HOME SWEET HOME!!!

Well, the travel part of our long journey is finally over!! Of course the journey of raising Molly within our family is just beginning. Vietnam was an amazing once in a lifetime type of experience, filled with memories that keeping this blog will hopefully help to keep fresh forever. Of course, some of the moments were so special, that they will need no logging on to keep vivid and crystal clear in our memories! But, I will say, it was WONDERFUL to reach our home (which was so thoughtfully decorated with Balloons, "It's a Girl" signs, and a "Welcome Home Molly" sign that covered the entire front door!!!! (Thank you Chedids and Leonis!!!).

But first, let me backtrack a bit. Once we found out on Monday evening, the 21st that we were to have our final visa interview on Tuesday afternoon, we kicked into gear, contacting our travel agent in Colorado (who seems to work 24/7) to move up our return flight (which was originally scheduled to return to JFK on June 1st!!!! We started packing, trying to assess what we had room for, etc... On Tuesday, we spent the morning with the Mausts, taking one of the twins to our suite (which Emma had a GREAT time doing), while the other twin slept and they had a chance to pack their suitcases. When they were done packing, they joined us and we hung out, both families talking about dreading the long voyage home WITH babies!!!!

Cindy with her hands literally full!!

Not that our trip was to be a piece of cake (one 90 minute flight to Bangkok, a 2-hour layover and then a 17-hour flight to JFK), but the Mausts had us SO BEAT!!!!: Flight#1.. Hanoi to Hong Kong, Layover, then Flight#2.. Hong Kong to LA, Layover, then Flight #3.. LA to Dallas, Layover, Then Flight #4.. Dallas to Pittsburgh... THEN a 2&1/2 hour drive home to Accident, Maryland!!!! All of this with 2 8-month old spunky Twins!!!!!! No, Jerry was NOT looking forward to that!

So the time came for us to go for our second visa "interview" which lasted just a matter of SECONDS, then PAY, and go!! That was it! We took a taxi back to the hotel and hung out in the room as I called the SOS clinic back to get a prescription for an antihistamine-decongestant for Molly. The poor thing had a runny nose and congestion, possibly from her first exposure to the concept of Air Conditioning!!! Most meds seem to be prescription only,(the markets did NOT have cold medicines, or even diaper rash meds in the aisles... you need to go to the "chemist" for that. The drugs were VERY inexpensive, though.

In honor of the Mausts, we went out for our final Hanoi dinner at Al Fresco's (at least that was Kate's excuse for not eating Vietnamese food AGAIN!!!!).
Howie and the girls at our most frequented restaurant, Al Fresco's

Wednesday morning was a bit hectic as we were doing our last minute packing, of course... We headed down for our last breakfast buffet, looking for our favorite waitress, Phuong (that is Molly's given Vietnamese name, by the way... given to her at the orphanage). Well, Phuong, from day 1 really took to Molly and would come scoop her up whenever we were at breakfast, and hold her, and feed her if she needed, with the excuse that she was letting us eat. We knew better, as she just adored holding Molly!! Everyone there was sweet, and others would also hold Molly sometimes, but Phuong was special!!!

Phuong and mini-Phuong (aka Miss Molly) on their last day together

So we told her that this was going to be our last day, and we were SO DISAPPOINTED that we did not see her as we ate breakfast. Almost near the end of breakfast, though, Phuong appeared and I saw her eyes light up as she saw us (well Molly, anyway!) She soon RAN over, and to our surprise, presented us with a gift for Molly!!!!! She gave us a baby size traditional silk Vietnamese gown and pants (something we were looking for but had difficulty finding that size)... It was gorgeous, and of course tears poured from Kate's eyes as she couldn't believe the thoughtfullness and kindness in this gesture! Here, WE had planned to give Phuong a nice gratuity for all of the kindness and effort that she had showed us during our stay, and she presents US with a gift. Then, when Kate tried to give Phuong a gratuity, she almost RAN from it, and would not even CONSIDER taking it!!!! What a difference in cultures in that respect.... and these people have so little in terms of money, too! We ran into that kind of surprise whenever we tipped, even just giving people a dollar or two for various things, or leaving a tip at a restaurant.... they would chase us down and say "you pay too much, you have change!!" A tip of a couple of dollars for room service would get a reaction like "Thank you so kindly Sir..." Well, we got Phuong's address and we are going to at least send her some pictures that we took of her with Molly. After some hugs, we left and went to the Thai Airways office which is attached to the Hotel, and after a long wait and some confusion we were able to confirm the new flights with hopes of getting a bassinet for Molly. We finally were able to now get out the hotel and took a walk to the Hoa Lo Prison (aka "Hanoi Hilton") which is just around the corner from our hotel!! Unfortunately, we got there while they were closed for lunch, so we ventured for a walk (in oppressive 98 degree heat and humidity, in the sunniest day we had in Hanoi). Well, I got taken to task for forgetting Molly's hat at the hotel, first by Kate, and then by EVERY SINGLE WOMAN (AND QUITE A FEW MEN TOO)... they are VERY protective of their Vietnamese babies and the people there are wonderful, outgoing and friendly when they see us with a Vietnamese baby, but let me tell you... they are NOT shy about criticizing you if they think she's wearing too hot an outfit, if her little feet are exposed, if she DOESN'T HAVE A HAT, if she seems hungry, has a runny nose, etc, etc, etc.... well we ducked into a market down an alleyway and they rallied to find us a stall that sold a hat for Molly and for Miss Emma!! Both hats for the whopping rip-off premium price of $3.00!!!!

