Piper’s Friends Playground Fund

Hi Friends!  With Piper’s first birthday coming up, we have done a lot of thinking about what is important to us.  We realize how much our friends and family mean to us.  We would have never made it through the past few years without you!  We are having a big birthday party and welcome home celebration for Piper to see her new friends and to meet some that she hasn’t had a chance to meet yet. 

Piper has more of everything than she could possibly need, so we have decided that in lieu of of any gifts for her birthday, we would love for you to please help some of the friends she left behind in Vietnam.

We have started a playground fund for the Relief Center in Vietnam where Piper spent the first nine months of her life. Many of the children living there will not be adopted, and will grow up at this center.

The Relief Center is a place that is very full of love; however there aren’t many toys for the children to play with.  Please consider making a donation to help us build a playground for her friends back at the Relief Center in Vietnam.  It is our wish that her new friends here will join together to help the friends she left behind find joy and the art of play.

Please visit our website for more information.

http://buildmyfriendsaplayground.chipin.com

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,

Darren, Nicole and Piper

Here are a few of my favorite pics from the orphanage…

[sweet girls]

[their current playground]

[love these boys!]

afternoon at the park

[peek!]

[my little love]

[treasure hunt]

[slidin' with Nana]

[love this thing!]

[what a thrill!]

vietnam favorites part 2 – Hanoi

Sites:

[a group of nuns visiting the Temple of Literature]

[the gardens in the Temple of Literature are so luscious and green]

Temple of Literature -  This is a short walk from the Horison Hotel.  It was a great place for taking pictures.  Also, Craftlink is about a block away which is a bonus!

[view from our taxi as we were trying to leave the lake one evening]

Hoan Kiem Lake -  A great place to walk around and spend a morning or afternoon.

[the empty water puppet stage before the show began]

Water Puppet Theatre -This looked very interesting, and the older kids seemed to enjoy it.  We were only able to see a few minutes of it because Piper was having NONE of the sitting still part.  I ended up walking up and down the block with her in the sling waiting for the show to be over. 

Hanoi Street Food Market -Quite an adventure, and not meant for those with weak stomachs.  Great photo taking opportunities.  Not so great smells.

[showing how the soldiers were locked up in the prison]

[prison yard]

Hoa Lo Prison (aka Hanoi Hilton) -This was very interesting.  So much history there, and it’s a nice mellow stop.  We didn’t have much time to hit the shops around it, but it looked like there was some interesting stuff.

Eats:

Mediterraneo - (#23 Nha Tho Street, Hoan Kiem District)  Our FAVORITE non-Vietnamese place to eat in VN by far.  The owner is wonderful, and the food is delicious.  Very relaxed and they have an upstairs with a small patio too.  It’s also on a great street for shopping.

Paris Deli - (13 Nha Tho Street) This was a fun little place for lunch when you felt like something french or American.  Darren gave the burger rave reviews considering it was a burger in Vietnam.

[The delicious buffet at Brothers]

Brothers Cafe - (26 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, tel: 04/733-3866 dinner reservations recommended for large groups)  We had a wonderful Vietnamese dinner here!  There was a great buffet with a ton of choices.  I think there were even mashed potatoes and a few things that the kids seemed to like. 

{The Green Tangerine is beautiful and romantic…]

Green Tangerine - (48 Hang Be, Hoan Kiem District, tel: 04/825-1286 dinner reservations recommended)  I had great expectations of love love loving this place.  I don’t know if we just didn’t order the right stuff or what, but it was not close to our favorite place.  I really wanted it to be because so many people seem to love it.  If we get to go back to VN again later this year we will give it a second try.

Bobby Chinn - (1 Ba Trieu Street, Hoan Kiem District, tel: 04/934-8577 dinner reservations recommended )  We didn’t actually make it to this restaurant, but it was on our list of places we had wanted to go so I had to keep it on this list.

Shopping:

Craftlink - (43 Van Mieu Street – there is also a main office across the street from this store.  I don’t have the address, but don’t forget to look for it too.  A lot of the same stuff, but a different selection.)  Love this place!!!  A wonderful not-for-profit shop to buy handmade gifts for great prices.

