Home Sweet (and cold) Home

What a glorious feeling to have everyone in our home! Jonah was a World Class traveler and slept for 8 hours on the flight from Hong Kong to LA. We celebrated Christmas as a family on Saturday and it was an absolute blast watching Jonah get to know the rest of his family. He is still not quite sure what to make of the cold and snow, but he will come around after a few more more nights sleeping outside.

Speaking of sleeping, he is a CHAMP. The past two nights he has slept through the night for 11 or 12 hours without waking up. Considering this is his first time sleeping alone in a room, we are really excited about that.

In addition, he has miraculously discovered a love for food. There is something about high chairs that inspires kids to eat. Take this evening for example; a bowl of sweet potatoes (leftover from our Christmas dinner), bread, a yogurt and a banana. In Vietnam we were lucky to get him to eat an orange.

All in all, we are flabbergasted at how well he is adapting. If you have not met him yet, I hope that you can soon.

Got Visa?

Oh yes we do!!! Betsy and Jonah will be heading to the Embassy tomorrow morning for their Visa interview. If all goes well, they will get their Visa the same day and will fly out tomorrow night. They will arrive back in the Twin Cities on Friday morning at 6am.

Thank you for all the prayers and support during this trial.

MVP award goes to Bea, Betsy's mom for all her help over in Vietnam. We could not have done this without her. Runner up is her husband Charlie for lending us his wife for 8 weeks!

A Lullaby for All

About a week ago I dropped Jonah's bottles at nap time and night time. Surprisingly, he let them go without any screaming and crying. However, I have come to find that because the bottles are gone, Jonah doesn't really know how to settle down on his own. For the past few nights, it has taken at least an hour to get him to calm down enough to fall asleep. He spends a great deal of time peeking over his crib to make sure that I am close enough and awake enough to pay him some attention.

Like every nap time, I sing a song to Jonah before I put him down. Edelweiss is always the song of choice. To mix things up a bit today I decided to sing two songs, one for him and one for me. My second song of choice was a song that I sang in a wedding this past November, titled He's Always Been Faithful by Sarah Groves. Well, the second song worked like a charm. He settled down quickly and was asleep in his crib in under five minutes.

As I sang, I realized that I also began to settle down. By lifting my voice to God, I was able to let go of some of the heartache and sadness that the past 24 hours has brought on. Like Jonah worrying about me, I realized that I have been spending too much time worrying if God really has everything under control. To sing the words of the song and mean it, I was able to settle down and rest knowing that God has always been faithful to me and he will be again. The song is truly a lullaby for all.

He's Always Been Faithful

Morning by morning, I wake up to find

the power and the comfort of God's hand in mine.

Season by season, I watch him amazed

in awe of the mystery of His perfect ways.

All I'm in need of, His hand will provide

He's always been faithful to me.

I can't remember a trial or a pain

He did not recycle to bring me gain.

I can't remember a single regret

in serving God only and trusting his plan.

All I'm in need of His hand will provide.

He's always been faithful to me.

This is my anthem. This is my song,

the theme of the stories I've heard for so long.

God has been faithful. He will be again.

His loving compassion it knows no end.

All I'm in need of, His hand will provide.

He's always been faithful to me.

Sweet dreams to all.

Betsy

I get knocked down, but I get up again

Faithful friends. It is with a heavy heart that I (Ryan) tell you that we did not receive our visa approval today.

I can't go into all the reasons, because they are complicated. There is furthur need for investigation and we hope that next week we will have a better indication of how long Betsy and Jonah will be in Vietnam.

As you can imagine this is very difficult news.

So, for those of you that have been praying fervently for this visa, you need to work on your knee calluses even more. Please pray that we hear some news next week. I miss my wife.

As always, thanks for the support. We would not survive without you all helping us out.

Rollin' Down the River

Greetings from the land of rice, scooters and dark haired grannies telling you to dress your kid warmer.

