Video Killed the Radio Star....

We just posted a small video clip of when we first held Thuy on May 28th, Monday. You should be able to see the link on the right side of the blog. Due to Internet malfunctions here in Hanoi, or at least at the Hong Ngoc hotel we are unable to view the blog. I can post, but can't actually see the blog page, so hopefully it is on there. This was the very first moment I saw Thuy and got to hold her, Bill was filming so he wasn't in the clip.

We went to the silk factory today and saw how they make silk and then proceeded to the shops where everyone enjoyed some shopping. We've spent our afternoon putting our gifts for the officials, birth mom, and caretaker in bags with tissue paper, etc. And packing Thuy's bag and arguing over the easiest way to mix the bottles. For all you who can remember your first bumbles as parents, you can appreciate the challenge of being a new parent on a trip to a third world country, and receiving her before a 3 hour bus ride back to your hotel. So Thuy's bag is packed.... one pacifier, 3 diapers, wipes, 2 bottles, water to mix the bottles, a toy, and an outfit. Let's hope we've got everything we'll need for our first few hours as parents. Bill's been busy helping all the other parents with their questions as new parents such as formula questions, possible earache symptoms and treatments, etc. He's promised to give a quick exam to everyone's kids when we get back to the hotel.

So, this is our last post before our GOTCHA DAY.... I can barely believe after all this waiting....its finally here.... we bring our baby home tomorrow to her forever family! Happy Happy Birthday Cindy and Jeff! We love you both and wish you a happy & blessed day! I'm so excited our GOTCHA Day will be shared with these two very special people and Thuy will be excited to share her day too!

Packages Delivered

To Charisa, Kari, & Karen, wanted to let you know I delivered your packages to Martin the in country coordinator for WC. I even took a picture of the exchange so you'd see your items made it to VN. Kenny, our other coordinator delivered them when we went to visit the orphanage on Monday. They didn't allow us to take any pictures of your little ones or see the inside of the orphanage, but they did say they would be taking some new photos, so hopefully you'll get some soon.

And for many of us, we became friends or have met and supported each other through this process on line. Many people I feel I've had the pleasure of getting to know I've never met in person. But here is a picture of Bill and I with Chi & Wim, ...friends we made on line. While we were eating breakfast one morning Wim said, "Are you the ones remodeling?"What a small world all of a sudden, right? The online community has been such a big part of our process. I don't know how people adopted before without the Internet.

Just can't wait to meet Melissa & Olivia in person, as well as hoping to have Pho one day in VN with Donna and Phoebe Jade.

Hair cut for Nugget!

Getting a hair wash

Bill's blending in

Sharing our Gotcha Day with Cindy & Jeff

Today we started with a bit of shopping again. We headed to pick up the formula the caregiver told us they were feeding Thuy, via Mom interpreting. They kept telling us she was taking Lilac. So we went to the Intimex to find Lilac. Well, there was no Lilac, but there was Enfalac, Dielac, and Frisolac. So which one was it? We stood there forever trying to decide. Saying who knows what she's been getting and if they were even mixing it correctly. But I just couldn't let go of being told by everyone not to switch the formula till we were back home. So I was really worried about choosing the wrong one. Here we are intelligent people and we can't pick a formula. There was a VN lady in the isle who kept pointing to the Enfalac and saying "#1, #1 Mead Johnson." So we just gave up and left in frustration feeling like parenthood is already hard if we can't even choose a formula correctly. But we did cheer ourselves on the way back to the hotel buy purchasing a neat lamp for Thuy's bedroom. Mom then met us at the hotel with Similac in hand and told us that was what the caretaker was telling us. So, who knows. Maybe we can take the can and make sure that's right. If not, worse case scenario we'll switch her to Similac now, that's what we have waiting at home in HI anyway. Any diarrhea should be cleared up in the 2 wks before we leave, right?

Mom took us to eat lunch today on the sidewalk as we call it. A lunch of noodles, veggies, and grilled meat all for about .75cents each. And it was absolutely delicious.

We called our coordinator this afternoon to find out if he'd heard anything definite about our G&R. He said it is scheduled for Friday June 1st!!!! Yeah.... we have a date!!! And this is Aunt Cindy & Uncle Jeff's birthdays that we'll be sharing our Gotcha Day with and we couldn't think of better company to share our special day!

So to get ready for our big day we hopped on the bus and went over to our Aunty's neighborhood and she took us all to have our hair washed and face massaged for .60cent. It was a lot of fun and felt relaxing too, not to mention the cool water felt nice. And Bill got his hair cut at the local barbershop, which is really just a salon chair outside on the corner of a building, but very cozy and still had that fun local barbershop vibe. Bill also bought some new duds since he didn't pack enough clothes. I teased him he's trying to blend in better. Although our family told us they can't bargain well when we're around.

Tomorrow the agency is taking us to the Silk Factory which should be a lot of fun and help us pass the time till Friday morning at 0500 when we head to Lang Son. So our hair is washed and our hair is cut, we're ready for you Thuy, .....can't wait to take you home forever!

Here we are at our anniversary dinner of authentic Hanoi catfish. Just like our rehersal dinner, but Hanoi instead of Brunswick, GA. Ha ha :-)



I was just thinking how nice for our 3rd anniversary we will beome a family of 3!