Los Angeles Layover

We're sitting in the Los Angeles airport waiting on our 6:10am flight to Atlanta. We got here at 10:00 and it took us a couple of hours to go through immigration. But as soon as they stamped baby Jett's passport and visa for legal U.S. entry, he became a U.S. citizen. It's almost 2:00 am here and we can't enter the terminal until 4:00 am. Right now we're just sitting around at the Delta ticket counters waiting on 4:00. We arrive in Atlanta at 1:30. Can't wait to see everybody.

In Hong Kong

About to board flight in Hong Kong for LA. Got visa at 4:30, left Hanoi at 7:10. Leave Hong Kong momentarily. Will post in about 14 hours from LA. Thanks for all the prayers and praise God!

Hanoi

We arrived in Hanio late last night. All was ok. Our hotel is very nice and the view is wonderful. See the pictures(from our window.) Jett is still sick and we took him to the SOS clinic last night. He has a sore throat and virus(vomiting) so keep him in your prayers. He seems to get motion sick. He got sick at the end of our flight last night.

We had our VISA interview today and it was well. She said if no complications arise, we can pick up the visa tomorrow at 4pm. Please pray that no complications arise. If we get the visa then, we will all fly out tomorrow at 7pm. If anything arises, Jon will fly out tomorrow night and me and baby Jett will wait on the Visa. Please pray that this will go smoothly as we are all so ready to go home. We will keep you all posted as much as possible through the travel, and we hope the next post will be closer to Georgia. Thanks for all of the continued prayers.

JR and James: we love you and miss you. We hope to be home soon. Get mema to show you on the calendar when. You both pray for us to have a safe trip home. Please, please, please come and get us from the airport. Be good for mema and we will see you soon. We are so proud of you both for being such big boys while we have been going to bring baby Jett home. I have lots of sugar saved for you so get ready.

love,

momma and daddy

heading to hanoi

We finally have all of our paperwork in hand. Praise the Lord for this miracle. We have a flight tonight to Hanoi at 7p.m. Unless something changes we will be in Hanoi by 9 or 10pm. Jett is still not feeling real well so we ask that you continue to pray for this little fellow. We will update further once we arrive in Hanoi. Please pray for safe travel for us and baby Jett. This will be his first flight. Thank you all for the continued comments and prayers. They really help us and we can feel the prayers.

JR and James: We still miss you bunches and can't wait to see ya. We hope and pray we will be home this week to see you. We will have to do something really fun so ya'll be thinking about it. You both be good for Mema and Papa. Daddy got you some new pajamas today- they match baby Jett's. James, they are green, your favorite color. We love you both bunches. Mema, give them lots of sugar for us and we will be there shortly to relieve you. I know you are ready.
love,
momma and daddy

Another Sunday Passes By

Well another day is just about over. Sunday in Saigon and we haven't seen much outside of the hotel walls. DeanAnne has been sick all day and Jett is not feeling good either. He hardly slept at all last night. We suspect he has an ear infection now. We went out to eat lunch today at an Italian restaurant and it was really good. After we got back to the hotel at 1:00 we all laid down for a nap and no one woke up until 4:00.

This morning I went by myself back to church at the Saigon Evangelical Church. It's not to far from our hotel. I got there about 8:30 and all the seats with translation headphones were filled. I had to listen to the entire service in Vietnamese. The scripture was in Daniel and the sermon was about what kind of man Daniel was. I couldn't understand the sermon at all, but as I followed along in the scripture I imagined what that pastor was saying. I couldn't help but believe that the pastor was talking about Daniel's faith through all his circumstances. How nothing was under his control while he was in that lion's den, but God delivered him anyway. I thought about how King Darius put him in that lion's den because he prayed to God instead of the king. Once the king saw that Daniel was still alive the next day he brought him out of the lion's den, he made a decree that all Persia should bow before the God of Daniel because his Kingdom is everlasting and he delivereth and rescueth. It's amazing how you can sit under the Word of God even in another language and the Holy Spirit can still minister unto you. After the service they had a baptismal service. 33 new believers were baptized and it was great. The whole service lasted about 2 and a half hours. It was long but good.

