Last call for sight seeing

Kirk and I have been wanting to go to a water puppet show since we have been in Vietnam. Trinh had tried to get us tickets when we first arrived but all the shows were booked. Last night when we were coming home for dinner, there were two tickets at the front desk for us. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about how Ema would respond. It did not start until 8:00 PM and Ema was already exhausted. We battled it anyways. To our surprise, she loved it!!! She stood up in my lap, and danced, waved her arms, and clapped. She was almost mezermized by the music.

Patty Cake , Patty Cake

Ema is already beginning to pick up quickly on new things. Daddy taught her how to throw things and mommy taught her how to patty cake. Everyday we go to Highland's coffee and sit out on the balcony and we play. This is the one place that Ema actually is good and likes to just sit. Sitting is something this child hardly ever does. We have grown kinda attached to Highlands. Their white chocolate mocha honestly tastes like there is a BIG block of white chocolate that is sitting in the bottom of the coffee mug and is gradually melting with each taste. Starbucks does not even come close. Yesterday while having our usual caffeine fix for the day Ema began her own game of patty cake. She can't quite get the hang of "roll em up roll em up" but loves to thrown em in the pan!!!

Great News

We got great news yesterday. We are coming home on Friday. We won't actually arrive in Memphis until Saturday at 2:00 PM if everything goes as scheduled. Ema is adjusting everyday. Please continue to pray that she gets well so that the plane ride home is not torture (not for us but for the other passengers). Our flight does not leave Vietnam until 11:55 PM. If anyone has any tips on how we should plan tomorrow please feel free to post. We are thinking that we should only take 1 nap early/middle of the day then keep her awake as long as we can. Around 11:00 PM give her a bottle with Benadryl. Thanks to EVERYONE that kept up with us on our blog. You will never know how much your concern and prayers mean to us. Here are some pictures from yesterday. Enjoy!

Daddy's girl in progress

Ema is finally showing progress. She loves her daddy so much I can just see it in her eys's. She looks at him with this look that just makes your heart melt. She laughs at him and talks to him (still in Vietnamese) and I can only imagine that she thinks he is the coolest dad on the planet. She loves to play with him and today she started kissing him. When he walks into the room she gets so excited! She is still very hesitant on going to him but I feel with just a couple of more days I won't be able to get her out of his arms. He is the most patient person I know. Can you imagine waiting for a child for 2+ years and then once you get her she won't let him hold her. My heart breaks for him because I know that he wants to hold her so bad but she just won't let him. Everyday is a new day and she does something new each day. Here are some pictures of daddy and his sweet little girl:

Sick Baby

Ema has been dealing with a fever that just won't go away. I am sure that she was perfectly fine with the germs that was in her orphanage but when she was introduced into the all the new germs outside her orphanage she gets sick. We have been giving her Motrin around the clock. It seems to help but when it is time for her next dose, her fever is back. Last night(12:00 AM) I woke up and felt of her. I knew her temperature was high. I checked it and it was 101.3. It is very scary being in another country with a sick baby. I know I am a nurse but I nurse on grown ups not babies. Today we are resting. We ate breakfast and came back to the room for a nap which we had to take Benadryl for that. Nothing hurts more than to have a sick baby and not be able to really do much. Hopefully with a little TLC and rest Ema will be good as new tomorrow.

Various Pics (We know that's what everybody wants)

Sunday we went to the pottery village outside the city and Ema of course loved being out and about. We found out quickly that she is like a bull in a China shop. She kept trying to grab and pick up all the breakable things. Oh yeah - Daddy also was a celebrity at the pottery village. For some reason a group of young girls wanted to take pictures with me only. I guess I still have it!!





Monday we went to get Ema's medical checkup and let's just say she didn't like that at all. The funniest part was when the little foreign doctor said "whew - she's a monster!"



More just various pics:

Internet Trouble / Sorry for No Updates

Sorry we haven't put many new posts or pictures on the blog since Saturday. We are doing well and everything is fine. We are just having a lot of internet problems (if you saw the power lines around here you would know why). Every time we get some pictures downloaded and write something to post it kicks us out for some reason?? We have been really busy and getting things done. We got Ema's passport today and went for her medical exam this afternoon (Monday). 2 more steps down before we can come home. Now we have to go for our visa interview with the US Embassy to get Ema's visa and then we are free to leave. Hopefully we can get that done this week and come home by Thursday or Friday. We do have tons of pictures and we would love to put them on the blog so everyone can see them. We are going to try and go to the local coffee shop we found and see if it will work there tomorrow. It's really good and reminds us of Starbucks. You know you've been in Hanoi, Vietnam too long when you start recognizing people as you walk down these busy streets and the people at the coffee shop know where you want to sit every time you go there!!