We got to Austin about 8:30 am Austin time, and to our house at about 10:00. We've pretty much slept the rest of the day.
It was a very long trip -- we have seen 3 sun-rises and 3 sun-sets since the last time we went to bed. Our thoughts are with those from our travel group who still have business in Viet Nam.
Dennis
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
We got our visas
The kids' visas were just dropped off about 2 minutes ago. We're so happy to finally have them in our hands.
We're coming home Saturday night on the flight listed to the right.
Dennis
We're coming home Saturday night on the flight listed to the right.
Dennis
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
We're coming home!!!!
I called the Embassy this afternoon for an update on our case. The American officers were busy and one was going to call me back later this afternoon. About 15 minutes after I hung up we got a call from one of the Vietnamese women at the embassy telling us that our visa had been approved!
She asked if we could be at the embassy in the next 15 minutes for our 2nd interview (my answer was "Hell yeah!") and we were on our way. We met WC staff at the embassy, paid some money, and we were on our way.
The other families in our travel group are still waiting on their paperwork. Somehow, and we have no idea how, we went from being at least a day behind everyone to at least a day ahead. WC staff did tell us that (he thought) in January 2008 the embassy would switch to the 1 interview method, so all investigations are already completed by the time the families get here. That should eliminate most of the pain that we and the other families went through while we were waiting.
As we speak we're waiting on our travel agent to wake up and try to book us on an earlier flight. WC staff will get the visas tomorrow at 4:00 and we can leave anytime after that. We're hoping we can get on an early Friday flight, but worst case we'll be leaving Saturday night as planned.
We've decided to stay at our new hotel (Horison) for the duration. We can both finally breathe.
Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. We'll see everyone soon.
Dennis
She asked if we could be at the embassy in the next 15 minutes for our 2nd interview (my answer was "Hell yeah!") and we were on our way. We met WC staff at the embassy, paid some money, and we were on our way.
The other families in our travel group are still waiting on their paperwork. Somehow, and we have no idea how, we went from being at least a day behind everyone to at least a day ahead. WC staff did tell us that (he thought) in January 2008 the embassy would switch to the 1 interview method, so all investigations are already completed by the time the families get here. That should eliminate most of the pain that we and the other families went through while we were waiting.
As we speak we're waiting on our travel agent to wake up and try to book us on an earlier flight. WC staff will get the visas tomorrow at 4:00 and we can leave anytime after that. We're hoping we can get on an early Friday flight, but worst case we'll be leaving Saturday night as planned.
We've decided to stay at our new hotel (Horison) for the duration. We can both finally breathe.
Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. We'll see everyone soon.
Dennis
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Embassy update
I called the embassy today to get a status report. It's been two weeks since our I-600 interview and we should have heard back a week ago.
They're still trying to track down one of the witnesses in either William's or Ava's case (he couldn't recall which, but we're assuming it's William). They've been trying to find the witness and haven't had any success so far. He (the embassy guy) did think they'd get to him (the witness) either today or tomorrow, and HCMC would get the case later this week. Assuming that Mister X exists and states the same facts that he did when the baby was abandoned, we should get a (favorable) ruling from USCIS later this week (Thursday). We would get our visa Friday and be homeward bound on Saturday. Assuming they can find the guy.
The other families are in a better position than we are. Their docs are in HCMC and they should hear back today or tomorrow.
Dennis
They're still trying to track down one of the witnesses in either William's or Ava's case (he couldn't recall which, but we're assuming it's William). They've been trying to find the witness and haven't had any success so far. He (the embassy guy) did think they'd get to him (the witness) either today or tomorrow, and HCMC would get the case later this week. Assuming that Mister X exists and states the same facts that he did when the baby was abandoned, we should get a (favorable) ruling from USCIS later this week (Thursday). We would get our visa Friday and be homeward bound on Saturday. Assuming they can find the guy.
The other families are in a better position than we are. Their docs are in HCMC and they should hear back today or tomorrow.
