Update and pictures

You can tell that I'm busy, I haven't posted in a while. We're still trying to get the household organized. Everyone seems to be adjusting well. Ava is finally starting to sleep better at night. Last night was 7 hours. Wow, it was so good to get some sleep myself. So I'm up early this morning trying to do some work. We are so glad to be home. We were gone 1 day less than 3 weeks, and that was too long to be away from the boys. Nate told me he doesn't want us to adopt anymore because he doesn't want us to be gone. I totally understand. It was hard on me too.

Yesterday Ava had a dr appt with our pediatrician. He said she looks great, she's well proportioned and has gained 1 lb in the last 2 weeks. He wants to do some further checking on her liver, kidney and spleen. He said her liver feels hard, would could be a sign of hepA. If so, it can be easily treated. And he also felt something near her kidney or spleen that he wants to have checked. So she had some blood drawn and today has an ultrasound. I'm a little nervous about this. We should know the results by the end of the week.

Here's a picture from the orphanage. The older children at the orphanage were sitting around just watching us.

Typical Vietnam housing/storefront. They have their shops in the lower level and live upstairs.

A view from our hotel room window.Typical traffic in Hanoi. It's crazy. It's like this all the time.

More Hanoi traffic. This was in the shopping district. Cross the street at your own risk.

I have a whole photo album with lots more pictures. So when you see us you can see the rest.

We are home!

It's so good to be home. We arrived here Tuesday morning, where Mark's parents and Luke met us at the airport. Nate had a school field trip planned, so we didn't see him until he was home from school. We still have some unpacking/organizing to do, but we're so glad to be home before Thanksgiving. Ava is doing great and the boys just love her. This is a short post, just wanted to say we're home. I'll post some pictures later.

Last post from Vietnam

Last night we went to dinner with the other 2 families for the last time. I'm so glad to be going home. We did most of our packing yesterday, except for the things we would need today. We have to check out by 2:30 this afternoon, but aren't being picked up until 4pm. Our flight is at 7:10pm and it's a 1 hour ride to the airport. So hopefully we're not late. We can't leave any earlier than 4pm, because we're waiting for Ava's visa.

We are leaving Vietnam!

We are leaving Monday night for home and will arrive Tuesday morning if all goes as planned. Our flight leaves a couple of hours after we get the visa, so hopefully there aren't any delays. It was the only way to get home without staying over anywhere in the states.

Happy Day!

This afternoon we went to the embassy to pay for the visa, but we can not pick it up until Monday late afternoon, so we're looking at leaving Tuesday and arriving home Wednesday. Just in time for turkey. We're still looking at flight options, and cannot offically change our flight until we have the visa in hand, so that will have to wait until Monday. Airline travel within the states might be a bit of a challenge because of the holiday.

Our mood has totally changed, as you can imagine. Somehow a couple of more days in Vietnam doesn't sound so bad. The end is in sight. We had a celebration dinner tonight with the other 2 families, at our favorite restaurant, Al Fresco's. I'm sure we'll be there again before we leave Vietnam.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we are taking a trip with the other 2 families in our group to Ha Long Bay. It is about a 3 hour drive there, so it is a full day. Once there we will have a private boat tour of about 4 hours. The Bay is known for naturally formed rock formations and caves coming out of the water. We'll take lots of pictures.

Our prayers have been answered!

Thank you for all of your prayers!

This morning I woke up wondering how I was going to make it through the rest of our time here, however long that may be. We went to breakfast and briefly talked to another family who was here a couple of days before us, who still have not heard about their visa approval. In fact, they were going to the embassy today to find out what was going on. So, I was sick to my stomach again, thinking there's no end in sight. As we were leaving the restaurant, we ran into the other Mark in our group and he asked if we had heard. He said Thao had called them this morning, and at first I didn't know if it was good news or bad news. He then told us we all had been approved and we have our 2nd embassy appt this afternoon. We were overcome with emotion, right there in the middle of the dining room. So this afternoon we go to the embassy, pay the visa fee, sign the required paperwork, and go back Monday to pick up Ava's visa as long as the visa machine doesn't break down, which I'm told sometimes happens. Then we're free to leave the country. I already emailed our travel agent to have him start looking into return flights for us. It looks like we'll be home before Thanksgiving after all! We called home right away to tell Mark's parents and the boys the good news. We'll be seeing them soon! I can't wait!

