Everything went very well today as we picked up Mia.  I’ll keep the words to a minimum as I’m sure you would rather just see pictures.  They told us that her name means “Diamond.”  They also told us that there nickname for her was “Chop” which means “no hair.”  The staff really seemed to love these babies and we felt very good about the care that Mia has had over the last 11 months.  She hasn’t really appreciated having a new mom yet, but she will come around.  I have some additional pictures from the day that I may post later, but for now I thought I would stick to just “Mia” pictures!

They informed us today that the Giving and Receiving Ceremony has been set for Wendesday. So, tomorrow we will be going to get Mia’s medical exam and Tuesday is going to be a site-seeing day.

Cameron

Here we are talking to the care givers.  They told us Mia’s schedule, what she eats, what she likes, doesn’t like, etc.  The man in the bottom right corner is Mr. Hiep, the in-country director for our adoption agency.

Here is Kelly holding Mia for the first time!

Both of the babies were very tired, and Mia ended up falling asleep on Kelly during the meeting.

Here is a picture of the two families, the care givers, and Mr. Hiep.

OK, HERE is were I thought we might run into problems.  Kelly started picking up other kids on the way out the door.  I was concerned that she was going to take of running with two!  Reluctantly, she gave this beautiful girl up and remained content with only one baby!

Here is Kelly getting back into the cab on our way to the hotel.

OK, I had to put in at least ONE picture of Kelly crying.  Actually, truth be told, she did a pretty good job.  She cried just a little bit when we first arrived and then just here, when we left.  I think she really just felt bad for the care givers.  They seemed very sorry to see the girls go.

In the hotel lobby, Mia woke up.  With the pictures I picked to put in this entry, you would like she didn’t cry much.  That is NOT true.  She actually cried quite a bit, poor little thing.  Such a disruption to her little life.

One final shot of Mia in our hotel room.  It is starting to seem real!

 After Kelly and I had a chance to shower and change, we went out with the people who are with our group that is adopting during this trip.  After seeing the sites and sounds for a couple hours, we came home and I had a chance to get some pictures ready to put up for you guys.  While I’ve been doing this, Kelly took a nap!  That may have been a mistake.  We will see.  It is late afternoon here, but early morning at home.  I’m trying to stay up so that I can get my biological clock reset, but it isn’t easy.  Especially when we want to stay up late enough to talk to the kids tonight (Sat. morning).

So, here are the pictures.  The next set of pictures will be of Mia and Kelly bawling like a baby!  Hey, she has waited long enough, so I won’t fault her for it.

If you want, feel free to contact me at cbernadsky@woh.rr.com or Kelly at kbernadsky@woh.rr.com.  We don’t really have much else to do!  (Note TV comment later)

Cameron

This is the Hong Kong International Airport.  We arrived at around 7:00 am and the place was a ghost town.  By the time we left at 8:50, it had really started to come to life.

This is a big ying/yang sculpture they had at the Hong Kong airport.  Nothing special, I just thought it was pretty.

Here I am standing in front of the window at the Hong Kong airport.  I wanted Kelly to take the shot 1) so that you would know that I really was here, and 2) because the airport is surrounded by hills (you can see them in the background).  It really is a pretty city.

What a trouper!  Kelly had gone four hours to LAX with another 14 to Hong Kong and yet she can still smile as we wait to board the Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to HCMC.  She wasn’t overly happy to have me taking pictures since she had gone over 24 hours without a shower, but I thought she still looked pretty!

As we drove into HCMC, we passed by the Presidential Palace.  I took a quick shot on the way by.

This is our hotel in Vietnam.  It is called the Thein Xuan Hotel.  It isn’t overly Western (read that to mean all the TV channel’s are in Vietnamese!  Are you kidding me????  What am I supposed to do for two weeks?  Thank goodness Koreen gave us some DVD’s to watch!)  The staff has been great.  They bend over backwards to help you.  I was having problems with my laptop and I had three bell hops sitting around a table with me in the lobby trying to figure it out.

Here is the view from our room.  Hey, don’t complain … the other people with us do not have a window.  I will take what I can get!

This is right below our window.  We are on the 6th floor of a 10-story hotel.  As you can see, these people below us have a little garden going on.  Maybe they will invite us over for dinner?

Here are our adoption-mates for the next couple of weeks.  They are fun to be around and it is just nice having someone from “home” around.  They have been here a couple of days, so they have been invaluable sources of information for us.  We are going to dinner together in a few minutes.  I can’t wait.  I’m starved!

OK, this next one about did Kelly in.  As with any city like this, there are a lot of street vendors selling food.  If you look beside this lady, you can see all sorts of strange things, not the least of which are chicken’s feet.  The smell was a little much for Kelly and I was worried that she wasn’t going to be able to eat tonight.  However, I think she has recovered enough for dinner.  We will see.  We will NOT, however, be eating at THIS establishment!

Although traffic is not NEARLY as bad as in India, it is still crazy.  I threw this shot in to show you the motorcyclists waiting for the light to change to green, which they rarely do (wait, I mean … not the light turning green).  I am going to get some better shots for you to visualize what it is like.  Everyone drives like crazy, going all directions, stopping only at the last minute before hitting someone or being hit.  To cross the street, you just walk on out.  They will stop … at least so far they have.

This is the Saigon Center, where there is shopping.  It is pretty Western, as you will see in the next picture.

The Saigon Center was just like being at home.  It was basically a mall with items like you would find in any mall in America.  Here, Kelly looks through the toys.  Sorry, kids, she didn’t buy anything!

