Small steps and giant leaps

Every day Tananya becomes more comfortable with her new family. According to her schedule from her foster home, she was taking seven bottles a day and two night time feedings. Her foster mother said that Tananya is a very fussy eater. We can't help but think that some of that pickiness may have been due to the fact that she was always full of formula. She had never had milk before but once I realized that she wasn't lactose intolerant, I gave her fresh milk. She seems to be tolerating the milk fine. She has also been sleeping through the night, only waking briefly with a soft cry that ends once I touch her to reassure her that I am still there. Getting her off the bottle has been a little more challenging. Our first day with her she refused all but one bottle. The second day she took one bottle and let me spoon feed her out of a cup. But today was a giant leap because she drank out of a regular cup and sippy cup and it is my firm plan to only give her back that bottle during an airplane crying crisis. Today for the first time, she was able to be in our room without having to be held constantly and even let go of me for brief moments. She even voluntarily went to Jess when I was unavailable (in the bathroom) and was able to be comforted by him. She is not smiling or laughing but for brief moments when she seems to be thinking, "That's funny 0h wait, I'm not supposed to laugh". We checked out of the Amari and have moved back to the guest house. Mikayla was playing with some basketballs and Tananya picked up a ball and let it bounce a few times. She is starting to become more interested in Mikayla. Poor Mikayla though has had a hard time. She loves Tananya so much and wants to play with her but Tananya is not quite ready. Tananya had never been around other children and her foster mother did everything for Tananya. Mikayla said today, "Why isn't Tananya attaching to me yet?" - a very grown up thing for a six year old to ask. As the day continued on, Mikayla was encouraged by the small steps Tananya made in reaching out to her. We took the kids to the zoo today with Nana (whom by the way, Tananya has taken a great liking to). Tananya slept in the Ergo baby carrier (a wonderful purchase) for most of the zoo trip but was awake for the elephants which she seemed to enjoy. Mikayla had lots of fun, especially in the snake exhibit where she watched a snake kill a live mouse which then made her sad and led to an explanation about the circle of life. We returned to our room and had supper with some friends of Nana and Papa's who work here with World Vision. They too have a Thai adopted child who is now 18. Mikayla ran around so much this evening that she perspired right through her clothes. Tananya is in the room without me at the moment as Jess is putting her to sleep - another small step. Tomorrow we are going to the famous weekend market and then we will be headed back to the USA where we can see our beloved son and introduce him to his precious new sister! "See" you back home! Hey, Betty - don't forget to come and get us and bring the car seat too :)

She's All Ours, Baby!

Yesterday we finally took custody of Tananya for good. She did remarkably well saying good-bye to her social worker and was less emotional than Mummy was. However, once she got up to the hotel room she realized that things were a bit different this time. For some reason all of her worldly possessions were here as well, and that did not bode well for a speedy return to her foster home. She began to whimper and was clearly unhappy so we decided to put on her bathing suit and take her and Mikayla down to the swimming pool. She looked darling in her pink bikini and enjoyed sitting on the edge of the pool splashing her hands in the water while her sister swam like a dolphin around her. Nana and Papa finally arrived at the hotel and met Tananya for the first time. We went out for dinner with them and ate at a really neat Japanese restaurant where they bring a little charcoal grill and set it in the middle of the table and you grill your own food. Tananya won't remember any of it because she slept through the whole meal. After lunch we had some ice cream at Swenson's. Mummy tried to feed Tananya some ice cream. She responded as though I were trying to feed her brussel sprouts! She would have none of it. Nana and Papa left while we continued shopping in hopes of tiring Tananya out so that she would go to sleep easily. Fortunately, this plan worked rather well as she fell asleep easily. However, when Mikayla and Daddy climbed into bed, Tananya woke up and refused to lay back down. She therefor fell asleep sitting up with her head bobbing about until Mummy finally laid her down. Tananya didn't wake for her usual night time feedings which is GREAT because we had no intention of continuing with this routine. We had to wake her this morning to get ready for our meeting with the Thai adoption board. We were first on the schedule and they did a brief follow up interview with Mikayla. Jess had to actually speak this time as I prevented the hearing from being conducted entirely in Thai as it was last time for Mikayla. After the meeting we headed to Bang Sae where Mikayla's foster parents live. We had a wonderful visit with them. Her foster parents were so happy to see her they cried tears of joy. They had a photo album that contained pictures of Mikayla that we had never seen before and in which they have kept all of the photos we have sent to them since she left their home. They had a beautiful framed photo of her hanging prominently in their home. Mikayla played with her older foster sister much like she had done 5 years ago. Her foster siblings stayed home from school in order to visit with her, and extended family members dropped by as well. Mikayla had so much fun and was tearful when it was time to leave. Jess and Mikayla left a lasting impression as they each spilled a glass of red Fanta pop on the floor. (Like father, like daughter, I guess). Tananya is falling asleep so we will close this for now.

