Day 6, G & R day !!!

Today was the big day. We were going to become parents again!

We got up about 6:00 to get ready for the day. It was hot outside. Immediately after getting out of the shower, you started to perspire so much, you felt like you needed another shower. The girls were up early and ate some slices of tangerine and drank some milk. About 7:30 P. and T. came to get us to go to breakfast. It was a really good buffet with a wide selection of western and Vietnamese food. The fruit was amazing. The girls’ ate well and seemed to be doing well. The nanny was reserved and appeared to be contemplating what was about to happen. She raised the girls since they were 1 day old. Since she had the twins, she did not have any other children to care for. She loves the girls as she was their mother and in a way she is the only mother they have known.

After breakfast, we loaded up in the bus for a short trip to the DMOJ (Ministry of Justice) office downtown. We arrived at 8:30 for our 9:00 appointment. We were told to sit on the benches in the lobby and wait. Although we could bring cameras and photograph inside the building, we were prohibited from photographing the exterior of the building. The building was like any government office building, people shuffling paper, people coming in to have appointments and being told to wait. T. and P. (the men) each wore slacks and short-sleeved shirts. The women had to wear long-sleeved shirts and pants to the ceremony.

About 8:50, we were invited up for the ceremony. The only people who could come were the family and L., who served as our interpreter. The room was a small office with a conference table. In the office was the head of the committee that approved our adoption and two other committee members. The head of the committee began to read the adoption decree and tell us of the importance of adopting these girls. She asked us to make sure the girls understood their heritage. She also asked us to raise them as good citizens and to bring them back to Vietnam to visit. After here speech, we started signing documents. Each of these documents had to be signed in blue ink, sealed with a red seal and was notarized. The last document we had to sign was the adoption ledger. It is a huge book, like an old banker’s ledger, with a line for each child adopted from the province. The ledger was all hand-written. We then took photos with the girls, the nanny and the committee members. We were officially parents again. Next, we went to the office of another government official. She asked us to raise the girls to become good citizens and asked us to ensure they understood their heritage. Then it came our turn to talk. They asked us to make a few comments to the committee and thank them for allowing us to adopt the girls. I let P. handle this. By 9:20 we were leaving the building and going back to the shopping center across the street to wait for all the certified, notarized documents we would need to take to the embassy to get the girls’ visas.

While we were there, the nanny fed the girls and we waited. When we boarded the bus, she came with us as far as the bus station. When we dropped her off the girls began to cry and get upset. Y., Ms. H, and Ms. N., were great at calming the girls down. Since N. was a frequent visitor to the orphanage, the girls climbed up next to her. After about 15 minutes (it seemed longer at the time), the girls began to settle down; they ate a little and fell asleep.