We need your prayers

We didn't hear from the Embassy today. So we won't be home this weekend, like we wanted to. So here's where we're at now. If we find out tomorrow, Friday, that Ava's visa has been approved, then we would have our 2nd appt on Monday, pick up her visa on Tuesday and return home on the earliest available flight. If we find out on Monday that it's approved, the earliest we could leave would be Wednesday, and we would be home Thanksgiving, if there are flights available. But if we don't find out until Tuesday or after, we won't be home for Thanksgiving. We would have to wait until the following week. So your prayers are needed. We really want to be home by Thanksgiving. Even if we have to travel on Thanksgiving and be home the day after, that would be OK. But we don't want to have to wait until the following week. So continue to pray for us and I'll update the blog daily with any progress.

Ava is growing!

Ava was born 7/31/2007, weighing 7 pounds something, I don't have the exact weight here, it's at home. She is now 11.5 pounds and growing. We have noticed some changes in the short time she has been with us. She now has pretty good control of her head. She likes to suck on her thumb or fingers, but sometimes can't quite get them in her mouth. In the last day, she has started lifting her legs straight up when she is laying on her back. In the orphanage, they go to sleep with a bottle propped up, so we're trying to break her of this habit. She's adjusting well. She's a happy baby and smiles a lot. She can't wait to get home and meet her big brothers.

This morning after breakfast, we made our daily trip to the store for bottled water, then stopped at the business center to check email/blog. We try to get out sometime during the day, but don't want to go to far just in case we get the call we're waiting for. When we're not out shopping or sightseeing, we're bonding with Ava.

There are more and more adoptive families getting their visa approvals and going home. There aren't too many of us left. I'm getting more and more nervous again. This morning at breakfast we talked to another family who still doesn't have approval, and they are about 3 days ahead of us. So I don't know what that means for us. We continue to pray for good news soon. We talk to the boys daily, which helps, but it's not the same as being home. I miss them terribly.

No news yet

Tuesday night we got together with the other 2 families in one of their rooms for pizza and Skipbo. It was a fun, relaxing night. Ava slept the whole time. See the picture below. Ava is on the left, Bryce in the back and Lola in the front.

This afternoon we went back to Silk Village for more shopping with the other 2 families. Then we stopped at our favorite restaurant, Al Fresca's, for an early dinner. Now we're back at the hotel, relaxing.

I've been feeling much better the last couple of days. We're on the home stretch now. We're hoping to hear about Ava's visa yet this week, but that may be a bit of a stretch. Keep praying for us.

Another step checked off the list

Yesterday afternoon (Monday), we took a cab to the Temple of Literature, which really isn't very far, but we were walking from there to do some shopping. After a little shopping we went back to the Temple of Literature to see if our tour guide from last Saturday was there. She is the Vietnamese woman who was our tour guide when we took the day long city tour. She also works at the Temple of Literature, and she wanted us to stop in to see her after Ava was ours. She held Ava for a little while, and all the time Ava kept looking at Mark and I, as if we were going to leave her with this woman. I think she's bonding well with us. We walked back and it was so humid. When we got back to our room, one of the other families in our group called to see if we wanted to go shopping to the Old Quarter. So we did some more shopping. The streets were so crowded, you wouldn't believe it. As soon as we got our of the cab, the street vendors swarmed around us trying to sell us our wares. Some of them even followed us from store to store. Then we went to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Al Fresco's, where they serve a variety of food, American, Mexican, Asian and Italian. When we got back to the hotel, we posted the pictures.

