Since it has been a little while since I have posted any pictures, I thought I would put some u today … for the last time???

On the way up to Hanoi from HCMC, we had the airlines get a wheelchair for Tammy’s mom because she has a bad knee.  While Kelly and Tammy had to go the normal route to get to the airplane, Lynn and I received the custom treatment and were lifted up into the back of the plane on a food service lift!

I thought I would throw in some pictures of our hotel room here in Hanoi.  The problem is, the hotel looks pretty nice in the pictures!  It isn’t bad, it is just a little worn and, as I said before, loud.  They are doing construction next door and they work until almost midnight every night.

Here is where we have breakfast in the mornings.  Today, I’m not feeling very good, so Kelly went solo without me!

As with all of the hotel’s we go to, Mia is adored by all the staff.  These girls just LOVE babies!

We went for a walk yesterday while waiting for our incorrect appointment time at the INS.  The streets here are much wider than HCMC and that makes it feel like it is not quite as congested.

I took a picture of this bus because it was just PACKED with people.  I don’t know if you can see it or not, but it looks like you couldn’t fit another body in there if you tried!

We were desperate to find a restaurant to eat in, so we ended up in an open street place.  This was probably our most ambitious lunch outing yet!  The food was good, but it may have been my demise today!  Everyone else seemed to handle it OK.

We finally found the NICE part of Hanoi last night and were able to have a nice dinner for a change.  There was another beautiful park around the lake in the old district of Hanoi.  However, by the time we got out of dinner, it was too dark to get any decent shots.

Here is a final shot of Mia and I enjoying our night on the town!

I am ready to go.  We leave in just a few minutes to go to the INS office.  The next post should tell you we are coming home!

Cameron

We went down to the consulate office this afternoon for our 2pm appointment … only to find out it is TOMORROW afternoon at 2pm.  This is a problem, because the VISA’s need six hours to clear and we wouldn’t be able to pick them up until Monday.  Monday is a LOT better than next Thursday, but it still makes for a long weekend in a city that we are not as used to as we were in HCMC. 

The one American interviewer was between parents, so Tammy marched right in to the interview room and started talking to him about all the frustrations.  We are in Hanoi, the ONLY adopting family without representation, we feel very lost, and we just really want to go home.  I think all the frustrations of the last couple of days really came to a head for her and she got a little emotional. 

In the end, we BELIEVE we have an appointment tomorrow morning at 9AM.  That is when he told us to come back.  He said that will give them enough time to clear the VISA’s and get them back to us between 3 and 4PM. We would still make our flight. 

We are believing that is what is going to happen and are planning on coming home tomorrow (Friday) night.  If not, we will be home Monday.  Either way, we are so ready to get home and see the kids and all our family and friends!

Cameron

We have had a couple of miracles over the last 24-hours and I wanted to share them with you.

First, yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, our representative told us that our 5:30 flight to Hanoi had been canceled and we would not be able to leave until 8:30pm on a different flight.  Our representative suggested that we stay at the hotel where we were comfortable and head to the airport later in the evening.  However, we really felt like we should go to the airport anyway.  When we got to the airport, they had initiated a different 5:30 flight and we left HCMC on time.  Thank you, God.

Then, when we arrived in Hanoi and were getting our baggage, we received a call from our facilitator.  When we had met with the INS in HCMC, Ms. Russell told us that she was doubtful that we would get out of Hanoi by Friday night.  She said that the Hanoi office was very backlogged.  Our facilitator called us to tell us that our appointment in Hanoi would not be until Wednesday of next week!  This was a tremendous emotional shock.  Everything had moved along so well and this was supposed to be the easiest part!  We were fully prepared to have to wait until Monday, but Wednesday seemed like an eternity!  I immediately e-mailed the consulate myself and asking if there was any way to expidite.  In addition, we e-mailed many of our friends at home to pray for a quicker appointment.  I found that the part the bothered me the most is that I really, really miss the kids and I couldn’t imagine having to be gone another week!

To make matters worse, our hotel in Hanoi is not the greatest in the world.  It isn’t bad, but it is old and dingy and very, very noisy.  All night last night we were woken up by construction noise, people noise, TV noise, radio noise.  I think they turn the lobby into a disco or something at night!  We continued to keep upbeat, although it was very discouraging.  Kelly and I woke up this morning and started making plans.  First, we have to get water and formula from the grocery store.  We were not prepared for a week in Hanoi.  Next, we needed to find a new hotel.  Finally, we had to figure out what we were going to do for the next week!

