London Update

Here are pictures from my trip to London over the weekend. I just got to India a few hours ago. Wow it is a long trip...I am not looking forward to the trip home!

All is going well...

Life as a family of four is starting to settle down. Both boys are now used to eachother. They play more than they fight now...which makes our lives a little easier.

Aiden is constantly talking about Liam to us. He will tell us things like, "Liam is sleeping," "Liam is funny," or my personal favorate..."Liam is stinky and nasty.". When Aisen prays at night, he always prays for Liam first. There is much more brotherly love than sibling rivalry now.

Since adopting Liam two and a half months ago, he has gotten 3 teeth, started crawling, cruising, and most recently walking. So far he has only taken 3 steps...but I am sure he will be completely mobile by Christmas. It is exciting, but a little unnerving too. Soon we will have two children that can walk around and get into trouble.

Liam seems to be settling into our home and family well. He definitely knows his mommy, daddy, and brother. He is so much like his older brother...we know we are in for double trouble.

Please continue to pray for his health as he has one more test to clear him of the issues that were discovered last month. We believe that the final test will show that he is completely healthy...so just pray that it does.

I am on my way to London as I type. I will then go straight to India from there. Two weeks away from my family...UGH! I am thankful that we have so many good friends that will look after my family. If you get a chance...give her a call or stop by to say hello.

I plan to post some photos of my travels.

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Fall Fun Pictures

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Thanks for your prayers...they have been answered.

Thanks so much for all your thoughts and prayers. Our gracious Lord has answered them and once again given our family a miracle.

Prayer Urgently Needed

Without being specific, I must ask that you pray for our family. We have recently received some very devestating news and urgently need prayer.

Sibling Rivalry

I have already mentioned the sibling rivalry that is going on since we arrived home from Vietnam. But sometimes you have to see it to beleive it. Here is a typical day in our home.

Our older son is spending a lot of time in "time out", but as you can see here...he is not the only problem.

Liam's First Birthday

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New Pictures and A New Adventure

Wednesday we had our very first experience eating out since we have been back from Vietnam. It was a sure sign that we will stay home for dinner from now on...

We walked into Quizno's and got in line just like any other day. We ordered food for each of us...and as we waited for it Aiden started having a conniption over chips. He wanted them and wanted them now... I explained that he needed to eat his sandwich before he was allowed to have chips. And after a minor fit, he was fine. We all sat down at the table. Aiden had his sandwich as did mommy and daddy. Liam had soup, but we were waiting for it to cool. Mommy and daddy started eating, but Aiden just stared at his sandwich. The moment we started to give Liam soup, Aiden decided that he wanted soup. There was plenty to share, so we got a separate bowl so that both boys could have some. The only problem was that they only had the large soup spoons (not standard tea spoons). Aiden started to eat, but because of the size of the spoon, he was wearing much more than actually made it into his mouth. Liam on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the soup and was spitting it out faster than we could get it in. Neither of us had actually taken more than 2 bites of our lunch. So we finally give up on the fact that Liam is going to eat the soup. And mommy starts feeding Aiden herself. Things are starting to calm down... But then Liam decides he wants everything on the table. He starts reaching out and pulling things off the table and throwing them on the floor. UGH!

Then it started to occur to me that our family is now only suited for McDonalds. We are one of those families that people avoid sitting next to in the restaurant. The ones that they whisper quietly to each other about how unruly our children are. Just then things start to settle down some, and we finally get to eat our meal. I ran out of soda and went up to get a refill, while mommy is cleaning Liam up. As I am filling my soda, the clerk says "Sir, you might want to check on your son.” I turn around to find Aiden with his pants down around his ankles (diaper too), playing with his wee wee. I can't believe this is happening. So I say "Aiden, stop that." He starts to shuffle across the floor toward me (pants and diaper still around his ankles), and he says "Sorry Daddy, Sorry!”

What a hilarious and humiliating moment. We quickly cleaned up our mess and got out of there was fast as we could. Hopefully we will never see any of those people again!

Photo's of our Homecoming

More updates will be coming soon. We have been so busy since returning home. But in the mean time, here are some photo's of our homecoming.

Two sides to the story...

