Shopping Sites of Interest

Our guide took us today to a shop that features, hand embroidered with silk, paintings in all sizes. The picture shows one of the woman working on a painting. They are awesome and a typical painting 11x17 takes 1-3 months of full-time work to complete. They use either cotton or silk (mostly silk) thread. They were so beautiful - we just had to pick one up for our home. We recommend experiencing this while in Hanoi.

Visa Appointment Set

Greetings from Vietnam! We spent the day shopping - Mia already loves it! LOL

Tomorrow we're heading out for a morning cultural tour to see a couple of the key musuems in Hanoi with our favorite travel guide.

Hanoi Traveler Tip - hire a private tour thru the hotel for 1/2 day- we did this today and got a wonderful air conditioned car, driver and English speaking (sort of) guide who took us door to door to any shop we wanted. Basically, we told him the things we wanted to see or purchase and he had the driver drop us off at the store and wait. They even carried our packages. A convenient and great way to shop and see the sites with a baby! And, it was only $35.00 USD per person for the tour. For us it was worth it because we were led everywhere, they negotiated prices for us and it gave us options to keep the baby happy (once I stayed in the car with the driver to feed the baby while Melva shopped and vice versa). It was a wonderful morning!

We have our US Embassy appointment set for Wednesday at 2pm. After that, we should get her papers to travel home. We're hoping the papers come thru on Thursday and we're trying to get flights home for Friday. Horrible flight options (11 hour layover in LAX, arrival in Chicago at 5am). Like we really want to do this with a baby. After our 56 hours adventure to get here, we were sure hoping that the airline Gods would look down on us and give us better options for coming home - our agent is still working on it. We'll let folks know when things are set for our return. Either way, we should be stateside within a week.

A picture or two of our travels today...

Who can resist a pretty girl in a red dress!

Gotta run and get ready for our shopping tour - couldn't resist one more cute picture of the baby!

For our son Bradley...

The Silk Factory & Puppet Theater Pictures

The Sites of Hanoi and surrounding areas

So busy posting pictures of the baby. This time we'll post other photos...

We visited the silk factory (very interesting and third world). Yesterday we went to the water puppet show. Amazing and funny show - it's a quick one and you can take the baby with. The shows run every hour and the cost is 40,000 dong for excellent seats.

Today (Monday) we hired an English speaking tour guide to take us on a 1/2 day tour of the shopping districts. In Hanoi, every street is reserved for a particular kind of store. So, we're going to visit the baby street and get some of those squeaky shoes and visit the silk street to look for traditional dresses for Melva and I. A great idea to use a tour guide arranged from the hotel and it's affordable, only $35 USD per person for a 4.5 hour excursion.

Mia had some melt downs yesterday with too hot and long of a day so we're changing the game plan here and getting out early before it's too hot and spending the afternoons back at the hotel. She's beginning to teeth big time! She either spent the day laughing or fussing yesterday. She's a little princess already - loves the air conditioning and playing in the room. She also prefers her bottles warmed.

Hanoi Update

We've been busy as usual in Hanoi - here's the latest report on our journey...

Mia has a Vietnamese passport (suffice it to say that it was an experience) because the govt. made an error and listed her as a boy - and, she's totally girl! A couple hours later it was corrected. We also made a stop at the SOS clinic for our US Embassy physical. Mia weighs in at 14 pounds at 26 1/2 inches. She's pretty healthy given all she's been thru - only issues are the eczema all over her but that's treatable.

Today is Saturday and we went with the entire group to a silk factory. A real experience to see how they process silk - right out of the industrial revolution era - we'll upload some additional pictures soon on this trip. We shopped for silk and returned to the hotel. It was HOT here and we were tired and needed some rest. Holly and crew spent the afternoon with us and the babies had so much fun playing together - pictures to follow on this soon.

The real treat the past two days is seeing the progress Mia is making. She smiles and now has a totally adorable giggle! Take a look at these pictures...

I stand corrected - it's Scooters and not Motorbikes!

Bath Time

She loves the water! A fun slippery first bath with Mia.

All Dressed Up and So Many Places to Go...

A busy day yesterday and visits to the Hanoi police station (they issue passports for Vietnam). A well guarded place with police officers in uniform standing guard outside on platforms carrying large guns. Then it was off to a local photo shop to have pictures taken for our US passport and Visa. Then to the SOS Clinic. A very well run medical facility and we had our first doctor appointment with a nice French doctor. Very informative and helpful with the baby's medical issues. Seems as though the cold winter was very hard on all the babies skin and they are covered, from Head to Toe, in eczema. They look polka dotted! Good news is that it wasn't scabies and can be treated easily. Left there with plenty of meds to clean her all up!

From there it was grocery shopping and back to the hotel for some rest! We joined Holly for dinner at her hotel -Hong Noc (a cute Vietnamese hotel and the staff were wonderful). It was a quick dinner as the babies and the grown ups had enough and sleep was calling us all home...