Foster Home Visit

We had another great visit with Tananya today. The kids arrived early and I actually walked right past Tananya but Mikayla pointed out that the crying child I had just walked past was her sister. We had a brief visit at the hotel and then went to Central to go "shopping". It was outrageously expensive and we didn't buy anything other than some diapers. After lunch, we were able to go and visit Tananya's foster home. We had a great visit with Tananya's foster mother and foster grandmother. The family was Muslim which was a surprise considering the prevalence of Buddhism here. The home was on the grounds of the mosque. They had several pictures that they had taken of Tananya over the past 15 months which was wonderful to see. We videotaped her album and took digital photos of some the pictures they had. We had a really marvelous visit and Tananya is interacting with us very well. She is such a happy, beautiful and silly girl that we can't wait to take custody tomorrow. Nana and Papa will hopefully be able to come and meet their newest grand-daughter tomorrow. We also plan to take the girls swimming tomorrow, which will be Tananya's first time. She'll be experiencing alot of first over the next few days. I am very tired and therefore will leave today's entry a short one for now.

T-Day Has Arrived!

We got to meet our beautiful daughter today and what a great first meeting we had! Tananya is so beautiful with these deep, dark pools for her eyes and eyelashes that curl all the way up to her eyebrows. She has soft CURLY hair which we could hardly believe. Tananya actually had fun, laughing and playing with us! Mikayla was so fantastic with her and was the key to much of the happiness her little sister experienced today. After breakfast, we went to the lobby to wait for Pat, the director of Holt Sahathai. While waiting we met Jeremy, Diana and Elliot who are also from the USA and are here adopting their son Benjamin. When Pat arrived we were surprised to learn that we are the only two couples going through with adoptions at this time. We went to the meeting room where we first met Mikayla five years ago to have our pre-child meeting discussion. We received a medical update and a CD with more photos of Tananya and of her birth mother and birth aunt (we haven't seen these yet). Tananya and Benji arrived right at 10:30 and with only two children, one boy and one girl, Jess had no trouble figuring out which child to videotape :) Tananya is so adorable and was wearing a darling little outfit complete with little lacy socks and red sandals. She weighs a little over 22 lbs and we received a copy of her schedule which is likely to go out the window once we take custody(for one thing she still wakes in the night for feedings and is still using a bottle). She toddles around with a cute little toddler walk and had seven teeth. Mikayla immediately started to play with Tananya and in only a few minutes Tananya was smiling and laughing. Just like her Daddy, she is a real ham - making some of the funniest faces and cocking her head to the side to mimic us. She leaned her head so far to the side that she almost tipped over! When I held her the first time, she began to cry but after being placed back on the floor with her sister and toys, settled down and enjoyed herself. Before long it was time to go and eat lunch, so Jess picked her up to carry her out. Just like with me, she tried valiantly to push away from Jess, using both her feet and arms, but Jess, now an experienced parent, gently continued to hold her. I held her once we got to the restaurant and was able to calm her by rocking back and forth. We ate lunch and although Tananya didn't eat much, she did feed herself a small amount of apple and played with some rice and egg. After lunch, Tananya walked with Mikayla and I to the elevator and up to our room. Tananya enjoyed playing in our room, especially with her big sister. We had a pretend tea party with Pat, and Tananya was even comfortable enough to offer Daddy and Mummy some "tea". She walked around our room and kissed her reflection in the full length mirror. Tananya was so cheerful, especially since she had missed her morning nap. Too soon it was time to leave, with Mikayla in tears at Tananya's departure. We had to reassure Mikayla several times that in two more sleeps, Tananya will be ours forever.

