tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25255904222918174152011-06-06T18:51:02.475-05:00Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.comBlogger411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-38911304770659041162007-08-14T08:01:00.000-05:002007-08-15T16:07:09.718-05:00

Hey everyone, in case you hadn't heard yet, we made it back home with no problems. Grandma and Grandpa Thompson have been here enjoying seeing their new granddaughter. Heather and I are both trying to recoup on sleep, though that seems to be an uphill battle with an 8 month old on backwards schedule. Not really sure where the line between jet lag and kid lag begins and ends. Jaidyn seems to

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-41788551923232011812007-08-08T20:11:00.000-05:002007-08-08T20:16:09.997-05:00

Just letting everyone know that we'll be getting into Nashville about 3:36pm on Sunday on Delta from Atlanta. Will be nice to be home. Thanks everyone for all your prayers, comments, emails, etc. They were really encouraging and helped reassure us that there were many more people standing right next to us through all of this. We love you guys!

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-8739227591673122452007-08-08T04:19:00.001-05:002007-08-08T04:58:38.276-05:00

Well, final interview complete. No problems, well outside of the fact that the bank denied my check card, most likely cause it's coming from Vietnam. I had enough cash to make it happen, but I'll have to address that with my bank in a couple of hours when they open. Anyways, other than that we just pick up Jaidyn's visa tomorrow. We're not sure if we can leave any earlier than Monday morning

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-67951424313661410022007-08-08T00:06:00.001-05:002007-08-08T00:12:12.596-05:00

We really liked this outfit and thought it was photo worthy. So we thought it might be a nice change to try and take pictures of her from somewhere else besides our hotel bed.Showing off my new trick

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-7085786933395084392007-08-07T23:45:00.000-05:002007-11-29T10:27:19.974-06:00

Yesterday morning I want to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. Heather wasn't feeling good so she stayed in. I really didn't know what I was going to. I thought it was just a memorial and a cool building. So I go through several rounds of security that make get rid of my back pack and then my camera. I get in line that is guarded with multiple armed guards with bayonets. Then I get into the building

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-57299034717021892362007-08-07T21:14:00.000-05:002007-08-07T22:05:38.786-05:00

We have a 2:00 pm interview again at the embassy. It looks like all the concerns were sorted out. If all goes according to plan we should have our visa sometime tomorrow. Then that should be it! We'll probably try to get a flight out either or Fri or Sat depending on availability. At worst we would leave on time on Monday.Anyways, God apparently still knows what he's doing!

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-79597312439463284222007-08-07T04:55:00.000-05:002007-08-07T05:08:11.503-05:00

In keeping with the theme of this adoption that we have to fight to accomplish everything we are now being investigated by the US Embassy. Apparently they are suspicious b/c of all the babies being adopted out of Phu Tho right now as well as the fact that our babies were a part of an association that they have never dealt with. They are investigating to ensure that everything is legit.

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-69854653267897503152007-08-05T10:27:00.001-05:002007-08-06T07:54:05.049-05:00

Nothing too big has happened the past couple of days. Just waiting around for a call from the US Embassy still. We went down to the french/old quarter again today. I bought a "ty ba". It's a kind of Vietnamese Lute. Looks like the picture below.Here's a pic of St. Josephs Cathedral in the french quarter.And then what post wouldn't be complete without another pic of Jaidyn.

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-66015786726231776172007-08-03T06:40:00.000-05:002007-08-03T07:11:20.195-05:00

This morning we got our passport and an updated medical report for Jaidyn today. No problems there. Now we just are still waiting on a call from the US Embassy for another visa interview.Yesterday we took a day trip out to Halong Bay. It was a 3 hour van ride out to the bay, we spent a few hours on a boat and hiked up lots of steps up to a cave. Then rode back.Here's a few pics.Halong Bay

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-5275547754764345892007-07-31T10:41:00.000-05:002007-07-31T10:53:28.879-05:00

Tonight we went to a Vietnamese Water puppet show (was only 2.50 a person for the good seats). It was really interesting. Apparently it's an art form that was started by farmers over 1000 years ago and still remains uniquely Vietnamese. Basically behind this stage these puppeteers are waist deep in the water have the puppets on rods with intricate pulleys and levers to make them move. It's

