Sue's journey

Hi everyone,

I am not sure how many of you know, that we are still here in Vietnam and it is because there are some problems.

The U.S gov......Homeland Security/ Citizenship and Immigration office, is delaying our Visa approval. We have not been told why and it has been very stressful trying to get answers.  We know that the decision was sent on to Washington, DC but don't know why or what they are deciding. The Vietnamese are happy with everything and want us to be able to get home but the US is holding us up.

Thanks to Jo-ann, Candy, George and many, many other people we are getting help in the states.  Many phone calls have been made on our behalf to MA and NH Senators and to other officials in the Government. As of today, we have word from the states that a decision was made on Friday afternoon in the states...of course this means it was Sat morning for us and offices are closed.  We are assuming we will hear something on Mon. a.m.

I am ok for now.  Very worried, but ok.  I have to believe it will turn out o.k.  If the Visa is denied they will take 45 days to investigate further.  I would probably stay here.  We are considering legal help in the states if we should need it, but dont want to d9o much on that front until a decision is given.

Thank you to all who are helping and thank you to all who will keep up the positive thoughts for us!

Love,

Sue and Evie

Hi everyone,

Today should have been the day we arrived home, but we are still here.

We have no news from the embassy yet, but have requested help from the states and ameeting with the chief consular.  We expect to have some kind of answer today...either yes you can have a visa or no and this is the problem. As of now we have had no reason for the delay.

The weather hasn't been that great so even the pool is out as an option.  We went to the Army museum yesterday.  It is the last of the placrs to visit.  It was very interesting......details to follow in person.

Again...keep you fingers crossed that today is the day.  We are booked on a flight for sat. arriving home sunday night.

Evie is restless...so I best stop this one finger typing and go play with her.  She is a littlte love and I can't wait for you all to meet her!

Sue and Evie

Evie and I are still waiting to here from the U.s. Embassy.  We have confirmation that we should be getting our approval tomorrow and then hopefully the Visa on Wed....but I am not sure of this info yet.  We have to call the Embassy at 8:30 tomorrow morning.  We heard that the delay was because they had to send a teamto investigate the orphanage in Hue given the fact that these are the first two babies to be adopted from there.  This and the fact that the embassy is not all that well staffed and the number of U.S adoptions happening right now is significant.

so.... we wait some more and hopefull will get good news tomorrow.  Best case scenario is we are still home as predicted this Thur.  worse case is we are not home until the weekend.  I am hoping the earlier day!!  I can only watch so many more movies on HBO.  They are all a quite bit old and I have seen most of them.  I have finished all three books i brought with me and am not sure how I am going to fill in my time much longer!

Last night Evie almost caused an international incident.  She has been having some trouble with her tummy and last night she wailed for about 15 min at a restaraunt.  I am not sure what the big deal was.....we had our own room, they closed the door and it was only 6:00.....but the staff gave us terrible looks.  Oh well., we will be gone soon

I will keep you all posted.

Sue and evie

Well..it turns out we won't be leaving early.  The U.S embassy in Ho Chi Minh City is having some delays with all the U.S adoptions...and therefore we have not received an answer from them yet.  The office is closed at noon tomorrow so we are hopeful that we will hear in the a.m and if not by Monday.  We will then have our Visa interview Monday aft. or Tue morning and have a Visa by Tuesday afternoon.  This will put us back on the original schedule to leave Hanoi on Wed. the 26th and arrive back in Boston on Thursday evening.

I will be keeping my fingers crossed that this scenario happens and it would be great if you all could too.

Although it is wonderful to be spending so much time with Evelyn on my own in order for us to bond, we are ready to have the comforts of our home.  We are also anxious to be closer to family and friends.

I don't think there are any more museums for us to go to, but I guess there are always walks around the various lakes (although the smells are not very pleasant) and there is also shopping.  I do need to get a few more things to bring home for Evie and I guess maybe I could get something for myself. We will also be spending a lot more time by the pool and playing with our friend Leah. 

Last night we went to a great Vietnamese restaraunt.  It was buffet style and there were so many choices.  The food was all labeled in both vietnamese and English so I did know what I was eating.  The staff was so helpful with Evie.  They either held her while I got my food or Got food for me.

Evie is still doing great.  She does need her nails trimmed, but I am not wiling to go there again. I tried to do it last weekend but she moved and I cut her finger a little bit.  I felt like the worst mom in the world.  So I am now waiting for a more experienced mom to help (hint, hint..anyone).