This is Kelly and I in the lobby of the another shopping center; this one with a grocery store.  I know … what am I doing?  In my defense, I have my carrying case with money and passport information tied around my waste and it kept sliding down all afternoon.  I BELIEVE that is why my hand is there.  I wish I could retake this shot …

We are in HCMC and are in our hotel room.  It is a very nice room … nothing fancy, but very clean and nice.  And, free WiFi, so who is to complain. We settled in around noon on Saturday … around 1 AM Saturday morning for everyone back home.

The plane ride from Hong Kong to HCMC was pretty rough.  There were a couple of kids in front of us that ended up throwing up and there were several people, including Kelly, who felt pretty poor after we landed.  It wasn’t continuous, but we had long stretches of moderate turbulance.  And, on a 2 1/2 hour flight that can really wear on you.

But, we got here safe and sound and were met at the airport by the agency’s representative.  Then, when we got to the hotel we were met by one of the other families that is already here.  I think we are going out this afternoon to get a few things done.  Hopefully tonight I can post a few pictures.  I’m kinda tired …

One of the things that we did find out was that our Giving and Receiving Ceremony has been postponed until Tuesday or Wednesday.  We will still get Mia tomorrow morning, and the representative is going to help us get some of the other things done in the mean time.  However, keep praying that the delays are minimal.

Thanks ….

Cameron

After traveling for almost the last 24-hours, we are currently in Hong Kong.  We will be leaving in just a couple of hours for Ho Chi Min City.  After the first 4 hour flight to LAX, we were not sure how we were going to fair for 14 more hours, but it wasn’t too bad … just boring.  Actually, the food on the plane was pretty good.

We ran into a group of people from the Tulsa and Arkansas area that are also going to HCMC to pick up babies, so it was nice to have some friendly faces around.

I haven’t been able to find Wi-Fi access in any of the airports yet, so that’s why I haven’t updated anyone.  But, as soon as we get into HCMC and into the hotel, we should be able to post more!

Cameron

Last night, after talking to our adoption agency in the afternoon, we had pretty much decided that is was going to be mid-October before we went to get Mia.  Kelly and I were pretty good with that.  Today, they called and told us that our Giving and Receiving Ceremony will be Oct. 1st, so we had better hurry up and get over there!  We just bought our tickets tonight, Kelly worked on child care all afternoon, and it looks like we are ready to go.

We will be leaving next Thursday night, Sept. 27th, at around 9pm.  We will have a four hour flight to LA, then a 14 hour flight to Hong Kong, followed by a 2 1/2 hour flight to Ho Chi Min City.  That is a long flight.  We have scheduled our flights back on Oct. 12th, which is pushing it.  However, we talked to our travel agent, Todd (yes … the same Todd that everyone uses.  And who wouldn’t?  Your crazy if you don’t use him), and he felt that if we needed to stay a little longer, the flights the following week looked reasonably open.  So, that is the plan.  Throw in Columbus Day on Oct. 8th, for which all the US Government offices that we need will be closed, and we have a little challenge on our hands.  But, that has never slowed us down before.

Keep praying for the process, especially while we are in Vietnam.  It would really be great to fly out on Oct. 12th, especially for the our kids here in the US and the people that are helping take care of them.

I”m not sure if I will post anything until next Thursday.  Hopefully the next post will be with pictures from LA or Hong Kong.

Cameron

Well, we talked with our adoption agency today and it is official … the government of Vietnam has decided to wait on signing an Adoption Decree, and thereby not set a Giving and Receiving date, until there are more families in country.  Those other families are right at the point of getting their “third letter” so we are looking at the beginning of October, at the earliest.  I’m hoping we get to stay for birthdays and then get Mia before hers!

The adoption agency was nice enough to send us an international cell phone in the mail to use while we are there.  My friend had already given me one to use, but it was still nice of them.  A small peace offering??

Cameron

As is typical, we have yet to have a Giving and Receiving set.  So, it is very doubtful that we will be traveling this next week.  They have told us to get our Visa’s, so hopefully it is coming sooner rather than later.  Our Visa will be good for 30-days, but you can get an extension on that.  It only seemed to make sense to have it rather than sweat a short turn around time.

The process, to be honest, has been very frustrating and emotionally draining.  Because of that, I want to refrain from commenting on that process.  In the end, when we have Mia, I am sure all the frustrations and disappointments will be more than worth it.  However, when you are in the middle of the process it does not make a lot of sense.  I realize that you are dealing with a foreign country and language barriers, etc.  But, for people like us that are analytical, it is not a very streamlined process and there are not a lot of opportunities for factual answers to your questions.  But, no one said it would be easy, did they???

Keep praying for us and that the process continues to move forward and that Mia continues to be taken care of in county.  I will let you know when I know more!

Cameron

We heard from our adoption agency tonight and they told us that the Vietnamese government has accepted our third letter and will be issuing an adoption decree early next week.  They have confirmed that our TENTATIVE Giving and Receiving (G&R) Date, the date which Mia is officially ours, is still September 24th.  That will not be firm until the actual decree is signed.

That said, we would probably be leaving around September 21st.  I wrote our travel agent tonight, although it is a little early, but we should probably start talking about plane tickets as we will need to buy them as soon as the G&R is set.

The one issue we are trying to work around is the birthdays we are going to miss.  Those that know us well know that all but two of the birthdays in our family happen between Sept. 22 and Oct. 22.  We will miss Zach (9/22), Brit (10/3) and Luke (10/5), not to mention Kelly (10/1) and I (10/4) will have to celebrate in Vietnam.  Mia fits well in our family at 10/21 and Max rounds things out at 10/22.

Keep praying that everything continues to move on God’s time table and the He works out all the final details for the kids.

As always, if you have any questions, please ask!

Cameron