It's Official!!

We are now officially recognized by the Vietnamese government as Sara's parents. We got word
late yesterday that our Giving and Receiving Ceremony might be on Tuesday. This morning around 10:00 am we got a call from Mr. Hiep that he was coming to pick us up in 40 minutes. We had just gotten back to the room from breakfast and hadn't showered or gotten dressed. We hurriedly got ready and as we were leaving the room, received another call saying he would pick us up at 1:30.

The ceremony was fast. It involved signing a bunch of papers with the director of the orphanage and the "President" of Binh Duong Province. All in all, it lasted 10 minutes, but was quite emotional nonetheless. We were the 36th family to adopt from the province.

Now we just need to get past the US government requirements and we get to come home. Hopefully, our first INS interview will be Friday. Next Monday is Veterans' Day and offices will be closed.

The Terrible Twosome:
Yesterday, we visited the Reunification Palace which is the former residence of the President of South Vietnam. This is where the famous photograph of the NVA tank crashing through the gates was taken.The palace is still used for official functions, but it otherwise still looks like a 50s-60s style house.
A display of gifts given to the President was in one courtyard including real elephant feet.