more info from Ho Chi Minh City

Kirk Here….

Well it has been another great day. First we (the men) got up and went for shots…oops, I mean went to sign some papers for the kid’s passports. Then we (everyone) went to the American Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City to be interviewed in conjunction for Lucy’s Visa. This was interesting….we were told to study up on all known details pertaining to Lucy and details pertaining to the adoption process so far. The lady doing the interviewing was very nice and normally in D.C. and was only here for two weeks. It wasn’t her normal job so the questions were new to her too. Things she did ask us where things we did not know, like what day a particular document was sent in and approved. Well all our documents went through our agency first, so we don’t know what day they actually were submitted. And of course then there was me…..heck I don’t know! Tricia has been doing all the paperwork. I just sign here and sign there…making sure I sign correctly with my full name and that I get the proper date on everything….really I have just been no more than a sheep following the woolly hiney in front of me.

Well we survived the interview, but it turns out that offices “system” is down, so everything has to run through Bangkok, so we’ll see what happens when it comes time to actually get Lucy’s Visa, which of course will be in Hanoi.

After surviving the interview at Ft. Knox we went to lunch at this great restaurant. Well it was a restaurant, but not your typical one. There are waiters, but the cooks are street venders that surround the restaurant. It was great and of course cheap. I had the grilled crab, it was good, but I won’t get it again. The meat sticks to the shell. I’m used to the meat sliding out of the shell. Though it was good, it was hard to eat. I should have had the spicy squid that Joe got……maybe next time. Oh…. Tricia had beef noodle soup which she said was really good and the fruit shake she had was awesome. Lucy had a nice bottle and then got taken away by the waiter. For those of you that don’t know, the people here will just come up and try to take your baby. It happens all the time. They aren’t trying to steal the babies, they just love babies. Everyone loves babies…it doesn’t matter how old/young or what gender they are. Everyone comes up and just starts playing with the babies. Now just imagine 3 sets of Americans traveling together with Vietnamese babies….everywhere we go we are the main attraction.

After lunch we went to the hospital to get the babies their Visa health check. The doctor says that Lucy just has an upper respiratory infection and not pneumonia. This was a relief to her parents. Lucy weighed in at 6.5 kg (6.5 kilogram = 14.33 pounds). I was going to let you do the math, but I’m in a good mood, so I let the internet conversion chart do it for you. (Okay….baby Jordan back home is smaller but not for long I’d bet) Lucy got the go ahead to get her Visa, so now it just a waiting game. Tomorrow, Minh, our host, will book our flights to Hanoi and we will pick up Lucy’s passport on Friday.

Currently we are ahead of schedule and if everything continues without a hitch, we could be back in the states as early as next weekend. But don’t get your hopes up. We are living in the moment, going with the flow, and just being. Being is good….you should try it. So for the rest of the evening we are just going to be.

For those of you who are headed this way…..don’t rely on SKYPE and especially for SKYPE OUT. It’s cheap to call home if it works, but so far, it has hardly worked at all. Computer to computer still works, but it has horrible background noise, so we can hardly hear Cooper, but we can see him which makes life a little easier. I just set up a “phone out” through Yahoo Messenger. It has worked to make one call so far with okay performance….I’ll let you know what I think about it after a trial or two.

Peace, Kirk