Dennis
Monday, October 8, 2007
Happy Columbus Day pt2!
Not a whole lot to say, but we made it through the weekend and holiday.
We finished up all of our shopping and now we just need to figure out where to put all the stuff -- I really hope we don't have to buy a new suitcase.
We're staying in this hotel through tomorrow night, then we're moving to another hotel a couple of miles away (we're hoping for better air quality where we're going). We're staying at that hotel through the week, and if we're still in town on Sunday we're going to move into the cheapest hotel that we can find in Hanoi.
We're trying new sleeping arrangements tonight to see if mom & dad can get more sleep. One key learning last night was that (I think) Will is afraid of the dark. He wakes up crying every couple of hours and we've always thought he was hungry since he'd eat a full bottle each time. Last night I left the light on in the bathroom for him after the first time he woke up, and he didn't cry the rest of the night. We actually slept until 8:30 this morning, which is the latest we've slept since we arrived. Other than Ava waking up at 4:30, that was the most continuous sleep I've had in a while.
One thing about sleeping in the Sommerset Grand: As I've said before, it's built on the site of the "Hanoi Hilton" which has been a prison for about 200 years (the French built it in the 1700's). We've all mentioned that for an all-concrete building it makes a lot of noise at night. Anyway, last night I felt someone sit on the bed and I rolled over to talk to Tami about why she was in the room (the kids weren't crying so I couldn't figure out why she was there). It wasn't Tami and I couldn't see anyone else in the room. That's when I turned on the bathroom lights that I mentioned in the paragraph above.
We finished up all of our shopping and now we just need to figure out where to put all the stuff -- I really hope we don't have to buy a new suitcase.
We're staying in this hotel through tomorrow night, then we're moving to another hotel a couple of miles away (we're hoping for better air quality where we're going). We're staying at that hotel through the week, and if we're still in town on Sunday we're going to move into the cheapest hotel that we can find in Hanoi.
We're trying new sleeping arrangements tonight to see if mom & dad can get more sleep. One key learning last night was that (I think) Will is afraid of the dark. He wakes up crying every couple of hours and we've always thought he was hungry since he'd eat a full bottle each time. Last night I left the light on in the bathroom for him after the first time he woke up, and he didn't cry the rest of the night. We actually slept until 8:30 this morning, which is the latest we've slept since we arrived. Other than Ava waking up at 4:30, that was the most continuous sleep I've had in a while.
One thing about sleeping in the Sommerset Grand: As I've said before, it's built on the site of the "Hanoi Hilton" which has been a prison for about 200 years (the French built it in the 1700's). We've all mentioned that for an all-concrete building it makes a lot of noise at night. Anyway, last night I felt someone sit on the bed and I rolled over to talk to Tami about why she was in the room (the kids weren't crying so I couldn't figure out why she was there). It wasn't Tami and I couldn't see anyone else in the room. That's when I turned on the bathroom lights that I mentioned in the paragraph above.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Happy Columbus Day!
Well, today is Columbus Day and the US Embassy here is taking the day off to celebrate. So we're going to get out and finish up all of our shopping. We'll hear something from the embassy either Tuesday or Wednesday so on those days we won't be budging from our room. Hopefully, they'll soon be giving US something to celebrate!
Friday, October 5, 2007
Today was supposed to be Happy Day
So we have the winners of our "When do you think we'll travel home" poll. It is the two people who voted that we would return home later than our scheduled date, which was today. So congratulations to you both and thanks to everyone who voted.
Here's what Will thinks about the whole situation:
Well, we're all trying to be positive. We've spoken with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's office who has sent an inquiry to the embassies in HaNoi and HCMC. Numerous friends, family, and acquaintances have called and written our congressmen. We are so moved and thankful for all your support. This will all work out. I can't bare to think otherwise.
