Visa in Hand

As of Thursday afternoon at 4pm (Hanoi Time) we officially have permission to bring Frances home! We have her Vietnamese passport with her official US Visa. Now we just have to get home. We have decided to go with the flight that has us leaving Hanoi, Vietnam at 11:05am on Monday July 2nd and arriving in Portland Oregon on Monday evening at 8:22! Now we can just enjoy our last weekend here and see some more of this mad city.

Stuck in Hanoi

The final challenge to our trip will be to find our way home. We were originally scheduled to fly out of Hanoi on Thursday morning. But since the Visa wont be ready til afternoon that aint gonna happen. Its not easy making last minute changes to get from Asia to Oregon. But we have travel agent extraordinaire on the case and at least now we have options. It is not only proving difficult to find room on the Hanoi to Hong Kong to LA flight but the final connection to Portland is tough. Seems a lot of folks are flying that way this weekend. But after a long night of email communications (gotta love the technology) at least now we have several options. Do we hold tight here for couple of days and wait for the smooth connections or do we get out of this country as fast as we can but have to make new connections with overnight layovers with a ten month old baby (and pay to switch airlines to get to Portland). Which will we choose and what will work best? As soon as the decision is made and the flight is booked we will let you know!

Hanoi Beginnings

So Wednesday evening we arrive in Hanoi and of course we are now on our own (with the other family but no agency help). There had been no vacancy at the agency’s preferred hotel so they had booked an alternate. When we arrived we all agreed that we would spend just one night there. It was not in a good area and it was not very nice. The important thing was to get to the US Consulate in the morning and then find better digs.

There was a small hotel restaurant. Crystal did not trust it enough to eat the food. The rest of us took the chance and made it out ok.

Wednesday morning we made it to the US Consulate to get the Visa process started. It was a little frustrating at first. The forms were not filled out properly and the baby’s pictures we were given by our agency coordinator were not the right size or format. They should have been done as regular passport photos but were not. We almost had to leave to go get new photos taken before our applications would be accepted. The consulate worker took pity on us when she realized we were on our own. She was able to make the photos work and instructed us to come back at 2 pm for the final interview.

After some running around we were finally checked into the Melia Hotel, just outside the Old Quarter of Hanoi. Very nice! Crystal and I sprung for a suite on the 19^th floor and the views of the city are fantastic. It is a good thing we are comfortable because we don’t know when we will be leaving!

The final interview was very easy. The woman at the consulate was very friendly. It was really just a matter of paying the fee and signing some final documents as all of our paper work was already examined and found to be in order. There is still a 24 hour waiting period as some final background checks are performed. Apparently the photos of the babies get transmitted to a US office in Kentucky and checked against some database. We have been told we can pick the Visa up on Thursday afternoon at 4. The only problem we may run into is if the computers go down – which is not unusual to happen around here. And the we can head home! Of course we have all missed our return flights and don’t know when that will be!

INS Appointment and Off to Hanoi

On Monday morning we finally had the big INS appointment (with US Dept of Homeland Security). The purpose of this interview is for US approval of our adoption – to ensure that it has been done legally and ethically according to US regulations. This approval is needed before adoptive parents can apply for a Visa which allows the child to enter the US and become a US citizen. The interview went easier than we expected. The woman was very professional and understanding. We appreciate her efforts to make sure that adoptions are done ethically. On Monday afternoon our coordinator from the adoption agency’s Ho Chi Minh City office retrieved our approval in a sealed envelope.

We were not able to obtain a flight to Hanoi for the Visa application interview until Tuesday afternoon. The other family and we moved into the same hotel for our last night in Ho Chi Minh where we were also able to spend time with our Groucho’s family and there new daughter. Crystal also had the opportunity for one more Ho Chi Minh shopping spree. When we arrived at the counter to check in for our flight to Hanoi we discovered that we had not purchased tickets for the babies (at ten percent of a full fare). We were sent to the “Excess Baggage” counter to purchase them! We finally made it to the gate about 15 minutes before the flight. This 2 hour trip was to be a test flight before our twenty plus hour trip home. We all did pretty well.

The Groucho's are in town!

I remember how nervous I felt landing at the HCMC airport, looking for a man holding a sign that read our last name. It was so much fun for our family of three to show up at the airport to greet our friends over at Groucho's family! We three stood in the crowd and held up their sign.
Welcome to Vietnam, we can't wait to see our girls together!
We have been so lucky to form friendships with "Groucho's family" and "Love from Vietnam" because they are really nice people, and they live so close!
Congratulations M&M on your lovely new daughter! ...mind if we pop by for a visit and let the girls get acquainted?

-As always, I will be holding my breath for Julie (Love from Vietnam) who is eagerly awaiting referral. Come on baby, show yourself; you already have two little friends!

HCMC update:
It is Sunday here, and we are nervously waiting for our Monday INS appointment. But today we have fun... once Frances wakes up we will visit her new little friend.
Baby update:
She is amazing. She lets her poppa carry her around and loves it when he tosses her in the air. And she likes it when her momma feeds her carrots with chopsticks!

Still in Ho Chi Minh

Well Friday came and went and we are still here in Ho Chi Minh City. We were told that our I-600 was not filled out completely and we had write out another one. It didnt make much difference though as Frances' Vietnamese passport was not ready. We were told that the passport would for sure be picked up on Friday evening and we could expect our INS interview on Monday morning at 11:45. Then it will be off to Hanoi on Monday afternoon and maybe the Visa appointment at the US Embassy on Tuesday. So we are still on track to fly out on the 28th. On the plus side Groucho's family is flying in today so we can spend some time together in Ho Chi Minh with both girls. We are looking forward to a good weekend.

Loves the Water

After our trip to the zoo we all headed back to the hotel to play in the pool. We took Frances into the water and she absolutely loved it. She smiled and laughed more than ever. I think it was the best time here so far.