Ava only woke up once again last night, sleeping for 5 1/2 hours at a time. We talked to the boys and Mark's mom this morning. We had been talking to them every few days, but now we talk daily. We went to breakfast and met in the lobby at 8:30am to go pick up the baby's passports. We are excited that another step of the process is completed. Then it was off to the clinic for the visa medical exam. We had a scare there. We saw a Dutch doctor and he said, There's only 1 thing wrong with her. That scared me immediately. It seems she has an enlarged spleen, which can be due to anemia. So he wanted to do an ultrasound and draw some blood to make sure. He said not to worry, it wouldn't delay our travel back home. But if he writes enlarged spleen on the medical report for the Embassy, they will want to know why. We went back to the waiting room to wait. I was very emotional, the first thing that came to my mind was what we went through with Luke. Because he was also 3 months old and it all started with an ultrasound. The other 2 families stayed there to wait with us. The ultrasound technician said her spleen size is within the normal range. But the doctor still wanted to draw blood. They wouldn't let us be in the room when they did this. We had to wait in the hall and listen to her cry. I was hoping they would only have to poke her once. Then back to the waiting room to wait for the doctor's report. The doctor said her blood work is normal. And he gave us copies of the lab report and his report to take back home to our pediatrician. He still thinks the spleen is enlarged, but he's not that concerned about it. At least it won't delay our travel home. We ended up being there about 4 hours. We walked down the street with one of the other families and had lunch at Al Fresco's. By the time we arrived back at our room, we were exhausted. I didn't think I would ever say this, but it actually felt good to be back and relax a little.

So now we're waiting to hear about our 2nd Embassy appointment. Our agency coordinator will check with them on Thursday. Of course, we are anxiously waiting to hear from her.

Ava pictures!

We borrowed a USB cable from one of the other familes here so we could post a couple of pictures. Here they are.

The first picture was taken at the orphanage on Monday, our G&R day. Here she is in clothes we brought with a couple of the nannies. The one holding her was her primary caregiver. She loves to suck on her thumb or fingers, but they discourage that at the orphanage.

This is a full body view of her taken in our room. This was the only day we dressed her in summer clothes, even though it's in the 80's here. She had a fever at the time. The Vietnamese discourage having the babies skin exposed.

Here she is feeling much better after her fever is gone. We bought these thin long sleeve clothes at the store down the street.

Here she is on her tummy. They spend all of their time at the orphanage on their back, so we're trying to get her some tummy time each day. She doesn't like it very much, but she's getting better.

Isn't she adorable? Can't wait for you to meet her in person.

Ava is feeling better

I just realized that when I post in the morning here, the post actually says the previous day. So hopefully my timeline is making sense.

We didn't do too much yesterday, Sunday. We sat out by the pool for a little while and talked to another man who adopted from the very southern part of Vietnam. Ava has been feeling much better. The rattle in her chest is gone and her congested nose/sinuses are getting better. Her fever is gone. Last night she only woke up once.

The air pollution seems to be getting worse here. When we look out our room window to the city we can't see as far. And when we walk down the streets, there are all kinds of smells. Most of them not very pleasant.

Thanks to all of you who sent me comments about homesickness. It has really helped. The boys and Mark's parents went over to my friend Season's house over the weekend and Season email some pictures of the boys to us. It made us feel closer to home. I really needed it.

I will update the blog daily since we are getting closer to the end.

Still homesick

Friday night we made our third trip to the SOS clinic for Ava. She had had a 102 fever for 2 1/2 days and the Tylenol wasn't doing it anymore. We saw a senior Vietnamese doctor, who gave us some antibiotics. Finally! She was still up most of the night, but it will get better.

