Still no definitive word on when we can get Alyssa, but it looks positive for the last week in August. We’re going crazy waiting!! Our adoption agency says that we’ll only have about two weeks notice from the Vietnamese government once they set the date for the Giving & Receiving Ceremony. We’re starting to move forward with plans so we’re ready once we get the word.
Meanwhile, we’ve been collecting all the necessary items that a family needs when a five-month old baby enters the home. The crib has been in place for several months, but we’ve also now cleaned off Jessie’s old infant car seat and got that ready for Alyssa. We also bought a new bouncer so Alyssa has a place to ’sit’ and can join the rest of the family as we sit in the living room. Of course, we also got new clothes, although not too many until we know Alyssa’s exact size.
All-in-all, we’re ready and now just have to hear from the Vietnamese government!! Jessie has expressed the family’s desire to have Alyssa with us the best with a beautiful drawing, shown below.
Finally all is in place and we’re off to Vietnam on Saturday, August 26, to get our daughter, Alyssa. We don’t have an exact date for the Giving & Receiving Ceremony, but expect it will be either August 29 or 30.
Once we get Alyssa we need to process paperwork with the Vietnamese, Turkish and US governments before we can come back to Ankara. So, we’ll probably spend about two weeks in Vietnam. In addition to Ho Chi Minh City, we’ll also travel to Phan Tiet province where the orphanage is as well as Hanoi to complete visa documents.
Obviously, we are all very excited to finally be on the last steps of this wonderful journey. Will try and update the blog in Vietnam and, hopefully, even be able to add a few pictures.
Looks like the G&R may be delayed by a couple of days. Not certain why, but we got an email from our adoption agency saying we should anticipate the delay. But, we’re still going on the same date and will hang out in Vietnam for a few extra days, if necessary.
At least we’ll be able to see Alyssa!!
Finally after what seems an eternity, we’re on our way to Vietnam. Grandma Patsy has joined us in Ankara and we’re set to fly to Ho Chi Minh City via Istanbul and Bangkok. It will be an exciting journey, one that we’ve been anticipating for many months.
There is still some uncertainity about exactly when we’ll get Alyssa and how long we will have to stay in Vietnam, but that doesn’t really matter since we’ll be able to visit her in the orphanage and be together with her.
We made it!! We’re in Ho Chi Minh City after a relatively uneventful trip from Ankara. Our flight from Istanbul was delayed about an hour, which caused to miss our connection in Bangkok. That meant we got to see more of the Bangkok airport than we wanted, but the airport staff was extremely helpful in getting us re-booked on a flight that was leaving within an hour. So, after a long trek through the airport, we only had a few minutes to wait before getting on an Air France flight for Ho Chi Minh City.
This is turning to be a truly international experience right down to the number of different airlines we are using. We flew from Turkey to Bangkok on Turkish Airlines and were supposed to connect to a Lufthansa flight, but instead ended up on Air France.
In Vietnam, we’ll fly Vietnam Airlines from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi and then return to Bangkok on Thai Airlines before linking back up with Turkish Air for the return to Turkey.
The airport in Ho Chi Minh City seemed much cleaner and more efficient than we remembered it when we were last there on November 30, 2000 when we left Vietnam with Jessie. Getting through customs and picking up our luggage was a snap (because of the change in airlines in Bangkok we were a bit concerned the luggage wouldn’t make it). Coming out of the airport terminal, things were much calmer than Nancy and I recalled.
Because of our flight delay, Thao, our Vietnamese facilitator, wasn’t at the airport, but it was no problem finding a van to take us to the hotel. It was a Saturday evening and the streets were absolutely alive with humanity — most everyone uses motorbikes for transportation in Vietnam and, of course, Ho Chi Minh City is no exception. Everything and everybody can be seen on a motorbike. Most unusual and interesting to us were the families of four and five all riding on a single motorbike.
We arrived at the Riverside Renaisannce Hotel after about an half hour’s drive and immediately linked up with the rest of our group - two other families who had arrived from the US earlier in the day. Thao was with them and greatly relieved to see that we had no problems getting to the hotel from the airport. As we were soon to learn, Thao is absolutely fantastic and is constantly working to make sure everything (and I mean everything) goes smoothly while we are in Vietnam. It is great to have someone like her watching out for us.
After an hour of conversation and getting to know each other, we went to bed with great anticipation of the coming day - August 28 - when we would get to meet Alyssa for the first time. But for us it was a special day for two reasons since it would also be Jessie’s sixth birthday.