PART 1: AN AMAZING HOMECOMING

We were so excited when the pilot came on the intercom and said "Flight attendants, prepare for landing." We had been traveling for nearly 40 hours at that point. It was all about be over and we were about to see Aiden for the first time in a month. The plane landed and taxied into the gate. As soon as the fasten seatbelt sign was turned off, we jumped up grabbed our bags and waited for the door to open. When it finally did, we walked as fast was we could through the airport making our way to our family. As we exited the terminal and headed to the baggage claim, we saw our many of our friends and family waving American flags. As excited as we were to see them, we were looking for Aiden. And all of the sudden, he came running toward us with a huge American flag in his hand. We dropped everything (except for Liam) and grabbed him up. Chaunta started crying...not just a little either...it was one of those big "boo hoo" cries. Aiden was saying "mommy" and "daddy". He was happy, but wasn't sure why Chaunta was crying...so he cried too. As our family approached, we handed them Liam to pass around a little and we continued to hug Aiden. After a few minutes we started to hug and visit with all our friends and family...many of them were crying too by this time. This was it, we were now really a family of four.

We headed to the baggage claim, only to find out that one of our bags didn't make. So I filed all the necessary paperwork and we headed home, as happy as can be. (Oh, by the way...I did remember how to drive. And we did get our Taco Bell on the way home) When we finally pulled into the driveway, there was a welcome hope sign in our yard. We walked into the house to find baloons and decorations. Aiden was in heaven with all the balloons. This was it...we were in our own home and family life together was about to be begin.

PART 2: JET LAG and JEALOUS BOYS

Little did we know how hard life would be after our return. Neither of us had slept for about 2 days. We got home at noon, which was midnight in Vietnam. We were both zombies trying to get through the day. Our goal was to stay awake until 8:00 PM so we could sleep all night! We did make it...thanks to all the visitors. I think if we didn't have them to distract us, we wouldn't have been able to hold off that long. We slept so good and so sound for the first time in a month. And then it happened...the clock struck 2:30 and I was wide awake. Not the least bit tired and ready to get up and start the day. I laid in bed trying to get back to sleep. The minutes slowly advanced forward and I was still awake. Then 3:30 rolled around...I decided to get up and take some Benedryl in hopes of going back to sleep. I was just about to doze off with Liam woke up ready to play. That was about 4:45. Chaunta got up with him and took him down to play (since she was wide awake too). I laid there a little longer and start to drift. That is when Aiden came running into our room, climbed in bed with me yelling "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." Then he started to tickle me. At about 6:30, I realized I would not be going back to sleep.

We made it through yesterday only taking a short nap. We went to bed around 11:00 and here I am updating our blog at 4:30 this morning. I have been awake for about an hour now. Chaunta is awake too, and Liam is playing as if it were the middle of the day. We feel great right now, but if today is anything like yesterday...we will be zombies again by noon. Dizzy, sick to our stomachs, tired, and a little slap happy. Adjusting back to time here in the US has been more difficult than it was when we got to Vietnam. Hopefully, it will get better in the next few days...I have to go back to work on Monday.

On top of the jet lag, our family hasn't turned out to be as happy as we had hoped. Upon arriving home yesterday, Liam decided to check out the new digs. He made his way around the downstairs of the house, until he came to the toy box. He was in heaven. He started playing with the toys immediatly and was very happy. Until, that is, when Aiden discovered what he was up to. Aiden ran right up to him, snatched the toys from him and said "That's mine!" We tried to explain to Aiden that Liam was his brother and that they would be sharing things, but Aiden really wasn't too in to that idea. He again saw Liam playing with another toy, and ran up to him to try to grab it. But this time, Liam knew what was coming. He clentched onto that toy and fought for dear life. (I think he might have done that before at the orphanage...he was a pro at it). Until Aiden decided to kick him. We immdiatly grabbed Aiden up and put him in the corner. He defiantly went and waited quietly until his time was up. I then told him to tell Liam that he was sorry, but he refused. I asked him again, and he still refused. So back to the corner. This time he cried for a few minutes and then he finished his time quietly. He did finally say he was sorry and gave Liam a kiss. This whole turn of events repeated it self several times the last few days. Aiden will say, "Gimmie, that's my (car, toy, monkey, balloon, etc.." and snatch it back. Liam will fight until the bitter end. Liam is much shorter than Aiden, but weighs nearly the same...he puts up a good fight.

We have been trying to spend some one-on-one time with Aiden too. Usually when Liam is napping, I try to play with him or take a walk with him. He seems to enjoy that. But yesterday Aiden was sitting on my lap watching a cartoon, when Liam decided that he belonged on daddy's lap. He made his way across the room, and pulled up on the couch. I picked him up and sat him on the other side of my lap. Aiden tried to ignore him, but Liam wouldn't let him. Liam started pushing him off my lap. Aiden fussed and started to push back. UGH! We never imagined that this would be this hard. Aiden was so exicited about Liam before we left. He watched his video every night before bed...but now I think he would rather send him back!

