Greetings from the capitol city of Hanoi

Greetings from Hanoi. It has been an adventurous day to say the least! We got up this morning had breakfast, waited in the lobby for Avery's au doi to be delivered, and payed for our GNR expenses. Then, we spent a few hours relaxing in our room before checking out of the Rex and departing for the airport.

We got to the airport and through security with about 40 minutes to spare. at 1:30ish, our flight was called and we moved in to a holding area. As the clouds moved in we wondered what the weather was going to do. Naturally, it began to pour down rain and our flight was delayed slightly. We left HCMC at about 2:30 and dropped about 40 feet from the air on the landing strip in Hanoi. BAM! The landed was the worst landing that any of us have ever encountered. Thank the Lord that all of the parents were holding their babies tightly. The pilot came on over the intercom and apologized for the rough landing but they had a pilot in training - glad we knew this after the flight! Avery was so good the entire trip (she slept most of it).

We quickly gathered our luggage and made our way through the airport. We loaded a large bus and headed to our hotel. That was an experience as well. On the way to our hotel we hit a lady on her motor bike. Her high heel went flying into the traffic and knocked her bike over. Keep in mind, the driver did not stop to check on her even with all of us yelling at him! Next, we got to the hotel and the driver pulls into the wrong drive way and preceds to try and turn a corner that was clearly made for a small car. He decides to back the bus back out into the traffic (lots of traffic) and side swipes a traffic sign and misses a couple on a motor bike by 2 inches. We kissed the ground when we arrived! Thank God we were in a large bus or who knows what might have happened!

Hanoi is really a pretty city. Between the airport and downtown, it is all agriculture. Cows standing along side the road and TONS of rice fields. Harvesting rice is such manual labor. It is back breaking work, not to mention probably terrible for the knees. I did find that many of the cemetaries or mausoleum were located within the rice fields. It is so strange! Once you get into the downtown area it is similar to that of NYC. Tons of motor bikes and cars with honking horns and people everywhere!

Our hotel is really nice. This location is the best that we have been in since arriving in VN. It is an apartment type setup. We have 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, a kitchen, dining area and living room. For those families who have yet to travel - you will love this hotel!

Tomorrow, we plan to do some shopping and spend some time resting!

More shopping and traditional Vietnamese dinner

Today we did more shopping at a few little boutiques, the Saigon Tax Center and the Saigon Center. We took Avery to a tailor shop to have a traditional Vietnamese outfit made for her baptism. Of course, while we were there we bought several other outfits for her to have as she grows. She did not like it when the ladies at the shop tried to take her measurements. She just wanted me to hold her - this is a good sign - the bonding process has begun! The baptismal au doi will be delivered tomorrow morning at 9am.

While Aunt Donna, Avery and I shopped, Scott went with the Minh, the other dads and Erin to pick up passports.

After all of our shopping, we had lunch at the Paradise Coffee House which is attached to the Rex Hotel. I finally found Macaroni and Cheese (the noodle type). It was really good but had LOTS of garlic!

Tonight, we met all of the Dillon staff at a local Vietnamese restaurant for a traditional meal. The atmosphere was fantastic! Apparenlty, this restaurant is famous for throwing clay pots. You must be thinking, throwing clay pots? Well, the clay pots are thrown to get the rice out. The pot is too hot to remove the rice any other way. We ate shrimp spring rolls, tomato based broth soup with vegetables and pork over rice, fried tofu and pork, watermelon, pineapple and hot tea.

Tomorrow, Scott has to meet Minh in the lobby at 9am to finalize a few more documents and then we leave for the airport at 12:00 for a 2:00 flight to Hanoi. We are scheduled to have our exit interview at 3 something on Monday. With that being said, we should be able to pick up Avery's VISA on Tuesday and we are free to head back to the states. At this point we aren't sure if we will try to get a flight out on Tuesday night or just wait until Wednesday morning. We will post more details as they become available.

June 27th and 28th

The past few days have been very eventful. Yesterday, Scott went down to the immigration office to file the necessary paperwork to begin Avery's passport. On the way back, the van tire went flat and they had to walk back about 3 blocks in the sweltering heat! Upon his return, all the families loaded up their babies and we walked a few blocks to get passport photos. We went with Jessica and Ken over to the Saigon Tax Center for some shopping, fed the babies and went to dinner in the coffee lounge at our hotel. We all had grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. They were interesting but tasted really good! Avery and Beckett were a mess yesterday. They were overly tired and VERY crabby!

