Happy healthy and quiet...

We're back from our trip to Lang Son. And the babies are amazing--healthy, happy, and quiet. It was hard to leave them behind, but we will return to Lang Son on Monday for the official giving and receiving ceremony. Many of our questions were answered--and we got to know Luc and Maisie at least a little bit.

Some details: Lang Son is a three-hour trip in a comfortable van arranged for by World Child. The fee, split between the two families, was 1,400,00 VN dong. Nancy, whose English is excellent, does an amazing job answering questions. She arrived with the van at 8:30, and we were on the road at 8:45.

The first hour of the trip winds through Hanoi's streets and then over the Red River bridge, where there are more Hanoi streets. Then it is out over a second bridge over the river, which must wind back and forth, and travel is fast on a four-lane divided highway. That highway narrows to two lanes in opposite directions the second hour, but the travel is still fast. It gets a little hairy as the driver uses the opposite lane to pass. He has some kind of warning horn that he presses constantly; you get used to it.

The third hour is amazing. Tall cliffs tower on the west side of the road, with terraced fields and small villages, as the road follows a valley. Lang Son is set in the middle of a lowland, but you can see the jutting mountains nearby. Total distance is 155 kilometers--about 100 miles.

The orphanage is tucked up an alley road after a ten minute drive through the city of Lang Son. It has a fence around it. There is a garage area with a parking lot. There is a main office building. Then there seem to be two buildings, several stories high, that house the babies and older children of the orphanage. In front of these buildings is a garden, which Nancy says the older children work each day, and a patch of grassless field. We didn't notice the first time, but at either end of that patch are small soccer goals!

We were directed into the main office building, which seemed almost deserted. It has a big reception or meeting room, with an oblong table and a statue of Ho Chi Minh. A large sign on the wall celebrates the new year of 2007, left over from Tet, and a government banner proclaims some kind of slogan, no doubt.

We met the orphanage director, first, as Nancy translated. The babies and the staff were eating lunch at noon. They would come to see us when they finished.

We were all upstairs on the second floor at the WC when Peggy looked out the front window and said, "Babies are coming!" Everyone ran downstairs; Marci never made it back to the WC.

The caregivers held two babies, and they were saying, "N-gip, N-gip." We still can't say the name the way they say it. So the two Nghiep boys arrived first--one for Marci and one for us. Nancy later told us that the caretakers hadn't realized we were there for four babies, and the other two followed a few minutes later after she reminded them.

Both Nghiep boys, who also share the same birthday, are cared for by the same woman. Marci and Peggy seemed to know right away which one belonged to whom. Peggy said she recognized Luc, but the real giveaway was that he was wearing the same shirt he wore in his pictures. It has green tanks on it.

Luc moved from adult to adult easily. We noticed right away that he makes the pouty face we've seen in the pictures. The caregiver joked to Nancy that he's trying to talk when he makes that face, but that he doesn't know how.

Minh Tam, our Maisie came last, after Marci's girl arrived. Her caregiver seemed a little bit more protective of her. Maisie wouldn't take her eyes off the caregiver for the first few minutes that I was holding her. But she started looking at other people--including the person holding her--after a while.

We switched the babies back and forth a few times. We took lots of pictures in various combinations--Peggy with two at once, the caregivers with each of their babies, Peggy holding one and me holding one.

Nancy had warned us that the visit might last as little as 15 minutes. But in the end it was an hour. Luc's caregiver was friendliest, but even Maisie's caregiver warmed up.

One highlight was when Luc peed on me. They don't use diapers. The caregivers just laughed at the spot on my pants. Robbie, Marci's 13-year-old, took a picture of it.

Maisie's caregiver took her away first. That was the cue for the others.

Nancy went into the orphanage itself with the cameras and some gifts for babies from other World Child families that had been sent with Marci. When she returned, she did some business with the orphanage.

Then we loaded up the van again at 2:00 or so and returned to Hanoi. We hit Friday rush hour traffic at 5:00 when we hit the city. I took some video out of the window of the van to catch the swerving motor scooters in action.

We originally posted this without the photos, but now, as you can see, the photos are here. You have been such great readers and responders. Thank you for your support. We love to get your comments.

In case you don't know, we actually cannot read the blog here in Hanoi using blogspot. We can see how it looks only in the preview mode for the layout. Blogspot must be blocked. We did see it in Sa Pa, which is interesting. Of course, my cell phone didn't work there, but it does work in Hanoi.

Mairead says the comments link disappeared from this post for a while. But I think I fixed it now.