First morning going smoothly.

Sarah just woke up and did great. She wasn't scared and picked up right where she left off last night. She's been giving big hugs and is getting her first bath from mom. No fear of the tub noted. We're going to take her to breakfast at the hotel this morning because she's doing so well. I'm sure she won't have any problems.

At least I can update the blog...

...because the sleep thing just isn't working for me over here. I couldn't sleep before I left home for the past couple weeks and we've been going to bed early over here, so it was awake at 1:30 a.m. this morning. Lay in bed for a couple hours and finally giving in and getting up. Isaac is having trouble sleeping also. He's next to me playing his Gameboy. He just beat another level in Mario Brothers 3. ;-)

Sarah is sound asleep. She didn't take a nap yesterday with all the excitement but went right to bed for us last night. She has not woke up so far. We have been amazed at her transition up to this point. She has been the happiest child you could imagine. She is playful, smart, inquisitive, you name it. Within an hour of picking her up, she was talking nonstop. We went to a store across the street to get some food and she is all woman when it comes to shopping. She loved it. She was pointing out all the different items she wanted. And of course, she had to buy a new pair of shoes.

Today, Tuesday, we will be taking her to get her medical exam and applying for her passport. It's 5:20 a.m. and she's still sleeping. I hope a little of that rubs off on me tonight.


You can't see it's face, but that's a dog between her legs. I'm sure there's nothing that hasn't been hauled on a motor bike over here.
Our family with Sarah's nannies. They all love her very much and are going to miss her. It breaks your heart and brings joy to you at the same time.
Sarah having fun pulling fuzz off the bear Isaac gave her and putting it on his nose.
Sarah doing what she does best, looking cute.
Some of the older school-aged children came over as we spoke to the orphanage co-director.
On the way back to the hotel, Sarah looked at the photo album of us that we sent her in May. She continued the rest of the day, pointing to the photos and then to us, saying "mother", "father" and "brother" in Vietnamese.
Sarah also looked through the book, "When You Were Born In Vietnam".

We're now officially parents for the second time.

I'm way too tired to write much, but suffice it to say, Sarah is a wonderful child. We picked her up this morning and had our G&R this afternoon. The G&R is where we legally become Sarah's parents in the eyes of the Vietnamese government. She has been happy the whole time. She loves to play and giggle. She is well behaved and loves her brother. More later, but I'll get a few photos posted for everyone.

Can't sleep. Can you imagine why?

Well, here we are, Monday morning in HCMC. I woke up about 2 a.m. and can't go back to sleep, so I'm going to take advantage of the time to update everyone.

Our flights over were fairly uneventful, except Kelly had the opportunity to help an exhausted mother for a short time. From L.A. to Hong Kong, there was a family with a small baby (in Kelly's arms in the photo) and a girl around Sarah's age and a grandmother was also traveling with them. Kelly was dying to hold the little one and when we were almost 13 hours into the flight, the father, grandmother and older girl were all asleep. She looked at the mother, who was extremely tired, and asked if she wanted her to hold her baby so she could sleep. Now in most situations, you wouldn't hand your infant to a total stranger but this wasn't most situations and the mother was so relieved. She gave Kelly such a joy and mom was able to get a few minutes rest. Luckily, I kept an eye on the family, because when the grandmother woke up, she saw everyone asleep and no baby. After a second or two, I was able to get her attention and pointed to her grandchild. And there ended Kelly's brief encounter with this adorable child.

When we arrived in Hong Kong, the display in the plane listed our flight to HCMC as leaving from gate 26. We shouldn't have assumed that was correct and of course it wasn't. After getting to gate 26, the screen that displayed the flight leaving that gate was blank, so I went and found the listings for all gates, and it had been switched to gate 1. Luckily, it wasn't really as far away as it sounds.

Once in HCMC, our CHI representatives got us to the hotel, where we got settled in and then it was off to see Sarah. As anyone who has been here knows, the drive through the city is quite the experience by itself. Kelly said now I know how she feels when she is riding with me at the wheel. ;-) She also said the traffic is much worse and scarier in Greece. I find that hard to believe, but I've never been to Greece. It just amazed me that during our time in car, we didn't see more collisions. There was one minor bump of two motor bikes just in front of us. Other than that, just a lot of what I would call close calls.

