About 4 weeks after we accepted our referral, I traveled to Vietnam to see our baby girl for the first time, and to submit the paperwork to the Justice Department in Lang Son Province. I departed on Friday, June 14th and arrived on my birthday; Sunday, June 16th. What a wonderful birthday present! Finally I was going to be a mother.

     I flew Thai Airways with a short overnight in Bankok, Thailand. Prior to my departure I met other families through the APV (Adoptive Parents of Vietnam) e-mail group who were on the same flight as myself, and booked at the same hotel; The Camelia. We grouped together at the Bankok airport and flew the same flight to Hanoi, Vietnam the next morning. Some of us even rode together in a minivan to our hotel in Hanoi. It was really nice to meet others to share this wonderful experience with. I wish Larry could have also traveled with me on this trip to meet our daughter for the first time.

       I arranged to spend one week in Vietnam, although I did not need that much time. The only day that we traveled to the orphanage was on Monday, June 17th. We departed real early Monday morning and did not return until the late afternoon. There were eight of us traveling in a minivan including the driver and the Agency Representative. The other families included Barbara, adopting an infant girl, Stacie and Kristie, adopting a 3 year old boy, and an infant girl, and Dan and Judy, adopting a 5 year old girl. We drove directly to the orphanage to see the children, and luckily we were able to spend about 1 1/2 hours with them. Afterwards we went to the Justice Department for an interview and to submit our paperwork. Both places were in the town of Lang Son.

     After Monday, I still had 4 full days left in Hanoi to spend as I pleased, so decided to learn a little more about our daughters birthcountry. I shopped for Vietnamese arts and crafts, dined out, toured craft villages, historical landmarks in Hanoi, and the Museum of Ethnology.