A View From Afar

Not everything is about the baby, right? Wrong! I'm going to post some pictures of some of the things we've seen anyway.

Here are a couple of pictures from the zoo. You can purchase sugarcane and feed the elephants. Compared to the Columbus zoo, the monkey and ape houses are small. Most of the animals seem well taken care of and healthy.


Before Sara, Sue would have wanted to go in this store. Now she just wants to shop for her baby. Even on her birthday. Happy birthday, Mommy, but no Louis this year.

Here is the opera house in HCMC:
Here is the People's Committee building:
For all of you GIS Specialists (I know at least one is reading), HCMC is 10.774 degrees above the equator and 106.70 degrees East of the Prime Meridian. By comparison, our house is 40.212 degrees above the equator and 83.117 degrees West.

Last but definitely not least:

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Out and about in Ho Chi Min City

Sara is such a happy little girl! She drools a lot if you didn't notice!!


Today was pretty uneventful! We did some shopping and then we went to Bau's hotel so Sara could play with Kevin. The kids had a blast. Scott, Henry and his mom came later. We just ordered Pizza while the kids played. Sara is still eating everything in sight! She's really warming up to Gary.

What a difference a day makes!!

We think Sara had a very nice Birthday today! I'm sure she would have rather been at home with friends and family, but we were with new friends. Well, not new to Sara. We went to the zoo with Kevin, Bau's son, who she was with at the orphanage and of course Bau and his friend Chris. Sara was not interested in the animals very much, but we think she had a good time. She ate some interesting soup with beef and noodles. She loved it! That girl can eat! After the zoo Sara took a much needed long nap! She would not let Sue lay her down, every time she tried she would wake up crying, so Sue sat there for 2 1/2 hrs holding Sara. She was very playful this evening! We met Bau and company at their hotel and went for dinner. Again, she ate up a storm. She liked Mommy's watermelon juice and Bau's coconut milk, which really did the trick for a constipation problem she had. She also ate Daddy's noodles and some of Mommy's vegetables. After dinner the kids played a little and we went home. She let Gary hold her from the Hotel all the way home! That is huge! After we came home she was so giggly and playful, we thought she would never go to bed. Especially after we gave her a little chocolate cake we bought for her Birthday. We are both beat!

Happy Birthday Sara!!

Today is Sara's 1st Birthday. We are so happy to be sharing it with her. She is doing very well with the adjustment and we are biased, but we have been told she is very smart. She claps, shakes her head no, and babbles a lot. She loves to eat! Last night we went to dinner with the other families and she ate a lot of my Singapore Noodles. She also likes Goldfish and Cheerios. She had a good night last night. She went to bed about 8:30 and woke up twice for a bottle, then went right back to sleep when I rocked her. She is starting to warm up to Gary as we speak!

Beyond words. . .

We just don't have any words to describe our feelings today. It has actually happened. We are parents. We left for the orphanage with Mr. Hiep and the 2 other families and their friends about 8:30 am. We got there about an hour and a half or so later. We started in a reception area where we met the director of the orphanage and were then led upstairs to a room where our 3 babies were waiting!! Sara was right inside the door in a walker and Sue scooped her up. Amazingly, neither Sue nor Sara were crying. Sara is as tiny as she looked in the pictures. The caretakers said she was a very good baby, very playful and smart. She understood Vietnamese when Bao spoke to her.

Here is Scott with his son, Henry. Henry had the most difficult time with the transition. This is Bao's son, Kevin.We stayed at the orphanage for 30-45 minutes playing with Sara and trying to get questions answered. We then rode back to our hotel with 8 people and 3 babies!!!

Now we are back at the hotel. Mommy and Sara are playing with toys. She has only cried a little bit when mommy tries to put her down. Daddy has to observe from the other bed.

Our G&R date may not be until next week, but until then we get to enjoy getting to know our new little girl.

When in Rome...

Today we had an authentic Vietnamese experience. We went to our friend Hahn's cousin Hong's house for lunch. Gary was picked up by a motorcycle and Sue rode a taxi with Hong. Hong lives with her husband, son, her grandmother and her mother. There is also a maid and a cat. The food was delicious. Hanh told her about everything Sue doesn't eat, no beef or pork! It was all shrimp.

They are building a new house that will be ready in a couple of weeks. The houses are very narrow and tall. The house has a spiral staircase in the center. On each floor there are rooms on either side of the stairs. There are balconies on both the front and back of each floor. They are planning to plant trees, flowers and grass on the back patio with the stone walls.





Sue said she would never go on a Motor Scooter... Oh well! They are everywhere here and there are no traffic rules, at least not followed. You have to just cross the street with motor bikes and cars coming right at you!

