Day Eight

ALL DAY EIGHT PICTURES

Nehemiah woke up smiling.

First bath, he did great.

Nehemiah slept wonderful last night and woke up pretty early. By the time 8:30am rolled around he was already tired. He ended up napping all morning so we just had breakfast and hung out at the hotel.

We had lunch at the Sushi Train across the street then headed off to tour the Cu Chi Tunnels. We went with the Robbins family and had a fun time seeing all the sites again. Adam and Brandt shot machine guns and Adam went deeper into the tunnel system than he did two years ago. The men loved all the war history and the women loved all the cheap souvenirs. Our tour guide was all jokes and kept us very entertained with stories of how all the beautiful Vietnamese women have left to marry foreigners and how rubber trees became so popular in VN. (start of birth control)

We met a lot of friendly people today. After a great conversation with a guy at the market he said, "see you later alligator," we taught him after while crocodile, it was cute... the other guy asked how much our baby cost. When I told him you never pay for a baby, he said, "oh just a souvenir".

We are packing up tonight and will head to Hanoi tomorrow. Our time here has been amazing. I even love the honking. Weird. I love the hardworking people, my heart hurts for those who are lost and lonely and seem to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. But we feel at home here even if we are just visiting. We are so thankful for our time in this rich city and look forward to bringing our kids here someday.

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

Adam, Natasha and Nehemiah

Day Seven

ALL DAY SEVEN PICTURES

Today was a great day! We woke up early and the men went off to work on visa stuff and the women took the kiddos to have health exams. All the children were healthy. Annie was slightly malnourished and Ro had to have blood taken which was traumatic for both mommy and son. But overall the Dr. gave them all a good report.

Nehemiah has been perfect. No tears today except when he fell off a pillow and hit his head on the corner of the nightstand.

He slept over 12 hours last night and took two great naps today. He seems to be a sleeper right now, I am sure so many changes makes a little one tuckered out.

He is a thumb sucker for sure. Every time we look over he is trying to get that thumb in his mouth. We are trying to replace the thumb with a passy. My favorite moment of the day was when I caught him creatively finding a way to suck his thumb... here he is holding the passy, with his thumb through the passy ring.

Can't resist that precious face, kissably delicious.
We had a wonderful lunch today at a nearby hotel. They had Italian food, I ordered the best lasagna with steamed veggies. Its amazing what a good meal can do for you.

We were walking back to our hotel after lunch and I stopped to look at something in a window but Adam didn't know so he kept walking. He got about a half a street ahead of me so I took off to catch up. These two ladies walking towards me stopped all of a sudden, turned around and started following Adam. They pulled out their cameras to take pictures of this strange white creature holding a baby in a sling. Little did they know I took their picture taking his picture and could not contain my laughter.

We had dinner with the Dillon staff tonight, Thomas, Phoung, Trinh and Minh. Along with the three families here and their new additions. We are beyond thankful for their help, coordination and translations for us. They are a blessing to Dillon families. We have been here over a week and have had about 4 really really good meals and two of them were today! Our stomachs and taste-buds were spoiled by this authentic Vietnamese meal.

Adam got to have his turn on Mr. Minh's bike. He said it was "good times."

Avi Joy: 

She is doing great! She enjoyed staying with her NanNa and is now staying at our house with her Aunt Shannon. She has been to church, school, made crafts and even asked for Subway! : ) She is getting all the love and attention she needs and we are so thankful. She is such a dollbaby and we look forward to seeing our family together!

Here she is dancing at my friends wedding reception.

"The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people." Revelation 22:21

The Perryman's

Day Six

ALL DAY SIX PICTURES

We had a great time in Can Tho. We were able to take a boat ride (posted pics on day 5) and that was really wonderful. The weather was perfect and it was a sobering look at the houses/life of the working citizen.

We woke up today and headed for the G & R ceremony held at the local justice department. We signed all the necessary paperwork to become a family forever. Then we headed back to HCMC.

We are now back in HCMC and had a great honeymoon with Nehemiah. No tears for about 5 hours, then the dam broke. Everything in his life just changed. The sights, sounds, smells, people, oh, the crying, poor little guy. He is now on-and-off crying and we know the bonding process has begun.

We went and had Indian food with the Robbins tonight and he was perfect and the food was excellent. We called our parents to show off Nehemiah and now he is asleep and we are soon to follow. 

