WE'RE COMING HOME

I can't believe after all these years of waiting, I am getting ready in a few hours to board a plane home with my precious son. He is so amazing. I sit in bed with him at night and stare at him and I am just so thankful. I can't imagine any other child for me(even when he wakes up at 2 in the morning). The visa interview at the US Embassy was painless. Zachary entertained everyone there waiting as he was quite loud. Not crying, just being his happy self babbling VERY LOUD. Everyone laughed at him and thought he was so cute. Our guide Haun(?? not sure of spelling) who is also with Children Hope and accompanied us from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi, picked us up at hotel and we all decided to walk to the Embassy since it is pretty close. Throughout our journey,I had noticed that Haun seemed very fond of Zachary and Zachary with him. I never said anything. I just thought it was cute. Haun told me in his limited English on the way to the Embassy that he has known Zach since he was 3 months old. He took Zach to his medical appointments, etc. He showed me with his hand how small he was then and now how big he is now. I almost started crying. Haun girlfriend is currently attending George Mason University in the states and he said his girlfriend really liked Zachary as well. I got some good pictures with him and Zach. Well we are waiting for the little guy to get up and get him ready and then will go for breakfast and finish getting ready. I cannot believe this is our last day. We are so ready to come home but I am a little sad too. I really liked Vietnam(especially Ho Chi Minh) and hope to retrn someday when Zach is older(and when I forget what the plane ride was like). We have met some wonderful people and seen some wonderful places but also seen the extreme poverty and conditions people here live under as well. I will definitely be more thankful for what I have and .e freedom I have. Little Zachary is up. I have to go. We will see you all soon.

Yipee!!!! Young master Zachary has his US Visa! The final step in his going home process! We are ready to get this lump of sugar home! Since we will leave for the long journey home tomorrow, this will probably be my last blog. I know Melissa will continue to keep us all updated here with Zachary's many adventures, but my time as a part of this blog draws to an end. I must admit that when she told me her intent to blog as we traveled I never dreamed I'd enjoy adding to the updates and stories. I have come to enjoy sharing all I can about this amazing little guy and his wonderful mother's adventures. Telling our stories has helped me feel closer to home since we all know I'd me talking all the time if I were there! I am sure it is not possible to sufficiently document all the wonderful moments this journey and Zachary have brought into my life. It is my hope that our family and friends have felt closer and connected to our family's newest edition through our photos and stories. I also hope other families waiting for their adoption journey to begin or end will find encouragement in our postings. This has been the most remarkable trip/adventure I've experienced and I count it an absolute privilege to be a part of Zachary and Mommy Melissa's life. He is such a blessing. I am looking forward to all God has planned for his life, and am thankful God has purposed our sweet Melissa to be Zachary's mommy. Please pray for our last plane ride homeward...specifically pray for all passengers on our flight. Seems Zachary is a very good traveler, but also a VERY loud one. He has discovered his voice and is quite proud to share all his babbling with everyone within a 2 mile radius. Of course, we think its great.....but weary passengers, not so much:) Looking forward to home myself, missing you Scott, Steven and Ashley!
Teri

Okay...this is Teri. I feel I need to defend myself since Mommy Melissa disclosed my blowing the hotel fuse. After dinner we stopped by the lobby receptionist and inquired about an adaptor for our computer(we remembered from the last place they sometimes provide them) Well, embarrassingly the non English speaking Vietnamese hostess smiled and said "room 302?" yep, they already know us and our room by sight...guess when you blow fusses within 10 minutes of your stay you get a reputation. So she sent "house keeping" up to "help us" AGAIN. Now, keep in mind the whole reason I(we) blew a fuse was because Mommy Melissa could not get her computer plugged in and she said the outlets did not accept her adaptor....so I was simply trying to find an outlet which worked(so many holes, so little time) which resulted in total power loss and "house keeping" had to come open a hatch in the ceiling to set it back. So once again, "house keeping" came to the room. Smiling at us with that sweet "bless your heart" sort of smile we use in the states to mean"you stupid idiot" and promptly, effortlessly put the computer chord in a very obvious outlet designed to fit numerous plugs. Knowing cracking up at ourselves may be misconstrued as laughing at her, we had to stifle our laughter for what seemed an eternity until the door closed behind our new best friend, the "house Keeping" lady. Yep, 9 days in Ho Chi Minh and no incidents...less than one day in Hanoi and they are probably ready to send us home :) Love ya! Teri