We had a nice weekend with day trips to the Red River and a friend's house in Hanoi. I can't tell you what a balm for the soul it was to stay for lunch at the Chau's house. To actually be in a home with a kitchen and dining room was almost too much for my weary heart. It was all I could do to not chain myself to the front door and refuse to leave. Sherman Chau was an old friend of Ryan's from Hong Kong. I met him in 1997 when I was visiting Ryan's family there. He and his lovely wife Becky have been living in Vietnam for 6 years and invited us over for a lunch on Saturday. They live in a nice gated community in a quieter section of Hanoi and it so soothing to not be within earshot of constant honking. We spent a wonderfully normal afternoon with them and to top it off, we ate the most delicious fried chicken for lunch. It was a very nice reminder of home.

On Sunday we spent the day on a Red River Tour. We boarded a boat at 7:30a.m. and spent the day rollin' down the river on a tour boat. We made three stops during the tour. At two, we visited some temples and wandered around tiny little villages. For the third stop we went to a ceramics village where they made everything from rice bowls to vases. The tour was over by 5:00p.m. where we collapsed in our rooms. There is something about fresh air the makes one so tired!

It was a nice weekend but I'm glad it's over. Now that the week has started again, I'm hoping that some progress can be made towards getting us home. According to some sources, someone is going down to Jonah's birth province to do some investigating. Hopefully everything will be found to be in order and we will get the okay to head home. Please pray that everything from here on out will go smoothly and that we will be home shortly.

I almost forgot! To top off our weekend, Mom and I caught the Packers game on television. We ate chips, drank Diet Coke and cheered as the Pack played their way to a huge victory. It was so awesome I contemplated changing Jonah's middle name to Brett. I can't wait to cheer them on in the Super Bowl from snowy Minnesota.

Same Old Same Old

Well folks, not much to report here. Things have been pretty quiet here the past few days. Now that we are playing the waiting game, we haven't been doing much in the way of sightseeing. Just to give you an idea of how we pass the time, I thought I would give you a day in the life of Jonah Thanh Beach.

8:00 a.m Jonah wakes up. This wake up process happens one of two ways. One, he wakes up very crabby. Lots of crying and clinging. Two, he wakes up ready to face the day, not smiling but not crying. Guess which one I like better?

8:30 Breakfast at the hotel. Jonah is not a great eater and breakfast always finds him more interested in running around the dining room than in eating. However, if he does manage to sit for awhile he likes to eat sausages with toothpicks and drink apple juice from a small glass. Both of these items end up on his clothes at some point during the meal.

9:30 Play time. From 9:30 to 11:00 Jonah spends time either playing with his friends in the hotel room or playing at the park across the street. Now the park across the street is nothing fancy. It has some paths, a fountain, some green space and an enormous stone military sculpture. What the park lacks in playground equipment, it makes up for in Communist propaganda.

11:00 Nap time. After all the playing fun, Jonah goes down for a nap. Thankfully our hotel has a small crib that we use. In our old hotel Jonah slept on the floor by the bed and the first half of his nap was spent playing peek-a-boo with us from his spot on the floor. He goes down quite well (of course the bottle helps) and sleeps for about two hours.

1:00 Lunch time. Lunch is often in the room and consists of things we have purchased at the local Fivi Mart. It's no Super Target but it does sell huge Dove Chocolate Bars. He eats (sometimes) noodles, bananas and mangoes that we buy from street vendors on the sidewalk.

2:00-5:00 Backpack time. At this point of the day, we venture out from the hotel and cruise the streets of Hanoi. Thanks to Uncle Nate and Aunt Lisa, he has a sweet ride around town. He is a very happy in the backpack and likes to eat crackers off my shoulders (Because of the backpack, I can't turn around and give him the cracker, so I put it on my shoulder and he picks it off to eat it).