Big day in Bangkok

Today was a busy for us! We left the guest house at 5:00am to catch a taxi to a hospital where we met my host sister Toum and her boyfriend Peter. It was so great to see my host sister again and we had such a fun time speaking to one another in "Thanglish" as we call it. We arrived at the floating market well before the hoards of tourists on double -decker buses and enjoyed a ride through the market. We were paddled through the floating stalls by a Thai women and stopped to buy some noodle in soup to eat while we were floating around. Mikayla was tickled with the trip. I was teasing my host sister because when I lived with her family, her mother took my Mum and I to the floating market but, for reasosn I cannot recall, Toum did not go with us. Therefore, today was Toum's first time to the floating market too! After purchasing a few more souvenirs, we headed off for the Rose Garden. We got lost trying to find our way and when we were arrived we were disappointed to see how much it had changed, with few exhibits and expensive entry fees. Nonetheless, we ate a delicious lunch along the river and watched the fish jumping out of the water. The highlight of the day was after lunch when I took Mikayla for an elephant ride. She loved it and got to pet a smaller elephant afterwards and it even gave her a kiss with its trunk. She gleefully squealed, "It was really hairy" when describing what it felt like to touch. We headed back into Bangkok and picked up our luggage from the guest house and took the Sky Train to our new hotel. We are still suffering a bit of sticker shock as one night at the Amari is nearly triple our two night stay at the guest home. In fact, it is cheaper to buy new clothes than have them laundered at the Amari :) The upshoot is perhaps new clothes (wink-wink). They wheeled a crib into our room for Tananya nearly the size of our bathroom so Mikayla is going to sleep in it for now. And best of all . . . WE GET TO MEET OUR DAUGHTER IN 14 HOURS! What could be better than that? We are back at Siam Square to use this computer and there is jewelery store I need to check out for someone before we go back to our hotel thereby concluding today's entry. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JESS TOO! He turned 40 yesterday although I forgot to mention that in yesterday's post)

Good morning Bangkok!

What an adventure we had last night! We enjoyed breakfast at our hotel and then spent a few hours in the pool and on the beach. Jess and Mikayla made a fantastic sand fort, complete with a pool filled with living shells. After our beach time, we checked out and went across the street to eat lunch before catching our bus to Saigon. The first ominous sign of the trip was the late arrival of the bus. We had been assured that the bus would be arriving in Saigon at 5:30pm. To us, a 200km trip should be safely covered in 4 hours but after only a few minutes we heard our driver say that we should be arriving around 6:00 or 7:00pm. We tried not to worry about the likelihood that we would be missing our eight o'clock flight and Jess did a much better job of not "stressing" than I did. As we crawled into Saigon, it became clear that unless our Air France flight was delayed, there was no way we would be able to catch our flight. My patience with driving in Vietnam had worn thin by 6:00pm on that awful bus and by 7:00pm when we stopped to pick up some guy to scam us all into staying at his hotel, I was ready to scream. We stopped outside this guy's hotel, rather than the bus station and I bolted off the bus very upset. I dragged our luggage by myself to the curb, while Jess tried to get off the back of the bus with Mikayla. I hailed a cab and we began our hopeless dash to the airport (by now 7:20pm). We arrived at the poorly marked airport and wandered around aimlessly trying to find an Air France representative to re-issue our tickets for today. Several people kindly told us, "Your plane go already" "Yes, we know" we replied and continued to search for an Air France representative. As a last ditch effort, I stopped at the Thai Airways desk as I noticed they were boarding an 8:50pm flight to Bangkok. They told us that if we could get Air France to endorse our tickets, we could fly on Thai Airways at no expense on their flight. To Jess' great credit, he sprinted around the airport, up and down stairs to another building after being scrutinized by security, and found an Air France worker! It was an answer to prayer because although I enjoyed most of my time in Vietnam, I was eager to get to Thailand where things are so much more advanced and easier. Thai Airways was superb to us, both the ground staff in Saigon and on the plane. We arrived at the new airport in BANGKOK (hooray!) around 10:30pm and caught a taxi to the guest house. We are all so very glad to be here. After breakfast at the guest home, we hired a taxi to take us to the Grand Palace. Mikayla really enjoyed it - so shiny and sparkly and quite frankly, GRAND. After the seeing the palace we came down to World Trade Centre and are currently at Siam Square (I've been thinking about you Jen as I see all the high school students in their uniforms down here where we often visited). The downtown area has grown tremendously, with many features far superior to things at home, for example the movie theatre offers a variety of seating luxury - bean bag chairs, individual recliners, etc. There is even a Toys R Us and a White Spot here now! During our shopping today we found Mikayla a simple Thai dress for herself and one for her Barbie too. Her first real meal in Bangkok, at her request was Italian, oven-roasted pizza. Jess and I snacked on some guava and ate our meal at MK. MK is a restaurant chain in which you have a hot pot at your own table and cook your own food to your liking. Mikayla thought that this meal was delicious. We had some marvelous Thai desserts which we have waited for since this last time we were here five years ago. Mikayla is going to go on her first Skytrain trip here shortly and then maybe a tuk-tuk from the Skytrain back to the guest home. Jess and I really have to pace ourselves with the food - so many things we see we say, "Oh, I love that - I haven't had that in years!" It brought tears to my eyes to see Mikayla here in Bangkok. It means so much to me for her to be able to experience the country of her birth. I have been very proud of all the Thai women who have commented on how cute and beautiful she is. I am pleased with how much Thai I remember but it is a far cry from what I used to know. Tomorrow we will spend with my host parents and it should be a fun time. And the best part of all, is that we will meet Tananya in two days! We bought our first gift for her from Thailand today - a pearl necklace. Jess bought Mikayla and I one last time we were here and of course as our newest little lady, Tananya will be getting one as well. Mikayla has sat so patiently (and even Jess has too) while I've typed this so it is time to close for now!