Go Bucks

Isn't the internet amazing? It lets us keep in touch with all of you like we were still in Ohio. It also let Gary follow the Ohio State-Penn State football game play by play. Looks like another dominant performance for our #1 ranked Bucks. He was also watching the World Series live while we were getting ready to go down to breakfast. Now we are waiting for our friend, Hong, to take us to her house for lunch.

We are to be at Mr. Hiep's office tomorrow morning at 9 am. He is going to take us to SARA!!

Anatomy of a Trip to the Other Side of the World

Our trip started out well enough. We got to the airport and checked our bags all the way through to Vietnam. As we were going through security, Gary was "randomly" chosen for a more thorough check. Also, Sue had put 2 cannisters of bug spray in a bag Gary was holding and it was flagged by the x-ray guy. So there was no way Gary was going to get through. They pulled everything out of the 2 bags Gary was holding, swabbed them, and tested them for bomb dust. That was ok and our flight got off fine and we even got to LA about a 1/2 hour early. This was 12AM EDT. Gary's parents came to the airport to meet us since we had 4+ hour layover. We walked over to the international terminal, had some dinner and talked for a while about Sara. They left around 3AM and we went to the gate to wait for our 4:50 AM flight.
The gates are hot and crowded and we are exhausted. For some unknown reason, they board our flight late. We stand around barely able to keep our eyes open. We finally leave for Hong Kong around 5:30 AM. We have a a window and middle seat. We fall asleep immediately but they serve dinner shortly after takeoff. We barely remember eating and fall right back to sleep. After having a little trouble sleeping, Sue takes and ambien to help her sleep, but she has a sensitive stomach to medicines. She gets very sick and spends the last 7 hours of the flight puking and feeling miserable. It's hard for her to get to the bathroom because the women on the aisle is fast asleep and the bathrooms are always full. They serve breakfast in the morning but she can't eat.
We get to Hong Kong around 8:15 AM and our flight to HCMC is to board at 8:25. Someone meets a group of us at the gate to walk us to the new gate. Having just gotten off a plane we naturally have to go through security again. We are among the last to get on the plane.
The flight to HCMC leaves about 40 minutes late. The 2 hour flight goes uneventfully but Sue still feels horrible. We arrive in HCMC and go through customs with no problems. Two of our 3 bags are waiting for us at the gate except for Sue's. We wait on another line to fill out a missing bag report. No one is at the airport to meet us so we take a cab. We have no reservation at the hotel we are supposed to have booked but they have room for us. We get to our room around 1 PM.
We took a nap and had a very nice evening with Scott. We got to know one another while eating some dinner at Highlands Coffee and doing some grocery and baby shopping. Sue's bag was at the hotel when we got back. It must have taken a later flight. Now it's about 10:20 PM and we're off to sleep.

We Made It

After a very long trip that seemed to last forever, we have arrived safely.
We are going to meet Scott, another PAP, and get something to eat. We will fill you in about our trip later tonight. Just a little preview. Only 2 of our 3 bags made it here with us.

Forgot Something

Because of our relief and exhaustion from yesterday, We forgot to thank G-d for whatever did happen yesterday. We guess he wasn't done testing our resolve.

Sue and I are blessed in more ways then we can even comprehend. We have a big, loving family here in Columbus and Toledo and in Los Angeles where Gary's from originally. We have great friends both in our personal lives and our work lives who have been incredibly supportive. Here is just one example of the support we received. We got this email this morning:

Hey --- I know you're going crazy getting ready for your flight. Know that I am praying for you all. Here -- let's pray together -- :-)

Dear Lord, I just thank you so much for Gary and Sue and their desire to adopt a little girl in their life. God, they have waited so long to add another to their family. I pray dear God for you to have your hand on them, keep them safe on this journey Dear Lord. I pray that when they get to Vietnam all will run smoothly and they will have no more bumps in the road.

You are a loving God Dear Lord, I thank you for loving each and every one of us. And may we remember that through our suffering there is always something we can learn. And I thank you for when we do suffer we can draw close to you and be comforted by your truth and love.

Bless this family Dear Lord and let them draw close to you and feel your hand in this adoption.

Amen

Okay, Sue Sue -- go get your daughter. And know that ALL is good. I will continue to pray for you on your trip. AND! Can't wait for your return!!!!!

xxo

We also have great friends who we have never even met. It is amazing to see how PAPs (prospective adoptive parents) support one another through this long process through email and blogs.

We have the means to adopt from being DINKs (Double Income No Kids but with 3 pets) for so long. We have a wonderful house in a safe neighborhood with good schools for Sara. The list goes on and on.

For all of this, we are truly, incredibly thankful.