Old Quarter - You could spend days walking up and down the streets around here.  Tons of good shopping!

Nagu -(20 Nha Tho Street) Very cool stuff.  We bought Piper a handmade silk teddy bear there.  (It is also across the street from Medierrano and Paris Deli)

“Brocade Shop” Red Rose Craft - (24 Nha Tho)- The Sapa clothes shop where I bought Piper some traditional clothing from Sapa. 

Trang & Anh Silk - (No. 3, Ly Quoc Su) Handmade Contemporary Silk Kids Clothes.  Very cool stuff!

La Do Re - (31c Ly Quoc Su) I recognize this sign, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what I bought there.  We wouldn’t have taken a picture of the sign if I didn’t like it for some reason though. hmmm.

Thu Do - (24 Nha Tho) I bought a bunch of stuffed animals from Sapa here.  They had a great selection for very low prices.

Castalia - (7b Ly Quoc Su Street) a  fun dress shop!

Vietnam Quilts -  (16 Hang Tre) This was quite a trek on foot, but they had some very beautiful quilts.

vietnam favorites part 1 – HCMC

Here is part one of the long-promised tips for my friends who are traveling to VN to get their babies later this week…

Sites: 

[candles at Notre Dame]

‘Ho Chi Minh City Tour’ -We did sign up for a city tour through the Duxton entertainment desk (different from the concierge).  The name of the tour company was Hoi An Express.  It was $36 per person + tip and was well worth it.  We typically avoid tours, but this was a great way to hit a lot of sites without having to do much thinking.  (This was towards the beginning of our stay in HCMC and we had only had the babies for a few days…)  We went to the General Post Office, Notre Dame Cathedral, Reunification Palace, a Chinese Temple, the War Remnants Museum and a few other places. 

[Darren and sleepy P at the zoo]

Saigon Zoo -The zoo is a great way to get out of your hotel room with your new baby, but still be very low-stress.  Piper fell asleep right after we got there and we ended up riding the zoo train 3 or 4 times because it was the coolest place there was.  It was boiling hot and humid, but it felt good to get out and see the gardens.  It was pretty cheap, and I am sure that older kids would love to see the animals and ride the carnival rides.  You can walk to this from the Duxton, but if it’s hot, I would take a cab for sure.

Eats:

Underground - (69 Dong Khoi Street, District 1)  Yup, an English pub was Darren’s favorite place to eat in HCMC.  Marginal ‘American’ pub food and beer tasted really good by this part of the trip.  You will also get a good chuckle from the waitresses outfits. 

Pho 24 -This is like the fast-food of Pho and is pretty good and very cheap.  They are all over the city, but the closest one to the Duxton is 1/2 block away.  Go out of the hotel and head left towards the Tax Center.  It will be down a little way on your left.

[an amazing feast by the Saigon River]

[I liked this picture until I just now noticed that I don't think that guy is wearing any pants]

[up-close of man sans pants!]

Saigon River Center -No one in our group ever figured out what this place was really called, but it was beautiful.  It was a beautiful outdoor restaurant and events center on the river.  We were told that a lot of weddings take place there, and we actually saw a few brides and grooms getting photos taken while we were there.  Our facilitator and his wife took us and treated us to an amazing feast.  Delicious food just kept coming and coming… For those of you traveling soon, you could ask Quoc and I am sure he could figure out where it was.  It was quite a bit out of town, and the bus ride seemed to take 45 minutes or so.

Italian – We ate at a really good Italian restaurant several times that was recommended by Kelly.  (Darren thanks Justin for the suggestion!!!)  It was just across the street and to the left from the Duxton.  You can ask the front desk to call ahead and make reservations for you so that you won’t have to wait. 

Shopping: (the part Kristin has been waiting for – Sorry Brett!!!!)

The Tax Center -This is located just a few blocks from the Duxton.  Exit the hotel and turn left.  It is down 3 or 4 blocks on your left.  It is full of good shopping and has a grocery store on the upper level.  We had a hard time finding the right formula there so we ended up asking Quoc to get some for us somewhere else, but they seem to have just about everything else that you would need.  There is also a Highlands Coffee there that made Darren very very happy.