However, once we are home, I am going to fight for changes to be made to the process here. No families need to go through this ever again. Our own embassy is disrespectful to the Vietnamese government and cruel to its own citizens waiting to go home with their children. Investigations definitely need to be a part of the process but there is no need for USCIS to conduct these investigations in the way they are doing right now. We recently found out that the Vietnamese International Adoption Office has filed an official complaint against the embassy with the Foreign Service Department because of the way they are handling this situation.
Today we plan to visit the Museum of Ethnology. It should be very interesting and I'm hoping to be able to figure out which ethnic group our kids belong to.
Please keep thinking warm thoughts and sending your words of kindness and comfort. They mean the world.
Here's what Will thinks about the whole situation:
Well, we're all trying to be positive. We've spoken with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's office who has sent an inquiry to the embassies in HaNoi and HCMC. Numerous friends, family, and acquaintances have called and written our congressmen. We are so moved and thankful for all your support. This will all work out. I can't bare to think otherwise.
However, once we are home, I am going to fight for changes to be made to the process here. No families need to go through this ever again. Our own embassy is disrespectful to the Vietnamese government and cruel to its own citizens waiting to go home with their children. Investigations definitely need to be a part of the process but there is no need for USCIS to conduct these investigations in the way they are doing right now. We recently found out that the Vietnamese International Adoption Office has filed an official complaint against the embassy with the Foreign Service Department because of the way they are handling this situation.
Today we plan to visit the Museum of Ethnology. It should be very interesting and I'm hoping to be able to figure out which ethnic group our kids belong to.
Please keep thinking warm thoughts and sending your words of kindness and comfort. They mean the world.
This is torture
Not much happened today. One of the WC staff called us this morning and came by late this afternoon. Aside from that, there's not much action here in Hanoi.
I think that the kids are picking up on the fact that we're so upset. They have done nothing but cry whenever they aren't being held all day long. We pick them up, they fall asleep, we put them down, they start to cry, rinse, repeat.
We don't really know what's going on, other than there is an investigation. Either they're looking at the entire province and we're just waiting on the NOID (Notice of Intent to Deny) or this is a routine investigation and there's nothing really wrong.
The worst part is just the waiting. It's Friday night here now, and Monday is a holiday (Columbus day), so we aren't going to hear a thing until Tuesday at the earliest (Yes or NOID). It could go even longer.
We went ahead and rebooked our flights for next weekend which is just wishful thinking on our part. The odds of us getting out of here by then aren't very high, but we just wanted to feel like we were making progress.
We've been traveling for 22 days so far, and I don't know how much longer we can handle this.
I think that the kids are picking up on the fact that we're so upset. They have done nothing but cry whenever they aren't being held all day long. We pick them up, they fall asleep, we put them down, they start to cry, rinse, repeat.
We don't really know what's going on, other than there is an investigation. Either they're looking at the entire province and we're just waiting on the NOID (Notice of Intent to Deny) or this is a routine investigation and there's nothing really wrong.
The worst part is just the waiting. It's Friday night here now, and Monday is a holiday (Columbus day), so we aren't going to hear a thing until Tuesday at the earliest (Yes or NOID). It could go even longer.
We went ahead and rebooked our flights for next weekend which is just wishful thinking on our part. The odds of us getting out of here by then aren't very high, but we just wanted to feel like we were making progress.
We've been traveling for 22 days so far, and I don't know how much longer we can handle this.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
"Call Your Congressman"
We were told today by in-country staff that we should call our congressman. The panic that I saw yesterday in some of the members of our party is now starting to take me over. I just can't believe this is happening. And even more than that, I can't believe the way our country is handling this situation.
Why did they allow all these families to come to VN, begin to bond with their children, and then decide to hold us all hostage while they sort things out? What kind of country does something like that to their own people? What kind of administration would even consider sending 7 little innocent babies back to an orphanage to live out their lives? I do understand that they believe there might be a problem in Thai Nguyen (I, for one, don't at all believe that there is anything shady going on there) and they need to check it out. But for God's sake, quit bringing families here, send us all home with our children, and THEN check it out.