 Ok...got to go, she woke up and is hungry again. 

 sue and a very hungry evie

We are anxoiously waiting for the Embassy to call and o.k our request for the adoption. We heard that there is an administrative problem in Ho Chi Minh City and that all adoptions are going a bit slower than expected.  The agency worker assures us that by Friday we will have a Visa and be on our way home on SAt.  I sure hope she is right!!! I have changed my flights and my hotel reservation in Bangkok and I don't want to have to do that again.

Today we are going to visit Ho Chi Minh's residence and a pagoda.  There was a terrible thunder storm last night and the weather is  a bit cloudy this morning ...but I am sure the sun will shine later and the humidity is still there. The last two afternoons we have taken walks and then visited several other hotels for a beer or two.  The girls seem to enjoy going out later in the day and we certainly like the change of scenery.  The Sofitel hotel had a roof top resteraunt and we had an incredible view of the entire city.  It is incredibly big and smoggy!!

Thank you all for your comments.  WE love reading what everyone has to say and it keeps me feeling as if you are all just around the corner.

I will keep you up to date on the Gov. issue.  Hopefully we will hear something today. I am going a bit crazy waiting!!

Love,

Sue and Evie

It doesn't seem possible that I left the states 2 wks ago,  Time is going quikly, but we are anxious to be home.

I can't wait to be in my own home, with my own stuff and my own car to get around. The taxis are getting a bit old, but who can complain whenthey are dirt cheap.  We took a cab to the outskirts of town to see the silk factories.  The cab waited while we shopped for an hour and then took us back. For four hours it only costs$15!!!! Try to find that deal in Boston.

Yesterday I finally got brave enough to actually take Evie in the pool.  Candy Oteri would be very proud of her water adjustment.  She loved it!! WE were in the water for about 20 min.  She even let me float her on her back.  I am sure we will go in again today.  It is  so hot again....no more rain for the last three days.

I am gearing up for our long plan ride home.  I think her various toys will keep her happy....but when she lets out her loudest cry for food the other passengers will surely wake up!

Talk to you all soon.

Sue and Evie

The album is working now.  You should be able to go on the sidebar and find Albums.  There should be a listing for Evie.  I put three pictures that the other family took of us on the first day at the orphanage!

Enjoy!

Hi...today was a big day for Evelyn and I.  She had her medical appt. at the SOS an international medical clinic.

She did very well.  She weighs 5.23kg or approx. 11 lbs and is 61 cm long.  She is in very good health and the Dr. was impressed by her alertness, color of her skin and genera good health .  She said she is a little small but very proportionate.  She also said she must have been well taken care of.

We also got our passport today!  All is set for us to come home early.  We are in the middle of changing our air tickets to the 22 arriving in Boston on the 23rd.  This is 4 days earlier than expected.  There is a slight glitch because I didn't know I had to get the ticket for Evelyn in her Vietnamese name as is on her passport.  With a little help from John I am trying to change that right now.   I didn't put two and two together to do this ahead of time and neither did the other family.  IT is the only thing our agency dropped the ball on.  I will be able to change her name once i get home and apply for a US passport.

We continue to take in the sights and plan to go to a silk factory tomorrow to see how they make silk garments.  I am also going to do a bit more shopping for gifts and souvenirs.  We are having fun in the shops and everything is so cheap!! We went to the BIG C yesterday.  It is the Vietnamese version of the BIG Y or Super Stop and Shop.  They have everything you might need and more.  You are not allowed to bring your bags into the store, but need to check them at the front.  This was interesting in the fact that you have to then carry your money on your and not in your purse!  Pictures are also not allowed in the store and there are many signs to remind you.

Everyone continues to be super to us.  The people of Vietnam love babies and are very kind to us all.  It is such an interesting place and I plan to tell Evie how wonderful her birth place is. 

She continues to do very well.  She is generally very happy unless she is tired and then she uses her loud voice to let me know.  SHe loves the mat her Nana gave her and plays on it every morning and often again in the afternoon.  She also loves the spong mat her Auntie Pattie gave her for the tub.  She loves the bath and in fact loved it so much yesterday that she pooped while in the tub.  It was great......she then proceeded to pee on me when I had her wrapped in her towel.  I have definately been christened in the toileting area.

