Good Bye Hoi An, Good Bye Vietnam

March 14, 2008 - Friday

It is time to begin the journey home. It's a long road home. We left Hoi An at about 9am in a taxi headed for Danang. There we caught a flight to Ho Chi Minh City. We spent just enough time there to have a nice dinner - Brodard was no longer there (even though the sign was on the building!) so we found another place that felt more like American food than the other places. It truly was good food after only very Vietnamese food for days....the next morning we had to get up early (3am to be exact) and take a taxi to the airport to catch our flight to Hong Kong. Everything went as planned and smooth. From H.K. we flew directly to L.A. All the flights were on time and there were no problems. We landed in L.A. at 9am and caught the shuttle to go to the hotel we stayed at prior to our departure. There we were happy to find that the hotel staff did get my message about Sophie's meds and they put them in a refrigerator while we were gone. So, now we do not need to replace them (they are expensive!) AND thank God, we did not need them while we were travelling....

....we are now home and trying to kick he jet lag. Sadie gets very frustrated when she cannot sleep when she wants to. Both want to get back to school and hopefully Tuesday they will be able to - it took them forever to fall to sleep last night so we will see. Thanks for following along with us on our wonderful journey - we learned alot and relaxed alot. It was a good trip, enjoyed by all - it was a joy to see Sophie and Sadie take this trip as sisters.

Last couple days in Vietnam...

March 13, 2008 - Thursday

Today we went back to Hoi An town to have something that was custom made for Sophie re-fit. They goofed and made her pink silk shirt too big! It was one of the many custom clothing makers we bought from, this one called "Linda's"....of course this is the only one that goofed! After we returned we got on our bathing suits and hit the beach! This beach is so beautiful and peaceful - well, except for the ladies walking up and down the sand trying to get you to buy something! "No, thanks" is NOT what they want to hear. One lady told Steve "you buy from me....bad luck to you if you don't buy from me?"!! Needless to say, he did not buy from her and she was not very happy - so far, no bad luck for Steve!

The girls played in the waves with me for hours - picking up as many shells as we could get. Wave runners were being rode by other tourists near by. It would be so nice if our beaches in southern Calif. were this peaceful and calm.

After the beach we went to our room and cleaned up - changed bathing suits and hosed off the sand in our special beach shower. Then we went down to the pool to meet with Sophie's birthmother, brother and friend one last time before we depart. It was a nice time. Sophie and Sadie swam in the pool and more of Sophie's personality was shown than previous. We think it was good for them to see Sophie just being Sophie. She gave Sophie, Sadie and us another gift to remember Vietnam. Sadie and Sophie received beautiful silk dresses and Steve and I shirts. Sophie also received really cute pink p.j.'s. She will probably drown in them but maybe with a good wash and dry they will resize!

Then were the good byes and hugs and off they went on their motorbikes - looking back for one more glimpse, of Sophie. Meeting them was truly worth the trip....

A local restaurant experience - Hoi An

March 12, 2008 - Wednesday

We drove down the street to a local seafood restaurant. It is a very simple and torn down looking building. The roof was a tarp. The staff were extremely friendly and excited to know who was coming to visit. The food was probably very good for the locals. We, however, did not like it very much and it did not set well with our tummies. I already told the story in a previous post about the chicken....the girls do not want chicken for a while now. The Vietnamese like to try to get you to eat everything and that is very hard. You want to give them respect but you want to take care of yourself. It's one thing if it is just one tangerine, but, when it is lots of foods and they are constantly setting it in front of you - it is sooooo hard.

We enjoyed having a little more time with each of the family members and learn more about them. There is much we have learned and much that has taught us more about their ways and their souls. They are good people that live completely differently than us.

Beer Delivery in Vietnam!

For those of you that do not know, Steve's job is in beer distribution, so that is why there are these pictures, etc. talking about beer!

For all the beer delivery guys out there, here are some pics that I thought you might enjoy.

