The Big Day!

Today was the big day. The day that was most of our reason for coming to Vietnam. The visit to the Tra Vinh Orphange, Josie's home for her first six months. I have to admit I was really nervous, I hardly slept the night before. I don't know what I was worried about, but It was an emotional day. We had to drive four plus hours to get to the orphanage. As we drove through the gates I was back to the day I adopted her. What a rush rush of emotions. I remember being in a daze of fear and joy and more fear. What was she going to be like? Would she be happy being my daughter? Would I be a good Mom? Unfortunately The worker's were all at lunch and we decide to have an earlier lunch and come back. We had lunch, which I couldn't eat (too nervous). On the way back we stopped at a Khemer Pagoda. Josie is Khemer, as are 60% of the people in Tra Vinh Province. It was very interesting we met a young monk who wanted to practice his English on us. All Khemer boys become monks for at least 3 months, at some point in their lives. Then we went the the orphanage. We went into the office and they asked what Josie's birth name was. When I told them the nanny's all started saying "Loan, Loan, Loan", looking at Josie and smiling. They recognized her. Then they pulled out this big book and there was Josie's Vietnamese name, Nguyen Ngoc Loan and my address. Then went to meet the director (again) and we gave them some gifts and a donation. I had time to ask the dirctor some things Josie wanted me to ask and they checked her file, to let us know what they knew. When I adopted her, I did not think to ask anything. Then they took us to see the babies. There were only five babies. The older children must be a different facility. Three of the babies were waiting for families in Canada and two babies that looked to have some kind of birth defect or developmental delay. Josie and I then went to the room that she lived in. It looked just the same, but no babies or cribs. It is no longer being used. Then we headed for the van. It was a big day for us both. We headed for our base in Can Tho. We are staying on the Mighty Mekong river in a hotel that has a colonial look that looks like a movie set.