"And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king grandted my requests." Nehemiah 2:8

Adam, Natasha and Nehemiah

Day Five

ALL DAY FIVE PICTURES

Had a wonderful visit with Nehemiah today. He was happy, playful, then tired. Tomorrow is our Giving and Receiving Ceremony day. The nannies will bring him to court and we will become a family forever.

Superbaby flying home soon!
We are off to bed... very tired tonight and we have a big day tomorrow.

"God sets the lonely in families." Psalm 68:6

The Perryman's

Day Four

ALL DAY FOUR PICTURES 

Thanks to my friend Alicia for emailing me about not being able to leave a comment. All this time we had no idea that the settings were wrong. We changed our comment section to 'everyone' instead of just gmail accounts, so if you would like please feel free to leave us a comment.

Today was the day we met our son. He is such a complete doll baby! And he says mama, oh yeah, melt your heart! Adam and I agree it could not have been more perfect. It was just the Robbins and us so we got to have lots of quiet one-on-one time with our children and the caretakers. 

He is happy (and the staff said he makes them laugh and is a talker) and seemed ready to attach to his parents. Our hearts are filled with joy and we are looking forward to giving him lots of love.

Here are a few of our favorites from our time together.




"Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world." Isaiah 12:5

With Love from Vietnam,

Adam and Natasha

Day Three

ALL DAY THREE PICTURES
The Rex Hotel has a fruit basket in each room. I decided to give some unique fruits a try this morning... a straight banana, the dragon fruit (pink with black/white) and a new red fruit I had never seen before the mam-roi.

Met up with the Robbins family for breakfast and lunch. They have lived in China for 10 years and are fluent in Mandarin. They have seen God do many amazing things during their time there and Adam and I were all questions with them about the mission field. They have a 3 1/2 year old son and will soon have a 8 month old little girl. 

Tomorrow, Sunday 4th, we will all drive out to Can Tho and meet our children for the first time!
My favorite shot of the day. Precious little girl thoroughly enjoying her coconut drink.

We finished our afternoon with Thai massage and pizza. The last time we were at the Rex the massages were $6, but like everything here (the room rates, laundry service, etc) the prices have doubled or more. The massages now are $32 for an hour. Not cheap enough for us.

So we headed down the street for a 75 min Thai massage for $13, tip included.

The little women pounded, stretched, walked, yanked and rubbed our whole bodies till they were putty. It was pure heaven for both of us.

Tomorrow's the big day, well not adoption day, but meeting Nehemiah day. Hoping internet will be working well in the province so we can post pictures. 

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" Philippians 4:4

(Reminding myself of this one as we saw a little girl today with curly hair who looked like Avi Joy. I got sad for a bit that we still have two weeks here. I know its the right thing, I am sure it will help meeting Nehemiah tomorrow.)

The Perryman's

Day Two

ALL DAY TWO PICTURES
Went shopping in the art district today, just amazing! The artists are very gifted.

We found artwork for Nehemiah's room and Susie/Heather both requested artwork in the Vietnamese style, which we found and bought two perfect pieces. My heart skipped a beat when I found Leo among the treasures.
We are happy as can be shopping in the market! Thank you so much to our family and friends for taking care of Avi Joy at home while we are here soaking up the beauty of Vietnam. Sunday will make it much more beautiful- meeting Nehemiah.
Busy street in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City.
They had everything we could want and more in the marketplace. They REALLY try hard to call you to their stand to check out their stuff. They resorted to flattery with us... here are the best two quotes of the day.

To Adam: "You have such beautiful eye, they have no color."

To Natasha: "You have beautiful form, I fat."

Below is the highlight of the day! After breakfast with Thomas and Phoung we went to check out the Dillon office in Vietnam. There was one seat open on Thomas' bike and I took it! It was 10 mins of pure delight from our hotel through the streets to the office. I loved every minute and am so glad he indulged my hanging on tight and screaming when we almost got hit by a car. "Happens all the time," he said. : ) 

We traveled out at night and the city was bumping. I have never seen so many people together in my life. Every citizen apparently comes out at night, many in p.j.'s, to eat, hang with family and play with their kids in the streets. The weather was PERFECT, it could not have been a better night. We came in and fell asleep about 8:30pm, I am posting this about 4am on Sat morning, I am sure I will have to rest later.

We look forward to meeting two other families today and having a Vietnamese dinner with the staff tonight.

"The father of a righteous man has great joy." Proverbs 23:24

Adam and Natasha