Hoi An at a glance - beautiful

March 11, 2008 - Tuesday

Tuesday we went shopping in Hoi An. Although it is very "touristy" it was fun. They have stalls of store and stores to shop in and most of them are kind of like duplicates. Then there were the places to have custom made clothes, street clothes, fancy clothes, Asian wear, and of course, ao dais. It was hot and humid but we still managed to all (including Steve) order shirts, pants and Sophie got an ao dais for herself and her best friend. I brought in my favorite capris and she just duplicated the fit and changed the fabric. We ordered it all before noon and it all was complete and delivered to our hotel by 6pm. The capris were only$7! Nice! Lots of fun watching the girls pick out treasures for their classmates, teachers and friends.

Birth Family Meeting

March 10, 2008,Monday
The staff of the adoption agency we used, along with a private translator, piled into a van with us to make the trip to Hoi An. It was a nice drive with everyone chatting amongst each other. We got lucky and had the nicest and funniest driver. What a sense of kindness and humor.

We past the resort that we would be staying at and went another couple miles to a very country side area and the Vietnamese people in the van were chatting away in Vietnamese and one could tell they were kind of confused as to exactly how to get where we were going. All got on their cell phones and within moments we were travelling down a dirt road lined on both sides with small homes. Very different homes. More like shacks or huts. We would get a glimpse of a child playing or a lady/man sitting in the front. One definitely got the feeling that they didn't usually have a van, filled with people, muchless a couple white ones, driving down that road.

Then the van stopped. To our left was a lady standing and waiting in anticipation. One look and both Steve and I said "it's her, there she is" - Sophie's birth mother stood flooded with tears waiting on us (we also found out that she was told a different time and thought we had changed our minds and weren't coming).

Sophie was wrapped in her caregivers arms so when we stopped and their door was opened the caregiver handed her to her birthmother. She held her tight and started walking swiftly down another dirt road up to her home. It did, really did, freak me out. I did not want either of my daughters out of my sight for one moment and in one moment that is exactly what happened. I started to cry and pray - I just didn't know.....and then in a moment I was reassured by the social worker, my husband, and other staff that everything would be okay. I had to go with the trust I had in them.

We walked into her home - very small, very simple and I tell you - the entire village was piling around and in the house. I was shocked. Sophie, Sadie and Steve were amazed and shocked. People were instantly everywhere you looked. We were on display and it was an odd feeling. I kept asking Sophie if she was alright and she kept assuring me she was. Her birthmother held her for a bit and then pulled up a chair and placed Sophie between the two of us. That was a wonderful moment between two mothers. Sophie held her hand on the left and mine on the right.

We all were able to meet Sophie's birth grandmother - almost 85 years old. We also meet Sophie's two birth brothers, an Aunt and Uncle, another Aunt and a dear friend of their family.

The birthmother gave Sophie and our family gifts. We gave her some special gifts. We knew it was overwhelming for us so it had to be getting to Sophie. We all decided that we should get together another time without so much hoopla. Everyone agreed and we all said our good byes. We piled back into the van and the entire village touched both of our daughters as they said good bye. A very different but very nice visit.

Orphanage and Foster Family

March 10, 2008 - Monday

We caught a taxi to the Rehabilitation Center for Malnourished Orphans in Danang at 8:20am. When we arrived we instantly remembered every detail of the place. Many things over 7 years change, this place was the same. A tree at the side of the courtyard appeared much smaller but that was all.

Sophie's caregiver, while at the orphanage, came out saying "Phong Lan"! over and over. She is a young lady - a mother herself, and truly, truly loved Sophie. We found out that even though Sophie was in foster care, she was with this lady often. Sophie had to go to doctors alot due to her malnourishment and what it caused her in development.

The director and assistant director along with 3 other staff members came out and were thrilled to see Sophie, but, also Sadie. They remembered the big sister well and that made her (and us) feel very good.

The girls were taken by motorbike (yikes! and I agreed to it) to a local restaurant in Danang with the caregiver and the asst. director for a bite to eat. They put helmets on the girls (thank God!) and took off - when the girls came back you could tell by the look on their face it was a very good experience and there was no need to worry so much.

