What can happen in a week

I have neglected my duties here, so sorry. Everything has gone according to plan and we are home as scheduled. Our trip to Hanoi was almost too quick. Our first plane ride from HCMC to Hanoi went very well. It was nearly a two hour flight and we then found a beautiful city awaiting us. We found it to be very different from Ho Chi Minh City. We loved seeing the green rice fields and very different things along the way. Big billboards and large businesses lined the roads on our nearly hour drive from the airport to our hotel. When we arrived at our hotel we were amazed. We had heard that it was a great place to stay, and we were not disappointed. We were in a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment. It had a wonderful restaurant, swimming pool, and shopping. By this point many of us were content to stay in one place. We do wish we would have had a few more days to visit the local mountains, but we will keep that for a return trip someday. Mya became very fond of the buffet at the restaurant at every meal. I could not communicate that that is not the way meals always work. Oh well! There was a beautiful little lake within about a 10 minute walk from our hotel that was neat to stroll around. We were only disappointed with our washer/dryer in our room. I had heard it was there and I had plenty to wash. Well, it's a combined washer/dryer that doesn't really dry anything. It is very humid there so nothing dries well when you hang it out either. It was pretty funny to see Shawn ironing underwear to get it dry, a definite first in this household.

We left Friday night at about 9:00 to catch our flight home. What an amazing little traveler we have, yet another way she fits right into this family. She made the 4 1/2 hour flight to Tokyo, 9 hour layover, and then the 11 hour flight to Detroit without more that a couple of tears. I could not believe it. Our roughest part of the trip were the last 30 minutes of our drive home. We again stand amazed with this little girl. She had some fearful moments, but they didn't last too long. She was quite fearful coming into the house for the first time. It was dark and that did not help at all. Our sleep schedules are coming around, but it is taking a while. Mya has been sleeping in the day and awake into the night. That is not good when you don't like the dark. She is now very comfortable in the house, but the bath and the beds are still not safe for her. We will get there. She seems to love our karaoke machine, way cute!! As you can see by the picture, she still only prefers a few things to wear. I cannot communicate just how blessed we are to have this precious little girl as a part of our family. I was worried it would be difficult to feel connected with her, but we have fallen hook, line and sinker for his one!

I am very glad our kids took this trip with us. It may not be the right fit for every family, but for us it was perfect. It seems that having them allowed Mya to be more comfortable more quickly. On arriving home, she did not have to adjust to new people right away. The opportunity to visit and see this completely different culture will always have an impact on them. I think it made it easier for the people who have loved and cared for Mya for her entire life to let her go. They all loved the kids and could see the family Mya was joining. This was the first time kids have been adopted and left there care. I am so grateful for the amazing love and care they had given her, it was so evident in our several trips to visit.

Almost there!

Melanie is trying to pack for our trip to Hanoi, so I get a shot at my first post here. As most of you probably know, that means you won't get nearly as many of the great personal insights, but you will get the facts.

I believe Melanie last updated everyone shortly after we returned to Ho Chi Minh City. Since we then, everything that had to happen for us to return home on the 4th has occurred flawlessly (largely due to the efforts of Mr Minh and the Dillon staff here in Vietnam). Mya's health check went great, she received her Vietnamese passport, and we were able to be interviewed by ICS in time to schedule a Wednesday flight to Hanoi. We were also able to schedule our final interview for Mya's visa early enough that we should have the visa in hand Friday by 4:00 pm. Lastly, and probably most surprisingly, I was able to walk across the street to the local Vietnam Airlines office and purchase 5 tickets from Hanoi to Tokyo, so we can catch our scheduled flight home Saturday afternoon. That may not sound like much considering that the ticket agent spoke English, but there are apparently some concepts that I just can't seem to articulate well to those of another culture (think one-way travel and adopted child without a passport).

Enough of that, on to the important stuff. Mya is doing great. She is still very fearful of baths, bedtime, and unfamiliar clothing; but, Melanie discovered that a strategically used Oreo helps greatly. Not that we advocate bribing children (unless they are ours), but Melanie amazingly communicated to Mya that if she changed her clothes she would get an Oreo. The little thing stripped immediately and put on clothes that we had been trying to get her into since Thursday.

My biggest short-term concern has been the communication barrier. As I have already mentioned, our non-verbal communications are coming along very well. On top of that, Mya has learned all of our names as well as the English words please, thank you, cookie, walk, breakfast (I think), and ready (to be used to tell me that she is ready for me to repeat something that she found enjoyable). Each day brings a handful of new reasons to believe that she understands us almost as well as Mason and Mallory seem to, so I think we will be just fine. As Melanie said in an earlier post, we are continually reminded in so many ways how covered in prayer we have been, and this is just one more example. Thank you all!!!