At 8:10 this morning (Thursday), our representative called and said that he had good news.  Our appointment had been moved to TODAY at 2pm and his representative was coming to the hotel to pick up our paperwork and file it.  Praise the Lord.  I felt awed that God would move so quickly on our behalf, even quicker than I would have thought to ask.  We are going to get some breakfast and then go down to the Consulate around lunch time.  If everything goes as it should, we should have the VISA tomorrow and still try and make our flight.  We are going to ask the Consulate if they could please get the VISA prepared just a little earlier than the usual 4PM so that we can get to the airport.

God’s hand has continued to be in this process and will continue through the trip.  I will update you after our appointment this afternoon.

Thank you again for all of your continued prayers and support.

Cameron

We are sitting in our nice, cool hotel room, trying to finish off the last of the Pepsi’s, Diet Pepsi’s, and animal crackers that we don’t want to stuff in our suitcase because they are all already close to or slightly past the weight limit.  Note to those that follow us:  Pepsi is better than Coke in Vietnam.  I don’t know why, but it may have something to do with the Coke here having more carbonation than in the US.  Coke is a bottle is better than a can.  Pepsi tastes spot on! (You can tell I’ve been around a lot of Aussie’s on this trip!)

Everything went very well at INS.  Ms. Russell, the interviewer, was an extremely nice lady who was very pleasant to deal with.  We were in and out in just 15 minutes.  Thank you to everyone who has prayed us through all this.  As we waited to go to the INS office, Mia got a little hungry and decided the chair in the lobby looked appetizing!

We fly out tonight at 6pm for Hanoi with hopes of getting an interview for Mia’s VISA tomorrow morning.  It is still going to be tight on hitting our flight Friday night, but God has worked through the process so far and we believe he will continue to help us. 

Yesterday afternoon, after Mia took a little nap,

we went for a walk with Scott down to the Saigon River.

On the way, we passed the Saigon Opera House.  I have been meaning to take pictures of this building ever since we arrived because it is a very pretty building.  Today was my last chance!

The Saigon River was nothing really to talk about.  As you would expect, there were some nice parks along the river, but nothing really spectacular.

The river itself is pretty dirty as I think they dump raw sewage in it.  We had a guy come up to us and offer to take us for a one hour boat trip along the river for $200,000 VD.  It was tempting.  But the thought of being stuck out in the river with this guy and the price changing was a little much for my stomach.  So, we decided to ride the ferry over to the other side.  Here is Scott waiting for the ferry to unload before we got on.

You had to climb up to the “observation deck” for the extended 4 minute ride across the river.

As we were getting ready to go on the ferry, there was one aggressive taxi driver that kept shouting directions to us.  I don’t know if he was hoping that when we came back we would ride with him or what.  But, he kept directing us through the process of getting on the ferry.  One of the last things he told us as we were getting on the ferry was to be careful on the other side.  THAT sat well with me.

When we got to the other side, we had to let all the motorcycles and cars off first before we could get off.

Then, we exited the ferry station into District 4 of HCMC.  Here is the view from the gates of the ferry.

I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t really encouraged by this view.  In fact, I felt distinctly uncomfortable. While it may just have been a different area, it seemed significantly more poor than where we had been and I kept hearing that guy in the back of my head:  “Be Careful.”  So, we turned right around and rode back!

When we got back tot he other side, there were several little boys that had just pulled a huge fish or something like a fish out of the river.  I have no idea what they planned to do with it, but they were pretty excited.

Last night we ate at a restaurant called Milwaukee BBQ, which really wasn’t a BBQ at all, but did have decent Western food.  Understand that when I say that, there is little resemblance to REAL Western food.  While the food here was fine, you really miss “American” food because there is NO place that makes food like home.

On the way over, I took a couple of shots that I have been meaning to show you.  First, the street cleaners.  These people work all day and all night keeping the streets of HCMC cleared of trash.  In fact, a lot of the street vendors just throw their trash into the street knowing that the street cleaners will come and pick it up.  They really do a nice job.  In this picture you can see the lady actually sweeping the street with a broom.  They do this all day long. I think they may be fairly low on the economic class scale, but they sure work hard.

The other people you see a lot are the tourist security officers.  These are basically a bunch of youth that help you get across the street.  There are several posted at every corner at the really busy intersections and they are tasked with helping to stop traffic while you cross so that you don’t get killed.  I’m not sure how much benefit they are to you, but you see them all the time.