On another note, I told DeanAnne one day last week, "What do you think are the chances of running into someone from Cochran here in Saigon?" She just laughed and said I wouldn't count on it. The last time I said that to her, we were on a cruise ship in the Cayman Islands. One night the elevator door opened and there stood Ritchie Johnson, one of my best friends from my school days. I couldn't believe it. So the other night I was in the elevator and this nice guy asked us where we were from. I told him Georgia and he said,"Wow, I used to live in Georgia!" So I asked where and he said, "Oh a little town around Macon nobody ever heard of, Cochran." My teeth almost hit the floor. I said, I live in Cochran! The man got so excited. He lived in Cochran in 1975-1977. He was a refugee after the war at 16 years old. His name was Trung Nyguen and he had attended the First Baptist Church back then. He knew people in Cochran and was so excited to meet me. We talked a long time. This was his first trip back to Vietnam in 32 years and he was going to tour the whole country. What a small world!

Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to get our I-600 and head on to Hanoi. Everyone please remember us in your prayers. We have a flight on Wednesday night out of Hanoi. We can only make it if everything works out with the visa. Please pray specifically for that. One of us will leave Wednesday regardless to be back with the boys.Thanks for following along and we hope to see everyone soon.

J.R. and James: We love you and miss you. Hold on and we will be home before you know it.

INS appt

We finally had out INS interview yesterday. Sorry for not posting earlier, but it was a very tough day. I will skip the grueling details of the day, but we were finally notified yesterday evening that our case would be approved and our approved I600 could be picked up on Monday. We are very excited that we were approved, but picking it up on Monday is another day delay. We were hoping to be in Hanoi on Monday doing our VISA interview. Nevertheless, this is a step in the right direction. We once again canceled our tickets to Hanoi and rescheduled them for Monday evening. We are now hoping to arrive in Hanoi on Monday, have the Visa interview on Tuesday, and pick up the Visa on Wednesday. We will come home after we have the Visa in hand. We have to have this Visa to bring Jett back in to the US. Please continue to pray that this will work out for us. We are so ready to come home and see our families and especially JR and James. Also, please continue to pray for us as we strive to complete this emotional process.

On a lighter note, we went out walking this morning. We walked down to the river and looked at many boats. The river here has alot of trash floating in it and also a lot of bamboo. It was nice to have a change of scenary. We then walked around town and went to the grocery store. Jett is on his second nap since we have been back in the room. You can see how tired he is. In one of the other pictures of Jett is a guy that works at our hotel. He has been very kind to us and always holds Jett. I keep saying Jett will look like him when he gets older.

Jett actually slept for 5 hours straight last night. This is a record for us and we were very excited. Before this, his longest stretch of sleep was 3 hours. We seem to have a very active newborn baby on our hands!

If you can't recognize the difference in the post, it is DeanAnne posting and not Jon. Maybe he will be back posting in a few days. I am not quite as informative as he is and talk alot more about Jett than the scenary. Thank you all for the continued prayers and support. Your comments are greatly appreciated and mean so much to us. These comments help us get through each day. We read and appreciate them all.

JR and James: We love you very much and can't wait to see you. I loved seeing you on Mr. Kevin's computer yesterday. We are proud of you for being strong during this time as we work to bring baby Jett home. You both be good for Mema and don't let her get all of my sugar. Remember every time she kisses you, it is from me and daddy. We have lots of special prizes for you when we get home. Remind Mema that you need to say your memory verses at night for her so you won't forget. We love you so much and are so proud of you. God is proud of you too for being such big boys while we are gone.

love you bunches,

Momma and Daddy

No News Yet

Well things have come to a grinding halt. We have sat in the hotel now for three days waiting on an INS appointment. No one can tell us the status of our case. The facilitator has called, but can't seem to find out anything. I haven't posted frankly because we have been discouraged. So much is out of your hands here, it's very easy to fall into despair. I want everyone to please pray for an INS appointment as soon as possible. It is very hard to be so far away from our family with seemingly no end in sight. DeanAnne and I have discussed options for one of us returning next week to be with the boys if we are still in limbo. We really have to place our faith in God here because we have no choice. I really believe that he has led us all this way and allowed us to go through this for a purpose. We will definitely be stronger after it is over with. Thanks to each of you who has continually lifted us up in prayer while we've been gone. Continue to pray for our strength and for God's will to be done. I still hope to get word of our interview any time now and we will pass the news on as soon as we know. Thanks so much to each of you.