Blissful Beach

Today was a beautiful day at the beach. After swimming in the pool with Dad, Mikayla wanted to go into the ocean. Her reaction once the water was past her ankles, was sheer terror. She completely panicked and clung to me like the ocean water was battery acid waiting to devour her. Luckily, the joyous experience was captured on video for future reminiscing. After we finished traumatizing our daughter, we took a taxi into town and ate lunch. Mikayla fulfilled another one of her goals - as she tried duck today. She wasn't very fond of it but neither did she hate it. After lunch, we strolled around town and bought some souvenirs (Betty and Nana Lou scored today). We then headed back to our hotel where Mikayla took a much needed nap while Jess and I read books. I have removed my watch since arriving here and it was so refreshing to lay in a hammock, watching the waves roll in and simply be. Jess is playing pool with a Danish young man as I write this. We are getting ready to go and eat supper so I'll close for now

Mikayla on the beach of the South China Sea

The neverending van ride

In front of rice fields

Yesterday we left Pleiku and said goodbye to Jess' parents. We will meet up with them in a week in Bangkok. Dad gave our drivers instructions on getting us to Mui Ne. Our drivers spoke no English, so we pre-arranged a few hand signals to communicate and off we went. The first several hours of the trip took us through some breath-taking scenery. We stopped at who-knows-where for lunch (a different who-knows-where than on the way to Pleiku) and ate who-knows-what that our drivers ordered. There was some fish complete with head, chicken, pork and some horrible, bitter unknown round thing in some soup. The squat pots were right beside the pig pens so the aroma was less than pleasant. When we arrived just outside of Nha Trang, things began to heat up - literally! Our driver suddenly became concerned about obeying the speed limit and seemed worried about the radiator. The air conditioning although functioning was denied to us by the driver. When we were 200kms away from Mui Ne, I took out a pad of paper and tried to convey that we needed to travel more than 50km/hr to reach Mui Ne. The driver told me we would get there at 11:00pm - making our projected hourly speed 30km/hr. It was especially frustrating and became increasingly obvious that he really didn't know where we were going. Luckily we had a map and directed him e v e n t u a l l y to our hotel and we arrived at 10:00pm, 13 hours from our departure. We have done quite enough road trips in Vietnam to last a lifetime. We arrived at our hotel with time to freshen-up and go to bed. Today after breakfast, we walked down to the ocean. Mikayla was delighted to find so many beautiful shells and we were able to walk quite aways out into the ocean as the tide was going out. We then swam in the pool for a couple of hours. Currently, we have just completed some fantastic shopping after an amazing meal and will head back to our hotel to swim in the ocean.