The foster family came and were so happy to see Sophie - the foster family picked her up and held her close to him as tears ran down his face. It was hard for him, but, he decided it was only right to share her with his wife, Sophie's foster mom. She sobbed as she held Sophie and touched her face, looked into her eyes. It was obvious (even though we already knew) how much they truly loved our daughter. The foster father sat down and explained that they have been foster parents for 14 children. Sophie was the 11th. She was the most difficult to say good bye to. Her foster brother loved her so much and could not be there for the reunion as he is now a police officer and could not get time off for the days that we were in Danang. He sent pictures of him and him with our darling when she was younger. Sophie remembers him and that is cool.

We went back to the hotel in Danang and finished packing to leave for Hoi An at 1:30pm. The social worker, assist. director and Sophie's caregiver came back to get us to go to meet Sophie's birth family.

We left Hoi An this morning - it was a beautiful place to be. The shopping was fun and we stayed in a villa with the ocean on one side and the river on the other. We said good bye to Sophie's birth family yesterday afternoon at poolside....they came one last time to give our family gifts and to talk. They are so thankful that Sophie has us as a family (of course, we are too!) and we tape recorded a message for Sophie to save - first in Vietnamese, then translated, from her birth mother. It was an odd feeling as they drove away on their motorbikes and we went back in the entrance of our little bit of paradise.

We are now at the Oscar Saigon hotel for the nite. We are going to eat linner (lunch+dinner) at a restaurant here, the Brodard, we found when we were here adopting Sophie. It is as close to American as this town offers (or at least we have found!) and right now with my stomach doing the flip flops and all of us having just about enough Pho, noodles, rice...it's time for this.

I feel bad that we were not able to post for days - the hotel in Hoi An just wouldn't connect to the internet site. But, I plan on posting a day by day glimpse into our trip when we get back.

Before I go, I do want to share our experience in Hoi An when we went with Sophie's birth family to a local restaurant. This place looked nothing like a restaurant. They served the drinks in a old beat up bucket filled with cold water to chill them. We told them that Steve could not have seafood because he was allergic.....so they said, we get him chicken. After a bit the girls think it is soooo cute hearing the chicken in the back making noises - and lots of noise - and then silent. Then, there was chicken on a plate brought to Steve - with the head, and feet still there! The look on our faces must have been priceless.....I thought Sophie was going to hurl. Sadie and I just tried to turn away. Steve shuffled that stuff around as much as possible to make it lo0ok as though he ate it - and then there were the shrimps with eyes that the girls and I were suppose to eat - and the clams that were , oh, I cannot describe the look - however Sadie and I did try them and they were pretty good - the first time, if ya get my drift.

Our flight back to the U.S. leaves at 7am tomorrow morning - we all had a very good time, wonderful experiences - but we are ready to go home. Sleep in our own beds and eat our own food and have a big glass of milk, or better yet water/drink with ICE CUBES!!!

I will also post lots of awesome photos when I get back since that also didn't work after Danang. See ya all soon!

Well, the internet has NOT worked in our favor since our last posting. Sorry to all. It has been an amazing journey and we are all safe and happy. It will take a while to tell you what has occurred since Monday (today is Wed. here) but in a nutshell we met Sophie's birth family on Monday - it seemed the entire village wanted to see her! I will (and I promise) detail this later when I actually know the post will go through. Today we are meeting just the family for the afternoon. Her birth grandmother, mother, 2 brothers and a relative will be with us. Sophie is doing really good with it all. Yesterday her older bbrother came to the beach and when she saw him she knew right away it was him - she ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him tightly - they looked at each other and silently they spoke in different languages.

We absolutely LOVE Hoi An - it is an amazing piece of paradise....I have so much to say and so many awesome photos, video and stories to tell and I promise they are forthcoming.

We are safe - the silence was just the lack of internet and we even tried to call to let you know we were okay but none of our calls would go through - so so frustrating!

We leave Friday morning for Danang....then onto HCMC....the next morning we leave to come home. We will miss Hoi An.