Ben Thanh Market -This is about 10 blocks from the Duxton, but I would recommend that you take a taxi.  It is a huge open air covered market where you can find anything.  The day we went it was SO HOT and humid that we thought we were going to die inside so we bought fans and were a little anxious to get out of there.  I suggest that you go to this market either in the morning or late in the afternoon/early evening when it is cooler.  Remember to barter, barter and barter some more.  Walk away if you have to.  They will come running after you!

Side-note: I know there are several other markets around town that are more ‘local’ markets and sound great in theory because of the experience.  It was suggested to us that we NOT go to these markets with our babies because there is a higher instance of diseases and other local  bugs that our babies may have never been exposed to and won’t have the immune systems to protect against.  I don’t know how true this is, but we didn’t test it.

(ok – the good stuff now – drum roll pleeeeezeeee…)

Nkids -Fabulous dress shop where I went crazy!  There are 2 locations.  The first is on the East side of Le Loi near the tax center.  (44 Le Loi Avenue, Dist. 1)  If you are walking down Nguyen Hue towards the tax center from the Duxton, go to the end of the Tax Center at the intersection of Nguyen Hue and Le Loi.  Cross the street to the far side of Le Loi and go left.  The store is a little bit down on the right.  It is NOT clearly marked Nkids (it says Nihn Khuong) so you have to really look for it.  Trust me, when you see it you will know you are there.  The second location (189 Le Thanh Ton Street near Dong Khoi) we saw is also close to the Duxton.  It is a few doors down from…

D & H Hand Embroidery – (89 Dong Khoi Street) I went a little crazy here too.  Great linens and more children’s clothes!

a little yard work

Yesterday we did a little yard work and planting.  I know it’s late in the season for planting, but better late than never, right?  It feels like we are just now finally getting adjusted and are finding our ‘groove’ as a family.  Although everything has been great with Piper, it still seems to be taking a while to start being productive after such a big change in our lives.

[taking a break for a game of peek-a-boo...]

[my little helper]

[the girl loves dirt!]

[the face that melts my heart]

[Such a good girl playing with her toys.  She is fabulous at entertaining herself - we are very lucky!]

dance

[this beautiful thing is my cousin's daughter, Amelia]

[On Friday, we went to watch Amelia's dance showcase at the Colorado School of Ballet.  It was the end of her intensive training week there.]

[Piper's FAVORITE thing is dance, so she was in love.  She watched intently as the big girls danced and clapped at every single intermission.  This dancing stuff is serious business to her.  I am pretty sure we will be going to a lot of dance recitals in the coming years...]

[Piper dancing with Nana on the fancy floor after the showcase was over.  That tongue is constantly out lately!]

my little cutie

[P didn't get what was so funny last night.  She had NO CLUE that an O was stuck to her nose.  I love this girl.]

I know, I know.

I have been a very bad blogger.  I totally did what I said I would never do, and I let the blog go for a while.  Trust me, I have been scolded and put in timeout.  I am so sorry. 

Yes, we are back from Vietnam and everything is wonderful.  Piper is amazing and sweet and brilliant.  We couldn’t be happier.  I guess that is why we have been so busy with stuff other than updating the blog!

But now I am back and I am going to get it all caught up in the next week or so.  I HAVE to because I have made a promise to my friend Kristin to get it done before she leaves to go get her beautiful Lilly.  So I have done my first of many catch-up posts here and I work on more later today.  I think for the sake of having them in chronological order I am going to back-date a few of them so that it makes more sense.  I will post links to the back-dated ones so that all of my three readers don’t miss anything!  I will leave you with a picture of my little lovie P.

first playdate

[Piper and Cassidy.  Piper loved hangin' out with a 'big girl'!]

[Cassidy showing Piper her toys.]

[Piper and Shane...so cute!]

[having a little lunch]

[such a handsome little guy!]

