Saturday Trip To the Market

Today was a busy day. We got up this morning and met with our agency representative, Mr. Hiep. He will pick us up at 9am on Sunday and take us to meet Jett for the first time. We are very excited. I don't think I can describe how we feel right now. I'm sure that first meeting will be very emotional. We have invested a tremendous amount of emotion into this over the last year, and it will all climax tommorrow. We can't wait.

After we met Mr. Hiep, our friends Joe and Katie came over to the hotel and took us down to the Binh Than market to look around. (I'm the dainty looking bodyguard on the right for the three celebrities on the left.)This was an amazing experience. The market is one of the most interesting places I have ever been. We entered the market right down the street from our hotel. The side we are on houses the meat and vegetables. You can find almost anything you can imagine here. The aisles are filled with live fish, shrimp, crabs, beef, pork, and things I have never seen before much less know what they are. The smell is putrid, but it is so interesting to walk through. We bought a few things today, but not a lot.

The market has every thing you can imagine. Clothes, jewelry, purses, collectibles, medicine, herbs, coffee, you name it. The price is negotiable on everything. The clothing sales people are very pushy. Some young girls grabbed me today and pulled me into their booth. They keep saying, "We have your size!" She tried to unbutton my shirt so I could try one on. Some of them would make excellent car salesmen. I also don't believe that many people have my size. I am something of a rarity here. I don't speak Vietnamese well but I can pick up on remarks that people make as I am passing about my heighth. We have not met any rude or mean people here. The people are very gracious and polite.

There are a lot of places to buy things in this area. People are set up to sell all up and down the street. There are also a lot of older women cooking, selling fruit, or taking things to the market to sell.

Many of the items are very cheap. We bought DeanAnne a backpack to replace her torn one. It was a North Face and it only cost $10. Many people are walking around begging for money. If you give any to them others will follow you around and beg. Many of these people are handicapped and you feel very sorry for them. There are also alot of very young children roaming around by theirself begging.

Well it's almost dark and I think DeanAnne and I are going to go get something to eat. Next time we should be able to post pictures and tell you about baby Jett. Until then, thanks for checking on us.

Safe and Sound in Saigon

Hey everyone. This update is from our hotel , The Thien Xuan. We had to stay in a suite tonight because the regular rooms are booked up. We should be able to move tommorrow. I am totally overwhelmed right now, so I'll start from the beginning (especially for those who are coming to Vietnam in the future).

We arrived at Tan Son Nhat Airport (Saigon) after a 2.5 hour flight from Hong Kong. Before you exit the plane the stewardesses will give you a declaration form to fill out and carry through customs. I was really nervous about this because I had heard people had problems sometimes coming through customs and immigration. The form was really easy to fill out. You have to keep it with your passport at all times while in Vietnam. Once we got off the plane, we had to walk down a long corridor that leads to a large open area where immigration officials have numerous lines set up. I assume they are military people, and many of them are younger. You have to wait in line until they call you forward and then they will look at your passport and visa. They want to know how long you will be staying and where you will be staying. Some people are detained longer than others for questions, but we went right through. Next you go on to collect your baggage then proceed to customs before you exit the airport. Here they will x-ray all your belongings and remove a portion of your declaration form to retain for their records. Once you clear customs you may exit the airport. It is like a mad house once you go through those doors(see picture above). There are hundreds of people standing there either waiting on someone or just watching people walk out. There was a staff person from our agency holding a sign up for us. I didn't have much trouble finding him and he led us out to the taxi.

We rode the taxi back to our hotel and boy is that first trip an experience. No amount of people telling you about the traffic will prepare you until you see it for yourself. There are 1000's of motorcycles and I am not exaggerating. People blow their horns non-stop and for no apparent reason. Chaos is about the best description I can think of. Multiple lanes of traffic merge at intersections with no signal lights. Just a lot of stop-n-go and horn blowing. It's no wonder foreigners are not allowed to drive here. It would take some time to learn this stuff. You would be amazed at what some people haul on these motorcycles. I saw one with a full size bed mattress on it. It is amazing. It is also very noisy here. Vehicle noise and horn blowing are the constant background. This picture is out of our hotel window. It is a side street so it is not as busy. This is a four way intersection with no signs or signals. People just come and go all 4 ways without stopping. It's pretty neat to watch.

The hotel is really nice and I think we will enjoy staying here. I hope to go out today and see more of what is around our hotel. I'm sure we will get something to eat later on, but I am wore out with only 7 hrs. of sleep in the last 48 hrs., and that was in an upright airplane seat. Well that's all for now, more later!

