From Deseret News archives:
Red tape delays Asha's addition to Huntsman clan
But Huntsman had to cancel plans to travel to the orphanage, located in the western India city of Porbundar, when he learned that the baby's adoption paperwork won't be completed for at least another month.
"It's OK," the governor said in an interview Wednesday with the Deseret Morning News. The Huntsmans have been trying to finalize the adoption of the girl they've already named Asha Bharati since early this year.
Recently, the governor said he didn't think the adoption would come through in time for his China trip. But then, with just one signature still needed, it appeared the baby would be coming home to Salt Lake City sometime the week of Oct. 22.
Tuesday, though, Huntsman was told that wouldn't happen. "The paperwork that we thought would be signed and done has been delayed," the governor said, blaming an upcoming holiday. "The country comes to a screeching halt this time of year."
A picture of Asha, framed in silver, has sat on a small table in the governor's private office alongside other family photos for some time. When asked about it, Huntsman proudly displays other photographs taken of her from a stack stored in his top desk drawer.
He still hopes Asha will join the family soon. "The safe comment would be by the end of the year. I think we're about four weeks away, which is to say Thanksgiving time," the governor said. "It's tandoori turkey for us," he joked.
Huntsman would have traveled to China and then India with his wife and their youngest child, Gracie Mei. The 7-year-old was adopted by the Huntsmans in 1999 after being abandoned as a baby in a Chinese vegetable market.
Now, though, only the governor will leave Sunday for a week of meetings with government leaders in Beijing and Shanghai as the leader of a delegation that includes representatives of more than a dozen Utah companies.
Having to postpone what likely would have been a four-day trip to India may mean more of the Huntsman's six children can come along. Their two oldest daughters, who are studying on the East Coast, had been disappointed they couldn't make the now-canceled trip.
Huntsman said he had wanted to take Gracie Mei to see the country where was she was born, describing her as excited about her new sibling and old enough to be curious about her own origins.
The governor said the family may make a stop in China for that purpose during their upcoming trip to bring Asha home. Her name was chosen, Huntsman said, because Asha means "hope" and Bharati means "India."
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