We met Laurie from Pho for Five at Kyndra’s house for a playdate today.  It was so wonderful to meet them in person!  Jackson, Cassidy, Shane and Finley are all so adorable!  Finley is such a little tiny peanut.  She is always smiling and loves to cuddle.  I don’t know how I managed to not get any pictures of Jackson and Finley, but I promise that I will do a much better job with the camera next week.  Piper loved seeing the ‘big kids’ run around and really wanted to join in.  I have a feeling that as soon as she starts walking I am in big trouble!

to the big pool

[P loves the water]

[so tiny]

[holding on to momma's foot]

singing and dancing

[thank you for the outfit Aunt Kaye!  sooo cute!]

We went to a sing & dance event at PB kids today.  There was a wonderful musician who had the kids all singing and dancing and clapping.  Music is Piper’s absolute favorite thing so she had a blast.  At first it was a little overwhelming for her with all the kids jumping around, but then she really got in to it.  The girl just thrives on music of any kind.  If there are any suggestions for good children’s music out there we would sure appreciate them!

first backyard pool

[my happy girl]

boulder creek festival

[I love that smile!]

[my sweet girl...]

[awww...]

[my little love]

[being silly - Darren says she looks a little like Elton John here though!]

big day

This was a very big day.  Piper had her first haircut and was such a good girl.  She sat really still and let the stylist trim her ends.  She didn’t cut much off, she just evened up the back so that the rest could grow and fill in a bit.  I was a proud momma!  Later in the day Piper also tried her first cheerio and thought they were amazing.  Now she is a serious O-addict!

leavin’ on a jet plane

We are packed and ready to come home! We leave for the airport in about an hour and will arrive home around 10:30pm tonight. We have mixed feelings about leaving. Sad to be leaving our daughters birth-country, happy to be going home so she can meet everyone and start our new lives together. We are pretty sure we will be back soon to visit so that makes it a lot easier. We are so in love with P, even if she doesn’t appreciate the fine art of sitting still quite yet. Wish us luck on the 18 hours of plane rides ahead of us today!

We’ve got a VISA

And I’m not talking about her first credit card! We arrived in Hanoi in the late afternoon on Sunday, and our meeting at the US Embassy was at 2:00 p.m. yesterday (Tuesday). At 4:30 our facilitator called us down to the hotel lobby to give us her Vietnamese passport and her VISA to come back to the states. That’s a fast turn-around! The interview at the embassy was much less dramatic than I had thought it would be. I pictured bright spotlights, uncomfortable chairs, difficult questions and lots of sweat. It was none of those things, well except for the sweat. (I know that I must be painting quite a pretty picture of Vietnam for you with all the comments about sweat, but it is true. I am just a cool weather guy.) The interview lasted for all of three minutes, and the most difficult question was about where we went to pick her up. Nothing about referral dates, or anything else.

So technically, we have everything complete that we need to be able to leave the country, but our tickets are for Saturday, and there isn’t really an opportunity to change them since the EVA Airlines offices are closed today and tomorrow for the holidays. That’s okay though, because then we have even more time to shop! Oh lucky me! The only saving grace is that we can’t take any more luggage on the plane.

Today is the anniversary of the day that the North Vietnamese overtook Saigon at the end of the Vietnam war in 1975. It’s called ‘Liberation Day’, or ‘Reunification Day’, or ‘The Fall of Saigon’, depending on your point of view. There are Vietnamese flags everywhere outside, and last night there were street concerts and lots of people singing in the streets. Kind of neat to see.

Well, we’re finally seeing that Piper isn’t necessarily the happy-go-lucky baby that never has any troubles (I know, all of you are saying ‘no duh’). She definitely has some lungs on her, and she will let you know when she doesn’t like something. I thought that she was too young to be testing us on things, but it seems like she will wail for a little bit, stop, check our faces, and continue wailing. Often when she sleeps she will cry out, but never wake up. Nicole says that it is the grieving that she is going through. I wish that I could take it away for her. The truth is though, if you think of all that she has been through in the last ten days, I think that she’s doing pretty darn well. She is a trooper.