We hope that the changes in the I600 filing procedures are positive for families still waiting!!! Hopefully, it will be a good thing that leads to consistency in the program. We are thinking of you and hoping you get your referrals SOON!!

We will probably not be able to get Sara until Monday in Vietnam, Sun in the US!!

Sue and Gary

BACK TO PLAN A

I'm not exactly sure what happened today. I woke up and went to work thinking we wouldn't be traveling tomorrow. Sue's father is an attorney and he called our agency first thing. The head of our agency didn't know that we had been told to travel. We sent her the email from her Vietnam coordinator telling us to book flights and obtain visas. He also called our agency's partner which actually has the license to do business in Vietnam. I'm not sure what he discussed with them or what his tone was.

In the meantime, I had called my Congressman, Pat Tiberi, yesterday afternoon and spoke with them. Sue called both of our Senators', George Voinovich and Sherrod Brown offices. Also, her parents called their Congresswoman's, Marci Kaptur, office. All 4 offices wanted more information right away and promised to look into our specific case for us.

Next thing we know, Sue gets a call from the head of the licensed agency. She told us that everything was in place for us to travel as originally planned. Their people in Vietnam promised that we would get Sara this Sunday and that the G&R ceremony would be Monday. However, we were told there may be delays and we may be in country longer than expected. We don't care we just want our Sara.

I don't know what to expect when we actually get to Vietnam. We've been told so many things that we don't believe any of them, but we remain, as ever, cautiously optimistic. The last 24 hours have been the biggest emotional roller coaster we have ever been on.

Gary

CHANGE OF PLANS!!!!!!!!!????

OK, NOW WE ARE BEING TOLD WE CAN GO AHEAD AND LEAVE TOMORROW!!! WE HAVE BEEN PROMISED WE WILL HAVE SARA ON SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STAY TUNED!

THE TRIP IS OFF

Just when we had hope that our 6 year wait to have children was finally going to end, we got devastating news today. Now, we will not be able to travel on Thursday and it may be several more months before we are able to go.


First, this whole mess with the USCIS changing the rules about how I600s are filed. It sounds like the rule is changing, but it is not clear when it will go into effect. Our agency called us today, just 2 days before we were to travel to let us know. They provided us with no guidance as to what we should do and left it totally up to us. As of now, the old rules still apply but by the time we get to Ho Chi Minh City, they mayhave changed.


The second and worse news is that we found out through our friends in Vietnam talking to Mr. Hiep that we do not have a signed adoption decree. We were told that we had a G&R date of 10/29, but that can't happen w/o an adoption decree.

Mr. Hiep wanted to know who told us that is was alright for us to travel in the first place. He said since we had tickets, we could come and visit Sara every day in the orphanage but we could not bring her home.

Now we most likely will have to follow the new I600 rules which will add 2 months to our travel date. Also, many of our documents, like our I171H, are going to expire and will need to be redone.

Sue is inconsolable and I am just numb.


Gary

VIVA LA CURE!!

Weds night I was in a Fashion Show at Saks Fifth Avenue (I manage the Cosmetics Dept there) for Survivors! I felt like a Princess for a day. Here is some video. Through Sun, Saks will donate 2% of sales to Women's Cancer. SHOP! SHOP! SHOP!! They have great kids clothes!!!

Come and get me Mom and Dad!!!

We are still so excited about getting to meet Sara. It will be hard trying to contain ourselves for the next 9 days. We have lots of packing and planning to do.

Our Giving and Receiving ceremony is officially scheduled for October 29th.

We received more pictures of Sara today. Finally, a smile!!

Sara will be in our arms soon!!

We are planning to leave on the 25th now!! We should have Sara on the 28th! So much to do between now and then!

Making arrangements!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, we don't have a firm Giving and Receiving Ceremony, but our final letter has been issued. We were told we could go ahead and make arrangements for 10/28 (our Anniversary)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep your fingers crossed for us. We SHOULD have Sara on her Birthday if all goes well!

10 reasons why I love October!!

10. The leaves change color

9. I get to wear all my cute Fall clothes

8. Get to decorate for Halloween

7. It's my dear friend Suzanne's Birthday! (10/8)

6. Breast Cancer Awareness Month (Happy to be here!!!)

5. It's Gary and my Anniversary (10/28/2000)

4. It's my Birthday (10/31)

3. It's Sara's Birthday!!!!!!!!!! (10/30)

2. It started out by getting new pictures of our precious little girl!

1. Hopefully, we will travel to Vietnam!!

One of the families from our agency pleasantly surprised us with some new pictures! They got to see our precious Sara and assured us that she is well taken care of!!! I can't believe her hair! She is sooooooooooo cute.