Greetings from Hanoi

We made it to Hanoi. Ionly got sick on the landing but felt completely fine afterwards so all is well. If Zachary does on the long flight home like he did on this flight, we have a world class little traveler on our hands. He did FANTASTIC. We gave him a bottle on takeoff and he fell asleep shortly afterwards and woke up when landed. When we were waiting to take off, Zach found the laminated instructions on what to do if there was a crash and that kept him occupied until takeoff. The hotel is right next to a lake which Teri and I already visited and 3 little Vietnamese girls practiced their English on us. It was very cute. I also had a young boy come up to me begging for money with his hat held out. Very heartbreaking. We are not suppose to give them any money but it is so hard to see that. I thought we got the stares in Ho Chi Minh but here in Hanoi, it is even worse.We sat on a bench at the lake and everyone stared that went by and several people stopped and were curious about Zach. We didnt understand everything they asked but we knew they were asking about him as they pointed to him. The sales lady at the shop in hotel held him and asked about him and where we were from. When we told her the United States, she said he is a lucky baby but I am the lucky one. Teri and I both lliked Ho Chi Minh better than Hanoi. People seem more friendly in Ho Chi Minh and better able to communicate. Teri managed to blow a fuse in the room and when I called trying to tell them what happen, it was almost hilarious as they totally did not understand what we were trying to tell them, but eventually someone came and got the lights working again. We laughed so hard.
Tomorrow we are going sightseeing and I have my appt with the embassy in the afternoon and then will get his Visa later in the day and we will head home on Thursday. Everything still same as far as our arrival in Pensacola Friday morning. Teri and I ate at a restaurant in the hotel and was very good. The fried squid was delicious. As soon as we entered, a waitress took Zach from me to watch while we fixed our plates(was a buffet) and ate a little. Had I not known that this was common practice in Vietnam I would have been a little distressed but he was in our site the whole time. We love you and miss you all and will see you at end of the week.

Off to Hanoi

Hi everyone, Zachary , Teri and I have just finished breakfast and will be meeting our representative down in the lobbby in about an hour to go to the airport. We have finished up everything we need to do in Ho Chi Minh (getting Zachary, having his Giving and Receiving, getting his medical checkup, and obtaining his passport)and now I need to fly to Hanoi for an interview with US Embassy and obtain Zachary visa so he can enter into the United States. As soon as we have his visa, we are free to leave. Does not look like we can return any sooner as interview not until Wednesday since Tuesday is holiday for United States and that is when they usually do the interviews. I am sad in a way to leave this place as this is where Zachary was born and lived for the first nine months of his life. I guess a part of me feels guilty for taking him from his homeland and culture. We will try to hook up the computer as soon as possible when we get to Hanoi. Teri and I and Zachary love being able to talk to and see our family on skype. Dont know what we would have done without that as that contact with you all has helped us not feel isolated and so far away from home. We will try to post some pics when we get there. I know we have been bad about posting pics lately but the connection here is so slow and spotty. We love you all and can't wait to see you and for you to meet Mr Zach.

Saying goodbye

Baby room(Zachary's crib was probably the empty one in center)

Nannys were quick to wipe his little nose...still caring for him!

Nannys were happy to see him and love on him!

Yesterday Zachary, Aunt Teri and I went back to the orphanage. I really struggled with that decision as he seems to have transitioned so well and did not want to do anything to confuse him or cause a setback. Everything happened so fast when I first saw him and we did not have any time to see his room or his nannies as we were off to another orphanage to pick up our travelmates daughter who is 1 year old and such a cutie also. I would watch him closely and if he showed any signs of distress, we would leave immediately. As soon as the nannies saw him, they started calling him by name and wanting to hold him. He kept looking back to Teri and I but he seemed to be ok. There were quite a few nannies about in the room feeding and taking care of the babies. I was sad to see his nanny that was always in his pictures with him that were sent to me while I was waiting was not there. Our guide Haun that took us(is with Childrens Hope) told me how to say thank you for taking care of my son and apparently I said it ok as they smiled and nodded. I am glad we were able to do that for Zachary as he will have many questions when he is older and I wanted him to see how loved he was before his mommy came to get him. We will try to post a small snippet later from the water puppet show. Zacharys calling. Today is our free day and we are going back to the Ben Thanh market and do more shopping. Bye for now.

Marina, if you are reading this, I was able to see your son and my sister in law held him and gave him some love while I took a few pics. He looks good. We told him his mommy is coming for him very soon.We tried to email them but had few problems, Will try again today.

Hello ...Mommy, Aunt Teri and I had a good day today. We went to see a water puppet show this morning. It was quite exciting for the many local kids and Aunt Teri was pretty excited too! No worries if you missed it....mommy had Aunt Teri video tape almost the whole thing! We went back to my orphanage today (Picasso). Mommy wanted to get photos of my nannys and video of my first home. I think my nannys were happy to see me so clean and happy and loved. They liked my mommy. I was okay with visiting...but I was really happy to leave again with my new mommy. I am glad my mommy is taking such care to record stuff for me. That was the last of many scheduled trips we've gotten to go on. Having so much to do has made the time go by faster according to mommy and Aunt Teri, but I can tell they are glad to have more down time. I even got to play a lot with my toys today since we could stay in the room longer. Mommy and aunt Teri are talking about how nice it will be to sleep in tomorrow...they are silly, we all know they will want to join me around 5am for a little snack and snuggles. Uncle Scott took me to his Sunday School class today! Sort of...he took his computer to class and we used Skype to video phone each other...it was early there....but late here. I tried really hard to stay awake for them, Aunt Teri has told me all about them. I was awake, but definitely not too perky...but I did it! Now I can go to sleep. Nighty Night from Vietnam, Love Zachary