After dinner, we went over to the hotel that Scott and his mother are staying.  It is in the back pack district known for really inexpensive hotels that are used a lot by young people visiting the country.  You are basically have to go down back ally’s to get to their hotel.

However, at $15/night it really is a good deal and, although the rooms are small, they were just as nice as ours.  They had a TV, refrigerator, A/C, and a cooling fan.  I think that IF we came back (over my dead body) we would probably stay someplace like this and save the money. 

After visiting for awhile, we went to a local restaurant for some ice cream before heading back home.

It was pouring rain, so we took a taxi back to the hotel.  We hated to do that because we have really enjoyed walking to all the places we have been.  But, we didn’t feel like getting back to the hotel sopping wet!

The hotel that we are going to in Hanoi says they have high-speed internet, so hopefully I will get to continue the blog.  Worst case, I should still be able to let you know what is happening even if I can not post pictures.  But, I will try and do both.  I don’t know how much “sight seeing” we will do there as we are hoping to get in and out as quickly as possible!

Thank you again for all your thought, prayers, and e-mails.  It has made the trip a lot easier knowing that people at home care.

Cameron

For those of you that may check this in the middle of the night, we were having a nice breakfast this morning and in came Mr. Heip.  There was a minor paperwork mistake that we had to fix, but our appointment is this morning at 10am.  This is a big hurdle and what we have all been waiting for.  I will update you when we get out.

Thank you again for all of your prayers.  We may STILL make it home by the weekend. 

Cameron

Well, we are almost to noon with no word from INS.  That was to be expected, however it would have been really nice to get that part of the process over today.  I spent an hour on the phone last night trying to find us hotel rooms in Hanoi.  Apparently this is a busy tourist season there right now and every hotel was booked solid.  I finally found two hotel rooms for us, so now we just need to finish business off here and head up there.  I think tomorrow has a much better chance.

Yesterday afternoon Kelly, Mia, and I went to the War Remnants Museum.  It was a HOT and HUMID afternoon … kind of what you would expect from Vietnam.  For the first time, Mia even put on a hat!

The museum was OK.  Basically a shine to all the awful things the Americans did to Vietnam.  Outside they had U.S. military equipment that they had seized.  I figured I would include the next picture just for Max since he likes bulldozers.  This bulldozer weighs 42 tons and was used for clearing large areas of trees and foliage.

They also had an area that was either a recreation or reconstruction of a US prison used to hold North Korean insurgents.  It showed how they were tortured and forced to live in subhuman conditions.

Overall, it told only the worst half of the story.  While much of it probably was true, and it was sad to see what war does to innocent people, you still had to remember what the South Vietnamese were fighting for.  However walking through this museum, as an American, with all the Vietnamese around you, you DID feel a little uncomfortable!  You kept wondering what THEY were thinking about YOU!

Just outside the prison above, a guy mention my Cincinnati Reds hat.  Ended up he was from Dayton, but had been living in HCMC with his wife for the past three years.  He was managing the local United Airlines branch.  Nice guy.  When I asked him about his family, he told me that he had one son that was older than me … 27 years old.  That made my day.  Kelly keeps reminding me and everyone that I tell the story to that I was wearing a baseball cap at the time.  If not, he may not have made the same judgement!

After leaving the War Remnants Museum, we went for a walk in the heat. We decided to check out yet another park.  I know that I make a big deal about the parks, but I don’t think I have ever been anywhere that had so many beautiful parks in such close proximity to each other.  All of the parks we have been within walking distance of our hotel and we seem to go to a different one every day.  This one was probably the prettiest yet, with fountains and everything.  This was the first park we had been to with water. 

At dinner, I tried to instill a little hometown pride in Mia.  She wasn’t too thrilled about it!

We met a nice gentleman from Germany who was an American citizen.  He had spent his career with the State Department and had moved to Germany with his wife after retiring in the US.  His wife does something with Germany’s space program.  (They have a space program???)  Anyway, he was back in Vietnam for the first time since being stationed there from 1966 – 1968.  He offered to take our picture, so we obliged.

On the way back to our hotel, there was some sort of major congestion at one of the intersections.  Now, these intersections are usually congested as it is, so when something happens, they become a mess. That meant that all the scooters that HAD been on the road NOW were using the side walk!  So, this is what we had to walk through, on the sidewalk, to get home.

