Happy New Year! Mighty Fine 2009...

View from the room - Brian looking out at his birthplace - Viet Nam

Heading out the door to navigate the streets for a doctor's appointment...

What a year it has been. I am so thankful for each and every part of this year's journey. The mountains and the valleys (and plateaus!) have given me DOUBLE blessings of family and friends. True friends. Honest and heartfelt friends. Christian love and spirit in fellowship with others... My life is filled with so much LOVE - everyday. I have been given such a wonderful gift - to live with such love. It is almost overwhelming to think about!

After several hours, he learns to crawl... :)

I pray that 2009 brings peace and joy to the PAPs who are anxiously waiting to bring their babies home, and that healing will be restored to the suffering. I pray that those I have seen here who suffer and toil to simply survive are provided relief. It is heart-breaking. To see the children at the orphanage- the hearing impaired kids who are so full of joy. They know no lack or want for anything - just a smile is riches to them! Yet they have no family and are seen as "non-adoptable" because of their handicap. It breaks my heart.

The city streets of Hanoi...

We went to the VN immigration offices and picked up baby Brian's passport and then went to the clinic. My little man is doing great. The nurses and doctor seemed very competent. They weighed and measured him, listened to his heart and lungs and the doctor did a physical. He weighs 16.1 lbs. and is 27.6 inches long. Big boy! He has a very healthy, strong heart. My mom won the Facebook - "How much does Baby Brian weigh? " pool too. Way to go Mama!

He does have excema and dry skin, and the doctor said that the orphanages will deny that any of the kids here have scabies, but to treat him with the Elimite we brought and see if it isn't gone in a day or two. In the meantime, I am to apply hydrocortisone to his ear for the broken crusties and lotion to his scalp and legs for the dryness and itching. Other than that he is a perfectly healthy little boy. Just sweet as pie. He loves, love, loves to snuggles, loves being smooched on all over and he loves to play, play, play!

Rush hour traffic. LOL 5:1 scooters to cars

We went to dinner tonight with Marci, a single mom from Michigan who is here adopting her 5th child. I met Marci on a Yahoo Group yesterday and we enjoyed a great dinner at Al Fresca's in Hanoi tonight. We had big ribs (pork -I checked with the mgmt) and sangrias. It was our New Year's celebration! Marci adopted her daughter Huong, age 6, from an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh and then had to come to Hanoi for the visa interview. Both of our interviews are scheduled with the US Consulate on Friday. Then we are free to come home. They have rushed this process through due to the holidays - everything is happening FAST!

I've asked Todd the travel agent guy to get me on a plane leaving Hanoi either Friday night or Saturday morning. Woohah.... I hope I'll be home for Jordan's birthday on the 7th! Maybe even home by Sunday. We'll see. I've learned how the process goes now on this travel so I am not counting on any definites. Flexibility is key... flexibility is key... (lather, rinse, repeat.)

Jordan is going to a New Year's Eve party tonight with some of her friends in Plano. I hope Dede and everyone there has fun too!

Marci, Huong, Brian and I are going to the Silk Factory tomorrow. I'll post pictures!

This is the rooftop and courtyard of what is left of the Hilton Hanoi... (POW prison). I am told that the Hanoi Somerset Apartment Hotels (where we are staying) was built on the land where the original HH stood and occupies the rest of the block. This is the view of what is left of the prison looking down from our room. Can you imagine?

Anyway, I am rambling now but wanted to share a myriad of things! In one hour it is midnite here, so Happy New Year all!

(Mama - they ain't got no black eyed peas or cabbage over here. Eat double for me, will ya?)