Interview? NOT...more like a "Sign & Pay"

To catch you up on the events of the past 24 hours here in Vietnam..on Monday the 21st,Howie & Cindy went w/ Kenny to the US Embassy to pick up our baby's passports. Then the Mausts headed to the SOS clinic to have their baby's Medical exams which are necessary for the completion of the VISA. Apparently while they were there Kenny got a phone call from the US Embassy telling them they had their "Exit Interview" scheduled for 2pm! So as they rushed to the Embassy w/ Martin, Howie, Emma & I took Molly to the SOS clinic for her evaluation for her VISA. Of course, of ALL days, Molly isn't quite acting like the Molly we've come to know and love (for the past 10 days), her nose is running like a faucet and is red as Rudolph's. She's constantly got her hands in her mouth and I think earlier I saw she was able to get up to her elbow into her mouth. Ok, slight exageration...I go into Mommy/Nurse mode...is she reacting to the a/c we've been trying to keep her in in attempts to control her skin issues...is she getting a cold (great timing Lakritz! Just in time to board a plane for >19 hours!)...or is she teething...or a bit of all 3? Who the heck knows....so I'm thinking that "A" either the evaluating MD will give us a script that may help her feel better (in our makeshift medical kit we have "Little Colds" but it has acetominophen in it and didn't really want to give that to a wee little 5 1/2 month old every 4 hours) or "B" would mark her file w/ a big RED "X" and tell us that she wouldn't pass the Medical Exam for the VISA..no ticket for you...well....neither one happened!!! She "passed" her examine (which was more like: "do you have any concerns or questions for me?" kind of exchange, a brief overview of her body, and a letter written up saying that she has what is expected as a child from an orphanage. She has "minimal" lag behind what is considered "normal" for her age. I have to say, as proud parents, (and movie star sister, Emma) we were quick to have Molly demonstrate her new Molly tricks. (Kinda like stupid pet tricks on David Letterman). She CAN hold her head up now about 99% of the time without us holding our breath like it's going to roll off her little shoulders and hit the ground rolling. She can also lay on her tummy and do her baby push-ups (she puts me to shame). Her skin is remarkably better, which again, is a tribute to our prompt rescue treatment (antifungal ointments, sprays, and a/c)...but hey...doc..what about her "cold"? A quick shoulder shrug, & a "she'll be fine...these babies are used to being hot and not in a/c..she'll adjust well" and we're on our way.

We exit the "exam" room and peer at Kenny to see if he received a phone call from the Embassy while we were in the exam room chit chatting away w/ the Dutch GP. Kenny nods his head yes to our barrage of questions, and we have learned to ask him again in a different way to see if he really means to nod yes...but this time his answer is a verbal NO while he's still nodding his head YES. (Are you following me? If YOU are confused, imagine how we feel!!) Then I try my best to elicit information from Kenny about up to what time we need to remain in our hotel room (since he finally told us to wait in the hotel room until he called us). Again, what's that phrase about getting water from a stone? Anyway, we figured out that if we didn't hear from Kenny by 4:30pm we were free to leave our hotel room and hope that we would hear about our 2nd INS appointment the next day.

SO, I wait w/ baited breath (aka: stinky breath) in our hotel room w/ runny nose Rudolph waiting for our phone to ring..pathetic, huh? Howie & Emma head to the pool here at the hotel. Cindy called me when she & Jerry & the girls returned. She told me she needed to send an email to Todd, our travel agent. Since they have been using the hotel business center computer & paying an arm & a leg I'm sure, I asked her to come to our room and use ours to send an email. By the time she got to our room the swimming champions returned in time to hear Cindy tell us that Martin told her that we weren't called for an interview today because the 3 public announcements that are suppposed to be made in attempt to locate the child's parent(s) wasn't done. We were fairly certain that we read that had been done in the report that we had & Howie phoned Martin to clarify that situation.

