Happy Birthday

Today is my grandmother's 92nd birthday. We had a party for her this past Sunday with 42 in attendance. She is anxiously waiting to meet Henry, and has kindly offered to take care of my white cat Sugar while I am away in Vietnam.

Happy Birthday Grandmother!

More wisdom from a fortune cookie

I guess the local Chinese restaurant's fortune cookies are trying to tell me something. I went out to eat and got this in my cookie.

And yesterday I got my visa! That was worrying me since I bought the ticket last week online and requested the visa through a travel agent. The mail is scheduled to start being held next Monday and I worried about them getting mixed up and holding the visa up. Now that I have it all that is left to do is pack, which I started to do last night. I've had the bag with all the gifts packed for some time but now I've got to pack my clothes as well as whatever baby supplies and clothing I decide to take.

Praying for a G&R soon!

I got updated photos of Henry today from the agency. In my mind he's praying along with me for our G&R ceremony to be scheduled very soon!

Flight to HCMC 27 August

Still no word about the scheduling of the G&R, but I've gone ahead and booked a flight. I will arrive in HCMC on Tuesday 28 August. Maybe I'll have time to do some sight seeing with my mother as well as make myself known to the appropriate officials in Vietnam. I am very anxious to move on through the process and bring Henry home.

Unrelenting wait

As I want and then wait some more, I think back to this fortune I got a few months ago at the local Chinese restaurant. I keep it on my desk next to a photo of Henry.

Plans to leave soon

I don't have a firm date yet for my G&R, just a tentative idea that it should be toward the end of the month. I've wanted to leave early to allow myself some time to see the country before I get Henry and am totally preoccupied, so I've started looking for travel arrangements the week of August 20th.

My mother has been gone since June 11th--a month in China and now almost a month in Vietnam. She has traveled from Hanoi to Danang and Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh City. Yesterday she left for a three day trip to the Mekong Delta. This photo is her on a motor bike taxi. Hopefully I will leave in time to have a week or two to see the sites with her (we especially would like to go to Angkor Wat in Cambodia) and I'm hoping there are no more delays and I will have my G&R by the end of August.

It's still raining, but the bridge is repaired

It still rains more than usual for this time of the year, but they were able to at least repair the bridge. Of course they haven't replaced the guard rail yet so in my opinion it is a hazard, especially since all the rain widened the bank quite a bit. I can still get to the library without taking a detour, but last night it was raining so hard when I went home the battery light came on twice when I went through rising water on the road that came up into the engine of the car.

Meanwhile I am still waiting to hear news from Vietnam, but I am making plans to leave at the last part of August.