Our love,
Linda and family

Things are looking up - Sadie feels much, much better! I was starting to get worried more and more but she appears to feel much better and I won't be taking her to the doctor in town :-)

Good Morning from Vietnam! The wireles connection has been horrible the past 24 hours. But I have it back and thought it would be a good time to post.

This morning we leave for the orphanage at 8am. We will meet with Sophie's foster family, orphanage director and staff along with some staff from the adoption agency. We have all our donations and gifts packaged up. We will come back to the hotel afterwards and pack up our suitcases and go to Hoi An at about 12:30pm. We decided to not come back to this hotel just for the night since we will already be in Hoi An. So we booked another night there so we could just stay after we meet with Sophie's birth family. I hope to have good internet service after we get back in from that so I can post in the evening.

Yesterday was quite a shopping/city tour experience! We left at 8:30am in a taxi to Han Market - once at the market we were swarmed by sooooooo many vendors trying to sell their goods. It was at times overwhelming. Sophie and Sadie thought it was funny at first but as time went on it was clear that they were getting annoyed and that the fun part was over. We prepared them that everyone would take second looks at them, us, the whole picture. They look at Sophie and say "Vietnam" and then at Sadie and ??? some say "Chinese". Most are thrilled to see this family together but others are confused and appear (but probably is not the case) to be a bit annoyed. After about the 100th time of that it was clear to me that we were ready to call it a day!

While we were out we took the shopping exerience by cyclo - Sadie and Daddy took one and Sophie and I another. It was a fine misty rain off and on - I will post a picture so you can see it but let's just say - we were all quite happy to not be laying in the street in a collision. The cyclo drivers must get a kick back from the shops they take shoppers to. Between the cyclo drivers and the shop owners, it's like they want you to buy everything and they still won't be happy. Sophie sat in our cyclo giggling at all the sites - you would see someone riding a bicycle carrying more than what would fit in a pick up bed...you would see funny signs and watch a lady cooking pho on the side of the rode! Sophie was quick to tell me that she is glad she doesn't live like that. It tells me that she really gets that if she had not been adopted that this would be her way of life. But, I must say, it is in my heart that "this" way of life is not a "bad" thing - it is what it is. They want to live like this for the most part. They do not see it as we do. I hope that makes sense.

We will be at the beach hotel until Friday. Hope we have warmer and sunnier days.

Pictures to follow!

This one is for the guys at G.C. The beers here are pretty much Heineken, Tiger and something like 3 Star or ?? not sure on that one. They only sell them everywhere we have seen individually. But, they are much cheaper no matter how they sell them here. And the thing is, usually the refrigerators here don't keep things very cold, cold. I am sure we will see it, but, as of yet we have not seen someone here delivering any of these beers. I hope to see it and get a good picture of it - then all beer delivery drivers would really appreciate their mode of delivery and distribution much more! We will be sure to post a picture if we can find a beer delivery person here!

Posting this now makes things out of order, but I really wanted to show you our view when we landed in Hong Kong. As we exited the plane we saw that all of the tv projectors and many other things were broke our dangling. The landing seemed all just right until the big "thud"! I guess I have been lucky flying because I can honestly say that was the scariest moment for me flying.

This isn't exactly a picture that you can tell is from Vietnam...but it is a part of the journey and a part of them taking care of each other.

I posted a few misc. pictures of things in Danang. Take a close look at one of them with the motorbikes - Mom and Dad are riding with their li'l one and he is standing up on the motorbike! He cannot be more than 2 yrs. old. I think too the real picture is when you are watching it live and you not only see this li'l guy standing but all the other bikes, bicyles, cars and what not driving crazily! The things that these folks transport on their bikes amaze us so you could be seeing more and more of those pics.

I could barely keep my eyes open at lunch today - so we came up to the room and had showers all around - Sadie and Mom pretty much hit the wall. Soon after Sophie showered and Dad said that she just curled up next to her sis and feel fast asleep. I am going to post that cute pic in a few minutes. Now, Dad and the girls are still sleeping and I am going to try to continue. Hopefully I am not up for the evening.