Just Waiting!

We're still sitting around today waiting to hear from the facilitator about our INS appointment. I hope that no news is good news. Maybe he'll call in a little while and confirm a Wednesday appointment.

Last night we took our facilitator out to eat at the Rex Hotel. The food was very good and they had traditional Vietnamese music being played by a group there. It was very interesting to hear.

After we left the restaurant, there was a terrible commotion outside. It seems that the Vietnamese soccer team had advanced in the Asian Cup. There were hundreds of young people on mopeds racing around the circle below the Rex waving Vietnamese flags and banners. This excitement continued well into the night as the groups went all through the city. They passed our hotel very late yelling and chanting. The group was so large it pretty well shut down all traffic wherever it went. The picture was taken in the circle in front of the Ho Chi Minh City Hall. This is where the statue of Ho Chi Minh with a child is located.

So now we wait. Here are a few more pictures of Jett while we are waiting. Hopefully I'll have good news tomorrow!

Look Mom, No Hands!

Oh Happy Day!

Praise the Lord! We just got back from our Giving and Receiving ceremony. We had to wait forever, but we were able to complete everything! We are so excited. We drove for about 1.5 hours and picked up the vice-director of the orphange.

We drove a short distance from the orphanage to the Provincial Department of Justice and then waited for 1 hour. Finnaly it was our turn to go into the second story office of The Provincial Department of Justice for our ceremony. There were two ladies inside and we signed 10 documents and a huge legal book similar to the logs for property deeds in a courthouse. The book had detailed information on DeanAnne and I and also on Baby Jett. The ladies and the orphanage director all signed the documents as well.

Once we were through, one of the ladies handed us a copy of our adoption decree and we took a picture. That was it. The ceremony lasted 5 minutes at most and we were back on our way to the hotel. Our facilitator will be stopping by to get some documents from us to file with INS for our interview. Hopefully the interview will be Wednesday morning. Everyone please say a prayer for a Wednesday successful interview. If we can leave Wednesday evening, we might possibly make our 7:50pm flight on Friday evening back home. Wouldn't that be awesome. Please pray for things to fall in place for us over the next few days.

J.R. and James: We miss you and love you. Get Me-Ma to let ya'll watch the video of baby Jett.

Sunday in Saigon

After a whole lot of trying, we finally found a church to attend today in Saigon. Sue, our agency director , and I have been trying to locate an evangelical church and last night when we talked to the lady at the front desk at the hotel we found out she was a Christian. She gave us the name and address for the Saigon Evangelical Church.

We got there about 8 o'clock and Sunday School was in progress. They do not have many rooms besides the sanctuary, so everyone met in the sanctuary. There were about fifteen groups seated throughout the sanctuary and each one had a teacher going over a bible lesson with them. We waited around until Sunday School was over and then a gentleman directed us to a special section of the sanctuary. There we were given a set of headphones and an English translator translated the entire service to us. The church held about 500 people by my count and it was overflowing. Shortly after the service began, Jett had a bought of diarrhea and ruined his clothes. DeanAnne took him out and changed his clothes. Before she came back an usher came and asked her to let the nursery keep Jett so that she could hear the service. After a week here there is one thing I can tell you about these people, they are extremely kind and compassionate. DeanAnne took Jett to the nursery and felt comfortable doing it (for those of you who know DeanAnne, that says a lot for the nursery). After the service we went down to pick Jett up and he was asleep on the caregiver's shoulder. The service was extremely interesting and the pastor delivered a message entitled, "Where's Your Faith?" He used a scripture from the New Testament about the disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee during a storm. Jesus was asleep on the boat and they woke him up, terrified that they were about to die. Jesus stilled the storm and asked the disciples "where is your faith?" The sermon really spoke to me as it seems Vietnam has been our "Sea of Galilee" and at times we have to be reminded that nowhere on this earth is out of His reach.

The translator that took us to Tay Ninh the other day stopped by and brought us some Vietnamese fruit. I don't know what all of it is, but the spiny one that looks like a sweet gum ball is a rambutan. The large pink and green one is a dragon fruit I think.

