Wednesday

(This is from Wednesday)

We're in HCMC! And we already had our immigration appointment and got Dylan's picture taken for his visa. Tomorrow morning he has his medical exam (required for the visa) and we're leaving on Saturday for Hanoi. We'll wait there the rest of the time for our final immigration interview and then we'll get Dylan's visa so we can come home!! Still no word on when that might be, but it shouldn't be too long after Christmas.

Dylan had his first airplane ride today. It went really well. He drank a lot of his bottle during take-off and landing, so he had no ear problems. He slept most of the flight (it was only an hour). We kept him awake from then until our CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services) appointment at 3:30, so he would nap through that. It worked! Now he's wide awake, playing with Daddy, and having a ball.

We had a really hard time when we first got here at the Rex Hotel. Our room was the size of our bedroom (not very big) and had two twin beds and no crib. I called our facilitator and he talked to the front desk to get them to change it. Now we're in an even smaller room, but we have a king size bed at least. And a crib. The cribs here would NEVER pass US inspections. It's crazy. We'll be lucky if he doesn't hurt himself in these things before we get home. Anyway, we got to the second room, I was feeling extremely sick (as I have for 3 days now...uh oh), and our internet wasn't working well, so I couldn't even talk to anyone online. I just about lost it. I think it would all be better if I weren't so sick. It comes and goes. If I don't eat, I'm fine. I went with a 'safe' lunch of mac and cheese, and felt like I was going to die afterwards. We didn't realize how good we had it in Danang. I was sick there, but the room was a suite, and it was easier to be sick in.

We are SO ready to come home. We're trying hard to enjoy the country, but we really miss everyone so much. We miss our pets. We miss McDonald's! No, they don't have one in this country. We just miss home. I can't wait to be able to drink water without boiling it, letting it cool, bottling it, refrigerating it, etc. And brush my teeth with tap water! What a novel idea.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Christmas card. Dylan and I were wearing our traditional Vietnamese outfits that I had made and Chris was wearing a hand-embroidered shirt. You can't see the details in the picture, but it's beautiful.

We are looking forward to going to Hanoi. We may be there a week or two, so I hope we like it. It will be cooler, so maybe that will help with the nausea. And if we have a small room, I will be upgrading! We tried here, but they're booked solid. We've run into lots of adoptive families here. It's pretty cool.

Thanks everyone for all the emails. It really does help hearing from people back home, even with the mundane day-to-day details. It's those little things you miss.