I know I'm ranting now but I'm really scared. I feel absolutely helpless, sitting here waiting for a woman we don't know from Adam in HCMC to make a decision that will impact us for the rest of our lives.
We have done nothing wrong. Our children have done nothing wrong. We just want to go home.
Why did they allow all these families to come to VN, begin to bond with their children, and then decide to hold us all hostage while they sort things out? What kind of country does something like that to their own people? What kind of administration would even consider sending 7 little innocent babies back to an orphanage to live out their lives? I do understand that they believe there might be a problem in Thai Nguyen (I, for one, don't at all believe that there is anything shady going on there) and they need to check it out. But for God's sake, quit bringing families here, send us all home with our children, and THEN check it out.
I know I'm ranting now but I'm really scared. I feel absolutely helpless, sitting here waiting for a woman we don't know from Adam in HCMC to make a decision that will impact us for the rest of our lives.
We have done nothing wrong. Our children have done nothing wrong. We just want to go home.
Progress
We have heard from Jenny and WC's attorneys are working to resolve the problem. Hopefully, we'll hear more soon.
One thing I wanted to make clear is that, as far as we know, this isn't happening because of WC or anything WC did. This is all being perpetrated by our own government. Which is a little surprising to me. A month ago, I was worried about dealing with the Vietnamese government. If you had asked me then which country I thought would be the caring, compassionate one throughout this process, my answer would have been wrong.
The only thing I will say is that our in-country staff should have been more proactive in responding to us when we found out there was a problem. They pretty much shut us out this entire week. I realize that they have lots of other families coming here for G&Rs and are extremely busy but I believe if they had communicated with us at the beginning of this fiasco, there wouldn't have been as much panic to set in amongst the families. Don't get me wrong -- they are wonderful, nice people. They just dropped the ball on this one. Probably because no one expected the situation to turn into the big deal that it has become.
One thing I wanted to make clear is that, as far as we know, this isn't happening because of WC or anything WC did. This is all being perpetrated by our own government. Which is a little surprising to me. A month ago, I was worried about dealing with the Vietnamese government. If you had asked me then which country I thought would be the caring, compassionate one throughout this process, my answer would have been wrong.
The only thing I will say is that our in-country staff should have been more proactive in responding to us when we found out there was a problem. They pretty much shut us out this entire week. I realize that they have lots of other families coming here for G&Rs and are extremely busy but I believe if they had communicated with us at the beginning of this fiasco, there wouldn't have been as much panic to set in amongst the families. Don't get me wrong -- they are wonderful, nice people. They just dropped the ball on this one. Probably because no one expected the situation to turn into the big deal that it has become.
Why We're Here
Yep, Will's standing on his own. Daddy is just helping him balance.
The sweetest little girl in the world.
We're in trouble. He'll be crawling by the time we're home.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Update on Investigation
The investigation that was supposed to be just a routine thing is turning out to be not so routine. Based on the information we have received, it has, in fact, turned into a possibly devastating situation. According to the embassy, Thai Nguyen province is under investigation. For the record, 1) the embassy did tell one of the families at the first interview that there was going to be an investigation and 2) they are investigating the group as a whole.
A report of the situation is being prepared by staff in Hanoi for USCIS in HCMC. The report should be delivered to HCMC today or tomorrow, and a decision / ruling will be made on the report next Tuesday or Wednesday. The possible outcomes of the investigation are 1) that everything is fine and we can go home or 2) everything is not fine and none of the children will be given visas to the US. If the children can't come to the US and our visas expire to stay in Vietnam, the children can be sent back to the orphanage. We don't know what we're going to do if it's #2. Needless to say, we are all terrified right now.
