!
We adopted a friend of a friend’s newborn at 3 weeks old. We had been married for 19 years at that point. I have Crohn’s disease so we couldn’t have our own. She just turned 10 and it went so fast. ???? Treasure every moment.
Congratulations! She is lovely! Welcome to the world of adoptive momma’s from China. You probably don’t realize it but not only did you gain a new daughter, but you gained a whole new family of other families who have walked the same road. The best decision our family made 2x 2014 and 2016!
Congratulations, this post warms my heart. Your little girl is beautiful! By and by our youngest daughters name is Nova Rayne I found the similarity enchanting 🙂
Hello! I just wanted you to know that I am sooo happy for your family, and Nova is adorable!!! I wish your family all the happiness in the world as you watch your new daughter grow into a young woman! I have been watching your adoption process, so I was super excited when I saw this. I love that you decided to adopt her, as I have 5 cousins that were adopted as well! I know how happy I was to finally have them all come into our big family, so I can only imagine how happy you are right now. Again, I wish you all the happiness in the world, and I can’t wait to see how she grows into the amazing girl she will be!
Congratulations family! So happy for you. Merry Christmas and happy new year! What a wonderful way to begin 2018!
This is totally beautiful and amazing. I’m in tears. You can’t change the world but you can change someone’s world. Have an amazing life.
I love how secure and confident she looks already. More power to you and Jeremy, Elsie!
She is seriously too cute!!! Congrats!!
Oh this is wonderful. What a beautiful little girl. Huge congratulations & wish you all the happiness in the world x
Thank you for sharing your journey. It is so uplifting, inspiring, and heartwarming, and I wish you all happiness and joy in your new family unit. With love from Brussels, Belgium
Elsie, everytime I read your adoption story I always get teary! I’m so happy for you guys and I can’t wait to see/read all the beautiful adventures you’ll go on together! Love from a big fan of ABM in Montreal, Canada.
Nova is so beautiful and I am so happy for your family!
This is my first time commenting… reading your story, and going over to your blog to read the full adoption story bought back so many memories of our own (China) adoption: the ups and downs of getting pregnant, doing adoption paperwork, references and background checks, waiting for referral/matching, waiting for visa, waiting and waiting for the trip out, waiting to come home finally… all of it. We didn’t specifically ask for a SN adoption, but as it turns out, after a year home, it turned out to be that. That was 12 years ago for me and my family, and experiencing each stage of our daughter’s life seems to be the best, even those moody tween/early teen moments. Thank you for bringing back such special memories of our early years. All the best to you and your little family, she is a beautiful girl, and you’re all so lucky to have found one another. May your days ahead be bright, and your nights always peaceful.
Definitely teared up a bit reading this. I’ve been following along on instagram and I am so so so happy for you and your new, sweet little family. What a magical time in your life! Merry Christmas!! xoxo
I love reading every bit of y’alls story and I get so excited to see little Nova on your instastories! It brightens my day! I wish y’all all the best in the adventures to come! What a blessed little family y’all are!! Merry Christmas!
She is so beautiful, it brought tears to my eyes. She is so fortunate to have you, and you her. You seem to be soaking it all in and thoroughly enjoying these precious first days.. it really does go by so quickly ❤️
How beautiful. I spent five wonderful years in a relationship with a man with albinism; though we parted as a romantic pair, we remain dear friends. I saw the challenges of albinism firsthand, but also how enterprising and resilient he became in order to succeed. Your little girl is so lucky to have parents like you in her corner. It’s going to be a wonderful ride!
Thank you for sharing your story. It was a beautiful read. I’m happy Nova is transitioning so well. I hope God continues to bless your beautiful little family.
OH my heart!! Tears streaming from my face I am so over the moon excited for you guys! Im even more excited for this Angel because she just got blessed with the most amazing family! Happy Family Happy Life
Congratulations Elsie! And let me tell you, it’s beautiful that you chose a child affected by something that it’s quite demanding when you could obviously chose another child.
And her name is beautiful!
Have a super merry Christmas with your Christmas miracle!