Henry's Room

I still don't know when I will travel. I'm waiting for the third letter. Meanwhile I thought I would post some photos of the room I have been getting ready for Henry. I like old furniture, and refinished some that was used when I was little--including the twin bed and the child's roll top desk which Henry will use when he is older. The little table and chairs was my mother's when she was a little girl, it was refinished by somebody else.

Cows on the Loose!

I got home yesterday from work and could tell that the cows had broken through the gate behind the house and had milled around the yard and garden. I've been feeding them every three days since the weather dried up--but I didn't know they could count. I didn't feed them because the only food left had gotten wet when the garage flooded.

I finally was able to get them into another pasture with a more secure gate, in spite of the fact that the news advises not to be out between five and eight because of West Nile Virus. Then I drove to town and got some more range cubes to keep them happy.

A little asking around the very small community and I was able to identify the Good Samartian who got them back in while I was gone. It's nice to have neighbors that help you out.

Henry as a Simpson Character

I was having fun with the Simpsons' movie website. You can upload photos and it turns them into Simpsons characters. How do we look?

Still waiting and preparing

I am still anxiously waiting to hear news of when I will travel. My visa application is already with a travel agent waiting for me to call and give a date. Then it is seven days to process but I cut a little time by having it already in their hands. I'll start researching various flights, adoption fares, and travel agencies to find the best way to get to Vietnam.

My mother has been in HCMC for three weeks now. I am hoping that she gets to meet Henry very soon and attend to whatever he might need right now.

I have also started gathering in one room all the things I am taking with me (if I can get it in my suitcases). These are things I plan on giving to the orphanage.

Finally the cows got some food today

After four days without rain it was finally dry enough for me to feed the cows some range cubes. They ran like the pasture was on fire when they realized I was pouring food into the troughs. The only downside is now they are going to be expecting food every morning.

No rain since Friday

Maybe the rain is finally letting up. And at least that bridge seems to be holding out. It is much greener than it has been in July in a long time.

I continue to get ready to leave, and anxiously read blogs from the families who are over there now, and emails from my mother who is waiting in HCMC until I get there.

It's still raining in Texas

A bridge I drive over to get to work is about to wash out. If it does I will have to drive a LOT further to make it via the shortest detour.

I stopped this morning and took a couple of photos. At least the county or state is aware of the problem--trucks were out looking at it two days ago and they have put up orange fencing and cones around it.

In the meantime I have started hunting around for a pediatrician to take Henry to when I get him home. Maybe I should try to locate one in Dallas to start out with--somebody who is familiar with internationally adopted children.

Updated photos

My agency sent me some updated photos, taken on 7 July. I'm still anxiously awaiting news of a travel date.

In the meantime, my mother arrived in HCMC (Saigon) earlier today. After a month of traveling through China and the northern part of Vietnam she is ready to settle in until I get there. Which will hopefully be soon.

A room with a view

Here's the view out of Henry's room's east window this morning, as it was pouring down rain. Two days without rain and I thought I would get to feed the cows this morning, then it poured rain last night and again this morning and it's too wet. Don't worry, they have plenty of grass (thanks to the rain) and some kind of molasses gunk in tubs that has the nutrients they need.

Meeting a celebrity

It's been an exciting weekend, reading the accounts of two of the families working with my agency who met their sons over the weekend. Their experience made me think about an interview I heard last week from NPR with Jeff Gammage, author of China Ghosts: My Daughter's Journey to America, My Passage to Fatherhood. Gammage said meeting his daughter for the first time was like meeting a celebrity. He and his wife had spent months looking at photos of her, talking about what she might be doing or who might be taking care of her, etc. And I think that is how it will be for me too.

This is my cat Sugar. She is anxiously awaiting her first meeting with a celebrity. She doesn't know that she will likely lose her coveted spot in the house, and may soon find herself living with the barn cats outside. Unless I can figure out what to do with her litter box where I don't have to worry about Henry getting into it.

Henry's Room

These curtains were hanging in my room when I was a baby. They've been stored all this time in a cedar chest. I washed and starched them and now they are hanging in Henry's room.

Rain, rain, go away!

It has been raining quite a bit here in northeast Texas. Several times the road to the house was under water and I wasn't sure I could get in or out. The garden has been very difficult to get into to pick tomatoes and cucumbers, last night I had to take a big pick axe with me so I could walk through mud that I was sinking into almost a foot.

But everything will be nice and green, not like the usual dry Julys in Texas. This is a photo from behind the house. These flowers are taller than I am now.

Practice Packing

I was off work yesterday for the 4th and finally dragged out several suitcases as well as most of the stuff I've bought to carry with me, and started trying to figure out how I'm going to pack it. I got this backpack baby carrier that converts into a stroller. I was really excited about it, but the only suitcase I have that it will fit in is bigger than the max allowed on the airlines. I thought about just taking it by itself as a checked bag, but that would mean I only had one other checked bag, and I wouldn't have room for the stuff I have to donate to the orphanage (mostly art supplies, I hope they can use them). So I'll be leaving this backpack at home and I'll just use the Snuggli I bought. It takes up very little room in a suitcase and it's also preferable, I think, to carry the baby in front anyway.

My name is Scott. I am employed as a university librarian and live in rural northeast Texas. The nearest big city is Dallas.

I have been working toward adoption since 1999--making sure my home and my job were suitably organized to make room for raising a child as a single parent.

I have been waiting since January to bring home my son, who I will call Henry Duc. He is living near Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam.

I am nervous and excited about the prospect of becoming a father. I know that Henry will bring much joy to my life.