Fun and Games in Pleiku

Jess, Irene and Gail on the street they used to live on

Our van ride to Pleiku yesterday was quite the experience. It was great to see so much of the Vietnamese countryside and glimpses into the daily lives of the rural population. The 552 km trip however did take us 11 hours! We felt sorry for Mikayla to have to travel so much the day after getting off the plane in Saigon, but she mercifully slept 6 hours of the trip. We stopped for lunch at who-knows-where. Mikayla had to use the bathroom and being an experienced squat toilet user, I was prepared to help her (ie tissues, wipes and hand santizer). Mikayla understandably was reluctant to use the "toilet" but of course did. We ate lunch with our driver. Based on the number of diverted looks from fellow lunch takers and passersby, foreigners must be rarely seen there. Mikayla, of course, has and continues to generate a lot of attention travelling with a non-Asian family and many folks presume that she is Vietnamese. Today when someone asked Gail her nationality he proudly said, "American" but then did go on to explain her Thai heritage. Mikayla used chopsticks at the restaurant quite well, although it wasn't necessary as they did have spoons. Briefly, just after having used the toilet and struggling with the heat, humidity, exhaustion and her chopsticks said, "I don't like this place! Everything is goofy here!" Her choice of words amused me. During our drive, we encountered thick fog which reduced our visibility to zero, heavy rain, water buffalo, small herds of cows, pigs on bikes (yes, literally held by a passenger on a little motorcycle), wooden carts and countless motorcyles carrying everything from glass doors, two by six boards of wood and innumerable other items. And we only thought that we were going to crash two or three thousand times :) Our driver to his credit was quite excellent but the style of driving here is exceedingly different from that of the West. The highlands are beautiful and lush, filled with coffee and tea trees, corn, rubber tree plantations and orchards of tropical fruits. The dirt is a vibrant brick red and the rivers are a deep red from the soil. One small bridge we drove over had much larger bridge to its left which had been bombed during the war, with its centre section over the river completely absent. We arrived at our second choice hotel in Pleiku (the one that we had tried to book from home was reportedly full) and secured a room for the night. Jess and I choose the "suite" as we thought that it would have more room for Mikayla. The room was awful! We tried to downplay its trouble to Mikayla but when she went over to her bed and touched it she sternly said, "I am so not sleeping on that bed!" The bed was damp and had a musty odour. We took a taxi to the hotel we orginally wanted to stay at to eat supper and to our delight found that they had rooms available for us. The "Cockroach Cabana" was not happy when Gail and Jess went back to unbook our room but we were all thrilled to be out of there, no one more so than Mikayla :) Even though Mikayla had slept several hours during the van ride, as soon as we finished our very late supper and returned to our room, she climbed into bed and asked, "Can we go to sleep now?" She slept from 11:30pm until 4:40am so Jess and I were happy that she slept so long. Breakfast at the hotel this morning was excellent with a wide variety of Vietnamese dishes and that great crunchy bread. Mikayla tried several new things - things that Jess and I had never tried. I am so proud of her willingness to experience strange and new things, especially considering that everything is so different here. After arranging our return trip for tomorrow back down the coast to Mui Ne, where we will spend a few days at the beach, we headed out on foot for our "tour" of Pleiku. It was raining quite and bit and with the heat it kept us all rather damp. We walked down the street where Jess and his parents had once lived, but unfortunately in the ten years since Jess' folks were last here, no trace of the home could be found so we settled for a photo of the street instead. Pleiku is a rather bland city as much of it had been destroyed during the war, but the people are friendly and fascinating to watch as they carry out their daily activities. After our walkabout, we bought some Asian fruit - rumbutans, mangosteens, pommelo and long-gon but I haven't yet had the chance to try any. At the fruit stand, Mikayla's presence generated alot of attention, but she didn't seem troubled by it. One man put his hand on her shoulder but the watchful eye of Papa and Daddy, kept his curiousity at arms length from there. Miikayla has received many compliments on her "good English". We decided to take a rest at the hotel and freshen up. Jess and I had read that the hotel offered massages and decided to each get one. The one hour massage was $8US each so we figured why not? Let me tell you, it was quite the experience. A gentleman lead us to the changing room. Yes, I said THE changing room, my first clue that perhaps this was a little off. We were then lead to the steam room. Jess and I entered and sat in the hot room, with the aroma of lemongrass around us. After about 10 minutes the door opened and in came a Vietnamese man. My level of nervousness increased as I was only wearing a towel, which although may provide plenty of coverage for a smaller Asian woman, was barely keeping me somewhat decent. A minute later another Vietnamese man entered and sat right beside me. When the steam temporarily shifted, he realised that I was a woman and moved away from me. Then another Vietnamese entered, he too sat beside me (to my left - Jess was to my right). Again, once he realised that I was a woman he made some comment, laughingly in Vietnames and moved away. We had no idea how long to stay in the steam room and I finally had to leave. My anxiety briefly increased when I couldn't get the door open, but my darling husband rescued me. Next we entered the dry sauna. Now we were alone but the lack of steam coverage encouraged my short stay as I didn't want our Vietnamese "friends" to follow. I was directed to a shower. I entered and as I turned on the water noticed that the curtain was very billowy and meekly called out to Jess who came stood by the curtain to protect my privacy. After the shower, I was lead back to the changing room where I was given a pair of silk boxers and a very short silk robe. By now it was obvious that women do not frequent this massage facility. I was lead to a room where, to my relief, a female massage "therapist" entered. The massage got increasingly amusing as she soon lept up onto the table and sat on me to continue her work. She finished with my back and began to focus on my calves, my thighs and my butt. We are talking VERY up close and personal. I couldn't help my tense up as she massaged my backside and more than once thought, "Enough lady! It's not like I carry around alot of tension in my butt!" And I kept wondering about Jess' experience next door. When she finished, I did and still do feel great but found the entire experience hilarious. When I got back to THE changing room, Jess was there. He told me that, shall we say, some "services" were offered which he firmly declined. Needless to say, this massage was one that neither of us will soon forget. I am chuckling about it now even as I type. (Mum, I know that you are finding this especially entertaining). What is even better is that I suggested that Irene come a get a massge with us. Blessedly, she declined. We are getting ready to go and eat supper at one of the local joints (that is a bit of a joke because everything here is local - there are no tourists up here). Until next time.