So now we got clearance from the women of Vietnam to return to the streets and do a little last minute shopping in Hanoi. It was too hot to last very long, and we got a taxi (had to bargain with a couple of drivers before getting a reasonable rate... I wasn't gonna spend $6.00 the first guy wanted... we ended up paying $1.25)... it's ridiculous, I know, but it's the sporting way!

So now we were down to our last hours in Hanoi, our luggage packed and sent down to storage as we checked out. We ventured out to the "Hanoi Hilton" which was a very interesting place to see, just imagining what kind of things went on there. Interestingly, the presentation was not-surprisingly skewed. Most of the "museum" reviewed the goings-on of the prison when it was ruled by the French and used to imprison the Vietnamese "freedom fighters" and political prisoners.... they were tortured, they were subjected to the guillotine, and pretty brutal conditions. Of course, when they talked about the use of the prison during the "American War (as they call it)" they described the humane and honorable way that the American POW's were treated and showed many pictures and headlines of the American people protesting the American presence in Vietnam. They showed John McCain's pilot's uniform and parachute.... it was an interesting experience.

Then we walked back to the hotel and had lunch there before meeting Martin and Kenny in the hotel lobby. We gave them their gifts and they loved going through the picture book of New Jersey, asking lots of questions about all of the different places. They also LOVED the thank you cards which I wrote out in Vietnamese (a Vietnamese coworker translated what we wanted to say and I transcribed it in each thank you card, putting in the individual's names... it was a lot harder than it sounds like because of all of the tonal marks and different squigglies they use in their writing).


While in the lobby, we had Emma pose with the Manager of the Melia Hotel. Kind of an inside joke ..... in the Executive Lounge on the 20th floor, there are countless pictures of the Manager of the Melia Hotel with dignitaries from all over the world who have stayed here... prime ministers, presidents, royalty, celebrities,(Even Jackie Chan!!) etc.... while we were there, there were prime ministers from Kuwait and Oman, and the President of Germany at our hotel. Well, with Emma's new-found celebrity status in Vietnam, we thought it would be appropriate to have her picture taken with him as well. He was very nice and enjoyed it!!


We then left for the airport in a van and got in line at Thai Airways check-in, waiting for the counters to open. We were about 40th or so in line when the counters opened and an agent came straight for us and had us go to the counter first!!! They did the same with 4 other families who were adopting babies. So thoughtful!!!!

First leg of our trip home (see how fresh we looked then?!!! Sitting next to us was another adopting family, from Italy!!

Our flights were incredible and both Emma and Molly were SUPER travelers!!!! Once again, Thai Airways bent over backwards, moving people around to insure that we had bulkhead seats with a baby bassinet they set up. Three gourmet meals with wine, several movies, and 17 hours later we arrived at JFK!!!! Neither of the girls had ANY issues with their ears on take-off or landing!!

Still lookin' pretty fresh... Big Sister taking care of Little Sister at about hour number 10!!

JFK went just as smoothly as the flights as we went through immigration, including Molly's paperwork, baggage, and customs in LESS THAN 30 MINUTES!!!!! The ride home was a little more eventful as first, the car service brought the wrong baby carseat (we had left our baby seat and Emma's booster seat with them on our departure). Honestly, we would have been outraged and appalled at this, but after being in Vietnam, where seatbelts, baby carseats, and even motorcycle helmets are virtually non-existent, we dealt with it as a continuation of our trip and just held Molly. We were reintroduced to good old USA style traffic on route 287 in NJ and that's when both Molly and Emma started getting RESTLESS!!! But soon enough we were back home as I said at the beginning of this post and what a sweet feeling that is!!!! THANKS SO MUCH TO COLLEEN for house-sitting and doing so many extras in making our home feel so welcoming and clean when we returned. It meant so much to us that we knew our home and pets were being taken care of so well while we were so far away, by someone who has a special place in our hearts. Not to mention leaving us some Rita's Italian Ices in the freezer which we attacked at 4am on our first night home!!!!

This is what it was ALL ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I said, this is not the end of the journey, but a new beginning. It has been quite the roller coaster ride with the HAPPIEST of endings, to this chapter, at least. I must say that it's been very heartwarming to hear how so many friends and relatives have shared this journey with us by following this blog. It has added a dimension to this whole experience and will always be remembered. We have been asked whether the blog will continue now that we are home. I'd say not on a daily basis, however, when occasions arise, we will be adding posts to the blog so check back every so often to follow where the journey leads next!