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-88701526034912847482007-07-31T09:59:00.000-05:002007-07-31T10:14:49.728-05:00

So we had our interview today and it went ok but not great. She asked us a bunch of questions and the parts we thought could possibly be a problem didn't appear to be a big deal at all. However there was some other things that they wanted to look into further to make sure it was legit. We think they will investigate it and it will be fine, however, it doesn't guarantee a speedy turn-around

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-67627936159645943282007-07-30T18:26:00.000-05:002007-07-30T20:05:05.576-05:00

We went to Hoan Kiem lake and the old Quarter yesterday with another family. Was definitely fun, and you get alot of practice at saying no thank you in vietnamese (khong, Cam On).We have our I-600 interview today and apparently our case isn't quite as cut and dry as it could be. Without getting into a lot of complicated details, since our case took so long, it was caught in the middle of some

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-8523528675576762742007-07-28T22:45:00.000-05:002007-07-28T23:08:27.315-05:00

Just spent some more time playing. Lots of playing, lots of bottles, lots of vomit. Welcome to parenthood. Eating was going much better until we discovered she appears to have a latex allergy as she was developing an awful rash around her mouth. Luckily we brought silicone nipples too which she absolutely hates!!! The good news is the rash is getting better. The bad news is we are starting

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-16175366168138121512007-07-28T05:12:00.000-05:002007-07-28T05:37:05.669-05:00

Ok, so here's a cheesy video of Heather tickling Jaidyn and Jaidyn and I looking at ourselves in the camera. Kind of something that only grandparents might get into, so watch at your own discretion.

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-35783045243888574022007-07-27T19:47:00.000-05:002007-07-27T19:57:43.179-05:00

I took this picture on the van ride back from the Phu Tho. It's a sign for a small street side eatery. Look at the picture and take a guess at what they serve. We saw signs for Thit Cho all along the route. Not as much in the city though.

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-44853005377876324282007-07-27T08:09:00.000-05:002007-07-27T08:45:56.545-05:00

Today we started the process for applying for Jaidyn's passport. I went down to the passport office with the other father's and our contact. Heather and Jaidyn stayed in the room and hung out. We're taking small steps in taking her out to see things. She seems to get overwhelmed and overstimulated really easy. We took her out to a restaurant for lunch. The waitresses insisted on holding her

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-49984584267566939692007-07-26T05:05:00.000-05:002007-07-26T05:21:06.731-05:00

I promised I would post her size once we had her and I was better able to tell you. Well it is still difficult to say. She is very long so 0-3 is short if they are pants and onesies are a tight fit. However the waist of the pants I brought for the ceremony were almost 3 inches too big. The nanny kept trying to get me to get another pair but the other ones I brought were 3-6mo and I told her

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-23342029841943455562007-07-26T02:53:00.000-05:002007-07-26T03:35:54.117-05:00

Hey everyone, the internet has been down the past day or so here so I haven't been able to post the most important post of them all. Wednesday morning we loaded up in van for the province of Phu Tho. We went to a government building that was basically like a ghost town, went to a room where they had a large sign and the babies waiting for us. We then signed a few papers and somewhere in there

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-33758007209977058232007-07-24T07:30:00.000-05:002007-07-24T07:49:33.532-05:00

Earlier today we found out that the ceremony is definitely going to be tomorrow (Wednesday). We will be leaving to Phu Tho at 8:45 tomorrow morning to have the ceremony. It's about a 2 and half hour drive out there. Anyways, so we'll let you guys know how it goes!Woo Hoo!

