What to write about?
We had a few minutes last night after the babies were asleep, around 8:30 or so, and Peggy started to work on the blog. She had nothing to say or write about. Part of the reason is that life now is just about babies. People do talk about that. But people are usually more interested in the minute goings on of their own kids than in those of other people's children. Do you really need to know that Luc Au Su goes two days between bowel movements?
I kind of feel the same way, with nothing to say.
We have been doing this to some degree to try and answer some of the questions we had about this Hanoi adoption trip for people who might follow us here. We still have a little bit of blogging to do on that score, explaining this end game, which we kind of think about now as "Trapped in Hanoi." That will also let those of you waiting for us back at home when we might be returning.
We also need to write something about the giving and receiving day. As we've discussed it, there are aspects of it that need to be private, out of respect for the birth families of Luc Au Su and Maisie Minh Tam. But there are also things we can tell people which might help them be prepared. Still, we're not ready right now to do that.
So one idea when time was short was to write a blog with a list of topics that we could and should tell you about. That is a process idea, which can then help us to prioritize which topics we will get to.
But I had a moment to write now--and an inclination. It is 7:00 AM here; Maisie Minh Tam is still asleep and Peggy is giving Luc Au Su a bath.
Here is where we are now: When we returned from Lang Son after the G&R, we went to the "police station," as I think it is called, to apply for Vietnamese passports for the babies. It was pretty quick--just Marci for her kids, me, and Nancy from World Child. Take a number, fill out a form, stand in line. Nancy had passoport pictures for the babies. We submitted the papers at one window and got a reciept. Took that to another window and paid 200,000 VN dong for each baby. Got another reciept which says the passports will be done in one week--next Monday at 3:00 PM.
Just so you know, the babies return home to the US on Vietnamese passports.
Then Nancy said she would email the US embassy to set up our USCIS interview. That is an interview with a consulate official who will ask us questions about our adoption process, including, as we understand, our fees and costs. They will also review all our paperwork, US and Vietnamese. We have already recieved pre-approval from the US immigration services to adopt two orphan babies, and that approval is on file here in Hanoi and in Ho Chi Minh City. That form is the famous I171H that adopting families wait for like gold. We had a bit of excitement when we had to update ours from one to two babies, and Susan from World Child and the USCIS officers in Chicago were very helpful to us. But here in Hanoi we have to submit a new I600 form, I guess it is, for the final adoption. We also have to pay some fairly large fees.
On Tuesday, as I remember, Martin gave us the news that our first USCIS interview would be on Monday. So Vietnamese passport on Monday and US interview on Monday. We have nothing else we can do to get out of here until then.
But with the date we will receive the passports set, we can also set up a medical appointment which is required by the US government. You need the passports for the medical appointment. Martin called for that appointment at the SOS Clinic, and the date is Wednesday.
The final step in the process is an exit visa interview--the second US interview. That is a quick one; they just approve your paperwork. But you can't do that until you have everything else complete and your paperwork is reviewed after the first interview. They have your visa ready the next day.
Our deadline for all of this is a late Thursday night/early Friday April 6 1:00 AM flight to Seoul. We are very worried that it won't get done.
We have bumped into a lot of Americans with babies in Hanoi--a bunch of them in this hotel. There is talk about a backlog or at least a traffic jam at the US embassy. What seems to have happened: There was a big rush to get people to Vietnam and then out of Vietnam before Tet. We missed that window. But we are here now on the next window, the first adoptions after Tet.
We are not here in that window alone.
We don't really know at this point if our Friday April 6 return to ORD at 10:40 AM is even possible at this point.Until then, we are here, trapped in Hanoi...
Maisie Minh Tam is awake. Bye again....