We are anxious to be home and to be near our family and friends.  I am a bit tired but enjoying every minute I have with her here.  

We will schedule our Visa interview early next week and then be finished with all the official paper work.  It has been a relatively easy process.

Love,

Evie and Sue

P.S.  I can't figure out how to make the album accessible to you all.  Sorry!

Well it is now 10:15 on Wed. night for us.  Evie is sleeping soundly after going out for another lovely dinner.....this time it really was.  She was awake the entire time, but very happy!  I think she got her fussy time out of the way this morning as she decided to skip her usual morning nap. 

We had our interview at the Embassy yesterday.  They bumped it up an afternoon.  The interview was expected to take approx. 45. mins, but we were in and out in about 10.  The man behind the glassed in window asked a few quesitons but it was painless.  We will be notifed on Friday (hopefully) that we are o.k. to apply for a Visa.  This part of the process is quick so as soon as we get the go ahead we are going to move very quickly.  We have an appt. on Friday afternoon with the Embassy Dr. to o.k. Evie for travel.  She is very healthy so I see no problem with this step.

The agency workers here are going to begin working on changing our flights.  I think we might be on our way home next Thursday instead of the following week!! Yeahhhhhhh!!!!! 

We are enjoying more sightseeing while here and getting a flavor the local atmosphere.  Yesterday we went to the Temple of Literature and today to the Fine Arts museum . Evie is very cultured already.  We are colllecting some souvenirs to bring back so that she will have a few pieces of her culture as she grows up.  We continue to battle the traffic here....it is so unbelievable.  Rush hour on 128 is nothing like this.   

 Evie seems to really like to play.  She snuggles with her froggie blanket and laughs out loud when I tickle her.  She really is very good and I am crossing my fingers that it continues.  She is definately bonding.....today she would not go to An (the woman from the agency that she has known for sometime.  She just cried and looked for me.......I couldn't be happier.   I love to see her smile and melt everytime she stares into my eyes.

 Well....it is time for me to go to bed in anticiapation of the 3a.m feeding.  That seems to be the time she likes to wake.....and luckily goes right back to sleep after a little food. 

I will update you all again soon and let you know if we will be home early!!

Sue and Evie  (I just snorted a little in my sleep!)

P.S.  I am going to try to post some picutures....but not sure how it works so don't get upset if it doesn't.

Evie and I are settling into a bit of a routine here.  She wakes up at approx. 7:30 and we go to the cafe for breakfast,then back to the room for a little play and a bottle before a little nap. Yesterday, we went to the museum of ethnology. It was amazing to see the different stles of homes and to realize that up until the late 80's most people here were surviving on gov. subsidized food and shelter.

Evie and i then went out to a fancy resteraunt for dinner with the other family and the director of the agency. We didn't meet until 7 and i knew this might be a bit hard because she has been in bed by 7........and I was right!  she cried for most of the evening.......i was so horrified that everyone would think i didn't know what i was doing, but Muriel, lea's mom told everyone they had never seen evie act that way. She told them we were doing very well.So much for going out for dinner.....but guess what, I found a new weight loss method!  Although the food is so good i hated to missone of the many courses.  The vietnamese spring rolls are my favorite.  They bring a large fish to the table, head still on, and put some of it along withvegetables in rice paper and then roll it all together.  You then dip it into delicious sauces to eat.  I am gettinh pretty good with the chopsticks........maybe i will be able to catch Sal'a crickets with them by the time i get home!

We are off to the OLd quarters this morning to do some shopping.  There are whole streets dedicated to one type of goods. We are going to the toy street an then out to lunch. The biggest adventure for us is getting in the taxis.  The drivers are very good, but it is nerve racking to watch all the motor bikes and bicyclist.  It is not uncommon to see three people at a time on a motor bike. One a small child, one a father and one a mother talking on her celll phone in the back and of course none of them is wearing a helmet!!  It is amazing more people are not killed on a daily basis.  I thought boston drivers were reckless.......they have nothing on these people.

O.k.  so on Wed. we have our meeting at the U.S Embassy.  and on Friday we should hear how that went.  They say we might actually get home a little early.  Maybe the 20th or 21st???  but no promises. 

I can't wait to bring this little girl home.  She is so happy and as everyone noticed last night she is already very attached to me.  She would not let anyone else hold her last night despite them all trying to help.  We are getting to know each other more and more each day and are looking forward to being home with  all of you!

Love,

Sue and Evie