Homecoming

I know it has been a while since my last update. We've been a bit busy. We have good news that will be surprising to everyone. We're Home!!!! How strange to be typing those words.

We actually got our visa for Ava early, last Friday to be exact. Anna, our liaison in Vietnam had our passports expedited for us since the holiday was coming up. She was afraid that the paperwork would get delayed as people take off of work. So we ended up at the Embassy Friday morning and our Visa was in hand by 5:00! That was the last hurdle in this marathon we've been in for a year now. What a relief to have it. Now Ava could go home. We didn't think we'd be able to get home on an earlier flight as our travel agent said it would be difficult due to the holiday. But he called on Saturday evening to let us know that we had a flight out the following day at noon. So we packed up, and boy, that took some time, and headed out around 10 am on Sunday. We flew from Vietnam to Taipei, then from there to LA, and then from there to Atlanta. We had a 2 hour lay-over in Taipei and then a 7 hour lay-over at LAX. The flights went fairly smoothly and Ava did as well as could be expected for a baby flying travelling well over 24 hours. She slept a lot on the long leg of the journey which was a huge blessing. We had a bassinet for her on the plane which was heaven sent! She slept well in that which gave our arms a much-needed break from holding her. But the hardest part of the trip was from LA to Atlanta. For some reason, when she gets sleepy, she just wants to fight the sleep and she gets fussy. By that point in our trek home she was exhausted and not wanting to sleep. So we were dealing with that and the fact that Brian and I ourselves hadn't slept for 2 days. By the time we reached Atlanta we were all worn pretty thin. But what a wonderful feeling it was to get to Atlanta and know that we were home. Aaahhh, home. Our luggage, however, was not, so we had to wait a little while for that to arrive so we had some breakfast there at the airport in the meantime. Funny thing, during our wait Ava was just laughing and bright-eyed. How did she get the energy at that point?!?

So we've been here since very early Monday morning. I didn't blog about the trip simply b/c I knew we'd need some time to settle in and recuperate from the long trip and change of time zones and all that. So please forgive the tardiness. We are enjoying our time at home, although we have not quite figured out how to get Ava switched over from day to night. She wants to sleep in the day and keep us up all night. Exhausting. BUT, every new parent goes through this, so this is our initiation I guess... "Welcome to the world of parenthood!"

She seems to have adjusted well otherwise. She seems to take it all in stride. My family came over Monday to meet her. And Brian's parents came Tuesday on their way back to New York and they will be here until Friday. They have been quite a help, letting us nap here and there while they hold Ava. Wonderful!!!! Now, I just don't understand why she doesn't like naps!! Doesn't she know that naps are the BEST?!? She seems to have taken a liking to them all, the family that is, showing no fear, just quizzical looks here and there and then a smile breaks through.

Through all of this I have seen God work on our behalf in SO many ways. His mercy towards us was and is great and He is to be praised and thanked for the way it all flowed so effortlessly after our arrival in Vietnam. And really as I think back, the entire process, although long, went well for us. After talking with other couples, it seems our experience in the process was without event.

As I type this, I am holding Ava. She is watching me type away. How many times have I sat here, blogging about her and my desire to go get her, and hold and kiss her, and now, here she is. This beautiful, happy child, I can kiss her soft cheeks, and hold her sweet hand and hear her cries and laughter. How great is God?!!! In His mercy, He reached over to the other side of the world and grabbed up this sweet thing to make for us all a family. God's ways are not man's ways. He works in ways that are beyond our ability to comprehend. And the way in which He works His plans our beyond our ability to imagine. The evidence of His providence has been before us throughout it all. How awesome that He lets us experience and see His providence. A little bit more of God Himself revealed.