Upon our return from dinner, we fed Avery a bottle, gave her a bath and laid her down. We all were exhausted from returning to HCMC the night before so late that we all went to bed at 7:00pm. All but Aunt Donna, housekeeping came twice - once to turn down the beds and the second, to deliver our laundry. Apparently, Minh tried to come by as well but we didn't hear him. Avery slept until 2:30am. She woke up, had a bottle, laid around until 3:30 and went back to bed until our 6am wake up call.

At 8:00am we met 4 of the 5 families in the lobby of the hotel for medical check ups. We went to a clinic that appeared to only be doing medical check ups for VISAS. The doctor told Avery that she was a lucky little girl and that she would do well with her new family. He did say that she was small and needed to gain some weight (we thought...ya think). She is itty, bitty. She is fitting in size 6 month clothing but is a peanut!

We got back to the hotel for a bottle and quick diaper change and out the door we ran. We met at 11:15am for our immigration interview. We waited in the waiting room for 45 minutes before our interview. Once we got in with the agent, we had a 5 minute conversation which mostly did not pertain to our newest bundle.

We are now back in our hotel room while Scott has gone to Vietnam Airlines to make travel arrangements to Hanoi. We are flying from HCMC to Hanoi on Saturday (night). Once in Hanoi, we will be on our last leg of this process. We will just need to go to the embassy to do our exit interview and pick up Avery's VISA. Once this happens we are bound for the good ole' USA! We anticipate heading home towards the end of next week. However, it could be sooner. We will post when we know further details.

Tonight, we are just going to stay in our room. Jessica, Ken, Beckett, Mary, Erin and Loston are going to join us. We are ordering pizza from Pizza Hut! Should be fun!

We made it back to HCMC

Thomas picked us up in Can Tho City last night (morning in the states) at 7:00, the director of the orphanage met us to say goodbye and we headed back to HCMC. We finally arrived back at the Rex around 11:00pm. We made excellent time! There is a lot less traffic later in the evening in those smaller provinces. Aunt Donna was scared to death by the drivers driving skills. We told her just "don't look". Avery did fantastic! She slept for the first few hours and then was awake and looking around. When we got back to the hotel we gave her a bottle, asked for a crib and layed her down. I guess she was out by 11:30pm. She slept until 4:45am. We have now played, had another bottle and is tired once more.

Today, Scott will go to UCIS to file our I-600 and then will return. We plan to have Pizza Hut at some point in time. We are STARVING!!!!! We also have to run to the Saigon Tax Center for some baby items and maybe to the mall across the street.

The internet connection here is not as good as it was in Can Tho. We will try to post as often as possible. Thank you so much for posting comments. We love reading them!!!

Surprise ~ GNR TONIGHT!!!!!

We just got back from the Local Justice Department. The document that was needed was signed late this afternoon. Thomas called and told us that our social worker was on the way to pick us up. We quickly got dressed and headed downstairs. Minutes later, a motorbike pulls up with the nannie, social worker and bundled up Avery. My heart dropped - to see my baby on a motor bike - YIKES! She hailed a taxi and off we went.

Can Tho - Day 3!!!

Today was our third day at the orphanage and still NO GNR! Apparently, we are waiting for a signature from the local justice department. We were hopeful that we would be able to do it this afternoon, but, it is now not looking very likely. With that being said, we will not have our GNR until MONDAY! The director of the orphanage has to fly to Hanoi tomorrow for a meeting and will not be available until Monday (she is needed for the ceremony). We are bummed because this may delay our time to get home to Owen. On the flip side of things, we do get to visit Avery at the orphanage everyday but Sunday from 9-11am.
This morning she was fantastic! She no longer cries when she sees us and LOVES to be cuddled! She is very curious about her surroundings and prefers to be held upright (against your chest). One other interesting fact is that she likes to play with HAIR! She is just like her big brother - look out Owie! She is very interested in her daddy and feel asleep on his chest - too precious! When it was time for us to leave, we said good bye, kissed her and handed her over to her nanny. She immediately began to cry - she has made a connection with us (thank God). We will post more when we now for certain about our GNR and room service is on its way!