5:00-7:00 Dinner out. We often eat dinner out at a restaurant and Jonah's food of choice is soup. I'm getting very good at shovelling food in his mouth while still eating mine. After he eats, the rest of the meal is spent wrestling ceramic plates, bowls and chopsticks out of his little hands. He's a quick little devil. However, I have also discovered one other trick. A carrot, a glass and a straw can keep him occupied for a long time at the table.

7:00-8:00 Bath and Bed time. Jonah loves his bath. However, he doesn't like to sit in the tub so he squats the entire time he is in it. Splashing is great fun and so is playing with the faucet. He would stay in there for hours if I let him. After bath it's bedtime. If he's tired he'll be to sleep by 8:15, if not, he'll play more peek-a-boo until we go over and tell him go to bed. Funny kid.


There you have it. It's not what we would be doing if we were home, but it works. Hopefully we will soon be able to start our new schedule at home. Keep Praying.

New Year's Resolutions

Now that the New Year has come and gone and reality has sunk back in, I thought I would ask you all how your New Year's Resolutions are going. Hopefully you have been more successful with yours, than I have been with mine. My New Year's Resolution was that I would stop living out my days in a Vietnam hotel. As you can see, I've failed at that one.

If I had been at home, I'm sure my resolution would have been different and probably centered around improving the amount of physical activity that I get in a day. And like every year, I would have had a difficult time getting started on some sort of exercise program.

Well, if you are anything like me and are hoping to get out and move your body, I have some great ideas for you.

In Vietnam, I have spent a great deal of time out walking. During these walks I have witnessed many wonderful and interesting things. And of all the crazy things that I have observed, my favorite by far is exercise, Vietnam style. To help you with your New Year's Resolutions this year, I have created below a How-to-Exercise-Vietnam-Style guide. Follow these simple exercises and you will be on your way to a new and improved you.

Exercise #1 Backwards is Best

First and foremost, find a very populated street. Preferably one that is in front of some building of historical significance. Next, fix your eyes on an object that is directly in front of you. Do not take your eyes off this spot. Now, walk in a straight line backwards. When you get to the end of the street, turn around and walk backwards the other way. Whatever you do, look very serious and dedicated (it helps burn more calories if you exercise solemnly) and walk with great purpose.

Exercise #2 The Timid Jogger Windmill

Once again, find a populated area. This exercise is too enjoyable to do in the privacy of your own home. Get into a crowded area so everyone can delight in it with you. Now start to jog. Well....don't really jog, that would require too much sweating. Try to move your legs quickly, but keep them limp and try to drag them down the street with you. Once you've mastered the legs you can add the arms. The arms are a bit tricky, so follow closely. Think about how your arms move when you do a front crawl swimming stroke. Now, change that stroke to make sure your arms are moving in full 360 degree circles. Keep your arms rotating the entire time you run and by all means look very serious and dedicated.

Exercise #3 Elvis Has Not Left the Building

Your last exercise happens to be my personal favorite. Once again, find a national monument that is frequently visited. Stand on the street next to that monument and turn your back to the crowd. Put your hands on your hips and gyrate them from side to side. Keep doing this over and over, giving the crowd a good view of what it looks like to exercise your backside. I can guarantee, it will be a real crowd pleaser.

Well everyone, that's it. Follow these simple exercises and you should be back in shape in no time. I look forward to hearing all about your progress when I get home (which sounds like it may be two or more weeks from now).

Snake Village

I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to blog. The internet connection was sketchy at best at our old hotel. I had to use the lobby's one computer to blog or email and it was so slow that I could have cross-stitched my name into all my underwear during the time that it took to download one email. It wore me out and I rarely had the energy to blog after that.

Now that we are in a new hotel I promise to be better at giving blog updates.

Not much has changed on the visa front since our last blog. We have been told that we need to wait while they investigate back in the province that Jonah was born in. It has been difficult to wait day after day for information and to receive nothing. I like Vietnam, but I want to come home. I'm pretty sure that Jonah thinks that his home is the hotel. I'm looking forward to settling him into a room, a highchair and a car seat. He won't know what hit him!!!!

