A Light at the End of the Tunnel

It looks like this long trip is finally drawing to a close. Mr. Oppus has informed me that my new fingerprint clearance has been forwarded to the appropriate office here. The agency representative Mr. Hiep turned in my INS paperwork today to the consulate and he expects and appointment for me on Monday or Tuesday. Then it is off to Hanoi for the perfunctory interview at the embassy and thankfully then home to Texas. I picked up our tickets today to fly back on Monday the 12th, but they can easily be changed if we find we can leave earlier.

I really need to thank my mother for everything she has done for me on this trip and that she is doing for me now is helping me to learn to take care of a baby. This was not her dream for me. She would prefer I start my family in a more traditional manner by getting married. But that hasn't happened yet and this is the path I felt moved to take. I wanted to open my home and my heart to a child who needed love and support.

When I showed my mother the referral photographs for Henry her heart really went out to him. The dream was no longer an abstract idea of some child but it was now this particular child who looked so tiny and vulnerable. She has been supportive and loving and helpful. During this trip my mother has pushed herself beyond her limits, struggling through illnesses and injuries and exhaustion and stress. We have enjoyed traveling together and learning about Henry's culture as well as that of neighboring countries, but it has been long and tiring and stressful.

My mother has always been a great source of strength and love for me, I have always felt cherished and lifted up by my mother through good times and bad. So I really want everyone who reads this and who knows me to know that I could not have done this without my mother's loving support. I hope that she can enjoy her retirement years with the joy of a loving grandson and the continued love of a grateful son. I have always been able to count on her.