Making Lemonade

Let me start out with the good stuff. Yesterday our group traveled 3 hours north of Hanoi to Ha Long Bay. On the way we saw beautiful, lush countryside. Even on a Sunday, the farmers were out in their paddies tending to their crops as water buffalo soaked in the cool water. We stopped at a center where many young people were hand crafting unique and beautiful artwork. We watched them making hand embroidered pictures. From a distance they look like paintings, but when you get closer you can see the texture. I couldn’t believe what they could do with a piece of canvas, needle, and thread. The Vietnamese people have a great appreciation for art.

To say that Ha Long Bay is amazing and stunning is an understatement. It may be the most awesome thing I have seen – and I think I have seen a lot. Our group had a private boat for 4 hours. We docked for 30 minutes to tour a cave on one the islands. A seafood lunch was served on the boat. They had a few “turf” items that I could eat. The seafood spread definitely looked better (if you like that stuff). The bay area is so vast that our guide said that it would take days of sailing to see all of it. New resorts are being built along the beach and overnight boat tours are common. Maybe we’ll come back and vacation there someday…

Sarah has developed an upper repertory infection. Lots of sneezing (blowing out mucus), coughing, wheezing…. We feel so bad for her! We have a doctor and a nurse in our group and they both assure me that I should not give her any medicine because her body can fight it off. It is just hard to watch her suffer. Despite her cold, she has remained in good spirits. She is only fussy when she is too tired. But, she always wakes up on the right side of the bed. Michael says that two out of three Homans wake up happy. Ha, ha!

We have some new developments in our adoption time-line. Today we were told that we would not get our visa interview until a week from this Wednesday, so obviously we will not be returning to the States on Thursday. This is a fine example of US government efficiency!!!! Our embassy only does Visa interviews 3 days a week, and apparently only so many per day. We were told that if we had been 5 minutes later in applying for our appointment, we would have had to wait 2 weeks! They are understaffed with many families needing interviews. After the interview, they issue the visa 24-48 hours later. We are praying that it only takes 24 hours to issue it and that we can fly out Thursday night. If not, we will have trouble getting a flight home until Sunday, October 1. I can’t remember all the details with the airlines, but it was something about not enough seats and missing connections based on departure times. Not sure…. We’ll keep you updated.

We have been staying at the Melia Hotel, which is beautiful, but way too expensive for all the families. Tomorrow we are all moving to a hotel that is $75 less per night and closer to the lake and old quarters. It also has free internet (we’ve been paying $12/day at the Melia) and cheaper laundry services. Just to wash a pair of pants at this hotel is almost $4. That is why I have been doing laundry in the bath tub.

Today we were dealt lemons, but we’re doing our best to make lemonade. We are making plans to take the night train to the northern highlands and to a town called Sapa, where many of the hill tribes live. I’m sure you can Google it and learn more about the area. Tomorrow we will check into prices and accommodations. So far two other families are interested in going with us. We’ll let you know how it works out. We’ve got nothing else going on around here and over a week of time to pass.

Thanks for all your comments. We love reading them each day and being reminded of home. Now is when we are most thankful to have this group of families to be with. As I write, Natasha and I are hanging out with our sleeping babies. Our husbands have been good about letting us have “mommy alone time” so now they are having theirs.