Progress, progress

Well, looks like the request will be made to have my visa entry in Vietnam effective June 17.  If all goes according to plan, the Giving and Receiving ceremony will take place in the week of the 20th.

I have not mentioned yet that a very good friend of mine will be making the trip with me.  She is a lot more travel-smart than I am, which reassures me.  Also, I am very much at ease to share this experience with her as she has already shared with us a significant event in the past, the birth of Noah, at home, 5 years ago.  We share a lot in our respective parenting styles and that is very important to me: I know she will not be there to judge me in the way I will try to connect with Toan.

My estimation is that I might leave from Canada on June 17 or 18 and arrive the following day in Vietnam.  I would then spend a day to situate myself and go purchase goods for the orphanage with the generous donations my fellow runners made.  I will ask the agency employee over there to help me buy what is needed the most at the orphanage.  As adoptive parents, we are also expected to make a donation.  I have yet to find out how it works: will I purchase stuff over there or do we simply give the money to the orphanage?  Details I guess.  I am also bringing a box of goodies we gathered such as school supplies and over-the-counter meds.  The next morning, I might then be able to go to Vung Tau, about 2 hours away from Saigon, to go and meet Aidan Toan at the orphanage.

I guess the trend now is to have parents stay in Vung Tau for a couple days prior to the ceremony, in order to get to know the baby and get to know where he is from.  This will be very interesting, however, it increases my chances to get scabies from the orphanage.  The only solution to this will be to treat baby, myself and my friend once we get back to Saigon for good.  Something else to experiment with!