Thank you all so much for your encouraging emails. I was always so excited when I saw that I had an email to read from someone back home! It was nice to know that there were people praying and thinking about us. It all went more smoothly than we imagined it would --truly. And on top of that, it was lots of fun. I have to say that it is a little surreal that we are actually home with her. I am still a little in la-la land because of the whole switch over in days and time. But even with that, we are still all enjoying each other. We are just so blessed to have her home and so quickly too--that was an added bonus. We hope to see you all soon. Please be patient as we try to adjust her and ourselves to this new time and schedule. Again, we just haven't been in much contact with anyone since our arrival simply due to this fact. We will probably be able to bring her to church in a couple of weeks. We will just be going with the flow here.

We can't say thank you enough. So here's one more...THANK YOU TO YOU ALL.

A Good Day in Vietnam

Today we had to take Ava to have her medical exam for her Visa. We got there around 10:00 and didn't have to wait too terribly long to see the doctor. Well, she saw the nurse first and slept through part of that. She woke up for the last part and she didn't fuss one single bit. We were proud. But it was a different story when she saw the doctor. Brian held Ava while the doctor checked her throat and she did not like that at all! But she only cried for a moment and then quickly calmed down. He decided to do a vaccine. Apparently the states are a little more strict about vaccines before entering the country. She had to get a shot in the leg and Brian wanted to hold her for that. I was glad he did too. I certainly didn't want to. I didn't even want to watch. When they gave it to her she screamed and looked at Brian like she wanted him to save her from this awful experience! It was the saddest thing and I think I even teared up a bit myself. But we gave her the bottle we had brought and that calmed her right down. That girl loves to eat. However, she lost a lot of it a few minutes later all over Brian's shorts! She doesn't normally do that so she must have been pretty shaken up.

Afterwards, we headed to the lake nearby to get lunch with Katie, Jeff and their daughter Reagan. We found a fun place that had a great view of the lake and the food was excellent. We've enjoyed the hotel restaurant but were glad to get out and try a new place. The girls both did great. After lunch we hit the streets of Vietnam for some shopping. Brian said the craziness of it all makes Manhattan look like a cake walk. It is nuts here! Their is car and motorcycle traffic going in any and every direction. The motorbikes even ride on the sidewalks. We even saw a girl on a motorbike drive up on the sidewalk to use the ATM. Between the occasional motorbike on the sidewalk and the groups of people sitting or standing on the sidewalks to eat and drink and talk, we had to step out onto the street to walk. Does that make any sense at all? But Brian and Jeff watched out for the babies and us and we made it back in one piece. Vietnam is an interesting place. SOOOO different from home. But it's been good to see it and be able to spend some time observing the culture.
We went down one alley way that was a type of fresh food market and when I say fresh, I mean it. They were selling fish that were still swimming in the buckets that held them. Well, except for one HUGE fish that floated on it's back...but I guess they thought they could still get some money for it!?! There were pretty flowers there and fresh herbs which looked nice, souvenir items, fruit, vegetables, fresh and cooked meat. I even saw a fresh cut pigs leg. Yummy. It's quite the eclectic collection of items down any one street. Like I said, the place is just crazy and doesn't make a whole lot of logical sense. A lot of the people working these little stands were on the ground sleeping. Nap time I guess. Wherever we go we are constantly followed by women or men trying to sell us trinkets. They will follow us for a whole block lowering their price as we go. It doesn't matter how many time we say no, they will not stop asking! Weird thing is, they are all selling the same stuff
We were out for quite a while and Ava was so good the entire time and didn't fuss even though it was extremely hot and humid. I know I'm constantly saying how good she is but....she really is! After a few hours of shopping Brian noticed that it looked like we were about to get rained on so we caught a taxi back to the hotel.
We thought Ava would take a bottle and a good nap but the nap only lasted about 30 minutes and then she was up again. That seems to be the way it goes around here.
It was a full day and now she is sleeping once again. Brian is also and soon he will get up for his "shift" and I will head on to bed.
Thank you guys so much for all your prayers. This has been an awesome trip and has gone smoothly so far. It has exceeded all our expectations in every way. The time has been precious to us. That little girl, I'll tell you what, everytime I look in her beautiful brown eyes I am reminded of the greatness of the Lord's grace to us. It just is amazing to me that this is our child. The child of our prayers and hopes. God's gifts are gifts of mercy, undeserved and lavishly poured out. To think about it literally takes my breath away.