We all woke up today (Monday, August 28) with a feeling of great excitement. Today was going to be the day that we would get to meet Alyssa for the first time.
After a few hours relaxing around the hotel and resting from our long airplane trip, we (five adoptive parents, three grandparents and two previously adopted children) all piled into a minivan with a mountain of luggage to make the three hour drive to the Ham Tan Orphanage.
Soon the van filled with sounds of joy and happiness from two young girls. Jessie and her new friend, Gracie, who is four years old and was also born in Vietnam, were having a wonderful time, laughing and giggling. Their clear love of life made each adult on the van pause and realize once again what a positive impact this fantastic journey of adopting a child internationally had on everyone’s life, not only the children, but also the adults involved. It was evident that their presence only reinforced each parent’s decision to adopt a child.
The trip took a little longer than three hours and we enjoyed seeing the sites as we drove along. For many of us this was the first time outside of Ho Chi Minh City and after about an hour the urban landscape faded and gave way to views of country life in Vietnam. We were traveling along a busy road and soon became used to watching vehicles — trucks, buses, cars, motorbikes and horse and oxen drawn carts — all moving together in a gentle rythm accompanied by the sounds of tooting horns. Only the occassional blast of a large truck’s horn interrupted what appeared to be a well-orchestrated flow of the various forms of transportation. Even the occassional oncoming vehicle veering to avoid our minivan didn’t seem troublesome as we bounced along the way to meet Alyssa.
Eventually, we arrived in Ham Tan and as we neared the orphanage the van quieted considerably as everyone contemplated the once-in-a-lifetime moment that was about to unfold. The van pulled into the orphanage and we anxiously got out and hurried to a room filled with baby cribs where we found Alyssa waiting in her caregiver’s arms. Nancy clutched Alyssa while Jessie and Grandma Patsy looked on and I tried to record this wonderful first encounter with a video camera. After many tears of joy, we were able to compose ourselves and sit down to really meet Alyssa. At the same time, two other families were going through the same experience, all in what I’m sure was a chaotic scene, but no one cared or even payed attention.
It’s impossible for me to explain in words the emotions and feelings of that very special moment. Anything I could write wouldn’t do justice to intensity of the event. Just imagine after waiting almost two years, here we were finally meeting baby Alyssa and holding her in our arms, watching her bright eyes and listening to her soft cooing. All I can do is add in a couple of pictures of our happy family, now in a single moment increased to a family of four. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the pictures.
I’ll stop this post for now since it is getting long, just like the day it describes - August 28, 2006. We spent several hours at the orphanage, traveled another hour to our hotel and celebrated Jessie’s birthday. I’ll write about that in the next post.
After several hours in the orphanage, we all realized that the afternoon had slipped quickly by and that we needed to say goodby to our new family members and make our way to the hotel. Darkness came quickly during the hour long ride to the Novotel Ocean Dunes and Gulf Resort in Phan Thiet, which would be our home for the coming days. At the hotel, we were warmly greeted by the staff and got settled into our rooms in just a few minutes.
Now it was time for another kind of celebration — Jessie’s birthday. We had already planned to have a larger ‘official’ party once we returned to Ankara, but also wanted to recognize Jessie’s special day. So, we had a small family party in our room. Jessie opened several presents with great delight while Nancy, Grandma Patsy and I looked on. Her favorite was her own digital camera, which she had been wanting for a long time.
At dinner we joined all of the other families and much to our surprise at the end of the dinner, the hotel staff produced a beautiful birthday cake for Jessie. (As I said in an earlier post, Thao was super and I assume she was responsible for getting this cake for Jessie.) So, Jessie got to celebrate her birthday twice in one night. After that it was off to bed after a very long, emotionally filled day — one that we all will remember forever.
We all awoke refreshed and ready to make the journey back to see Alyssa at the orphanage. The question on everyone’s mind was when would we be able to have the Giving & Receiving (G&R) Ceremony, which would officially complete the adoption and allow us bring our babies back to the hotel to be with us.
Just a quick note to help all understand. After the G&R, we need to get a Vietnamese passport for Alyssa, process her US immigrant visa with the US authorities and also work with the Turkish embassy to obtain an visa for her to return to Turkey with us. But, the G&R signifies the completion of the adoption and after the G&R, Alyssa is officially our daughter under international law and will be with us from that day.