The family that we’ve been spending so much time with on this trip (Ernie and Debbie) are a godsend. They have been wonderful to go shopping with and to see all of the sights of the city with. Their two daughters (Mylea and Lola) are so much fun, and they are both adopted from China. Their new daughter (Zoe) is from the same orphanage as Piper and they are very close in age.

It is really funny to watch the facial expressions of the people here when they see Zoe and Piper. Everybody is curious, and it looks like most approve, but maybe some disapprove. Everyone that actually comes up to talk to us is very friendly, asking hold old, and whether they are Vietnamese or not. We often get advice on what to do if they hear a cough, or a sneeze, or even a hiccup. I have no idea what they really think of us.

Hanoi seems to be a little more structured than HCMC. The streets are better planned than in HCMC, the buildings are more organized, and there are even more stoplights (although they are as of much use in Hanoi as they are in HCMC). Having said that, I think that my favorite is still Ho Chi Minh City because of the ‘loose’ nature of the city, but the Old Quarter in Hanoi has a lot of great shopping and food.

No worries, I am definitely not a permanent blog poster. Think of me as a substitute teacher, only I don’t teach anything really worth learning. Nicole will be back soon. I promise.

My favorite pics of the last few days:

Oops!

I just realized that my last post didn’t have one word about our little angel. I guess that sometimes with all of the pictures of her and everything, people might want to hear other things about our trip too. Probably not though.

With every passing minute, all of us seem to get closer as a unit. More and more of her personality is coming out too. I told Nicole when we got her pictures before our trip that she was going to be a little firecracker, and give us a run for our money. I think that I was right. She is learning as much about us as we are about her, and she is learning when to do what to get what she wants. We might be in trouble here…

Here is the sweetie just in case you forgot what she looked like:

Sweatin’ Away in Saigon

Yes, it’s me again. It turns out that I have a little more free time than Nicole (I don’t really know why), but if you mix her posts with mine, then you can probably get a pretty well-rounded feel for how things really are. To give you an idea, my posts will always focus on food, dark coffee, darker beer, and now air conditioning. Nicole will cover everything else. I think that Nicole is going to try to post tonight or tomorrow morning.

I think that everyone has seen the pictures of the camera-toting tourists in New York City, with their mouths wide open and their eyes big. That has been us, except that we’re also drenched in sweat, and carrying a baby that everyone in the city seems to need to touch. Ho Chi Minh City is incredibly beautiful with all of the finely manicured gardens and trees. There are 8 million people (and 3 million motorbikes) squeezed into a fairly small area, and the streets are cleaner than they are in Denver. People here really take pride in their jobs, whatever that job may be. I respect that. They are also very kind and ready to help. If I understood a lick of Vietnamese, I’m sure that they would be 10 times more helpful, but I’m sure that I am very entertaining with my hand signals and attempts to communicate. It’s probably very funny to watch.

So yesterday morning (after the incredible buffet breakfast of course) we went dress shopping. Not for me, but for Piper. Previous adoptive families passed on some information to Nicole about some stores that have very reasonably prices embroidered dresses (thank you Emily!). Nicole has been really good up to this point about keeping the shopping reasonable, but when she got into this store (look at the ‘nKids’ album here for pics), she handed Piper over to me, and I saw her eyes glaze over. She moved to another level of consciousness that is reserved only for shopping. That is serious trouble for our budget. I had a feeling that this was going to happen, so I tried to prepare by talking calmly with her about it before we even arrived in HCMC. The glazed eyes were my signal that any talks that we had had were now null and void. At that point, my only job was tender payment at the end of the session. To give you an idea, we had talked about getting a ‘few’ items. To me, that means three. After the woman at the register told me how much, she mentioned that there were 31 items. We added to that six or seven more dresses that she picked up this afternoon. But, truth be told, I’m now going to shut my mouth on this topic, because with all of the shopping to be done in this city, I am getting off easy.