Can Tho City ~ Day 2

We left the hotel today and headed to the Can Tho City Red Cross. We met with the Chairwoman and the Vice-Chairman. We spent an hour visiting and shared a snack of fruit together. I am not sure what kind of fruit we were eating besides miniature bananas since we do not have the majority of it in the USA. Most was rather tasty! When we left the Red Cross we went to see Avery. As we went in she was being held by her nannies and of all things, they were trying to do her hair. We had no tears today. She cuddled with all of us, had a small bottle and then screamed her head off when it was time for us to leave! She knows who her mommy and daddy are:)).

Meetcha Day

We left for the Can Tho orphanage at 2pm. What was a short 15 minute ride seemed like an eternity. As we turned down a long, secluded alley, (that looked as though we were in a jungle)our hearts began to pound.

At the end of the road we pulled up in front of the orphanage. It was as pretty as the images that we had seen prior to leaving for Vietnam.

We walked in to a room that appeared to be a reception area. To right was a staircase. We took off our shoes and headed up the spiral steps. At the top was a desk and children playing on the floor. It was Rhett, Sang and a little boy who was one of the nannies children. They were playing with a lego type block and some small balls. We then were escorted into the small air conditioned nursery. As soon as we entered we could spot Avery. Her hair was standing at attention.

As we walked towards her, she began to cry. My guess is that she has never seen larger people with blondish hair:)). I picked her up and tried to console her. After a few minutes, she seemed to calm down.
She is a peanut - very petite, loves to be cuddled, sucks her thumb and has an abundant amount of hair!!!!!

Scott, Aunt Donna and I held and cuddled Avery for 2 hours! Before we left we went into the nursery to take a few pictures of Jake and one other Dillon baby. They are precious!

Tonight we have to meet to begin some important paperwork and then will head back to the Can Tho City orphanage tomorrow afternoon. We look forward to seeing our little peanut once more!

Macaroni and Cheese

So, we went downstairs to have lunch at the Golf Restaurant. Aunt Donna ordered shrimp, Scott ordered spring rolls and sweet/sour pork and I ordered your everyday macaroni and cheese. NOT!!!!!!!! They brought out the dish and to my surprise, macaroni and cheese in Can Tho City consists of crawfish on a skewer with some sort of yellow, rubbery something on a skewer. Needless to say, I am back in the room eating beef jerky and cheese crackers.

We made it to Can Tho

It is 11:45am Vietnamese time and we just made it to Can Tho (we left HCMC @ 7). We are planning to go downstairs to have some lunch and then leave to see Avery at 2:00 this afternoon. We are so excited to see her! We are finally breathing the same air as our precious baby girl!

Can Tho City is beautiful! It is much more modern than the cities that we have previously been in. The motor bikes are amazing! Words cannot describe how many of them there actually are. You have to see for yourself to believe it!

We will post after our visit!

Pizza!!!!!!!!

After a long day of touring, we found the local Pizza Hut. Your basic cheese pizza never tasted so good!!!!!

We are having some trouble with our internet connection (blogging and emailing) so we may not be able to keep our blog up to speed. Until then, we leave at 7am for Can Tho. We can't wait to see Avery!

If you see my parents and Owen tell them hello and that we love them!!!!!

Saturday 6-23 Plans

After sleeping for 12 hours I am now awake (at 3:30am Vietnamese time). So, we will lay around and rest. We plan on having breakfst with the Dillon people here at our hotel at 8am. Then, at 10:30am we are going on a bus tour of the city. We will be stopping at War Remnants Museaum, Notre Dame Cathedral, Central Post Office, Runification Palace, and the Lacquer Factory. This trip is said to only be a 1/2 day so we aren't sure upon our arrival time since we are leaving a little later in the morning.

Our conection within our room is rather slow. Thus, I haven't posted any pictures. I am still trying to get emails into my inbox. I am thinking that Lindsay is sending me large amounts of pictures of Owen (if you can Lindsay, only 1 at a time). I plan to go to the business office later today and try to attach some photos.