About Ava

I thought I would write about Ava and all the things she's doing. We were told at the clinic that she is 12 pounds. She's a little thing. She is only able to wear her 3-6 month old clothes. The 6 month clothes swallow her whole! a She is able to roll over and has actually done more and more of that the last day and a half. She cannot crawl yet but I think that will be coming soon. She can hold her own bottle. She does not mind a pacifier but has to have us hold it in as she pushes it out with her tongue. She eats super fast and it seems that she eats a lot. She is a growing girl after all. She is pretty quiet most of the time but will let out a squeal when she is excited. She's just happy to sit and observe. She really only cries when she hungry or over-tired. She smiles pretty easily too. I haven't really heard a laugh but we get lots of smiles. She is very social and doesn't mind strangers in the least. She loves to be held while she sleeps but will sleep in her crib too. We try to have her in the crib most of the time for sleeping though. We don't want to encourage any bad habits there. She is Not on any kind of schedule over here. It's sort of like survival mode for now. We'll worry about all that when we get back.

We had another good day today roaming the area for souvenirs and such. Once again the people just love to talk and play with her. Thank goodness she doesn't mind. We ate a late lunch with Katie and Jeff and their little girl Reagan. Brian is now watching Elf with Ava and playing with her on the floor. She is very happy with him. I keep hearing coos from over there. It's only 6:40 but feels later than that. I guess that's how it goes now. She hasn't had much of a nap today so she should sleep well tonight--yay! She is such a joy. Brian keep saying,"I just can't believe how much I love her already!!" It is quite an overwhelming feeling as many of you know already. You just never know or understand until you have that little one in your arms. And we're so glad that that is where she is now. It just feels so good.

I posted some pictures on yesterday's blog. So go Check em out!

Our third day with Ava

First of all, we can't believe that it's only been 3 days! It feels like we've known her for much longer! And we've learned a lot about her these last few days. It realy is just priceless this time we have just the three of us. We are just having a great time here getting to know each other. Ava is a sweet sweet baby and still pretty content. However, we did have a little bit of a rough night last night but it wasn't her fault. We discovered when we got her that she has a rash of some sort on her head and bottom. We were worried about that of course and as it happened, her head really became a bother to her during the night. She did not sleep very well b/c it was itching and she was continuously attempting to scratch it. It was so pitiful. She has a way of rubbing it back and forth on the sheets to soothe the itch. It's cute to watch, like a little kitten, but obviously it's not good for the rash and not a good habit for her to be forming. We decided we HAD to get her to the International clinic as soon as possible. So at about 5am we dressed and headed out the door. The clinic is only a block or two away so we walked. She really seemed to enjoy the walk as it was cool and breezy and quiet(well, as quiet as it gets around here). We were the only ones at the clinic so we were seen quickly and they were incredibly kind. The dr. believes it is eczema so he gave us some creme which we started today. Now it is almost 2am and she is sleeping much better. He said after 3 days we should really be able to tell a difference. But sadly, we did have to cut her hair in the back. You can only imagine how bad this haircut is! Brian and I do not need to become barbers!! There's only so much you can do with tiny scissors and clippers and a bouncing baby.

So that was the start to the day. She slept a while as did I while Brian caught a baseball game on the internet. Then we went downstairs to eat and decided to buy an umbrelly stroller at the store in the mall here. It was a little expensive for an umbrella stroller but it's made well and we'll use it at home too. But it has really helped!! She is comfortable in it and it's nice to have another place to sit her besides her crib since she can't sit up on her own yet. After we got that we had lunch at Jaspas, which is here at the hotel. We had the breakfast buffet which is a smaller buffet then what we have at home but still it hit the spot. Ava just stared at me the whole time from her stroller. I had my hair pulled back and I think she was trying to figure out whether I was mommy or not! She looked a little puzzled. She was great. Just sat quietly and watched. We're such proud parents. I got some great shots of her in the restaurant I'll post tomorrow. She seems to like the camera!