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-68092780156010274822007-07-24T00:22:00.000-05:002007-07-24T00:29:19.842-05:00

So another family, Heather and I got into a taxi and went to the french hospital this morning to go for the new checkup that the province needed. We had talked about just getting an updated document from our doctor, but then it would have to be translated into Vietnamese and then notarized, which would take another two days.So we went and found out the obvious, were both perfectly healthy and

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-54945397925081487582007-07-23T09:51:00.000-05:002007-07-23T10:06:23.931-05:00

Ok, so we're in our hotel room and get a phone call from our contact asking if we have a copy of a current medical report (which was in our dossier). We don't have an extra copy, which turns out not to be the issue. Our contact comes to the room to talk to us and says that the province would like to see a medical report that is more up to date. The one we submitted is 11 months old. The

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-37851691792356472962007-07-23T02:08:00.001-05:002007-07-23T02:09:49.007-05:00

Hey everyone,I've taken quite a few pictures so far and I've uploaded several to my flickr account.You can view a bunch here.http://www.flickr.com/photos/vervecreations/sets/72157600005404869/

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-84267531314159731172007-07-22T08:25:00.001-05:002007-07-22T08:44:48.376-05:00

Well, we just got back from Phu Tho about an hour ago. We finally to got to meet Jaidyn and she's beautiful. We got to the orphanage this afternoon, but had to wait a few minutes. There was a doctor there giving monthly check-ups to the kids. Once they were done they brought all the parents their babies to see and play with. Jaidyn was kind of unsure of it all and chose to quietly take it

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-52293223126997500202007-07-21T17:53:00.001-05:002007-07-22T18:13:53.993-05:00

Ok, thought I'd give you everyone a few scenic pics from the first dayFrom our hotel window. Pretty isn't it.Structure from Thong Nhat Park just down the road from our hotel.Same park by the lake.Bridge in the park.We'll post more later. We get to visit the orphange this afternoon. One of the other families put it well, feels like getting ready to meet a celebrity.

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-5183154508140071352007-07-20T21:08:00.000-05:002007-07-20T21:17:20.091-05:00

Hey everyone, well we finally made it in last night at around midnight. The plane trips were long, but we ended up with good seats on the 15 hour flight, which made a huge difference. After about a 30 minute car ride we made it to our hotel safe and sound and everything in order. We met our contact this morning and one of the other families at breakfast. We're not quite sure what all we'll

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-81299297353879363662007-07-18T15:19:00.000-05:002007-07-19T02:06:51.056-05:00

Thanks again for all you prayers. God has blessed us. Jacob arrived in SF and has our visa/passports in hand. He is currently on his way back to the airport. It looks like we will be able to leave tomorrow on schedule. The other families we are traveling with should get their visas tomorrow morning. God blesses us more than we can ask. Not only was the ticket free but Jacob meet a man on

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-66526273182034549462007-07-18T06:09:00.000-05:002007-07-18T06:17:09.469-05:00

Yesterday evening we received word that our visas did not get sent out like they were supposed to. Flights are very scarce right now so although we could try to reschedule our flight that might not happen or would cost too much. A good friend in our care cell offered us his free ticket to fly to San Fransisco to personally pick up our visas today. Jacob is currently waiting at the airport to

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-66308607267339436002007-07-16T16:51:00.000-05:002007-07-16T16:58:14.340-05:00

Thanks for your prayers. God answered them. We were able to find airline tickets without much of a problem. We even got business class on the way home for about the same as coach both ways. Tickets right now are very difficult to come by on short notice so we know we have them by the grace of God. Our visas are being processed today so hopefully they will be in the mail tomorrow and in our

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-41236667842476193162007-07-13T14:01:00.000-05:002007-07-15T14:36:57.974-05:00

The next part of our adoption journey is about to begin. This morning we received a call that we have a confirmed ceremony date of July 23 and if we can get visas and plane tickets to get to Hanoi by Fri evening then we can see her in the orphange on Sat. July 21. We are so excited!!! It is difficult to find airline seats right now so we are praying God will somehow provide. We are confident

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-61638950247965037762007-07-13T10:33:00.000-05:002007-07-13T10:39:05.468-05:00

There is hope that we are in the final weeks of waiting. We received an email that said that Phu Tho expects to be caught up with back logged families by the end of July. However we still do not have a confirmed date. We've been waiting 5 months surely we are one of the next families. We will keep everyone posted when we finally get confirmation. I am hopeful that it will be soon. Thanks

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-15630986855595406162007-06-26T10:57:00.000-05:002007-06-26T11:00:27.218-05:00

Yesterday our caseworker emailed and said that Phu Tho is starting to schedule ceremonies for the back logged families. They expect that we could have a date by July 10th. Don't know if that means we could travel in the next few weeks or if we will just have a date for later in the month. We'll keep everyone posted.