Our group here decided that we wanted to see the city, but with this heat and humidity there was no way that we were going to walk it, so we hired a big van to take us around to all of the major sites. The package also came with an English-speaking guide to tell us what we were looking at. We started by going to China Town (it seems every major city has one) to see the Thien Hau Pagoda. Take a look in the ‘Thien Hau Pagoda’ album for pics here. Very beautiful. Painstakingly difficult carvings, and LOTS of incense to fill the nostrils.

We were then zipped off to the old Presidential Palace. Built in the 60′s, it was VERY 60′s. It was vacated in 1975 (I believe) when the North came in with their tanks. It was big, and palatial, but it didn’t have very many intricacies that I see in so many of the buildings here.

Next to Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office (I would never take someone to see the post office in Denver, but their’s is a touch fancier). We finished off the trip with the War Remnants Museum, which was good timing, because we had all just about melted by then.

Today we started out at the Saigon Zoo (after the buffet breakfast of course) and botanical gardens. Everybody always cracks jokes at the variety of animals in this zoo (cows and chickens), but we saw neither cows nor chickens, though there were relatively few animals overall. I would say that the bears had to be the unhappiest animals in the entire place with their fur coats. There were two of them, and they didn’t move an inch in the two hours that we were there. The big attraction was the gardens. They were exquisite. Piper wouldn’t know this because she fell asleep the second we walked through the gates, and she didn’t wake up again until we left. To try and cool everyone off, we took three trips around the zoo in this train where the driver sometimes tries not to run over the children that seem to appear out of nowhere.

Well, I’m all talked out for now. We leave for Hanoi tomorrow afternoon, and the temperatures there are 10 degrees cooler. Here are some of my favorite pics of the last couple of days:

Can it really be this good?

This is Darren again, doing some freelance blog writing for Nicole. We have been going at about 100 mph every minute since we got here, and now it’s starting to hit her pretty hard. She’s getting some shut eye, trying to avoid coming down with what she thinks she’s coming down with…

Our head facilitator and his wife have moved on to Danang (we’ll meet up with them again in Hanoi and we still have other facilitators that are with us so we are far from alone), the babies’ passports are secured, and our US Consulate appointment is scheduled for next Tuesday. Now is when the heavy shopping fever kicks in, and I start wondering if I should have budgeted a lot more money for this trip. Meanwhile, I’ve been soothing myself with the incredible buffet breakfast at the Duxton. Everyday my eyes end up being bigger than my stomach, but I just can’t help myself. If you stay at the Duxton, you CANNOT miss the buffet breakfast.

We leave Saigon on Sunday afternoon, and all we have is the consulate interview next Tuesday in Hanoi. We’ll see how things go, but we’re contemplating taking a little trip to Sapa from Hanoi. We’ve heard that it is beautiful there, and I want to distract Nicole from the potential shopping in Hanoi.

I was We were pretty worried about parenthood before this trip. How do you even know how to be a parent? What if she didn’t want to have anything to do with us? What if I just break her? (That was mine.) Well, it turns out that most of our worries were for no real cause, because you just shoot from the hip and do the best damn job that you can. So far, Nicole and I feel like we’re in some kind of wonderful dream with Piper. She is an absolute angel. Does she cry? Sometimes. Does she poop? Unfortunately. But one little smile of hers, she can make Nicole and I start babbling. We probably look like idiots, but that’s okay. She’s way better than sliced bread.

We’re prepared (we think) for her to go through a significant grieving stage, but as of yet, it hasn’t really hit. She looks us in the eyes all the time, and talks constantly in the gibberish that only she knows. She is constant smiles, except when we perform the dreaded wiping the nose routine. She has been an absolute dream thus far, and if we can carry this right through the teenage years, then we might just survive.

We do have pictures of some additional children from the orphanage for the families that asked us to take them, and Nicole promises to have them to you tomorrow. She feels really badly about not staying up tonight to get them out, but if she doesn’t get some sleep, she will be in bad shape. Being a parent is absolutely tiring.

One last thing for this post. I referred to Piper as my ‘daughter’ to someone at the hotel yesterday, and oddly enough, I think that that is when the gravity of what we’re doing hit me. Yes, I know that I should have been ‘hit’ long ago, but everyone is different.