Even though the wait has been difficult, we have been able to see and do some pretty amazing things. Yesterday we took a day trip to number of villages on the outskirts of Hanoi. About an hour ride by bus, we stopped first at the Furniture Village. Vietnam has amazing furniture. The furniture is huge, intricately carved and heavy. At one warehouse that we stopped at, we talked to the owner who said it often takes 3 months to carve one chair. While we talked with her, we watched a 16 year old boy carve intricate designs into the legs of a chair. It was amazing to watch him make all the patterns with a small set of hand tools. I can't say that it would be a job that I would want.

After Furniture Village we stopped at Snake Village. Snake is considered a delicacy in Vietnam and Snake Village raises snakes to use for food and wine. Yes, I did say wine. In Vietnam you can drink something called snake wine. After a cobra is a decent size, it is killed and coiled up into a bottle. Then the bottle is filled with rice wine. After the snake and the rice wine intermingle for awhile, the bottle is opened and consumed. Yep, you heard me. You drink wine that a dead snake has been sitting in.

At the village we walked around to the different stores that sold snake wine and raised snakes. At one particular store we paid the owner about $10 and he took his cobras out for us to look at. We all stood on his driveway with cameras in hand and watched as he placed the cobras on the ground about 12 feet away from us. I have never been so scared/fascinated about something so dangerously close to me. Crazy!!!!!!!!!! Mom was awesome. While I cowered by the potted plants she had her video camera going non-stop. You'll have to see the footage to believe it.

After the snake show we went to eat at a restaurant that specialized in snake cuisine. Here we watched a man kill a snake, cut out his heart (that kept beating), take what we think was the pancreas out and drain its blood. For what reason you ask? So we could eat it. All of it.
At the dinner table we watched as the man cut open the spleen, drained the juices from it and poured it into a glass. He then mixed the juices with rice wine, stirred it a little and poured it into our shot glasses. Bottoms up............. Let me just say that it helped clear the sinuses.

Next came the snake blood that was mixed with rice wine. I passed on this one, but Mom was a trooper. I have a great shot of her drinking her snake blood wine.

For dinner we had many regular stir-fry dishes and then a few snake dishes. The snake stir-fry was quite good and the snake soup was delicious. I don't think I'll replicate any snake dishes at home, but it was well worth it for the experience!

Hopefully back at home you are all finding small ways to spice up your days.

I drank snake bile today, what did you drink?

Prayers Needed

Hi friends, Ryan here. I talked to Betsy this morning and the families just received some concerning news.

One of the members of our group was able to get in and talk to someone at the Embassy yesterday. They assured us that they are well aware of our situation. However, they let us know that they are sending an investigator down to the province that we adopted from to do some further checking into all of our cases. We have no idea what any of this means. The reason that the Visa process changed in November was to address issues in the adoption process that the US government had seen in Vietnam in recent months. "Both the Department of State and USCIS in Vietnam have encountered inconsistencies in the documentation and circumstances regarding the relinquishment or abandonment of children for adoption. These irregularities may affect the eligibility of the child for classification as an orphan" (From the USCIS Hanoi Website).

We are adopting through a very reputable agency and the province that we adopted from has not had any issues in the past, but it is still very disconcerting that they are having to do additional investigation.

The Gentleman at the Embassy said that it would be at least another one or two weeks until we would hear anything.

Please pray that the outcome of this investigation would be positive. If the US government found any issues with the province, it could affect our ability to bring our son back to the US in a timely manner. Also, please pray for Betsy, Bea, Jonah and the other families over there as they experience this wait away from home and their families and loved ones. It is very taxing on everyone, both emotionally and financially.

Thanks for your love and support!