I hope that you are doing well. If you see "boogie" give him a kiss!

Good Morning Vietnam!!!!!

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh at approx. 10:30am Friday (which is 10:30pm Thursday your time), went through immigration, gathered our luggage (which left me with bruises) and then headed through customs. After that, we headed to our hotel. You wouldn't beleive the driving and ALL of the MOPEDS! They are everywhere!!!! The part of Vietnam that we have seen so far has surprised me! Despite all of the people, the city is pretty nice.

Since we all have been up for over 35 hours we plan to call it an afternoon. We will probably be getting some room service, a shower and then be off to la-la-land!

Tomorrow we will have breakfast with the Dillon staff at our hotel, The Rex at 8am.

Lindsay - thank you for posting a message about Owen. We miss him deeply and have been very concerned about him.

Thank you mom and dad for taking care of our baby while we are gone. I know that he is having a ball! Tell him that we love him!


We will post some pictures later!!!

Greetings from Hong Kong

We finally made it to Hong Kong safely and are now preparing to board for Ho Chi Minh City. We will post more later! Love you Owen!!!

Preparing for Departure

The luggage is packed and we are currently preparing ourselves for departure! One full suitcase is loaded with goodies for the Can Tho orphanage! We can't wait to see our daughter and her birth country! If you see Owen, please give him a kiss!

Tomorrow is the day!!!!

Tomorrow is the day that we leave for VN and surprisingly enough, I am calm! While I do admit, that at times, I have been a little on edge throughtout this entire adoption process. However, the second time around is not as...lets see, what word am I looking for...not as, horrific as the first! I guess that having one child at home keeps you more busy than when you are awaiting the arrival of your first child. With that being said, I am so anxious to see my precious Avery. I wonder how she is doing (emotionally, physically, developmentally)? I wonder what her greiving process will be? I wonder if she will easily bond? The list of I wonders goes on forever. The exciting part...we will soon find out all of these things for ourself! Most importantly, I can't wait to HOLD HER!!!!!

For our family and friends ~ Avery's adoption process will be similar to that of Owen's. We want to do everything in our power to establish a bond with Avery and help her form an attachment to us, as well as our family. Please do not be offended if we do not pass her around. With time, she and we will be more comfortable being handed to others!

Please continue to pray for a safe journey for Scott, Aunt Donna and I and for Avery, her caregivers, birth mother and Vietnam.

WOOHOO! We leave tomorrow!

I'm worried about Owen

I am really starting to worry about leaving Owen! He is totally aware that we are leaving and that grandma and grandpa are staying with him. However, his behavior and sleeping patterns have been TERRIBLE all weekend!!! He has been a mess! I surely hope that he is okay while we are gone and is somewhat more cooperable for mom and dad. If you see him while we are gone, please give him a hug and tell him that we love him!

Is it really possible to get home more quickly than 3 weeks?

We received our travel itinerary last night from our agency. After reviewing it, we are excited that there is a possibility that we could come home in 2 weeks! While we are not holding our breath and are preparing for the full 3 weeks we are hopeful that we will be able to get home to Owen! Wow! We are soon to be a family of 4!!!!!!!!!!!!

Updated Weight and Height

We received an update on Avery's current weight and height. Although, I am not so sure that they are correct because she apparently has grown 10 inches in 5 months. HMMMM! She is currently 12.3 pounds and 32 inches long.

We're coming baby girl!!!

Can you say chocolate???

Thank you Jessica and Ken for holding our hand through this process! Can't wait to see you in 10 DAYS!!!!!!!!!

The "correct" VISAS have arrived!

The postman just delievered our second package of passports/VISAS! Woohoo! They now have the correct entry and exit date! 10 more days until we are in the air!!!!

Purchased Tickets!!!

Our tickets are purchased and are on the way! We are scheduled to leave on Wednesday, June 20th!!!!!! Our tentative returning flight will be Saturday, July 14th @ 2:50pm. If there are changes on return flight we will post from VN with the changes. We welcome family and friends to Avery's homecoming!

Visas!!!