Our last hurdle comes in Hanoi as we hope to be interviewed at 2:00 pm Thursday and then receive Mya's visa 24 hours later. If that works, we will board our flight from Hanoi to Tokyo at 11:55 pm Friday, lay over in Tokyo for nine hours, depart Tokyo at 3:00 pm Saturday, and land in Detroit at 1:30 pm Saturday.

Hope to see you all soon!

Ho Chi Minh City


An Giang


Ferry from An Giang


At the Rex Hote in Ho Chi Minh City

Sorry, sorry, sorry!!!

I am so sorry I have not posted sooner. We are doing so well as a new family of 5. Our ceremony went very smoothly as did our 5 hour drive back to Ho Chi Minh City. She played, slept and just took in the sights on our trip back.
She has had a few fearful times, but for the most part it has been amazing. There is no doubt we are living proof of answered prayer! I cannot tell you how obvious it is to us the way God is working through the prayers of his people. It reminds me so much of the way we felt walking through Shawn's back surgery. Thank you for your prayers!
It is good to be back in civilization. It seems like two different worlds: An Giang and Saigon. Both have been good to visit. But, as good as it was to see our litte girl's home town, we are definitely happy to be back in the city.
Our litte girl is amazing! Even with our huge language barrier we are doing really well. She is such an entertainer. I can't wait for you to hear her giggle, sing, and just talk for that matter. We are competely mesmerized by her, and we are sure you all will be as well. She loves to go out on the town, and she really enjoys shopping. The escalator and stairs bring a huge smile to her face. She ended up with a new Barbie and that was exciting too. She is taking life as a big adventure. This has exceeded all of our expectations, not just the process, but our little girl.
We hit Pizza Hut when we got back to Saigon, and she is a fan of pizza. Actuallly, we are finding she is a fan of food in general, except onions. Those she can find like Mason finds a mushroom.
We hope to be coming home on schedule, but that is not certain yet. We have the weekend to explore the city, and then we start working towards coming home again on Monday.
More to come...

4 visits, 4 different experiences

I can't believe how this week has transpired. We have now visited Mya 4 times and each one seemed so different than the others. On the third visit we walked into quite a shrill sound coming out of our little daughter. It was quite a noise and we hope it doesn't come back during our long flight back home. I think it was a happy sound. We also found out she is quite a climber! She climbed right up and on a crib trying to reach what she wanted on top. We waited all morning hoping today was the day for our G&R, but it wasn't to be. So, we headed back for one more visit. It was funny to find our kiddos dressed in the clothes we had taken the day before. I think Mya was wearing a 12 month outfit. It fit, what will the 3T & 2T outfits look like?? She is something else. I watched her leave the room today so I followed her. She went to a cabinet, turned the key, open the door, got out a pad of paper, closed the cabinet, locked the dood and snuck into the other room and colored on the paper. We will be watching out for this one!! She was quite attached to the people who care for her today. That was a good thing really, but it will make this coming separation a tough one. I left thinking I could not handle another visit without taking her with me. It was tough. On the drive back to the hotel we finally found the time for our G&R. It will be tomorrow morning, Thursday!! We were ready for a party!! We should be official tomorrow. Please pray for our little one, her world is about to be completely shaken, and for us that we can comfort her as she needs. We also have a lot to get done in a little amount of time. We will let you know how it goes!!
Thinking of you and celebrating from An Giang, Vietnam

New Pictures

2nd visit

Our second day in An Giang went by pretty slowly. We could not go back to the center until 3:00, so we spent time around the town. We have a store across the street with a grocery store, book store and several other places to browse. We browsed at some street markets but we will save the shopping for Ho Chi Minh. When we finally reached the center Mya came running straight into my arms!! I was beyond words. She was very calm, but also content just to be held. What a treat. We brought out the toys from the day before and the day got rolling again. The kids were very glad to see all of us again. Mallory was a big hit again. Mya was playing ball with her and now she says Mya seems just like part of the family. We know it will be a whole new ballgame when we leave the safety of the center. When asked Mya was able to say who her mom, dad, sister and brother were. Now we just need to learn how to say those words to her. This language barrier will be quite an issue. We will head back today at 3:00 again. Wednesday, tomorrow, will be the earliest we will be able to make this official. Please pray!! I have adopted a new song through this process and it is very meaningful still. It is called "I will wait" by Aaron Shust. If you are waiting in the adoption process I strongly suggest you find a way to listen to it. It helps out a lot on days it is difficult to wait. "When I am tired, you bring me comfort. When I am weak you give me strenght. When I can't walk you give me wings like an eagle. When I am alone you bring me peace. When I fear the unknown you give me peace. When I call you always answer me...We wait for you like a wathchman waits for morning, we wait for you like creation waits for spring, we wait for you knowing sometimes without warning you reveal your plans in ways maybe we don't understand. I will wait for your mercy, I will wait for your plan to unfold, I will wait for your mercies are new every morning" Yes, I claim these words right now! Thanks for checking in on us. I will post more as it happens.