Here is another view of us crossing a street at dusk.  This is what you have to fight every day.  There are no crossing lights, stop lights, right-of-way, etc.  You just kind of time when you are going to walk into the street and then hope that they all go around you.  This picture is with us in the middle of the street.  That is the market in the background.

Finally we make it to our street.

It was one of the most harrowing walks that we have had yet!  I don’t know what it is about Monday night in Saigon, but it is a busy one!!

This afternoon, if it isn’t TOO hot, I think we may walk down to the Saigon River.  All last week it had rained every day around lunch, and that really kept the heat down.  But, it hasn’t rained since Saturday and it is really humid right now.  That makes it hard on Kelly, especially when she has the carrier and is holding a sweaty little girl on the front of her all day.

Keep praying for the process.  If we can get through INS by tomorrow sometime, we can still make it home for the weekend!

Cameron

 Last night Kelly, Mia, Scott, Tammy, and myself went out to dinner and then went over to see the water puppet show.  Here Kelly, Mia and I are standing in front of the theater.  They say that the Hanoi water puppets are better, but since we were in HCMC, we figured we would give them a shot.

The theater was only a short walk from our hotel and it was a nice evening.  Tickets were pretty expensive ($4/person), so we had to get there early to make sure we got a seat.  Once seated, every one looked like they couldn’t WAIT for the performance to begin!

The show was pretty good.  I mean, my brother-in-law Chris would have had a stroke sitting there for 50 minutes, but it was interesting.  Water puppets date back to the 11th Century.  Puppeteers stand waist deep in the brackish water behind the green curtain you see in the middle of this picture touching the water.

Then, they control puppets that are on long polls from behind the curtain. 

While it seems a little strange just talking about it here, it really is amazing what these people can do with some sticks!  They had stories of Navy quests:

And of a large boat race:

There is a live band that plays the music and narrates all the voices.  The guy in the blue was the main male voice and the lady next to him was the main female voice.

At the very end, the puppeteers came out and took a bow for the crowd.

Mia seemed to enjoy the show!

While it was very interesting, the down side was the the entire thing was in Vietnamese!  You did get a program that was written in English, so at least you knew what each scene was (sort of), but a lot of the time you were just watching the puppets without a clue to what was really going on.  However, it was defiantly worth coming to see once.

This morning we met with Mr. Heip and received a bunch of paperwork.  Probably one of the most exciting things that he brought was Mia’s Vietnamese passport, which puts us one step closer to leaving.  He also provided us a sealed medical report that we have to provide to the US Government and a large booklet that had all of Mia’s information in it.  That was really interesting.  It had copies of the ID cards of Mia’s parents along with pictures of each of them, copies of her abandonment paperwork, the orphanage acceptance letter, the Adoption Decree from the province were she lived in Vietnam, etc.  Just a ton of stuff that was really neat to look through.  We also received immunization records and all of her medical records up to this point, including a chest xray. 

While it is still very doubtful that we will get an INS interview tomorrow, we are still blindly hoping that it happens.  Everyone who is back home with their adoptive child is laughing at this statement.  They know how crazy that would be!  But, we can dream, can’t we?  Wednesday is probably a better chance.  Even if we don’t get our interview until Thursday morning, we MAY still be able to turn everything around and get out of Vietnam by Friday evening.  We could go to Hanoi Thursday afternoon, have all our papers filed then, and meet with the US Agency for Mia’s Visa on Friday morning, which they issue by 4PM Friday afternoon.  Then, we could get to the airport and get the heck out of dodge.  That’s the plan right now.  We would LOVE to get out of here before the weekend!

After Mr. Heip left, we decided that a good, healthy lunch was in order.  So we went out and had ice cream!  Kelly, Mia, Tammy, Fayth, and Tammy’s mom all enjoyed our selves.

We had seen this nice little shop by the Saigon Tax Center that gave you ice cream in a coconut and thought today seemed like the perfect time to try it out.  Notice Fayth doing the splits.  That girl is the most limber thing!

This afternoon, after nap, we may go over to the War Remnant Museum.  I haven’t quite received my fill of how evil America is with its concentration camps and child torture, so I thought we might go hear about it some more!

Have a great day! We love all of you and all the support you give us by reading this blog.

Cameron

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

Have any of you noticed yet when I started this blog?  Look to the right, under Mia’s picture.  I just saw this evening that this blog began on 7-7-07.  The perfect number.  Kind of interesting, huh?  Or, maybe it is just late and I’m loopy.  You be the judge.