Tomorrow we will have our Giving and Receiving ceremony if nothing changes. This is an official ceremony where we will sign documents and after it is over the country of Vietnam will recognize us as Jett's legal parents. We leave early in the morning, so we are making final preparations tonight.

We went out walking tonight and it ended up pouring while we were out. We waited for about 30 minutes and the rain never broke so we went into the closest restaurant and had dinner. After dinner it was still raining, so we caught a cab back to the hotel and started getting ready for bed. Here are a few pictures of Jett at bath time. He seems to be doing better now and his fevers are lower and less often. Maybe now we can keep him well until we get back home.That's all for today. Pray for G&R pictures tomorrow.

Day at the Zoo

This morning we decided to get up and make a trip to the Saigon Zoo. The zoo is located on the edge of the Saigon river. It's in a really shaded and beautiful park area. The zoo itself has some interesting animals, but many of them are in pretty bad conditions. The grounds are well kept though and there was a huge crowd while we were there. One of the things that amazed me most was that many of the grassy areas were trimmed by hand by staff at the zoo. I mean just a pair of over sized scissors. Then they gather the clippings up and carry them off in a basket.

The zoo was full of all kinds of animals, but I found the hippopotamus to be the most fascinating. Those things are huge. The one in this picture is a good 10 feet long and probably 3-4 thousand pounds. I don't think I've ever seen one out of the water. There mouths are full of teeth as well. It was really neat to see one like this.

There were also several other animals. Bears, deer, crocodiles, snakes, and monkeys.

The central area of the zoo had a stage and there were various acts like little girls twirling fire, juggling, and other stunts.

There was a small amusement park inside as well. One of the neatest things I saw were miniature cyclos for kids to ride other kids on around a little track.

They also had several elephants which interestingly enough can be found wild in the central highlands region of Vietnam. Here's a wild one now that has scooped baby Jett up and is about to carry him away!

After the zoo trip we walked down to the Diamond Plaza. It is a huge office building with a mall on the first three floors. The fourth floor has a Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, pool hall, and bowling alley. The US Consulate also has office space here and we will go here for our INS interview next week. We have to get past this interview so we can go up to Hanoi and file at the Dept. of State for Jett's visa.We went on into the Pizza Hut and shared another pizza.

We are all in the hotel napping now. Tomorrow is Sunday and then hopefully we will get this show back on the road Monday. I'm really ready to make some progress.One last shot of baby Jett for everyone.

J.R. and James: Be good for Me-Ma. We love you and miss you very much. Hope to see you again soon. Love, Momma and Daddy.

Chad: I just thought I'd show you a picture of the Bohannon's Builders Supply in Saigon. I knew ya'll were looking to diversify, I just didn't know how much. That motorcycle with the bed on the front is their delivery vehicle and I have seen them haul as much as you could get on a pickup truck and that is no lie!

Day Out of the City

Today I got up about 5:30 and took a ride out of the city with our agency director, Sue. DeanAnne stayed behind at the hotel with Jett because he has been sick for the last couple of days. His fever last night was 102.5, but we finnaly got it down and he's doing pretty good. Sue and I rode in a rented vehicle out of Ho Chi Minh city through the town of Cu Chi and on to Tay Ninh. Tay Ninh is the world center of the Chao Dai faith. It is a little known religion practiced mostly in south Vietnam that combine elements of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. We saw several Chao Dai temples on our way and they are eaily distinguished by the symbol of the all seeing eye that is similar to the eye above the pyramid on the US dollar.

The trip out was very interesting. We drove through rice field after rice field. South Vietnam is pretty much nothing but delta and well suited for rice production. Most of the work is done by hand or oxen. I saw some oxen pulling carts on the road as we passed.

There are also many cows in the delta. They cross the roads in front of vehicles while travelling. There are a few fences in some areas, but most of the animals free range or are tethered with ropes in a certain area.

We also pasted numerous brick kilns in the process of firing brick. I guess this area is also suited well for clay excavation to produce bricks.

There are also numerous buddhist temples in this area. Many of them are involved in production of some kind. There were numerous places to buy elaborate wooden caskets or stone mausoleums with built in altars. We passed several cemeteries where the dead were buried in unique above ground mausoleums.