We met up with our friends here in the lobby and they said they were going to the lake to walk around and we decided to join them. The lake was so pretty and it was breezy there although very humid. The people here believe that the babies should be covered head to foot even when it's hot. Our friends had taken their daughter's pants off so she only had on a onsie and boy, the looks they got from the elderly women here. We even had a couple of them come up and speak to us in Vietnamese about it! They told, or gestured I should say, that we needed to push Ava back up in the stroller (she was sliding a little). They are not shy AT ALL about confronting! But the people here, young and old, LOVE babies and we are constantly stopped by them as they want to talk to the babies and ask about them. They are for the most part extremely pleasant people. We got some great shots of all this at the lake. I will have to post them tomorrow.

After the visit to the lake Ava had a rough time with her head again. Perhaps the heat made it itch more. We applied the creme and then she fell asleep on me and we slept on the couch, well, she did, for a couple of hours. Brian got a great nap too. Then he woke up and fed her while I slept. Now they are both asleep and I am up boiling more water for tomorrow and writing. It's quiet here except for the occasional horn outside. During the day the car horns are nonstop! I do miss the quiet of home.

So we don't have anything planned for tomorrow. Maybe the pool? We'll see. Then Monday we go back to the clinic for her exam for her visa. Then we'll have the visa interview Wednesday or Thurday. So for now we'll just burrow in here and make this apartment our home away from home.

First Meetings

Wow. Here it is, 4 am on Thursday morning, and since yesterday we have given 1 bath, 6 bottles and many many kisses to our beautiful baby girl. It has been a wonderful journey so far. It has exceeded any of our expectations, although, it was hard to know what to expect really when it comes down to it! Well, there is so much to tell so I'll get to it.

We got to Hanoi on Wednesday and had time to unpack and get ready for Ava's arrival and enjoy a nice meal also. We got to bed pretty early as we had to be in the hotel lobby at 8am to meet Anna, our Vietnamese liason between the agency and the government here. There is one other couple here adoption as well, and also another lady who is here with a relative and she is adopting a little girl too. We all talked nervously in the lobby and then loaded up into the van. The orphanage is in Hung Yen Province which is about 2 hours from the hotel. The traffic here is unbelievable so I just tried to not look out the front window so that I wouldn't be aware of all the near-misses! Brian and I were in the back with Anna and here assistant and we had a great time talking with them. Anna told us at that time that Ava is a very happy baby and laughs a lot. I cannot tell you how happy that made me!! I had prayed for that exact thing for her so many times. We were all so excited and it just felt so surreal. That is the best word to describe it. Then we pulled into the front drive to the orphanage and silence fell over the entire van. Everything was silent except for the clicking of the cameras and the whirring of the video cameras! My heart was pounding and I thought to myself "don't cry YET!!"

So we were all hurried out of the van and told to get our things and then we were led around the corner of the building and the first thing I saw was two laundry lines filled with baby clothes drying in the breeze..."okay Jan hold it together for a few more minutes...". Then we walked to this tiny room with nannies sitting on the mats with the babies. The room would not hold all of us so Brian and I held back for a moment and then a little Vietnamese woman walked up to me and patted me on the arm and said, "Hoa! Hoa!" (Ava's given Vietnamese name) and she motioned for me to come. As I walked into the room I saw her sleeping in one of the nannies' arms and she was holding the little Minnie Mouse rattle we had sent over to her. Okay, that was it...here come the waterworks!! No more holding back the tears. They handed her to me and....what a precious moment. Brian and I haven't stopped staring at her since! She won our hearts immediately.

The trip back was bumpy and loud and very hot. But Ava slept through the WHOLE thing! What an angel. We got back to the room and she got her first bath from us. Everytime she looks at Brian she smiles. He said she got him wrapped, already. When he first saw her, that was it for him, he was done. She is something! Just content and so far has only fussed when she wants a bottle. She has some congestion so I'm going to try some saline spray and that sucker-thingy! Yikes. That's a new one for me.