Saturday we went for a walk around the block. We walked past a school and the soccer stadium. Saturday afternoon we took a tour to the Silk Village and Pottery Village. The Silk factory was so fascinating. It all starts with the silk worm. We saw the big machines and workers actually making the silk. Then we did some shopping at the silk stores. Next we went to the pottery village, where we saw them making pottery. The clay they use comes from the Red River here. They use molds and hand finish everything. And then, you guessed it, shopping in the pottery stores.

We met the 2 others in our travel group for dinner and we all took a taxi to Al Fresco's restaurant, where they have excellent ribs. It was so good to get out and experience a little of home. They even played music from the 80's that we hear on the radio at home.

Ava slept better last night, she was only up twice and then back to sleep. I think she's finally feeling better. She's been sick the whole time we've had her, so it's hard to know what the healthy Ava is like.

I think we've seen everything there is to see from a tourist standpoint. We're trying to stay busy, then I'm less homesick. I think the week will seem to go faster because we'll be waiting to hear about our next appointments. I'm hoping we'll hear by Friday if her visa has been approved. Thursday would be even better, because then we could pick up her visa on Friday and leave for home. But if we don't find out until Friday, we won't be able to get her visa until the next Monday. Which would mean another weekend here.

Does anyone know what to do about homesickness? Like I said, I try to stay busy, but whenever we're in our room, I just want to cry and I don't have an appetite. I just want to go home. If you have any suggestions, you can email my charter account.

I'm ready to go home

I'm homesick and so ready to go home. I'm hoping we're only going to be here another week. It looks like that may be the case based on conversations with others working with our agency and same orphanage. Since our 1st embassy appointment yesterday, we are now waiting to hear from USCIS, whether they approved or denied Ava's visa. The other people heard from them in 1 week, so we're hoping to hear from them by the end of next week. But Monday is a holiday, so it could be the following Monday. When we hear that her visa has been approved, we go to sign the necessary papers and then the next day pick up her visa. Then we're free to go home. So we will only have a couple days notice that we are leaving. That's OK, I'll be ready. On Tuesday, Mark will go to pick up Ava's passport. Then we just wait to hear from the embassy. There are families who have been here for 5 weeks and still don't have approval from USCIS. But they are with a different agency and orphanage, so I'm confident that won't be the case for us. We're planning on being home by Thanksgiving.

Ava was up most of the night last night, so I am exhausted. Her congestion seems to be better today. We've been alternating Tylenol with ibuprofen to keep her comfortable. We have a crib in our room, but she hasn't used it much. Even though she hasn't been feeling good, she is still eating well. Hopefully she'll sleep better tonight.

Today we walked a couple of blocks to the Temple of Literature, to meet the woman who was our tour guide last Saturday. She works there and wanted us to come visit her with Ava. But she wasn't there today. So we stood around observing and taking pictures, then stopped at the store to buy more bottled water, then went back to our room.

The journey continues

Tuesday night we met the other 2 couples in our travel group for dinner. It was relaxing and nice to get together with them and compare baby notes.

Wednesday we didn't do much of anything. We walked down the block to the store. It was really hot outside. It was probably in the 80's with high humidity. The Vietnamese are very concerned about sun exposure. Even though we thought it was hot outside many of them are wearing pants and jackets. If they think you don't have your baby properly dressed, they come right up to you and tell you so. They think they should always be covered. No sun exposure. We have been putting light clothes on her, so no skin is exposed.

The best night she slept was the first night back here. I think she was exhausted from the day, as were we. Since then she has been up during the night. She doesn't seem to sleep very soundly, real restless. She sometimes cries a little with her eyes closed, then settles down. Last night she was up with a 102 fever. We gave her some Tylenol and she slept until morning. After the Tylenol wore off, the fever was back. We took her back to the clinic. The doctor said she has a bronchial virus, and since it is a virus, antibiotics won't work. So she sent us back with some syrup for bronchial congestion and wants us to come back in a couple of days to see that she is making progress. In the meantime, we continue to use the aspirator on her nose. That seems to be getting better anyway. While at the clinic, we ran into another couple from our travel group. They weren't there for the baby. They were there for the mom. She had been so sick they gave her an IV.