We are trying to divide our attention as equally as possibly. It is very hard on us knowing how unhappy Aiden is with his little brother. We can only hope and pray that in time things will get better. Please pray for our boys and for us!

Stay tuned for updates on the situation!

PS - We hope to have pictures again soon. We will go camera shopping as soon as we feel good enough to leave the house!

Flight Changes...UGH!

We arrived in LA safe and sound. It took quite a long time to get through immigration. But after an hour of waiting in line and working with the immigration officer Liam was granted citizenship. We have a temporary Green Card until his citizenship certificate is received..

With still 2 hour to spare we made our way to customs. It was very easy to get through. Then we headed to the American Airlines counter to checkin for our flight. To our surprise our ticket had seats hadn't been confirmed properly and the flight was sold out with several people waiting on standby already. Still we headed to the gate hoping someone would take pity on us since we had been traveling for so long with a small child. And a few people did, just not the ones with the powere to help us. In fact one gentelman offered us his seat, and we had hope. Unfortunately, there were people ahead of us on the wait list and they got in. At 12:20am we realized that we would not make our flight. Tears flowed as we walked away from the gate. We headed back to the ticket counter to see if we could get booked on the morning flight (although we already knew that it had been sold out too). On our way, we found a flight getting ready to leave for Dallas. We figured that Dallas was one step closer to home, so we gave it a shot. It too was sold out and had a long list of standbys. But as we approached, liam started to sob. The young lady at the counter took pitty on us and put us at the top of the standby list. She then called Dallas to get us a flight to St. Louis. It too was sold out, but they somehow got us 2 seats. Within 5 minutes we were on our way to Texas. We arrive at 5:30 am. We then catch a flight to St. Louis that will get us home at 9:30. Only an hour and a half later than originally planned.

If you are coming to meet us at the airport, we are on flight AA1774 from Dallas. See you soon!
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Leaving Early

We received Liam's visa at 11:00 AM today. Since it came so early, we tried to get a flight out. And after two very stressful hours we packed our bags and got tickets to leave tonight. With our new travel plans we will arrive in St. Louis at 8:00 AM on Thursday. We invite everyone to meet us at the airport for our homecoming.

We are so close now... See you soon!
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Visa Interview Complete

Today we had our visa interview at the US Embassy. It went relatively smoothly. They asked us several questions about Liam's history, our adoption agency, and about ourselves. We answered them all honestly. Then he told us that we would be approved. Then about a minute after that he said that there was a problem.. Our hearts both sank. After a few moments of awkward silence as he reviewed paperwork, he finally realized that everything was ok.

We hoped we would get the visa tomorrow by 2:00pm so we could catch an earlier flight home, but it seems as if it will be 4:00pm...so there is no way we can leave early. We will leave on Thursday evening and arrive on Friday. It was disappointing, but we are very glad that the visa was approved and we will get to leave this week. Thanks so much for all your thoughts and prayers.

Today we also visited Ho Chi Mihn's mosoleum and home today. It was not really that interesting...and it was far to hot and humid to be outside. I will be glad to get home and enjoy some nice midwestern fall weather.

Tomorrow we will get packed up and ready to leave...ALMOST HOME!

VISA Interview Tomorrow

We returned safely from our weekend trip to Sapa. It was a wonderful trip overall. However the train ride home was horrible. Six adults and four babies in a 6x6 cabin with bunks stacked 3 high. No AC and no matteress. The bunks were Vietnamese sized and much to short for me. But we survived the 10 hour ride with a very unique experience. We arrived back in Hanoi safely, minus our camera. We were dissappointed to lose it, but relieved that we only lost one day of photos.

Tommorow we have our VISA interview at the US Embassy. We dropped off all the paperwork today. Please pray that the interview goes smoothly and the VISA is processed quickly.

Tomorrow morning we are going to visit Ho Chi Minh's home and tomb before the interview. We will probably spend most of the day Wednesday packing (and coming up with unique ways to pack all the stuff we bought here).

We miss everyone so much. But we especially miss Aiden. I cankt believe that we will actually return home this week. We will have been gone nearly a month by the time we get home. WOW! I hope I remember how to drive (I have learned some very interesting manuvers while here). I think we could solve a lot of St. Louis traffic jams if we could just ignore stop lights and drive on the sidewalks. It seems to work well here. : )

Thanks again to everyone who is helping with Aiden. We can't begin to express how thankful we are.

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Tastes like…MONKEY???