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-53597089467717082342007-06-14T12:19:00.000-05:002007-06-14T12:24:19.240-05:00

Hi everyone. We have still not heard anything. There was a big meeting of the adoption authorities in Hanoi on Wed. It was to hopefully give the DIA (the top authority of adoptions in Vietnam) actual authority with the provinces. We are told that the head man at the DIA is working on getting ceremonies scheduled in Phu Tho for back logged families. We are still waiting to see what will come

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-24522291238316950652007-05-26T13:21:00.000-05:002007-05-26T13:32:27.504-05:00

For those of you who are wondering we are still waiting. We no longer have a target date but an asap date. Our agency says they have given up targeting a date but are trying for as soon as possible, whatever that means. Apparently there are other families ahead of us from other adoption agencies but there is hope that we could be combined with their ceremony so who knows. I guess we are on

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-70287485143265302322007-05-23T20:55:00.000-05:002007-05-23T21:15:45.723-05:00

Well, we're still waiting for the green-light to leave (as we have been for a while now) and are still looking to leave any day. In the meantime they gave us a few updated pics of Jaidyn (Oanh).

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-91022013927389768262007-05-19T13:48:00.000-05:002007-05-19T14:43:51.550-05:00

For those of you who are wondering if we are flying at the moment the answer is no. We have been delayed another week. Our new target date is May 30. We are told they are meeting with officials tomorrow or Mon and hopefully this will be confirmed at that time. The problem is our frequent flier miles won't work next weekend since it is a holiday so we may be going really early or paying for

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-89903933196642523572007-05-18T23:41:00.000-05:002007-05-18T23:47:32.957-05:00

For anyone who is wondering whether we are leaving this weekend that is the question of the hour. We received our visas today and have airline tickets on hold for a flight tomorrow at 5:30pm. The catch is we have not received final confirmation to leave yet. Our caseworker said she will call us if we need to leave so we will have to wait till late morning before we know whether to book the

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-48980291274516006412007-05-15T22:16:00.000-05:002007-05-15T22:22:31.199-05:00

We spoke with our case worker today and were told that they are working on the final confirmation. We got the go ahead to get our visas today and put airline tickets on hold. We hope to get confirmation in the next few days. We are hoping and praying our visas will come Thurs so we can fly out on Sat or Sun at the latest. Who said you can't leave the country for 3 weeks in just a few days?:)

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-89767431852949432382007-05-11T15:49:00.000-05:002007-05-11T15:51:14.339-05:00

Yesterday we signed the letter of acceptance. I have no idea what that means as far as our timeline now but at least it is progress. We will keep everyone posted. Thanks for all the prayers.

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-35413056482856165332007-05-04T15:34:00.000-05:002007-05-04T15:38:10.508-05:00

Today our agency informed us that they have not received confirmation for May 15th so it appears this date is not going to work so they are going to start targeting May 23rd. In other provinces the time between referral and travel is about 30 days, it has now been almost 90 days for us. Please continue to pray as the agency and we are becoming very frustrated.

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-57266460336348034072007-04-25T21:37:00.000-05:002007-04-25T21:45:17.293-05:00

Hey everyone,Today we found out that our adoption agency is targeting May 15th for the giving/receiving ceremony date. We were told this isn't concrete yet, but we maybe closer. Coincidently that happens to be Heather's birthday. Great day for a birthday present :)

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525590422291817415.post-88171447233322065492007-03-17T15:57:00.000-05:002007-03-17T16:01:34.396-05:00

Hey everyone, Well, this is it. The place where you're going to hear about what happens while we go to get our new baby Jaidyn from Vietnam. As of today, we still don't have a giving and receiving ceremony date. We've been on pins and needles for a few weeks now waiting to see when it will happen. We'll let everyone know the moment that it happens. If for some odd reason you haven't seen her

Jacob & Heathernoreply@blogger.com4