This afternoon we had our first appointment at the US Embassy. We all met in the lobby and found out that now the dad is also sick. They didn't look very good. I did my best to stay away from them. They even took a separate cab to our appointment. I was nervous about the embassy appointment. We were the first to go out of the 3 of us. We were called into a small room, where an official was sitting on the other side of the glass window. He had all of our paperwork and he asked us a few questions and took some notes. Then the other 2 families went. We filled out some additional paperwork and went back to our hotel. We're hoping to hear from them the end of next week. If all goes well, we will be home before Thanksgiving. We've been talking to another family working with our agency and adopting from the same orphanage. They had their 2nd embassy interview 1 week after the first, so we're hoping for the same. Before the 2nd appointment, they will tell us if the baby's visa has been approved or denied. The 2nd appointment is just a formality, signing some papers, and you go back the next day to get the baby's visa. Then we're free to go home. I'm so ready to go home. I miss the boys.

We've been taking pictures, but will wait until we're home to post any of them.

We have a daughter!

Welcome to the family Ava Ann!

Sunday afternoon we met the other 2 families in our travel group. There were supposed to be 5, but we found out that the other 2 cancelled because of the riskiness of filing the I600. Since we left to fly here on Wednesday, we missed the conference call with the other families and the adoption agency. It seems the US Embassy here in Vietnam is being really picky about the paperwork and looking for any little thing to deny or delay the visa processing. Needless to say, this made us a little nervous. All we could do was pray that everything would work out.

We were to meet in the lobby Monday morning at 6:15am. We missed breakfast because the buffet doesn't start until 6:30. So we just had crackers. It turns out our van driver overslept and did not arrive until almost 7am. We did sneak upstairs to grab some food since he was late.

Then the 3 1/2 hour ride to the orphanage. It doesn't take 3 1/2 hours because of the distance, it's because of the road conditions and traffic. We took motion sickness medicine before we left, just in case. We arrived at the orphanage and were given our babies. The nannies changed them into the clothes we brought and we all loaded into the van to go to the official building where the G&R would take place. The nannies held the babies. They don't like to give them up, but we knew that after that day we would have her all the time. The G&R took about 20 minutes for all 3 families. We signed the paperwork and we are now her legal parents. Hooray! Then we went across the street for lunch and again the nannies held the babies. It was authentic Vietnamese food, so I wasn't going to eat. But I did have some pork/vegetable spring rolls that were delicious. The officials from the orphanage were there also and it seemed to take forever. Then we went back to the orphanage to talk with the nannies to find out about the babies schedules, etc. The coordinator from the adoption agency, who lives here in Vietnam, said he would be back in about 2 hours. We were all ready to leave after about 1 hour. There was only 1 nanny who spoke English. The nannies keep the babies so bundles up, they were sweaty. They always think they are cold. It was probably around 75-80 degrees. When we got there, Ava had on a long sleeve shirt and a sweater over that, and of course a hat. They are very concerned about the sun and always shield the babies from it. The coordinator showed up about 3 hours later. By then it was dusk and the mosquitos were starting to come out. We all had on mosquito spray and had reapplied since we had been there. Then the long 3 1/2 hour drive home with 3 babies in the dark. We were exhausted, but all the babies did well. They were quiet. We arrived back at the hotel around 8:30pm. It wasn't until that time that it really hit me that we are the parents of a baby girl. She is so adorable. We ordered room service and then gave her a bath. She had a bottle and went to sleep at 10pm. I expected to be up during the night with her, but when she didn't wake up, I got up to make sure she was still breathing. I woke up at 5:45am, the same time I have been waking up every morning since we have been here (without an alarm). We showered, etc and she was still sleeping. We woke her up at 7:30am so we could feed her and go to breakfast before Mark had to leave at 9am. At 9am the guys were picked up to go apply for the babies passports. Ava and I went back to our room. We took her to the SOS clinic this afternoon to have her checked over. She has had a stuffy nose and a little rattle in her chest. But the doctor said she is fine. We were glad to hear that. She hasn't slept much today and seems a little more fussy. Hopefully she'll sleep good again tonight.