C

OK, to all those that wake up every morning looking for a new post, I’m sorry.  I usually post in the early afternoon here after we have been out all morning and Kelly and Mia are enjoying an afternoon nap.  This morning, however, we made an exciting trip to the grocery store.  While I COULD have posted pictures of me carrying bags back, I didn’t think it was very compelling.  So, I waited until evening.

This mornings fashion picture was done while Kelly and Mia waited for their breakfast.

Then, after extended anticipation, our breakfast finally came.  I decided that today was the day that I was going to try Pho Bo, which basically translates to Beef Noodle Soup.  A lot of the Vietnamese eat this for breakfast and I had become a little tired of my typical omelette.  Kelly decided, much to my surprise, that this morning was the morning for HER to try Pho Bo also.  Here is what it looked like:

To many of you that probably looks appetizing.  To some of you, like Koreen, you can’t imagine eating something like this for breakfast.  I wish the pictures that I took of Kelly eating her first bite of Pho had turned out.  Problem is, it was also her LAST bite of Pho and I didn’t have a chance to retake.  I ate mine … which wasn’t half bad … and she sat and watched.  That was the end of Pho for Kelly.

As usual, Mia kept the staff occupied during our breakfast.

Do you see the maid behind the glass?  She had been playing peek-a-boo with Mia from behind the door.  Do you ever have that friend or neighbor that is just a little TOO friendly?  That is this maid.  She is a very nice lady, but she insists on picking Mia up all the time, and Mia doesn’t really like her all that much. 

On our way over to the store, I snapped this picture of a street vendor.  You can tell by the look on her face how excited she was to be the subject of yet another American’s vacation scrap book.

At the grocery store, I took this picture of four people on a scooter.  These people will pack as much as humanly possible on these two-wheeled vehicles.  I have seen people carrying food, televisions, even refrigerators on the back of their bikes.  Four, however, is the most people I’ve seen on one yet, but I’ve got my eyes peeled for that individual brave enough to try for five.

On our way home we stopped in a little French cafe we like called D’Liss.  It is nice because it has peach iced tea and really good hot chocolate.  The food isn’t bad either.  The only problem today was that the power was off, which isn’t a totally uncommon situation over here.  So, we sat in the heat, with no air conditioning, and drank our iced peach tea.

Bao Chau (Mia) got tired and decided to take a nap on the bench.

After lunch and a little nap (the point at which I did NOT post pictures today), we took a cyclo ride to the zoo.  These guys were really nice and it was a very pleasant way to go.  During the trip, they explained what the different buildings were and were basically like a tour guide.

As you can see, though, it is NOT the fastest mode of transportation on the streets.

We stopped at Notre Dame church and our driver took our picture.  While I look like I am smiling, it is a look of fear as I am realizing that I just handed my camera over to a guy that could run off and probably buy two or three more cyclo’s once he has sold it.  In the end, he did give it back.  We did run into a little issue on payment at the end of the ride, but I didn’t feel like fighting him and paid him what he wanted.  Somedays you feel like you are negotiating everything and it can get a little tiring.

The zoo was nice.  While the infrastructure was in need of repair, the landscaping was kept extremely nice.  You see this in most areas of HCMC.  They seem to take a lot of pride in their parks and botanical gardens.

The elehants were kind of cool, just because you could get so close to them.  They (vendors, not the elephants.  They are smart, but not that smart) sell these sticks … I don’t know what they are … and the elephants eat them.  You can actually feed them (the elephants, not the vendors.  Well, you may be able to feed the vendors by hand, too, but I didn’t see anyone try) from your hand.  So, you can imagine how friendly they are towards people (both vendors and elephants).

On the way to dinner, Mia got a little bored with the normal view and decided that the upsidedown view was MUCH more interesting.

We went by the hotel, picked up our friends, and went to what is quickly becoming our favorite place to eat here.  Aleez Boo. 

To all of you that were concerned about my not getting the pineapple rice boat on my birthday (that was actually none of you), I ordered it tonight and it was great.  Along with onion rings.  They were great, too!  On our way home, we went through another local park.

At the hotel tonight, Mia played with her favorite toy … the empty water jug.  Isn’t that typical.  She walked around the beds, into the bathroom, and back around the beds banging the empty container on the floor the entire time.  At least I know what to get her for Christmas!

Tomorrow we have the opportunity to go back to Notre Dame church for a 9:30 English service.  It is not protestant, so we haven’t yet decided if we will go or not.  We will probably make that decision in the morning.

Have a great Saturday!

Cameron