Bets and Bea's Excellent Adventure

Would you like to join me on an adventure? You would?! Fantastic! The first thing that you need to do is pack. Remember that you are bringing a 19 month old toddler with you, so throw in everything you can possibly imagine using during a full day outdoor excursion and then double it. Now, try to fit the enormous load that you have packed into a red backpack that you will be carrying around with you all day. Finished? Hot, Sweaty and Already Exhausted? Perfect. You're officially ready to go.

Now comes time to board the bus. Grab your red backpack, and your 24 pound baby and board the dirtiest, dustiest bus you have seen outside of Texas. Settle yourself into a seat and try for about 15 minutes to cram your backpack in an overhead compartment. Now mutter a few choice words (under your breath of course) and resign yourself to sitting in the seat with your baby and your big, enormous backpack. Get cozy. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

As the bus makes its way through rice paddies and small villages, marvel at all that God has created and giggle about the fact that Hello Kitty has reached even the most remote parts of the country. Play a bit with your baby. Feed him oranges and yogurt and consider yourself an amazing parent for not spilling all of the yogurt on yourself during the trip. After 2 1/2 hours of bumpy roads you've arrived. With a quick trip to the water closet (a fancy way of saying squat pot) you are ready for the next leg of the trip.

Gather the baby, and place him in the backpack that is weighed down with everything that you could possibly need for living in the wilderness for a decade and head to the river. Now for about 3 minutes gaze at the boat that you are about to be rowed in and call yourself names like Stupid, Crazy American and Horrible Mother with a Box of Rocks for Brains. With shaky legs board the rowboat and sit on a low wooden bench with your toddler between your legs and your mother next to you. As the boat is being rowed into the river, try to remember all the water safety courses that you took during swimming lessons and plead to your Creator that you never have to use them.

While on the boat ride, try for an hour to convince your toddler that leaning over to touch the water is not a good idea. As your boat heads further down the river begin to notice farmers working the land by hand and women in cone hats digging for water potatoes. The mountains around you are amazing and lush, with hues of green never seen in a box of crayolas. The weather is cloudy but there is no rain and you are so thankful because you forgot to pack any rain gear. It is breathtaking and glorious all at the same time.

Just as your son decides he has had enough of water, your boat reaches it's destination. Climb out and head through a number of small stalls filled with items that a Buddhist pilgrim might want to bring with you to offer to the gods in the pagodas. Incense, fruit and beads surround you as you start to make your way up to the Perfume Pagoda.

You climb a set a stairs, probably fifty or more and you begin to call yourself more names like Crazy Mother Who Over Packs and Lazy American Who Can't Climb a Set of Chairs Without Dying of a Heart Attack. At the top the path evens out. Offer up prayers of thanks to God and wonder if you are actually going to make it to the top. It is at this point that you hear amazing news. Two years ago a cable care system was installed (all the parts were brought over by row boat) and you can take a seven minute cable car ride up the mountains to the perfume pagoda. Shout Yessssssssssssssss and do a fist pump.

Now find your way to the cable car and hitch an amazing ride up the mountain. Take lots of pictures while your son bangs on the window of the cable car and grunts with excitement. At the top disembark and head out on another trail. Thankfully this trail is not very steep. Now descend a set of stairs carved into the mountain. At the bottom look around. It's a sight you've never seen before. A huge cave comes into view and inside the cave small altars of gold are set up. On the altars are enormous amounts of gifts and offerings that pilgrims have offered while making their journey to the Perfume Pagoda. Walk around a bit and think to yourself that the Perfume Pagoda isn't really a Pagoda. It's a cave. Now begin to wonder why it isn't called the Perfume Cave.

Though you have reached your destination, now remind yourself that you are only halfway through with the trip and begin to regret not drinking enough coffee for breakfast.

The trip back down is fine. By the time you are back on the bus, you are completely exhausted and very pleased with all you have accomplished with a 19 month old on your back.

Sleep well.

P.S. Your son was an excellent traveller. He feel asleep on the boatride home and was very good the entire bus ride.