Back to the I600 issue I mentioned earlier. It seems that some of the parents adopting from other agencies or from other provinces are having problems. This morning we talked to some others who are with our agency and adopted from our province, but have already been here 2 weeks. They were waiting for their last appointment at the Embassy and found out they get to go home Friday. So that's 3 weeks for them. So it looks like we will probably be here that long also. I won't know more until it gets closer to that time.

Experiencing the culture

We're adjusting to the culture here. Friday was a big culture shock to me and all I could think about was 'I want to go home.' I think it was a combination of lack of sleep and the culture. I felt out of place and was definitely out of my comfort zone. We adjusted to the time change very quickly. They started preparing us for that on the 14 hour flight from LA to Hong Kong. They served dinner at 3am Wisconsin time and breakfast at 3:30pm Wisconsin time, which was 3:30am Hanoi time. Then on our flight from Hong Kong to Hanoi we were again served breakfast at 9am Hanoi time. We arrived at the airport at 10am Hanoi time and had to wait a long time for our luggage. They only have 1 baggage claim and there was a lot of luggage on it. It was about a 1 hour ride from the airport to our hotel and it was during that ride we first experienced the culture. The first thing we did after we checked in and unpacked was walk down the street to buy bottled water. It is very inexpensive. 4 1 liter bottles were about $2. We scheduled a day long tour of the city, thinking that was the best way to see all the sights. The restaurant at the hotel did not open until 6pm and we wanted to eat earlier, so Mark ordered some Vietnamese spring rolls off the snack menu. I didn't like them, so I had a couple of crackers when we got back to our room. We went to bed about 7pm, we were exhausted.

Saturday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel. It is a breakfast buffet that is included in the price of our room. It is very good food, a combination of Western and Vietnamese. We filled up. Our city tour started at 8am. We had a private Vietnamese woman as a guide, who spoke English. Some of the things we saw were One Pillar Pagoda, a water puppet show, HoChiMin museum and mauseleum (which is closed in November and December for restoration), the Temple of Literature, the Hanoi Hilton, which is where Senator McCain was held captive for 6 years, the remains of the B52 bomber in the water, and we also rode on a cyclo, which is a 3 wheeled bicycle where passengers ride on a bench seat in the front. The tour also included lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. I only ate the fried rice with vegetables. By the time our tour was done at 4pm, we were exhausted. We ate at the restaurant at the hotel. Mark had margerita pizza and I had vegetable lasagna, which included eggplant, zucchini and tomoto. It was more than enough food. Next time we will order 1 meal and share it. We made sure to finish the lasagna because the pizza would be easier to take back to the room. We asked for something to put the pizza in and it seemed to confuse the waitress. They provided us with a cake box for our pizza.

This morning we took a taxi to the old quarter of the city where the majority of the local shops are located. We walked the streets absorbing some more culture and did some shopping. This was the first time we ventured out on our own, other than walking down the street to get water. I now feel more comfortable with the culture since we have had some time to adjust to it.

Tomorrow we meet our daughter!

We've arrived in Vietnam!

We arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam this morning after a long flight, total flying time of about 20 hours. I'm so glad to be on the ground again.

The culture here is quite different from what we are used to. The traffic is very congested and most people drive motor bikes. They haul just about everything on the back of those things. We checked into our room and unpacked. Tomorrow we are taking a day long tour of the city. We'll probably do some shopping on Sunday.

We're really looking forward to Monday, when we will see our daughter in person for the first time.