The Bac Ninh Orphanage

Catching up on posts a bit - for those who are waiting to travel to Bac Ninh, here's some information:

The babies do not typically have one major caregiver but a few so a caregiver gift isn't needed, just bring the small gifts for the whole group. I will post pictures of a typical baby's room online soon. The orphanage is home to a large school of older childre, many of whom are deaf. When we arrived they ran out of the buildings to greet us - they were so excited to see Americans! There must have been 100 children smiling, waving and running around us wanting us to take their pictures. And, yes, they were fascinated with my blonde hair and were touching it!

Every morning (about the time we arrived) they do group exercise in the courtyard. They bang a drum and guess what our babies love the drums! When we clap the beat for Mia she loves it.

I'll try to get some additional orphanage pictures on the blog soon...

A Peek at our Little One...

Update on the Baby

Our first night together went great! She finally ate - the little stinker didn't like the fast flow nipples - folks about to travel, bring a variety of sizes as slower flow is better. Once we got that resolved, she ate a ton - 16 ounces within 4 hours. At final bed time, she flailed about 4 times and finally got her settled in. She's been sleeping soundly for about 8 hours now.

Today's plan are for a 7:45 group meeting followed by trips to pick up our Vietnamese passports, take pictures for the US Visa meeting, medical appointments and grocery shopping. Who would have thought we would go half way around the world and have fun grocery shopping.

Here's another peek at our little one...

G & R Ceremony

Here's the last one for tonight. Our little one is fussing for another bottle - gotta run and will post more later...

Tomorrow it's off with errands for a Vietnam passport, medical appts. and photos for the US passport - our day begins at 7:45 am with errands.

The G & R Ceremony

Mia with her Caregiver

More baby pictures

It's Official - We Have a Baby Girl

Introducing the beautiful, wiggly little, little Kessler member - Mia Hanh Kessler. Weighing in at about 12 pounds and almost 7 months old, here she is everyone...

Motorbikes for Bradley

Our son loves motorcycles - there are millions over here so this picture is for you buddy...

Hanoi Traffic

Motorbikes everywhere - bikes, cars, people all come within an inch or less of each other. And, they wear out their horns beeping all day at each other. One in our group was grazed by a motorbike earlier today - note to everyone - don't assume the bikes will stop when the light turns red. She wasn't injured but a close call.

Hanoi pictures

Hanoi pictures

Hanoi City Streets

Pictures from Hanoi

Slow internet here - sending pictures when we can. Tomorrow is the big day - we leave for the orphanage at 7:30 a.m - 1.5 hour drive there and then we get our babies. From there it's off to the G & R Ceremony at 10am following by physicals, Visa paperwork. A long day for everyone but we are all so excited.

We had a large group dinner tonight and met one family who had their baby from Thai - a beautiful baby boy. There are 4 families tomorrow heading to Bac Ninh to pick up 5 babies - a totally wonderful, fun dinner and we all can't wait to share our babies with you!

HCMC Airport

Novice at uploading pictures here...

HCMC Airport

Arrival in HCMC

Getting closer to Hanoi...

The Group Arrives in HCMC

We finally landed in HCMC and met the WC staff there. We donated some boxes to the WC staff and they guided us to the domestic airport for the flight to Hanoi. It was 86 degrees and humid in HCMC.

Our Journey to Get There in Pictures

We're in Vietnam!

4 plane rides and 56 hours door to door - we're here! We joined up with 2 other families in Hong Kong and have spent the day together on airplanes. Our G & R is scheduled for Wednesday. We're with Holly Kaufman and Christy & Robert Smith. There's another WC family who arrived yesterday and we will hook up with them tomorrow.

Will figure out how to post pictures tomorrow - so sleepy and off to bed...

We Leave Tomorrow...

Been a whirlwind couple of days - tons of paperwork (measures 2 inches thick), getting our Visas (they arrived today!), shopping, finding out that our wonderful state requires me to have a foster care license because DH isn't able to travel (try to get that accomplished in 2 days and one of them is Good Friday). I could write a book on the issues going on...

On to more news...

We (my mother-in-law Melva is able to come at the last minute) will leave tomorrow night for Vietnam! We'll arrive on Monday evening. Longer flights and layovers than typical (you try booking international flights on a holiday weekend with 3 days notice) so don't even imagine the cost of these tickets! And, we're in the middle of a HUGE blizzard with 400+ flights cancelled today. Sure hope we get out tomorrow evening!

Thanks to everyone for their kind words and well wishes - we appreciate it more than we can express! We're taking with us (from another PAP who hasn't been able to travel yet) about 30 pounds of Bag It project items to drop off in HCMC on our way. Thanks to everyone who donated for this effort!

Gotta run and start packing as not 1 single thing is packed yet - LOL - somehow it will all get done...

Are You Sitting Down??? We Received Our Approval!!!

Can't believe the news - from heartbreak to joy overnight! We were totally surprised to receive an email today and telephone call that we are approved and can travel to get our daughter! I am quickly getting organized to leave with my mother-in-law Melva this Saturday - 4 days from now. No, I'm not ready and nothing is organized but I will make that flight!!!

