You may get two posts today.  We went to church this morning and then this afternoon we are going to see the famous Vietnamese Water Puppets!  But, I received a few nasty e-mails about nothing posted in the morning (Diana Whitener), so I thought I would update you on the days activities so far.

As we prepared for church this morning, Mia seems to be developing an appreciation of the bath tub.  Up until now she has cried every time we (Kelly) has given her a bath.  But today, she seemed pretty happy!

Don’t be misinformed and think that the wash cloth you see in this picture was from the hotel.  Oh no.  Those would be very difficult to find here.  This is one that Kelly packed for the trip and would suggest others do the same!

Unfortunately for all our Catholic friends, we did not go to Notre Dame for church.  We remembered that another family had found a protestant church and Kelly got on the internet and found out where it was.  It was called Saigon Evangelical Church and it was at 155 Tran Hung Dao, Quan 1 (this is for those that come after us).  It was a very nice service.  If you sit up front on the right side, they have headphones and translate the entire service in English for you.

They even give you hymnals that are written in both English and another Asian language.

They sang many well known, traditional hymns during the service.  Then, the youth choir got up and sang “Shout to the Lord.”  Almost made you feel like you were back home, except for all the Vietnamese sitting around.  We don’t have many of those in our home church.

It was a good sermon.  The pastor, Pastor Phan Quang Thien, spoke on Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and related the fact that while this was the beginning of Holy Week, Holy Week is the beginning of our ability to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They did an alter call at the end and had communion.  The service was almost two hours long and Mia hung in there for most of it.  As communion was being passed, she started getting a little crazy so we decided to leave.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped in our favorite watering hole again;  D’ Liss.  Mia, as usual, made friends as she does where ever she goes.

She always seems to be really friendly with the person who has the Cheerios.

This picture was taken just after Kelly’s borderline breakdown.  That is what SHE is calling it.  I would say it is just a symptom of being away from all the kids and your home for so long and the realization that you will have to be here a little bit longer.  It has been a very nice trip and we can’t complain, but there are times you get just sick of being here, out of your comfort zone, and you want to go home.  I had dragged Kelly across several busy streets, in front of several moving busses, through the hot, humid streets of Saigon, and she had a moment of irritation and frustration at being here.  It didn’t help when one of the waitresses at the restaurant swatted at Mia for sucking on her finger.  Momma bear almost came out, then.

Overall, things are good.  We should get some additional documentation tomorrow (Monday) and then pray hard for an INS interview on Tuesday.  That is probably a little unrealistic, but we will be praying anyway!

We met up with a gentleman and his mother from Texas who are here waiting for his own baby.  We are going to head out to dinner with them tonight and then go to the water puppets.  If I can take some nice pictures, I may post again.

Have a wonderful Sunday at your own church!

Cameron