Our plans changed so Monday will be a very busy and emotional day for us, and Sophie. We will be going to the orphanage (which from now on I will refer to as the CWC, Child Welfare Center) in the morning. In the afternoon we will drive to Hoi An and there will be time with Sophie's birth family - at this point we don't know for sure who, other than her birth mother, but we think there will be more. Possibly tomorrow when we meet with Mr. Vu we will find out more details.

Tomorrow we hope to all feel better - we will then go to the Han Market...we will meet with Thoa and her family for dinner. I think this will be at her place but we are going to try to get her to be interested in a restaurant. Thoa is a lady who used to work for the adoption agency that we used for our adoptions. She no longer has that position - by choice. She went to America a few years ago to continue her education. It will be fun for the girls because she does have two children, about their ages.

Until tomorrow...

Hello, Madison! How are you doing? Sadies having a cough and we know that she is sick. I hope you don't get sick too. How is your day and your family?

love,
Sophie

We made it to Danang safely and on time. I know this place is not particularly beautiful to some people but it just makes me feel good when I see this place. It is different than many places. It is cloudy and it looks like it has been raining prior to us getting here. But, it is nice. Our hotel is great! We have an ocean and Han river view. It is a very spacious room and bath area. Highly recommend this for future adoptive families. The Oscar Saigon is another story!!

We are going out to get some lunch and walk the city of Danang. Later today or most likely tomorrow (cuz we are really tired!) we will meet with Thoa and the family that cared for Sophie before we adopted her (her dear foster family). I am still hoping Sadie is NOT sick - she is such a good trooper but you know she is just feeling punky. Sophie is on top of the world - it is an amazing view of confidence and joy - I'll talk more about that later.

Here's hoping a few good pics come through......

What a long flight! After all the careful planning we accidentally left the hotel at LAX without Sophie's meds! We called and left a message from the plane and asked that they kept it until we return in the frig. - but now we have to hope and pray that Sophie doesn't have a bleed - and then this morning she awoke with a nosebleed - heavy! We managed to get it stopped fairly quickly, but geez!

We also bought some lotion and facial cleanser at a gift shop in the LAX airport AFTER going through security - but upon arriving in Hong Kong - they took it away! Bummer - esp. since Sophie complains about lotions alot and she actually found this, sampled it and LIKED it! Some wife in Hong Kong got a very nice gift last nite!

Sadie is trying to be sick - it started on the long flight so it isn't from food here or anything. They are all up having breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel and hopefully that, along with sleep, will improve her yucky feelings.

Sophie wanted to try congee for breakfast - she has known she had it alot as a baby in Vietnam. They told us how much she liked it when we adopted her - so in our hotel room after adopting her we ordered some from room service - along with a ham sandwich and fries for Sadie...Sophie pushed that congee away and started diving right in to those fries! But this morning as she tried it she said "hmmm...no wonder I liked it - it's GOOD"!!!

Martha - Sophie is having the shoe/socks issues and I am trying my best!

There is a fruit here we LOVE - we think the American word is Dragon fruit - but they say something like bluroon....but it's really good - it's white with dark dots on it.

I will post again at our next hotel - hopefully post pics. The plane landing in Hong Kong was awful!! The tv projectors and other things came falling out of the ceiling as he thudded on to the runway! We didn't enjoy that too much.....got a couple pics of it and it is hilarious to see!

We hop on a plane in a couple hours and off to Danang - we are hoping for a relaxing day. More later - take care!

We all had a good night's sleep last night and are on our way to the airport in a minute. There is a squirrel at the front door of this hotel - nope, can't escape those things no matter what! It just scurried into a purse/bag of a guest! We will post when we can - soonest will be about 24 hours!
....until Vietnam!

First Day of Vacation is Here!!

This is the day we have been looking forward to for so long - the beginning of our journey. We all had a hard time sleeping last night but with a 19+ hour flight ahead of us I am sure we can get some zzzz's in on the flight. Our plane doesn't actually take off 'til tomorrow but we leave our home today and head towards the airport where we will have a fun night at a hotel. We want to go swimming and hit the jacuzzi, just plain relaxing.