As it turned out, Martin was referring to another couple who had showed up that day for their 2nd interview and were delayed because of this. That couple was not with our Adoption agency. WHEW! It's hot enough around here, do we REALLY need anymore heat from those kind of stressors?! About 1/2 hour after Howie spoke w/ Martin the phone rang and it was Martin calling to tell us that our "interview" was set up for 2:30pm Tuesday!~

Tuesday quickly became a very melancholly day...we saw Cindy at breakfast..as we usually see one of the Mausts eating solo, enjoying a peaceful meal (while all you know what is breaking out in their hotel room...just kidding!) Seeing Cindy made me realize that this was her last Breakfast here in VN and today they would be experiencing a lot of "lasts"...which is good and bad...as we've gone through this journey with them and now we knew it was soon to be our time to hug them and say goodbye! We surprise attacked them after we finished our breakfast and once being witness to everything they had to pack in relatively a short period of time, we scooped up Lindsay and brought her back to our room for a playdate w/ Emma & Molly. (Lydia was sound asleep in her crib....and you KNOW what "they" say about sleeping babies). We spent the rest of our morning w/ Lindsay until Jerry, Cindy, and Lydia came to collect her. We gave each other tight hugs and kisses and hope to see each other back home in the States. We told them w/ their wacky flight itinerary we just might beat them back home in the long run! (Hanoi-HongKong-LAX-Dallas-Pittsburgh)ugh!

It was then our turn to meet Martin in our hotel lobby for our trip to the US Embassy for our 2nd and last INS "interview"...here's where I finally get to the jest of this posting's title....not sure WHY this is called an interview, exactly. We went back to the same DMV style room our first interview took place, w/ the rows of black plastic chairs, and waited for our names to be called. "LAKRITZ" was soon heard & Martin directed us to a man standing behind a plate glass (bullet proof glass?) window with a little slit underneath...the kind one would find at a drive up bank teller, or an old fashioned movie ticket theatre (am I dating myself again?). Anyway, the man asked to see our passports, we showed them. Since Howie is considered the "petitioner" he had to swear that the documents set before him (behind the glass partition) were "true to the best of his knowledge)...out of the corner of my eye I see Howie's right hand go up as he answers "I do"...I'm trying NOT to crack up (even now as I write this!!!) It's not like his hand was on a bible or anything...just up in mid-air..I swear...he's too darn cute sometimes!! Anyway...ok, swear...then, the "agent" asks me if it was my signature on another piece of paper indicating our intention to have our baby immunized once in the US..I answer "yes"...(no hand up in the air), and that was it!!! LESS than 5 minutes! The longest part came when we had to wait for the cashier to return from her lunch so we could pay our CRISP UNUSED UNCIRCULATED AMERICAN $$$$ to pay for Molly's VISA. Half an hour, tops!!

We headed back to the van, said farewell to Martin as he was waiting the arrival of the Mausts to pick up their VISAS/PASSPORTS and take them for their mad dash to the airport to make a 7pm flight! Howie phoned the SOS clinic and requested one of the docs to call us back as the more we thought about Molly (aka: Rudolph)we knew the experience of flying would only make her (and ultimately the rest of the passengers onboard) more uneasy! One of the docs called us back & told us a prescription decongestant/antihistamine would be waiting at the SOS clinic for us whenever we could get there to pick it up! (they have been exceptional..open 24/7!!). We swung by on our way to dinner at where else? Al Fresco's this time using the excuse that we were eating there in honor of Cindy & Jerry...and so the restaurant wouldn't go out of business since their best customers were heading out of town. I promised Howie that we would go to a traditional VN restaurant for lunch tomorrow! It's about time. right???

Martin will pick up our VISA/PASSPORT tomorrow at 4pm and come to our hotel to pick us up to escort us to the airport for our trip home. We're still waiting to hear back from our travel agent to confirm our itinerary, but he did tell us there was availability on the flight that departs Hanoi at 8:40pm to Bangkok and then on to JFK arriving at 6:30am on the 24th!~ (Flying OVER Iceland!!!!...and Santa, per Emma!)

We hope to shop a bit more in the morning as well as to visit the Hanoi Hilton (which is literally right around the corner from our hotel). Taking all last minute requests for VN goodies....get your orders in...the clock is ticking now! Apparently there is some BIG WIG arriving at the Melia hotel today or tomorrow...they have installed a security xray machine (like the tabletop do-hickeys that are at the airports). This seems to be THE place to stay...the hotel owner/manager has his pictures proudly displayed greeting all kinds of heads of state and various actors and actresses. He has yet, however, failed to pose w/ THE Emma! Maybe we can make that happen tomorrow too!!

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we fly far above the clouds and back home safely to our friends and family~ Thank you ALL for your support and encouragement these past several years, it hasn't been easy on you either! We're bringing our girls home and we can't wait to be surrounded by your hugs and kisses!
With our love from VN~ one last time....
~kate