Advise thus far - work ahead in your planning! First up, get the Visa mailed (done) and get airline tickets booked (done-a real treat traveling on a holiday weekend with 4 days notice- I think we're traveling throughout all continents to get there).

Next up - read that travel manual and make tons of lists on what I can realistically accomplish in 4 days. BTY - did I tell you that I am leaving behind a 7 year old son and a DH who just had major back surgery. An adventure this is sure to be...

Stay tuned for more adventures from Vietnam! I'll post as I get ready to depart and throughout the journey for our faithful readers!

OK - Join Us in the Fight to Unite Our Families!

See the post below and please go to the web site - email or write your senator, congressmen, media, etc. and help us resolve the long, long delays in Vietnam adoptions caused by 3 people (that's right - 3 folks in our own US Embassy) who are stalling the entire process! Spent the better part of yesterday and today emailing senators and many media outlets with the news of botched adoptions efforts in Vietnam - caused by our own government.

How can you help us bring our daughter and more than 200 other families together?? Visit: www.bringourchildrenhome.org and participate in the campaign to unite families!

Help Us - Visit: www.bringourchildrenhome.org

Many are asking how they can help us bring our daughter home...

Here's how - visit the website Bring Our Children Home and learn about the adoption situation in Vietnam. From this site, you can also contact senators and congressmen - we hope you'll send letters on our behalf. There are samples of letters and emails on the site.

Keep us posted if you can help us this way and thanks!

What is Going on in Vietnam?????

Rantings Follow - Reader Beware...

What the H - E - Double Tooth picks is happening in Vietnam??? Do these people work in our US Embassy or not???

Another quiet, too quiet week is about to close with no news anywhere - only heard of 1 approval of an I-600 and 1 or 2 referrals. Read plenty online of families dropping out of the Vietnam program all together.

What are the families waiting for referrals being told? And, what becomes of us who have referrals - will the other shoe drop for us next?

Our daughter grows older every day, freezing in a cold orphanage while our US Embassy sits toasty by in Vietnam drinking tea - everyone knows they're not working their fingers to the bone approving adoptions! I could approve more in a single day than the group of them combined have achieved in the entire year so far -

Yes, I'm ranting, but I'm entitled to - I'm tired of waiting, spending thousands and thousands of dollars to complete our family and still waiting to hold our daughter! We want our baby NOW!!!

Small Steps Forward in IA in Vietnam...

Perhaps a glimmer of hope out there on 2 fronts:

1. One family with our agency received approval - 92 days later! (so much for the 60 day window)

2. One family with our agency finally received (after almost 5 months) the last piece of paperwork so that they can file their I-600 paperwork and join those of us waiting families.

One small step for mankind, one great leap for Vietnam...

May there be many steps forward in the next few days - a gal can wish can't she...

Another Week Passes - No Information - Baby K is Older

Baby K is now 7 months old and should really, really be with her forever family NOW!

No news from any source on referrals, approvals of I-600's - life as we know it in Vietnam is at a standstill! I haven't even seen any new pictures of her since December and have no idea how big she has grown...

DH is recovering slowly - it's a bit frustrating and the next 11 weeks are going to push me over the edge! Really not, but if we don't get some news real soon about our daughter, that may drive me nuts!

Nothing But Tears Tonight...

It's a mixed set of tears tonight - joy and sadness...

DH is home from the hospital from his major surgery (now, just have to get thru the 12 weeks of healing) - That's the tears of joy part...

Tears of sadness, 2 reasons:

1. Several families from our agency just had their CFC's pulled from one province and have to wait for a new referral

2. It seems as though the USA will not renew their Memorandum of Understanding (they will not play nice in the sandbox with Vietnam - totally political in nature) and we don't know what happens to our daughter!!! For us, she's really ours as we were united with her in November and just need approval to scoop her up in our arms in Vietnam.

Tears all around tonight with the uncertainty that abounds...

How much more can a gal take these days...

Back in the Real World Again - Surgery Update

Coming back into the real world - DH surgery went well - he's still in the hospital but hoping to be home tomorrow. It's been a rough few days with him there and our son at family. Our son had a wonderful weekend with his Aunt and Uncle (they're the best and really kept our son busy with all sorts of great activities - made me wish I was a child again!).

DH had some issues with his back surgery at the time of the surgery but is now recovering well. It's the 12 weeks post surgery with tons of restrictions that should be an interesting ride. Can I say that I now have 2 children - one who is 7 years old and one who is 46 years old! Trying to keep a former Olympic athlete from doing too much too soon will make for some interesting blog posting - details to follow on that front.

As far as our daughter goes - of course, NO NEWS!!! It seems as though our wonderful US government (the one I dearly pay for in taxes every April - that's right around the corner) have gone on a permanent vacation! I have only heard of 1 approval in the 2 weeks since they returned from Tet. Totally ridiculous and unbelievably unresponsible of our government to let these babies sit in orphanages as political pawns!

I could go on forever but really need to get some sleep as it's back to the hospital tomorrow...