If all goes well it looks like we'll be out of here late next week. We will be changing hotels as a group (our reservations here run out on the 10th) since we've found that being together makes it a little easier to handle. We're each getting little bits and pieces of information, so we've started afternoon information sharing meetings over drinks at Highland. So far the embassy is our only source of information as we have not heard from anyone at our agency in over a week.
This sitution is starting to have a pretty serious impact on all of the families here. My vacation time runs out next week, and after that I would have to do unpaid leave. All of the families are in the same situation -- we have jobs and families that we're supposed to be returning to, and other people back home have put their lives on hold to babysit, dogsit and housesit. We need to go home.
Thank God we have each other because without the other wonderful people in this group, I don't know how we could stand what all is happening. Keep thinking good thoughts for all of us. Hopefully we'll have something positive to report soon.
Dennis & Tami
A report of the situation is being prepared by staff in Hanoi for USCIS in HCMC. The report should be delivered to HCMC today or tomorrow, and a decision / ruling will be made on the report next Tuesday or Wednesday. The possible outcomes of the investigation are 1) that everything is fine and we can go home or 2) everything is not fine and none of the children will be given visas to the US. If the children can't come to the US and our visas expire to stay in Vietnam, the children can be sent back to the orphanage. We don't know what we're going to do if it's #2. Needless to say, we are all terrified right now.
If all goes well it looks like we'll be out of here late next week. We will be changing hotels as a group (our reservations here run out on the 10th) since we've found that being together makes it a little easier to handle. We're each getting little bits and pieces of information, so we've started afternoon information sharing meetings over drinks at Highland. So far the embassy is our only source of information as we have not heard from anyone at our agency in over a week.
This sitution is starting to have a pretty serious impact on all of the families here. My vacation time runs out next week, and after that I would have to do unpaid leave. All of the families are in the same situation -- we have jobs and families that we're supposed to be returning to, and other people back home have put their lives on hold to babysit, dogsit and housesit. We need to go home.
Thank God we have each other because without the other wonderful people in this group, I don't know how we could stand what all is happening. Keep thinking good thoughts for all of us. Hopefully we'll have something positive to report soon.
Dennis & Tami
No news isn't necessarily good news
Someone in our group finally got in touch with a person (real person) at the consulate to figure out what's what with our visa apps. The only information we were able to get was that it was possible that Hanoi would get the report from HCMC tomorrow. If they get the reports early enough tomorrow, they may be able to get us through the 2nd interview tomorrow and get our visas by Friday -- which would put the entire group out on time. If we don't get our 2nd inteview tomorrow, we probably won't be leaving until Monday at the earliest.
We decided to get up and go out shopping today, and were out of the hotel for about 6 hours all told today. We went up and down several of the streets and bought several bags worth of stuff (no descriptions, since something could be for you). We ate lunch at a place called Bobby Chinns (http://www.bobbychinn.com) which had some really good food. We've heard of their macaroni and cheese, and it was as good as advertised.
In the back of everyone's minds here are the two typhoons that are cruising around the South China Sea. If we were to get out on time, we still may be severely impacted by those two storms. Typhoon Lekima is moving inland just south of Hanoi. We've been getting bands of rain from this storm for the past couple of days. It looks like that one is early enough and weak enough that it's not going to hurt too bad.
Typhoon Krosa, however, looks like it's going to be another story. It's a pretty big typhoon and it's projected to be somewhere between Hong Kong and South Japan by this weekend (that's quite a large range, but they expect it to be right next to Taiwan). The rain and wind from it may / will probably impact travel out of Hong Kong on Saturday if we're actually able to leave then. Maybe staying until Monday or Tuesday of next week wouldn't be that bad of an idea.
I think that's it for today.
Dennis
We decided to get up and go out shopping today, and were out of the hotel for about 6 hours all told today. We went up and down several of the streets and bought several bags worth of stuff (no descriptions, since something could be for you). We ate lunch at a place called Bobby Chinns (http://www.bobbychinn.com) which had some really good food. We've heard of their macaroni and cheese, and it was as good as advertised.