Mikayla and Mummy Outside Our Hotel in Saigon

At the Hong Kong Airport

On our way to Saigon

In Saigon

Hello gang! We arrived late last night in Saigon. We flew through a lightning storm which delayed us some. We got to our hotel just before 11:00 pm. The taxi ride to the hotel was a death defying stunt orchestrated by a madman of a taxi driver. Although the streets are far less packed than those of Bangkok, the number of small cyclos (aka motorcycles) is far greater. No one seems to exhibit any fear besides us foreigners :) We managed to sleep fairly well considering that we are on the complete opposite schedule and are grateful that we did arrive at night as it made going to bed seem the natural thing to do. We woke up feeling much refreshed and breakfasted together in the hotel lobby. Our breakfasts were good, especially the great Vietnamese crunchy bread. We just got back from walking to the Vietnam Airlines office and were disappointed to learn that the airline tickets to Pleiku (were Jess lived for a few years as a child and Gail and Irene's base for many years) were sold out. However, we are instead going to leave Saigon today and have "chartered" a van to drive us to Pleiku, for the low price of 3.5 million dong. (about $225 US). It will be an adventure I am sure! I have to run now as the van is here to pick us up!

Getting Much Closer

Well, we have arrived in Hong Kong. It is 6:48pm August 16 in Hong Kong and I have completely lost the time of day on the west coast. The flight from San Fransico to Hong Kong was 14 hours long! I had forgotten how long 14 hours is when you are in a cramped little seat. Mikayla has been fantastic! She has only slept 2-3 hours since we left and is remarkably chipper. I haven't slept at all. Jess, Gail and Irene have slept a little. We will all be ready for bed once we arrive in Ho Chi Minh City at 9:00pm local time. Our next flight is a mere 2 and 1/2 hours! Small potatoes compared to the flight we just got off of. Our flight was uneventful with the exception that the only movie I was interested in watching was prematurely turned off. But no big loss there. I had to buy a beverage for $38 Hong Kong Dollars to use this computer here at the airport. Not sure what the conversion rate is but it doesn't matter. I got the chance to speak with Anson from the Portland Airport this morning - I guess I mean yesterday morning. (The joys of crossing the date line :) - Mikayla has been so confused as to why is hasn't gotten dark yet). Anyways, back to Anson. He was happy to be at Nana Lou's and wanted me to come and see his special bed. I'm not sure when I will get access to a computer again but we wanted to let you know that we made it to Hong Kong without any problems. It is great to be so much closer to Tananya. Watching Mikayla on this trip so far has been a real joy. To her, this is a grand adventure and she told me again today how much she is looking forward to numerous things, one thing in particular being the chance to try duck - something she has spoken of for months. I'd better get ready to head off the our gate. I will post again as soon as I can. And now a special message for Anson. WE LOVE AND MISS YOU ANSON!!!! Mummy, Daddy, Kayla, Nana and Papa send you hugs and kisses. Have fun at the swimming pool and park. I hope that you found a really great bike! Bye-bye for now, Mummy

One more sleep!