(I will explain the title later in this post…)

So last night we week took the overnight train to Lao Cai (right on the Chinese border). It was a very interesting trip on the train. The sleeping quarters were tight and musty… I took motion sickness medicine, so I slept better than Chaunta.

We arrived around 6:30 this morning. We met our guide at the train station, took an hour bus ride up on winding road up the mountain to Sapa. We weren’t sure if the trip was going to be good based on the train ride…but we were amazed at the beauty of this place. The pictures don’t even capture it.

This area is primarily inhabited by ethnic minority groups that migrated here from Thailand, China, Cambodia and Laos several hundred years ago. They means of living are very meager and they rely heavily on tourism to survive. We toured one of their homes. It was approximately 400 square feet and 12 people lived there. You could see right through the gaps in the boards that made up the walls. They only recently received a tin roof that was funded by UNISEF. Of the 400 square feet in the home, approximately 150 square feet were filled with rice and corn. Since they only have one crop per year they must ration it and make it last.

The weather is much cooler here. We are enjoying a break from tropical heat of the other areas we have visited. And we are dressing Liam in layers to ensure he doesn’t get cold, since he isn’t used to the cool weather. But it should be good practice since it will be cool when we get home.

Speaking of home, we are getting very close to leaving. Only 5 more nights here. We can’t wait to rejoin Aiden and begin life as a family of 4. But we are doing well here. I think we have both resigned ourselves to the fact that we just have to stay. This weekend away has been a great distraction to the homesickness.

Liam is improving everyday. Today he got his last does of antibiotics. I am sure he will be completely well by the time we leave.

Tomorrow we will visit 2 more villages here, visit the Chinese border, and catch a night train back to Hanoi.

Okay, now for the explanation of the title…

While on the bus coming to Sapa our tour guide was explaining about the local people and the different foods they eat. Many people here eat dog, cat, snakes and rats. WOW! He went on to say that dog meat is very good. Of course we asked him, “What does it taste like?” He thought for a moment and then said, “Monkey. It is very similar to Monkey meat.” Although that didn’t help describe the taste to us…it made for a very memorable story. By the way, monkeys live here on the mountain and they are also a choice meal to the locals.

Leaving for Sapa

Sapa, an old French Hill station, is nestled in the Hoang Lien Son Mountains in North West Vietnam right next to the Chinese border. It is considered to most scienic mountain location in all of Vietnam. It is inhabited by many ethnic minority groups. We leave tonight by sleeper train and arrive early in the morning. We will be there all day Saturday and Sunday. Then we will return via overnight train again Sunday night. The pictures that we have seen are just beautiful. I can't wait to post our own here.

Today has been another day of rest. Liam is still doing very well, but we wanted him to be plenty rested before our trip. We did a little shopping today, but not much. We have spent alot of time to day packing up. It will be nice to finally be home next week and not have to live out of a suit case.

All is well with us. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. And thanks to everyone who is leaving comments here...they are really encouraging. And finally, a big...no HUGE thanks to everyone that is taking care of Aiden. You all are the best. We love you so much. It makes our separation from him easier knowing that he is in excellent hands!


Here is the picture from yesterday that was never posted!

Liam is tons better today

Liam has had a very good day. He has rested a bunch, and is acting much better. He has eaten solid food for the first time in over a week. We are so relieved!

It was a pretty uneventful day for us. We stayed in with him almost all day. We went out for a little over an hour to do some shopping. It was fun. I got fitted for a tailor made suit. I picked out my fabric and got measured. I go to try it on tomorrow. It was only $100. So cheap! We walked for a while until we got incredibly lost. It was no big deal…I figured we could catch a cab back to the hotel. But Chaunta had the great idea for us to take a rickshaw back. The driver spoke no English, but I showed him the card with the hotel name and address. We both got in, but were much to fat for it. I think it is only made for 2 Vietnamese which is about 1.5 Americans. But we squeezed in, sitting on each other’s lap. After driving us around for about 15 minutes and taking us to 3 places that were no where near our hotel, we started to worry that our driver didn’t know where he was going. But he did eventually get us there. However, he tried to grossly overcharge us about $12. We refused because a taxi would have only been $1. We argued for a while, but neither of us had any idea what the other was saying. We eventually got an employee from the hotel to translate. I told him that I would only pay $2, because he took us to the wrong place 3 times and a taxi would only be $1. The hotel employee agreed that it was a fair price. After some more arguing, he finally agreed on $2.50. We paid it. We felt bad since he was sweating profusely…we probably weighed about 400 pounds between us and the baby. But he was trying to rip us off because we were tourists.