We have posted TONS of new pictures here, so take a look if you have a few minutes. There will be many more to come. Here are some of my favorites:

good girl

[so the thing is that my mom has had horrible internet and major wordpress issues again in HCM.  i talk non-stop and keep her pretty busy but i am a VERY good girl and am adjusting really well.  mom says i am an easy laugh.  my mom is hoping to have lots more posted today because she is crossing her fingers that wordpress is gonna work!  i promise you she has been trying for MANY hours now!]

hello there

[hello world!]

We are so sorry we haven’t posted in the past few days. We had a horrible internet connection and it made it impossible to post. We just got back to HCMC. We stopped on the way from the airport to apply for Piper’s passport and just checked into the Duxton Hotel. It is nice here and we are relieved to be in the same place for a few days and have good internet!

Piper is amazing. She is such a good girl and has been doing really really well. She laughs and talks non-stop. I cannot even tell you how much I love this girl. I promise to post a lot tonight, but for now I need to go get ready to take her to her medical approval appointment.

More soon!

test

i can’t get wordpress to work. ugh!!!!!!! if this ever shows up it will be a miracle.

so frustrating!

in love

We are so in love. We met Piper today and she stole our hearts. I have so many things to say and tons of details to give, but we are absolutely exhausted and our internet connection here is really terrible…. We leave for our G&R tomorrow morning at 8:30 and then she will be officially ours. Can you believe it? So I promise to post pictures and more details just as soon as I can get better internet and a tiny bit of sleep.

From the soon-to-be-Dad

I would call myself many things, but a writer isn’t one of them, so this is likely one of few posts from me. Nicole is better as the ‘front-man’ for our little group.

I don’t have the personality that yearns for everyone that I come in contact with to like me, but all that I can seem to think about is that I hope that this little girl that we will be meeting in a few hours will somehow grow to like me (or even love me?). I can’t even imagine how hard it will be for her to leave all that she knows and is familiar with, to come home with us. I guess that we need to stay focused on the bigger picture for that one.

Anyway, time to pack. If you are interested in seeing more pictures than what we have posted in this blog, then you can find them here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/nicolelorentz

Videos will be coming soon!

Wish us luck!

today is the day

[a white orchid in our room]

Today is the day that we meet our daughter.  I can’t even believe it.  We leave in 2 hours to go to the province where she is living and meet her for the first time.  I have more to post about HCMC, but I need to go get ready so I will have to play catch-up tonight.  The next time you hear from me I will have met Piper.

only hours to go….

hcmc

[our hotel]

[our greeting]

[our room]

[view from our room]

[hotel pool]

[well deserved]

[first meal in VN]

touchdown

[first sight of our daughter's birth country]

[Ho Chi Minh City from the air]

[touchdown]

Taipei

[our first view of Taiwan]

We made it to Taipei, Taiwan.  The flight was good and we were SO THANKFUL for the E*VA Deluxe seats.  I definitely recommend the upgrade.  We were in the bassinet row so there was no one in front of us which was very nice.  We both slept about 4-5 hours and watched a few movies.  The food on the flights was great – much better than on US flights.  At the boarding gate we met up with one other family, Debbie & Ernie and their two adorable girls that were adopted from China.  Malea and Lola are so sweet and adorable!  They are VERY excited to be picking up their baby sister, Zoe.  We also met our in-country facilitator’s wife, Joanne there and it was great to be able to finally put a face with a name.

Next step, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam!

Seatac

[We were obviously a little tired in Seattle at the airport during our layover before we boarded the plane to go to Taipei]

[what kind of parents are we going to be?]

[after some really bitter yogurt]

[the culprit]

one down eight to go

We made it to Seattle!  Our first out of 9 flights on this trip.  Three more flights to go before we meet Piper!  It is starting to feel a bit more real I think.  We are very glad the first one is over and that we will be in EV*A Deluxe for this next one.  We are pretty tired and are hoping to get some sleep on this next plane.  I will try to check in again from HCM.

Hopefully in about 48 hours we will have met Piper!