Thao explained the process that was unfolding and her best estimate of when the G&R could happen. Based on her explanation, it seemed that the G&R was many days away, perhaps up to a week. We all started trying to figure out a way to get the babies earlier, knowing that our fate was clearly in the hands of Vietnamese government officials. Thao helped us understand each obstacle that had to be negotiated and then suggested we meet with the person responsible for orphanages in the province, Mrs Hai. We brainstormed how best to get Mrs Hai on our side and how to ask her to help us get our babies sooner rather than later.
We met Mrs Hai at the orphanage and much to our surprise she was very understanding and said she would do everything possible to help us get our babies quickly. We found out later that Mrs Hai, who was 53 years old, had an adopted son who was three, which explains why she was so sympathetic to our pleas to get our babies as soon as we could.
The second day at the orphanage was different from the first. We were already feeling much more familiar with Alyssa and that caused us to want her to be with us even more. There wasn’t much to do at the orphanage, but hold Alyssa. Since there was no place to sit down, we all just sat on the tile floor and took turns holding and playing with Alyssa. After about an hour, it was evident that she was getting tired and her caregiver put her in her crib, where she promptly fell asleep.
Then we all got back in the van to make the hour long journey back to the hotel. All day long Thao had been giving us updates on when the G&R might be held and the hurdles that stood in our way. It boiled down to getting approval from the provincial People’s Committee. Mrs Hai had made several phone calls on our behalf, which had opened the way for the Justice Department to be ready to conduct the G&R at a moment’s notice, once the People’s Committee gave its approval. Thao told us that the People’s Committee chairman had signed the approval papers, but that the approval still had to pass over several more administrator’s desks and that it was uncertain when that might happen.
So, we arrived back at the hotel, pleased that Mrs Hai was helping us, but frustrated because it wasn’t clear how long the People’s Committe might hold up the process.
Wednesday turned out to be pretty much a repeat of Tuesday. We traveled to the orphanage in the morning, played with Alyssa and waited for some encouraging words from Thao. Unfortunately, nothing positive was coming out of the People’s Committee. Mrs Hai had called the People’s Committee chair and he had approved the G&R, but the admin process was moving slowly and final approval had not been given.
That evening we all went into downtown Phan Thiet to do some shopping and sightseeing. We wanted to get some drinks and snacks to have in our rooms and pick up some last minute baby items we had forgotten to bring with us. It was a fun evening and a wonderful opportunity to see a provincial Vietnamese city. The city was bustling with people riding everywhere on motorbikes. The shopping area was filled with many small shops selling just about anything a person could want to buy.
As we returned to the hotel and Thao asked us about the next day’s plans, it was evident that everyone was becoming impatient with the process and that the frustration level was rising. Everybody was thrilled to be able to see their babies in the orphanage, but all really just wanted to have them with them in the hotel to hold them, feed them and care for them. It was clear that the seemingly endless wait was taking its toll on everyone.
Thao told us she was fairly certain that the G&R could still be held on Friday, but there was still nothing definite from the People’s Committee and that was only her best estimate on what might happen. She also said she hoped to get word of the final approval early the next day, Thursday, August 31.
We decided not to go to the orphanage today. Alyssa had seemed real tired yesterday and we wanted her to have a chance to rest. The hour long ride to the orphanage was also hard on Jessie and we wanted to be able to spend some time with her.
So we got up late, had a leisurely breakfast and relaxed around the hotel as a family. Jessie and I played in the resort’s playground, made a castle with Legos and just had a fun time being together.
The rest of the group that went to the orphanage returned earlier than on the previous days. They had a good time at the orphanage, but mostly because the older kids from the orphanage had joined them in the baby room. The grandmothers who were on the trip were especially taken by the older kids at the orphanage and they were excited to tell us about their exchanges with the older children.
That evening we just hung around the hotel, hoping that we would get final confirmation that the People’s Committee had approved the G&R. But, no such word came. One a happier note, Mrs Hai, who was clearly becoming our favorite Vietnamese official, said that even if we could not schedule the G&R for Friday, September 1, she would give approval for the babies to stay with us in the hotel, providing, and this was the big caveat, that the People’s Committee had given its final OK for the G&R. Based on this info, Thao made plans for the babies to be brought from the orphanage on Friday, but the exact time was undetermined. Most of us were not optimistic that the G&R could happen on Friday, because Saturday, September 2 was Vietnamese Independence Day and most government offices would be closing early on Friday. Since the earliest that we could get the People’s Committee approval would now be Friday morning, it seemed highly unlikely that the G&R would happen tomorrow.
So, once again we went to sleep not knowing for sure when we would officially get Alyssa, but at least we had some assurance that we would be able to be with her in the hotel. Only time would tell how this was all going to play out.