We also crossed several rivers in this region. The scenery on the rivers is very unique. The houses are old and ricketty. It really reminds me of scenes out of the movies.

I'll throw in a picture of Jett for everybody to see. He's really doing good. Can't wait for ya'll to see him.

The mission team from our church leaves today for the Dominican Republic. Everybody remember them in your prayers. Pray that their work will be fruitful and far reaching. Also remember the Vietnamese people. For all practical purposes, this place is unreached by the gospel. There are a few Christians here, but not many. I have only seen one catholic church outside of Ho Chi Minh and no evangelical churches. Vietnam reminds me of what Jesus said in the bible about the harvest. The fields here are white unto harvest, but the workers are few. Pray that the Master will provide workers. Pray that the Vietnamese can have access to bibles in their own language so they will at least have the opportunity to read and make their own decision.

Out and About in Saigon

Today we got up and went down for breakfast in our hotel. The food is very good here and breakfast is included in the price of the room. The foods are a bit non-traditional but there are some similar things. I eat either beef pho(noodle soup pictured below) or beef steak and french fries every morning. You have to get down early to eat the pho as it is very popular.

After breakfast we went out walking and ended up at Independence Palace or Reunification Palace. This palace was the presidential office of the South Vietnamese government until it dissolved on April 30, 1975. By this time the American forces had been withdrawn from South Vietnam and only essential military personnel and embassy staff remained in a show of support for the South Vietnamese Democratic government.

Symbolically the capture of this palace by North Vietnamese tanks on April 30, 1975 signaled the reunification of the entire country under communist control. This day is a public holiday in Vietnam known as Reunification Day. These gates pictured are the very same gates shown during the North Vietnamese invasion.

Before this event took place all Americans had been evacuated from Vietnam along with thousands of Vietnamese refugees fleeing the communists. Those who did not escape were re-educated by the North Vietnamese in concentration camps.

The palace is very nice and has a beautiful view. It is about 5 stories, and includes a theatre, a gambling room, rooftop helicopter landing pad, various meeting rooms, and an underground bunker.

From there it was on to the War Remnants Museum. This is a museum constructed to show pictures and effects of the Vietnam War. In Vietnam the war is referred to as the American War. The walls are covered with photographs of bombings of churches, villages, children, and other areas. It even has jars with preserved fetuses that were supposedly aborted or damaged by Agent Orange. It is very gruesome, but a site that is worth seeing. I try to remember that there are two sides to every story and the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.

The grounds around these areas are well cared for and very beautiful. The city really has some very nice areas.

After the museum it was back to the hotel. Jett went to sleep very quickly so we decided to order room service. Everything on this tray was $5 and it was brought to our room. I just had to show you the squid that was in one of the dishes. It is very good. I tried to get DeanAnne to eat a piece and let the tentacle hang out of her mouth, but she was to embarrassed.

Another note for those who are yet to travel; The streets of Saigon are filled with beggars. Many of them walk on their hands with flip flops for gloves. Some of them are missing limbs or have severe deformities. Some of them are very old ladies. They will pursue you relentlessly for donations or to sell you something. If you are seen giving to one, many more will follow you. Many of them claim their deformity is a result of the war. You have to prepare yourself mentally to turn these people away. If you even stop to talk to them or look at what they have to offer, you will be in a situation. Sometimes it is very hard not to help these people, but many of them are nothing more than con artists waiting to prey on sympathetic travelers. Just a word to the wise so you can be prepared. Most of them are not intimidating or scary, just extremely persistent.

J.R. and James: It was good to talk to you on the video phone. We were so proud to see you both and Julian too. We love you and miss you. Love momma and daddy.

Here are a few more pictures of Jett. He really likes it when Daddy feeds him supper. Oreo cookies! I'll make up for it at breakfast so he can get some dairy products, ice cream!

He has really improved in many areas. He is pulling up and standing on the edge of the bed and chairs. He has also learned to patty-cake. I say patty-cake, patty-cake and clap my hands and he will stop what he's doing and mimic me. It's pretty amazing after only 4 days.


He's been running a fever the last two days. Even while sick he still smiles and laughs alot. We can't wait to get him home for everyone to see!