Sadie and Sophie are full of excitement and anticipation. Steve and I are ready for a vacation, no work, no school, no phones, no schedules.....just family fun, that's good stuff.

I will try to post tonight and then after that I will post as soon as I can in Vietnam so you know we made there safely....

Starting to pack!

Packing for an international trip is difficult! Or a pain - whichever way you want to view it. United lets you have two checked pieces of luggage each and they EACH can weigh 70 pounds. BUT the in-country flights we will be on in Vietnam your luggage can only weigh 44 pounds. So, basically you need to pack that way from the get go! We are packing lightly, kinda! With three girls going on the trip it is not that easy! It was real fun seeing the look on the girls faces when I told them they had to pick "one" pair of sandals and "one" pair of tennis shoes! How dare I??!! They basically had a different pair of shoes out for each outfit they intend to wear!! Now I am trying to help them think "tourist" instead of "fashion"!!

We will have one suitcase full of things for the orphanage - coloring books, crayons, markers, paper, lollipops, otc meds, and other misc. things. It will also carry all of the gifts from America for the foster family and birth family. So, at the end of the trip that suitcase will be empty and ready to be filled with all of the treasures we want to take home with us! At least this trip we won't have to buy a new suitcase for that purpose :-)...we're off in 23 days!

Happy Forever Day to our Sophie!

Seven years ago today, February 5, 2001, Sophie was placed in our hearts and arms and officially became a part of our family. We have been blessed to be her parents and are so happy from all the joy she has brought us. We got her some emerald earrings as a gift to celebrate our milestone. And, in 29 more days we will make our way to Vietnam! Happy Gotcha Day Sophie!

Leaving for Vietnam in 35 days!

The girls are counting down the days 'til we leave and it is now just 35! We booked a room at the Doubletree by the airport that includes 10 days of parking so we can just drive ourselves to the airport the night before our flight instead of getting up before the crack of dawn to drive to Los Angeles on those gridlocked freeways!





We found a place for our dog to retreat to while we are away. Got lucky that it is with friends instead of a doggie hotel that charges a huge amount!



I also posted a pic of Sophie in her ao dais. As you can see this blog is pretty much my practice time. I have now figured out about posting, uploading photos and now as the next 35 days pass I need to learn how to post video! My goal is to have it pretty well figured out so I can do it quickly while in Vietnam. Never know how long I will have internet access!

We received our Vietnam visas!

We received our passports back with the Vietnam visas inside on Friday, January 11th. That is quick! Now we have everything we need to travel on March 6th. We are going to book a hotel near LAX the night before so we can avoid having to leave our home at the crack of dawn to arrive at the airport. Staying the night before will allow us to get a good night's sleep and take our time getting ready to shuttle to the airport. No matter what the drive is long but doing it the night before makes more sense to us.

We have a Vietnamese lady in town that we know and she is going to make contact with a few people in Vietnam this week. She will iron out some loose ends for us and make things ready for us in Vietnam.

We have lots of gifts we want to give, people we want to help and we have almost a couple of months to try to get it all ready for our journey. Sophie (and her sister, Sadie) are so excited to take this trip - it's a family vacation so of course, it sounds good. But, it is something Sophie just wants and needs and we feel it will be so good for her to experience Vietnam in person instead of through photos/video.

Received passports, now we just need the Vietnam Visa's!

We were pleasantly surprised to get our passports renewed in 10 days, from start to finish! So, today I went to the bank and got a cashier's check and tomorrow we will mail off the passports with visa applications for each of us so we can go to Vietnam.

We were able to book our international flights on United Airlines - although they call it a non-stop, direct flight, it really is not. We must first land in Hong Kong and switch planes and then continue on to HCMC. But it still is better than the other choices. We also went ahead and booked our flights to and from Danang with Pacific Airlines. I was lucky that a nice man from The Door to Vietnam (Vinh) told me about getting these airlines tickets online. I was able to get the information needed in English on this website and USD.

The time will go by quickly so the girls and I plan on getting things ready ahead of time so we dont' forget things at the last minute.

More later....