She's just B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. Thanks again for keeping us in your prayers and for your encouraging emails. I KNOW God heard those prayers and answered them beyond what we all asked for. He is so good. We can't wait for you all to see her in person..the pictures don't do her justice. But here are a few and you know there will be lots more to come.

Today Brian has to go do some Official govt. business and I'll stay here with Ava. Then we'll just be hanging out. We may be able to expedite our passports and be able to come home a little sooner. That is if we can catch a flight. Keep prayin' PLEASE! We still have a long way to go before home. But we just wanted to let you know that we just have a feeling of complete awareness that prayers have been heard and answered in a way that, like I said before, we could NEVER have imagined.

Okay, I just tried to download pictures and for some reason I'm unable to right now. I'm not sure what the problem is. I'm so sorry. So I'll send picture by email to those of you that I have your address and then when I get back I will post them to the blog. Sorry about that! Maybe Brian can take a look at it later on.

Love to all.

Trying to Rest

So here it is, 3 am and I'm awake. My mind is r-a-c-i-n-g. My heart is doing the same. Are we really leaving in less than 7 days to get Ava? It just doesn't seem real. I have so much to do. The list continues to grow. I'm trying to be organized about it but it doesn't seem to be helping as my wheels spin and spin. I do have to say that mom was an incredible help to me this weekend. She endured a whopping 5-ish hours in Target on Sunday to help me gather up things to take to Vietnam and to have here at home on our return. So we did accomplish a lot there. And we got a rocking chair for the nursurey. That was also a long process that mom lovingly and patiently endured. Good ole mom. Always reliable. But there's still a long way to go. I must rest before we leave. I am trying to force my mind to stay still and not race as it does. How does one do that? I keep repeating to myself "and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guide your heart and MIND in Christ Jesus" and also "...everything by prayer.....". I also have to remember WHY we are going. It is for Ava. To finally have her with us. She is not counting on us to be the perfect parents and to have everything "together". She just needs the basics and lots of love. That much we can definitely provide. Yes, most likely I will forget something and be unprepared. How could we ever know everything we could possibly need? You just do what you think is best and the rest will come. It won't be perfect and I will have to remain flexible and bend when I need to bend and ENJOY it!! We are going to get our daughter!!! And that is the most important thing here, not whether or not I take the right formula. So I am going to try to relax, pray, and allow God's peace to wash over me. He's got it all in His sight, in His plan. Okay, I sorta feel a little better already.

It's What We've All Been Waiting For...

Last night at midnight I went in to check my email. All emails from Vietnam come late (or early) since they are on the opposite time. And guess what I saw...our approval to travel! "Were my eyes playing tricks on me?" I wondered. This quick? It's only been three weeks since they got all our documents in Ho Chi Minh City. But there it was: "Dear Mr./ Mrs. Dempsey:
Greetings from the Hanoi Adoptions Unit at US Embassy Hanoi.
As you can see in the attachment, based on a preliminary determination of orphan status by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service you are now authorized to travel to Vietnam to complete the adoption of Hoa Thi Nguyen." Tears.
I called Bonnie this morning and she says "Well, I guess you'll be in Vietnam by next weekend!" Say what!!! Actually though we can't enter until April 15th according to our visas so we have a little under 2 weeks. Gives me some time to pack. So much to do. But I just can't believe that in 2 weeks I will be holding her and hearing her "talk" and cry and I get to see those long fingers and kiss those tiny toes. And you will all get to see her too!! Thanks for all your prayers. Bonnie said she is shocked that we got it this fast. Only one other couple go theirs this quickly. God heard your prayers. So thank you.

I did get her room done...just in time. I am pleased with it. We still need a rocker and changing pad and decorations around the room but I guess as far as her room goes, that's all we NEED. She'll survive without pictures on the wall!

Here are some pics:






It won't be long til there's a baby in that crib snuggling that blanket. Can't wait.