Journey to Vietnam: BLESSING IN DISGUISE

If you happened to read my last post, I had mentioned that since Zachary was walking now, he was going to have to switch rooms at nursery at Church. Well his first time was the week before last in his new room(Zach missed last week due to a really bad cold). Anyway, he made it about halfway thru and they had to come get me(for some reason I have bad luck with pagers not working). So we tried it again this past Sunday. I went in to the room with him for a little bit and then left. I watched on the monitor outside and he was doing ok. About 15 minutes after the service started, the pastor brought a couple up on stage and announced they would be going to China next Saturday to adopt a 5 yr old boy. As soon as they showed the little boys picture on the monitor, my pager went off. I hurried to the nursery dept and I heard him before I even went into the hallway. His teacher had him out in the hall and he calmed down pretty quick when I took him. Anyway, the teacher was telling me he seems to be fine until other children start getting upset and crying and then he starts. I was telling his teacher(who I really like by the way) about Vietnam and the orphanage where Zachary lived and she asked me if I knew this particular couple who also just brought home a little boy about a month ago. I told her I would love to meet them and she said she would introduce me and then almost as soon as she said that, here they come down the hallway with their little boy. Adoptions ceased Sept 1, 2008 but because of something that happened with their referral which I will not go into on this blog, they were able to get another referral after the shutdown. I believe they said he was a year old or maybe a little over a year. Anyway, come to find out, their little boy also was from Ho Chi Minh(Go Vap Orphanage) . She and I were so excited. She said she thought she was the only one in this area to have adopted from Vietnam. I knew of only one other person who adopted a little girl about 6 years ago). Anyway, she was telling me about the adoption support group the church has that will start back up again after the summer and that there is family in Mobile, Al and family in Destin , Fl who also adopted little boys from Vietnam. They are all going to try to get together and she invited me to attend. I had always hoped I would meet someone else that lived nearby that maybe we could attend Tet festivities and other Vietnamese festivities. I would love to be able to start a Families with Children from Vietnam chapter in this area. She had said she had noticed Zach in the hallways but for some reason, thought he was from China. So Zach being upset and me having to come and get him actually turned out to be a blessing. It will take time, but Zach will eventually get use to his new classroom just like he did the other one. Zach had a checkup at the Dr and had to get 3 more shots-ouch. He seems to realize now when we go into the Dr office and hates to lay on the table. Anyway, the Dr said he was at 50th percentile for height on the US charts but only 10th percentile for weight on the US charts. She assured me that she was extremely pleased with his progress and reminded me that it was based on US charts. I have an Asian growth chart I need to find and chart it on that. He is running now and is starting to eat on his own with a fork(however tonight he found it was easier to ditch the fork and just use his fingers). He just amazes me everyday at the changes in him. My little guy is growing up. I have to admit, it is a little sad at how fast it is happening.

We have been working with Zachary on sign language and signing thank you and please. Well sometimes he does it and sometimes just randomly goes around signing it so we weren't sure if he actually knew exactly what he was signing. Anyway, tonight he was sitting in his highchair and pointed to his puppy blankie on the table. I handed it to him and he gave his puppy a big squeeze and then looked at me with the cutest smile and signed "thank you". I sure do love this little guy.