After getting back, we relaxed the rest of the night. Liam is sleeping now. If he is still doing well tomorrow, we plan to take a train to Sapa tomorrow. Sapa is a small town in the Northwest Mountain Range on the Vietnam/China border. It looks very beautiful. We will take an overnight train there tomorrow, and then another one back on Sunday night.

Here is a picture of Liam today.

A very hard night...and day...

Last night around 10:00PM Liam spiked a fever of 104 and had a seizure. We had to take him to the International Clinic to be treated. Before we got to the hospital he was no longer seizing. They put him on IV fluids and took his blood. It showed nothing, so they did an X-Ray. Then they found that he had pneumonia. They kept him there for a few hours until he was feeling better. We got back to the hotel very early this morning.

Today went pretty well. We let him rest most all day. We took him back to the clinic for a follow up and the prognosis was good. The antibiotics seem to be working. But then a few hours later his fever hit 104.2 again. We immediately gave him Motrin and Tylenol and got it down quickly. He is acting better again. Hopefully he will kick this quickly!

We are very fortunate that one of the other families traveling with us is a doctor. He is taking good care of us!

Since Liam is so sick, we have halted our sight seeing plans to let him rest and get well before our return flight next Thursday. However, if he gets better over the next few days we might still go to mountains…but we will not go if he is still sick.

Dillon International (our adoption agency) has been great support through everything. We are so thankful to have worked with such a good agency. They have excellent staff here in Vietnam, and have taken very good care of us. Even our contact in Oklahoma has called us a few times to check in. We are so impressed!

Thanks again for all your encouraging comments! Please keep Liam in your prayers! We miss you all!

A New Hotel...

Today we changed hotels to something a little more economical for our longer stay. It is a local hotel chain and is very small, but we love it. It is absolutely beautiful. We have a 2 room suite and it is only costing us $55/night. The other hotel was $130/night, and although it was nice it was very big and very much like a hotel in the States. This hotel is very Vietnamese, but still extremely nice. And go figure it has free internet and the other hotel charged $12/day. Anyway, we are very happy here.

On Friday we are taking a train to Sapa, which in near the Chinese border in the mountains. Several ethnic groups live there. We figured that since we have to stay for another 9 days, we might as well make the best of it. All the other families will be traveling with us also.

Then tomorrow we are going to visit Hoa Lu, the former capital of Vietnam. And we will also do a boat trip down the Hoang Long River. We will ride in a small row boat and visit several temples in the countryside.

Liam is doing well, although he continues to become a little more difficult since we arrived in Hanoi. I am not sure if this is true, but it seems like he has realized that he is not going back to the only home he has ever known. Don't get me wrong, he is fine...but he seems to be a little less happy with us than before. I am sure he will come around...

He is feeling a better, but has a runny nose. His little cheeks are really chapped right now. We are learning that the asian skin is different than ours and dries out easily. There are so many differences between us that I never realized before. We love him so much. He can brighten the room with his smile...when he smiles big, both of his eyes close.

Vietnam is also so different than the States. It has been an eye opening experience. We never realized how blessed we are to live in America. Prostitution is pretty pervasive here. Last night the husbands took our Lawyer out, and while on our way home around 10:30 PM we were ambushed by 4 prostitutes. They were very agressive with their flirting and didn't want to take no for an answer. This also happened in Saigon while we were there. I think they target foreingers because they think we are rich. They left Thomas (our Lawyer) alone. Other than that, the people here are very friendly and hard working.

Yesterday I took a motor scooter taxi to the airline to change my flight. It was very scary...the driving here is insane. But it was cheap and cool experience.

Tonight we are headed to the water puppet show. I am not exactly sure what it is, but the one here in Hanoi is world renound. I will tell you more about it tomorrow and post some pictures!

Thanks so much for those of you that are leaving comments...they are really encouraging. We love hearing from you!

Stuck...

We received word this morning that we will not be getting an appointment on Tuesday as we hoped. But it is worse that we imagined. Our appointment with the US Embassy isn't scheduled until next Tuesday. Thus, we will be spending another week in Vietnam. Our original plan was to leave this Wednesday, but it is unlikely that we will be able to leave until next Thursday now. We are trying to remain in good spirits. Our adoption agency had done everything right...it is just that the US Embassy is very behind. We were told that if we had submitted our paper work even a few minutes later that we would have to wait 2 weeks instead of just one. So we are thankful that we only have to stay one more week.

We have not yet changed our flights...I am waiting for the Airline to get back from lunch to call them. Hopefully there will be pleny of choices for our return next week.

Below are some photos taken yesterday at Ha Long Bay.