Home, Wonderful Home!

Yes, as of Friday 4/18 at 7:00PM, we are home!! The Visa interview last Thursday (5 minutes and not even an "interview") was at 3:00 and Big C's visa was issued at 4:00! We were able to fly home on Friday, and since then we've been home recovering from jet lag (and flying home with a unhappy baby). We are all doing well and the trip to Vietnam was a success! Many of you know I was very concerned about how Miss A would do on the trip 1/2 way around the world, and as it turns out, she's doing better than we are now. She's soooooo happy to be home and has been playing with all her toys with a huge grin on her face. She's also doing remarkably well in her new role as a big sister! She's even sharing some of her toys. I'll try and post some pictures later today.

Visa medical exam

On Monday, Big C did great for his physical exam and came in at 19.04 lbs! No wonder why my back is killing me. The nice physician at the SOS Clinic was pleased with him , and other than having a mild case of scabies when we first picked him up (looks great now after one treatment w/ elimite), she gave him a clean bill of health.

Now that we have his passport (picked it up Monday morning) and he passed his physical, the next step is the US Embassy interview. Our interview is scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday) and if all goes well we should have his visa by the end of the week. We will try to get on a flight home early next week (unfortunately there is nothing over the weekend). We are really ready to start our life at home as a family of four. We are getting homesick (especially Miss A, even though she's hanging in there!)

Museum of Ethnology & Shopping at CraftLink

We spent a day last week visiting the Museum of Ethnology (http://www.vme.org.vn/aboutus_history.asp). The displays consisted of clothes, cultural implements, social rites, etc... Unfortunately our time was limited due to the fact we had two little ones in tow. We're finding it difficult to spend much time on this visit to get a good feel for the culture, as our out of the hotel activities have been limited. Big C's cultural backgound is Kinh (or Viet), which makes up 86 % of the population in Vietnam. There are 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam. We will definitely plan a trip back to this museum when we return when the kids are older. I wonder if I can find out what cultural group Miss A belongs to before our return.

After the finishing our trip through the museum, we entered a store called CraftLink. CraftLink is a not for profit store featuring goods from small Vietnamese craft producers, giving them market opportunities. We found several wonderful things to buy, and returned to the second CraftLink store that was closer to our hotel. The quality of the products (purses, scarves, hats, clothes, figurines, etc...) was excellent and the prices were very reasonable. Miss A kept busy while we were shopping stirring up some imaginary goodies with some of the special bowls and spoons.

Giving and Receiving Ceremony

Last Tuesday we had the Giving and Receiving (G & R) which finalizes the adoption on the Vietnamese side of things. We'll still need to apply for readoption in the states. He did great for the ceremony, it was short and sweet. Our new friends were also there with their daughter (she's from the same orphanage as C). She was C's buddy in the orphanage and luckily they live about 1 1/2 hours away from us, so we'll be able to get together and keep the friendship going.

The first two pictures are of us waiting for our ride to the G & R. I love the pic with daddy, he looks like such a little man.

Fun with Daddy & pink jammies

Just some pictures of our new son. We brought a lot of clothes with us for him, thinking he was avg in size, as we were told, lies ... We had to give away everything, and dress him in Amelia's PJ's (ref the pink jammy pics). We had to have an emergency clothes shopping day, just to get the man what he deserves!

Our Trip To Hoan Kiem Lake

With two little ones, it is a good day of we get out once, successfully (and actually blog something). Three days ago, we walked to Hoan Kiem lake, to visit the Huc Bridge and the Den Ngoc Son temple. This is a beautiful red bridge on a green lake. For those of you at eBay, ask Lambuu about the story of the sword and the turtle, it's a good one. We got up at 5 AM (not by choice), and started to get ready to leave the hotel; I think we successfully got out at 10:30 AM. It was an easy 20 min walk, but I think I sweat out 2 liters of water myself; and I had to promise one street vendor that the next time I saw him, I'd buy something.

The temple itself is beautiful, and many people came by to pray why we were there; the smell of incense was all over. I can see why folks meditate at these places, it is really peaceful. Even though we were able to walk to the lake, Amelia (and everyone else) were overheating, and we decided to be wussy westerners and take a taxi back to the hotel; it turned out to be a good idea.

more pics from monday

one handed typing here...big boy on my lap---here are some more pics from c's first day with us.....