In the back of everyone's minds here are the two typhoons that are cruising around the South China Sea. If we were to get out on time, we still may be severely impacted by those two storms. Typhoon Lekima is moving inland just south of Hanoi. We've been getting bands of rain from this storm for the past couple of days. It looks like that one is early enough and weak enough that it's not going to hurt too bad.
Typhoon Krosa, however, looks like it's going to be another story. It's a pretty big typhoon and it's projected to be somewhere between Hong Kong and South Japan by this weekend (that's quite a large range, but they expect it to be right next to Taiwan). The rain and wind from it may / will probably impact travel out of Hong Kong on Saturday if we're actually able to leave then. Maybe staying until Monday or Tuesday of next week wouldn't be that bad of an idea.
I think that's it for today.
Dennis
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
We've been delayed
We were supposed to get the call from the consulate today telling us when our 2nd (exit) interview is. Instead we got a call from one of the other families here letting us know that the consulate had been informing people of a delay. My understanding is that USCIS is investigating something which is causing the delay. The issue isn't with the staff here in Hanoi, it's USCIS in HCM City.
It's possible that we'll hear something back by Thursday (the last day possible for us to get out on Saturday on time). However, I understand that there is a strong possibility that we won't hear back until sometime mid-next week. We've started the process already of extending our hotel reservations, but we're not going to worry about airline reservations, someone to watch the dogs/cats past Sunday, or anything else until Friday.
This sucks.
Dennis
It's possible that we'll hear something back by Thursday (the last day possible for us to get out on Saturday on time). However, I understand that there is a strong possibility that we won't hear back until sometime mid-next week. We've started the process already of extending our hotel reservations, but we're not going to worry about airline reservations, someone to watch the dogs/cats past Sunday, or anything else until Friday.
This sucks.
Dennis
Monday, October 1, 2007
Slow day today
It's been a pretty lazy day today. Tami posted some pics (below) of some of the goings on around here, but pretty much we've been trying to find time for a nap since 5am today. Whenever one goes down the other goes up, so naps are few and far between.
We did go out for dinner tonight to the coffee shop (Highlands) that's in the building. It was nice to get out, and we saw lots and lots of families that are somewhere in the process. A couple of people that we flew here with are leaving on Wedesday morning, and there were a couple of families we met who have their G&R tomorrow. It was nice to be around people
The smoke in town is really bad tonight. It appears that we're here during crop buring season, when all of the farms that ring the city burn all what's left of their crops. Add that in with the generall bad air and the exhaust, and it makes for a pretty rough time. The first night it was like this we kept thinking the building was on fire. All that said, today was the first day in weeks that I haven't had a sore throat (but I'm still coughing because of the quitting smoking thing).
We're hoping to hear from the consulate tomorrow so we're going to run errands tomorrow and Wednesday morning. We did decide that if there's any way at all for us to get out of here early (there are 3 flights a day from Hong Kong to LA) we're going to. We really really really want to go home.
Dennis
We did go out for dinner tonight to the coffee shop (Highlands) that's in the building. It was nice to get out, and we saw lots and lots of families that are somewhere in the process. A couple of people that we flew here with are leaving on Wedesday morning, and there were a couple of families we met who have their G&R tomorrow. It was nice to be around people
The smoke in town is really bad tonight. It appears that we're here during crop buring season, when all of the farms that ring the city burn all what's left of their crops. Add that in with the generall bad air and the exhaust, and it makes for a pretty rough time. The first night it was like this we kept thinking the building was on fire. All that said, today was the first day in weeks that I haven't had a sore throat (but I'm still coughing because of the quitting smoking thing).
We're hoping to hear from the consulate tomorrow so we're going to run errands tomorrow and Wednesday morning. We did decide that if there's any way at all for us to get out of here early (there are 3 flights a day from Hong Kong to LA) we're going to. We really really really want to go home.
Dennis
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