Liam is officially ours...

It has been a very busy day…again. Last night was the first night that we slept through the night. Well I guess if you call 4:30AM through the night. But we did get 7 hours of unbroken sleep, so that was very good. Today we both feel much better and adjusted to the time zone here. After getting ready, we had breakfast here at our hotel. There is no western style food – only Vietnamese. We did find a few things we liked and they had several types of bread. We are very careful what we eat and drink since we are not used to the food here.

After breakfast we went to the orphanage and had a meeting with the director and the staff. The director thanked us for taking the children and let us know that they were happy to see them have good homes, but sad to see them go. He asked about each family, he wanted to know what our jobs were, if we had other children, and how long we were married for. He then told us that he was sorry that the orphanage wasn’t nicer, but they have very little money to provide for the children. He then told us that they did get a grant from the government and that they are doing renovations. The entire orphanage is open air, no glass in the windows, only shutters. I say things because as the director was talking, I watched a gecko crawl up the wall behind him. I don’t think there were any doors either (at least I didn’t notice them if there were). The orphanage is two floors, the younger children are on the 2nd floor and the older children on the first. There is a 2nd building with the office in it also. I didn’t notice if the building also housed children, but I think it did.

The director later asked that we provide good care for the children and that he hoped we would raise them as our “blood children”. He also asked that we keep our commitment to provide annual updates to the provincial authorities. He also asked that we send pictures our children and our family. He hopes that someday we will bring our children back to Vietnam and have them visit the center. He also said that he was thankful for the donations our group provided to the center (cloths, coloring books, tooth brushes, tooth paste, candy, etc) and also asked us to consider continuing to make donations after we return to the US. Then he thanked us again. He told us that he knows the adoption process is not easy, and that he knows we will be good parents because the commitment it took to adopt our children. He then asked us if we wanted to talk about our feelings. I was the first to speak and I thanked him for the wonderful care the children received and told him that it was obvious that the children were loved by the workers. I told him that we promise to provide for Lai (his Vietnamese name) as if he were born to us, and that we will give him every opportunity for education and success. And I told him that we would teach Lai about his Vietnamese heritage. Again, he seemed pleased with what I said. The other families also spoke.

After the meeting with the director we went to see our children in the other building. They were dressing Lai when we arrived. They were trying to put a diaper on him. He had never worn a diaper before…and they weren’t very skilled at putting them on. They dressed him and gave him to us. He nanny’s eyes welled with tears. Then she took him back and changed his clothes again. They passed him around from one nanny to the next as each said teary eyed good bye’s. The also “sniffed” him on his face, hands, legs, and head. We were told that the Vietnamese believe that they are taking in his essence by doing that. It was very sad to watch, and both Chaunta and I were teary eyed as we watched.

The nannies then got on the bus with our children and road with us to the court house. When we arrived they took us all into a medium sized room that was set up like a conference room. It was a little crammed with all of the parents, children, nannies, and officials. Amazingly, none of the children were crying the entire time. The director of the Provincial Justice Department thanked us and asked us to raise the children well again. Then they started the ceremony (which was not much of a ceremony at all). Each family went to the front of the room and signed several papers (none of which could we understand as they were all in Vietnamese). After we signed the papers, the nanny came forward and handed us our son. Then the Provincial Director came forward and handed us an official looking document with a seal. We all froze for a picture and then the next family was called. There are 4 other families with us and the ceremony took about an hour for all of us combined. We then took a group photo of our children, caregivers and provincial authorities on the front steps of the government building. After that we all loaded back into the bus and took the nannies back to the orphanage. After they left, the child were all ours.

We returned to the hotel and immediately undressed Liam and gave him a bath. He loved the water and was very playful in it. We discovered a small rash of some sort on his back. We have a doctor traveling with us (John and his wife Ly, who are also adopting) and he looked at it. He thinks it is some sort of yeast of fungus. We are going to have a local doctor look at it today. He also have several bug bites. We were told that about a month ago some flying ants came in over the water and infested the orphanage. Several of the children were bitten badly. The ones on the 2nd floor were not so bad as the older children on the 1st floor. They appear to be healing, and the doctor with us said that we should just keep an eye on them. He has a Mongolian spot on his back that will go away with time. Otherwise he is healthy and extremely happy.

We haven’t yet heard him cry. He is so happy and very rambunctious, I am a little worried about the trouble that he and Aiden will get into together when he gets home! He eats good and is chubby. None of the children appeared to be malnourished, I suspect that the staff gets paid by the pound. : ) Both times we visited, they were always offering him some sort of food or formula. At lunch he ate Chao, which I suppose is similar to rice porridge but it usually has meat in it. He had pork today, but I think they give him fish at the orphanage. He also takes formula. He ate very well, and then fell right asleep. That is what he is doing now. He looks so peaceful.

All of the men are going to the immigration authority this afternoon to apply for passports. The ladies will stay at the hotel with the children. We hope to take him swimming this evening if he is up for it.

We have free time until Sunday when we will return to Saigon. We plan to enjoy this beautiful resort, the beach, and the pool until we return. We are not looking forward to the 8 hour bus ride with 5 children, but I am sure we will survive. Please keep praying that things go smoothly with the US immigration authorities when we return to Saigon. Their efficiency really determines how long we will have to stay. If you see Aiden, please hug him and kiss him for us. By the way – Thanks to my mom and all of you that are taking such good care of him. We love you!