Our vehicle had a blow out on the way to the orphanage. Don't worry, it was uneventful from a safety standpoint. As one CHI representative got the tire changed, we sat at a little "shop" and drank a Pepsi. The lady there wanted to sell Isaac a coconut, and the CHI rep. was going to buy it for him, but what were we going to do with a coconut?

We then arrived at the orphanage. We spotted Sarah immediately walking across the courtyard with an older girl. We checked in at the office and then they brought her out. She was just beautiful. It's always hard to judge size in photos and even in the video we have of her from April, but she is just tiny. Isaac presented her with the bear he made for her at Build A Bear. It was a hit. A little later, I was away taking photos in another area of the orphanage, but Kelly said all the children were checking out the bear's tail where it comes through her panties, pulling at it and Sarah would put them in their place when they got a little too handsy with her new possession. Kelly picked Sarah up and that's where she stayed most of our visit. Kelly was torn between picking up other children who were tugging at her and holding on to Sarah.

The children swarmed Isaac and one adorable little fella grabbed his hand and was pulling him around without any hesitation. The little guy picked up his shoes and took Isaac to the shoe rack to show him where they keep their shoes.

The visit was over too quickly as dinner time rolled around and the children left to eat. We did get to spend a few more minutes with Sarah as she led Kelly to the area where she eats. It was so cute, after her nanny started feeding her and we were about to leave, the nanny told her to give Kelly a kiss. She looked confused and opened her mouth as to say, hey, I have my mouth full and that wouldn't be good to kiss her right now. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel.

We were all so tired, we just ordered room service. I went across the street to the Tax Market for some water and soda and before I returned, Isaac had fallen asleep. I went to bed about 8 p.m. and as I said earlier, woke up around 2 a.m.

Kelly and Isaac are up now and I need to get ready to go get Sarah. We'll post more later.






This little girl was adorable, although I'm sure at least slightly confused.

Kelly managed a smile after more than 30 hours since we left our house and with minimal sleep.

I was always amazed at the wires in photos on other blogs. Of course I had to take a few shots of them too.
This little contraption was powered by pushing and pulling the steering column.

A man transporting ice. I hope it wasn't all melted before he arrived at his destination.
Enjoying our Pepsi while the tire was changed. The bottles were not chilled and the lady brought the mugs of ice out, so yes, we used it. No residual effect so far.
Sarah has always had earrings on in the photos we have of her and frequently had bracelets. So we also gave her a necklace/bracelet set.


This little girl wanted to make sure Sarah knew her Ba was taking her photo from the second story of the orphanage.

This is the little boy who pulled Isaac around and showed him where he keeps his shoes.

Sarah showed us which crib she sleeps in.

Our first family photo together.

Isaac fell a sleep more than two hours ago and I'm heading to slumber land also. But before I do I had to post at least one photo. More to come later.

We have arrived!

We got to our room at the Rex about about noon. We are all getting cleaned up and will be meeting our CHI rep. at 2 p.m. to go meet Sarah for the first time. I will hopefully get photos posted tonight, which will be Sunday morning in MO.

Leaving on a Jet Plane.

I'm not really a John Denver fan, but he did write "Leaving on a Jet Plane" the same year I was born and it seemed like a good title for this post. In 12 hours, we'll be on a Boeing 757 getting ready to take off from St. Louis, barring any delays. Like my friend Dale who was going to Hawaii. As they sat on the plane waiting to take off, the air temperature climbed and the plane returned to the gate twice to unload cargo because they were too heavy to take off with the temp. increase. They then had to return a third time to refuel because they used too much fuel going back and forth. It's a much funnier story hearing Dale tell it. Don't worry Georgeanne, I'm sure that won't happen to you.

We are obviously extremely excited we are this close to finally meeting our daughter. I will update the blog when I can, so stay tuned. We will be there soon Sarah.

Avast! Don't forget, today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day .