Scott went to the post office this morning to pick up our passports and VISAS and well, this are not correct! YIKES! Apparently, they have approved a month stay rather than a 3 month visit. So, the passports are once again on their way to D.C. to be corrected. I am hoping to have the correction made and returned to me no later than Tuesday. I am hopeful for Saturday. They are supposed to begin working on them ASAP! Keep your fingers crossed!

Avery is coming home!!!!

We have to be in Vietnam on June 23rd!!! Avery is ours on June 26th! I will post more details as they beome available. We hope to catch a flight with Jessica, Ken, Erin and her mom! Keep your fingers crossed that we are able!

preparing owen

We have been trying to prepare Owen for our 2-3 week trip to Vietnam. While we hope that we will only be gone 2 weeks we know that there is a huge chance that we will be gone 3. With all of that being said, he has been staying a night here and there with grandma and grandpa. Well, this weekend we decided that he should try a couple of nights. We took him down Friday night and we picked him up this morning. He did fantastic! He was however, ready to go home and missed us! My big boy is getting so big!

Packing List

We have begun packing the supplies, etc. that will be needed for our trip to Vietnam. Can you tell, we are overly anxious! We are posting our packing list for other families to see because we found it helpful to see the list for those who had traveled before. It was nice to see what we will really need and what is not a necessity.

I am still debating what size clothing I will need for Avery since we haven't received an update on weight. So, I guess it will be trial and error!

We are beginning the list with items that we plan on taking. We will update our list as we get closer to travel and also upon returning to the USA.

Scott's Luggage:
9 pair of underwear
3 pair of socks
Razors/shaving cream
Hair gel
Bass sandals
Adidas sandles
Birkenstocks
toothbrush/paste
deoderant
dress pants
2 white shirts
5 shirts
dress/short belt
6 pairs of shorts
swim trunks

Leslie's Luggage:
Shaving cream/razor
hair brush
blow dryer
curling iron (not sure this will be helpful in the HUMIDITY)
make up
Birkenstocks
pink Crocs
Prescription medications
underwear/bras
swim suit
shorts
shirts
capris
MK facial cleansing cloths
deoderant
toothbrush/paste

Avery's Luggage:
blanket
3 burp cloths
3 pacifiers
6 swim diapers
formula dispenser
disposable bibs
nasal asperator
nail clippers
disposable changing pads
40 Shea Butter disposable wash cloths
1 playtex 6 oz. bottle
6 nipples for playtex bottle
100 bottle inserts
1 avent 4 oz. bottle
thermometer
medicine dropper
measuring spoon/syringe
teething ring
misc. toys
book
clothing: will add more details later

Medications:
many of these meds we got in travel size...
vitamins
dramamine
kleenex
sunscreen - adult/baby
advil - adult/baby
tylenol - adult/baby
excedrine migraine
sudafed allergy/sinus
gas relief - adult/baby
orajel
1 qt. pedialyte
band aids
zylet
benadryl - adult/baby
Imodium
tums
pepto
neosporin
refresh tears

Misc. Items:
220 converter
note pads
black pens
journal
small calculator
umbrella
backpack
small trash bags
ziplock bags
4 Charmine to go rolls
9 tide travel packets
assorted drink mix singles
3 bars of soap
12 oz. shampoo/conditioner
Repel mosquito wipes
Q-tips
floss
high humidity hairspray
70 baby wipes
beef jerky
peanuts
peanut butter crackers
laptop/microphone for skype
travel alarm clock/batteries

Orphanage Donations:
Infantino 6 in 1 rider (carrier)
3, 24 pack of colored pencils
6, 10 packs of classic color markers
110 pc. plastic US coins
4 packs of stickers
15 David Shannon Duck and a book
12 pink pearl erasers
glitter pens
155 pencils
1 box of chalk
15 boxes of crayons
rattle bottle
2150 stickers
15 assorted toys (mcdonalds/sonic/etc.)
silver cross necklace/earrings
tea
pendant
2 pair of baby booties
5 stencils
3 rubber duckies
10 pair of robeez
osh kosh bibs
5 misc. tops and onesies
1 pair of pajamas
20 pair of pants
5 rattles
Winnie the Pooh stickers
Balmex diaper cream
20 packs of spiderman fruit snacks
31 pair of shorts
49 shirts
2 sweatshirts
toothbrushes/paste