ICING on the CAKE!!!!!!

Tues. 20 March 2007

We had an AMAZING ending to Don's B-day...Maile (Thuy Trang) came OUT of her shell!!!!

We had the U.S. Consulate interview in Ho Chi Minh City around NOON on Mon., all 4 families (Willis, Rust, Kennedy & Carlson) were taxied with babies in hand to meet with (thankfully) an English speaking female official ushered us to a private room asking basic questions where we live, was the orphanage clean & neat, medicals on Trang, Dillon staff, etc...I was not nervous at all and no documents were needed to fumble through to provide to her. THE ONLY glich that MORTIFIED me was when Maile's shoes starting come off or something and she decided to lunge OUT OF MY LAP straight down to the floor, HEAD FIRST--RIGHT in front of the lady, hitting her head on the table. I caught her before crashing on the floor, but I thought "oh my gosh, NOW is NOT the time to fall on your head, in front of a U.S. official that we are trying to ensure approval to get your U.S. passport!!!!!" Amazingly enough, Thuy Trang did NOT cry, she was shocked & stunned like the 3 of us in the room!!! So, we passed that with flying colors (so I assume & hope!) :)

After lunch & 2 hrs. nap of snuggling, Maile & I went shopping for "Ba's" b-day (while he went with the other men to get airplane tickets to Hanoi). The whole Dillon Staff: Mr. Minh, Mr. Thomas, Ms. Jynh, Ms. Phu met all 4 families again for a traditional Vietnamese dinner...somewhere that needed us to be hurdled into a taxi & thrown on the streets dodging peddlers, scooters, cars, buses, walkers, etc...Don's b-day wish (as well as all of ours) soon became "PLEASE let me survive this taxi ride so that I can see another tomorrow!!!!!" We all made it to this restaurant where Thomas had a long table all ready set up and servers ready to deliver an amazing 6-7 course meal. I don't know how the VN people are so tiny if they celebrate eating these elaborate meals, but it's SOOOO healthy (& I presume they don't get it very often!?). We had FRESH spring rolls with peanut sauce...I LOVE them! Then fried spring rolls, Pho (VN soup), rice with 2 vegetable dishes along with the entrees of tofu, shrimp & littl' red chili peppers dish (SPICY...EVEN TOO HOT for ME!!!!-WOW) & some meat dish with bones (that I did not try, looked like too much work for such littl' meat). Then when we thought the meal was done, out came vermichelli noodles & vegetable dish!!!! It was a great time with being with the DILLON Family & Friends sharing Don's b-day & the union of our sweet babies (& U.S. Consulate interview)!!!!! On top of that, Don was presented by the Dillon family a bouquet of flowers & the BEST TASTING CAKE I have ever had!!! It was so light & fluffy between angel food cake & a white cake with whipped chocolate frosting!!!!!

The ONLY thing I know that would have made the day perfect (& Don's b-day wish come true) would be if Maile would have LET Don hold her or any form of affection...While that didn't look like it was going to happen that day, there would be a littl' surprise in store...All the babies did GREAT with the exception of Maile rocking back & forth in her high chair (with NO straps BTW) and bonked her head on the table...then it was meltdown time...and thankfully time to wrap up the wonderful dinner!! Thankfully the bump on her head did NOT appear from the FIRST fall hours early during the US Consulate Interview, but NOW there's a littl' goose egg for Passport photos on Tues!!!! ugh...

The BEST part of Don's whole b-day was the end of the day when we returned to the hotel settling in for the evening & Maile decided she did NOT want to sleep but instead SING & DANCE & play with DADDY!!!!! Yeeeaaahhhhh~!!!! Mandy called us from the US :) (*THANK YOU*) and while encouraging Don that Maile WILL open up to her "Ba", she was already making head way by singing in the bathroom with me!!! She was belting out a VN song & wanted me NOT to see her while I was taping it all, it was PRECIOUS!!! Clapping, singing and slapping the toilet seat cover...it was one of the BEST Maile moments...

The festivities continued with our littl' party when Maile opened up & laughed heartedly with Don playing peek-a-boo & catch the angel bear games...We could NOT believe this was same withdrawn littl' girl with BIG eyes, shy, quiet & so cautious & reserved...Oh my, she found her comfort zone & we were thrilled to see her share it with Daddy now!!!!!! When asking her STILL "Do you want Ba to hold you??" She GRUNTS "Unnnggghhhh" for NO, but SHE DID rub her littl' foot on his arm last night too!!!! That was progress & the best gift Don could ask for at this point!!!!! She will be VERY shy & reserved in public settings, coming home, new friends, etc...but ONCE she opens up...WATCH OUT!!!! We will all get to see a NEW side of Maile that we had only hoped for after 5 mos. of seeing this scared, quiet, BIG brown-eyed baby girl in pictures.

We go to get PASSPORT Photos done TUES. 20 Mar, yeah....something else on the docket to do...ONE more step to getting her HOME on U.S. soil...can't wait!!!! PLEASE give ALL OUR LOVE to our boys & mom for us...we MISS them terribly & tell them how much we LOVE them!!! We'll be together as FAMILY FOREVER very soon!!!

Signing off with HAPPY girl, Maile in her littl' VN pink dress!!!! :) XO Kim-Lan