Well, here we are at 9:30pm the day before we leave. Jess is out buying some real luggage tags (as opposed to the paper ones we have from our last flight) while I have been finishing up some housework. Our two bags are well under the fifty pound limit and Mikayla's little backpack, my camera bag and Jess' backpack are ready to go. It is a good thing that we are travelling soon. I can't keep up this frenzied-nesting-pace much longer :) I have cleaned out the garage, made runs to good will, gone to the dump, finished the back to school shopping, sent out invites to Tananya's dedication (in October), taken care of all kinds of paperwork and bills, had a tea party with Mikayla in our princess dresses and many other things in the last two days alone! I am soooooooooo excited to be leaving in the morning! To think that Tananya will be in my arms in 10 1/2 days is an awesome feeling. It is also surreal. After waiting for so long, a very long wait for referral and then this tremendous wait since we first laid eyes on Tananya's picture on Dec 2, 2006 until travel approval, it almost feels like she is just a dream. But now I know that this dream is about to become reality, and that a real little toddler is going to sleep in that darling crib and make messes in that cute high chair and laugh and cry. I can't wait to kiss her soft cheeks and hold her little fingers. Can't wait until she is all mine! Mikayla made a picture for her foster family today. I told her that she could draw anything she wanted. I was very moved to see a picture of her in the middle, her foster mother and I beside her. She is giving her foster mother the canvas bag with Mikayla's picture on it. There is a red heart sticker on my chest and a heart on Mikayla's foster mother too. It is very sweet. Of her own accord, she also made a picture for Anson that says "Welcome Home Anson. I love you Anson" which she laid on his Cars bed this evening. After only one day, she misses him. Speaking of Anson, I called my Mum a few minutes ago. She had just walked in the door. They didn't have any trouble getting across the border. She gave the phone to Anson who had been sleeping and he mumbled an almost unrecognizable, "I love you. Good night" I don't know when I will be able to talk with him again :( But I know he is in loving hands. Jess is home now so I'd best help finish up the kitchen! Until next time!

Two days until Asia

Hello, this morning I said goodbye to Anson. He was so excited to get to leave with Nana Lou and Dave but I know that he has no idea how long 22 days away from Mummy, Daddy, Mikayla and home will be. He posed for a picture with Nana Lou and Dave, happily pointing to the car for the first picture of the scrapbook that my Mum has promised to make for him. He gave me a sweet kiss goodbye (it wasn't even too drooly) and blew kisses as Dave backed down the driveway. We have been building up the trip for him - telling him that when he went to Canada he would get a Thomas backpack. We gave him the backpack on Friday night. He sat patiently with his eyes closed and I placed the bag in his hands. He opened his eyes and whispered "Wow!" and then explored the surprises we had put inside. He gleefully put on the "packpack" as he calls it and ran around the house showing it off to everyone. "Look evweybody! A Thomas packpack!" It was so cute! I wished I had video taped it. Yesterday we spent doing last minute shopping and I did most of our packing. Two bags for the three (almost four) of us with an empty bag in the second suitcase. Jess keeps teasing that he is not going to keep to his 4 top and 4 bottom limit, saying that he is going to stuff underwear and socks everywhere (by the way a 5 per item limit here). Today I will pick up some travellers cheques and finish paying the rest of the month's bills. After so many months of waiting, it is hard to believe that we are so close to departure. It is truly wonderful! Soon Tananya will be ours to hold!

Almost ready to meet Mummy & Daddy

Now Tananya is 14 months old and weighs almost 20 lbs! We will be bringing you home soon sweetie!

And bigger yet!

Now Tananya is 11 months old and beginning to walk. She is wearing a dress that we sent to her! It so touched our hearts that her foster mother placed her in the dress for this visit.

Growing girl!

Here is our darling in her first progess report! She is 8 months old now.

Here she is! This is the first photo of our little angel that we received at 5 months of age. We received our referral the first week of December so it made for an incredible Christmas gift!