The Hong Kong Connection

We landed in Hong Kong at 5:00am (5:00pm back home).The airport is almost deserted at this time of day. We leave at 8:50am on our flight to Saigon. The Hong Kong flight lasted 14 hours. I was able to sleep about the first 7 hours (and I use "sleep" loosely). It's hard to describe a 14 hour plane flight. All I can say is that it feels better landing than taking off. I didn't practice sleeping in the upright position enough. The Hong Kong airport is a really beautiful place. It is surrounded by water and mountainous islands. It has been raining and the clouds and fog are hanging around the mountaintops. I threw in a picture for everyone to see. We leave here and we have a 2 1/2 hour flight to Saigon. We should be in our hotel around 12:00 if we don't have any trouble. More to come.

J.R. and James: Momma and Daddy sure do miss you. We love you both and can't wait to get back home to see you. J.R. , I haven't seen that pond you wanted yet, but let me know if you think of anything else and I will look for you. be good and we will talk to ya'll soon. We love you!

And They're Off!

It’s 4:00 right now and we are sitting in the Atlanta airport. The flight out of Savannah was great. When we got up in the air out of Savannah the pilot sounded the tone to unfasten seatbelts. Then he sounded the tone to fasten seatbelts again. It sounded like a doorbell, Ding-Dong. No joke, that’s about how long the flight was. Savannah airport is very nice. The boys were able to go all the way up to the TSA search point with us. There is only one concourse, so they could really see what was going on. They must have ridden the escalators up and down 100 times. After much hugging and kissing and crying we made our way down to the gate. Momma and Daddy hung around with the boys and they watched our flight leave. I am really impressed with the Savannah airport. It is nice to go into such a small airport, no lines, no crowds, and no waiting. We can make it there in less than two hours and minus the chaos. It’s nice to fly into Atlanta and get to skip the TSA search lines that are sometimes there. Next flight leaves at 5:30 to Los Angeles. On a lighter note, I was really worried about the size of the seats on the airplane. At 6’3” and 285 lbs. I am hardly the average American. DeanAnne and I had a pair of seats on the two seat side of the airplane. I was able to comfortably sit in the seat and DeanAnne didn’t mind lying in the floor as long as I kept my feet out of her face. That’s all for now, more in L.A.

Well here we are in Los Angeles. It's almost 10:00 here and our flight leaves at 11:50. 14 hours later we'll arrive in Hong Kong. The Los Angeles airport is very confusing. It's layout is nothing like Atlanta. We had to leave the concourse we were in and travel to another separate concourse that is for international flights. It was about a ten minute walk and their were no signs that clearly marked the way. It was chaos on the inside. Apparently a lot of flights to Asia leave out around midnight. We finally made it to our gate and here we sit now. We are flying out on a 747 and I can see it out the window as I type. Man is that thing big. It has an upper level where the pilots and first class passengers ride. The middle level is economy and it runs from the nose of the plane to the tail. Of course DeanAnne and I will be riding in the cargo hold, about as nice as we could afford. I sure hope I can hang on until they let the wheels up. I really don't want to fall out. That's all for now. Next chapter: Hong Kong.

Last Day

Well today is the last day to get ready. We stayed up until 2am this morning packing bags and going over documents. You have to take so many things with you that it just feels like your leaving something for sure. Tomorrow morning we will pull out around 9 am. My momma and daddy will be taking us to the airport in Savannah. Our flight doesn't leave until 2:30, but we will probably go eat somewhere together before going on to the airport. James and J.R. are very excited to be able to go to the airport and see the airplanes. Leaving the boys will by far be the hardest part of this trip for DeanAnne (Jon too!). We will pretty much miss the month of July 2007 in their lives. 1 Corinthians 6:20 says "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Nothing in life that is worth having comes for free. Just as Jesus payed the ultimate price that we might be adopted as sons and daughters into the family of God, our family must pay a price to bring Jett here into our family. DeanAnne and I know that when we come back at the end of the month and we are re-united as a family with J.R., James, and Jett every minute gone will be worth it. We are not the only ones who are affected by this trip. Many of our family and friends are also affected. They will be taking care of the boys, feeding animals, taking care of the house, etc. So many people are playing a part in this adoption and we are so grateful to each and every one of them. Please remember my mother (Debi) in your prayers as she will have our boys for the entire time. Then the week of July 14-21 she will also have my nephew (Julian) as my brother (Robert), his wife (Dale), my daddy (Jerry), and several more of our neighbors and church family will be traveling to The Dominican Republic on a mission trip.

DeanAnne's office is giving her a shower today. She was really excited. After she comes home from work today we will make some final preparations and then we will be off tomorrow. I'll try to keep everyone posted as we progress through our trip whenever possible. Thanks for your support and continued prayers.

*QUICK OFF TOPIC NOTE: Just thought I would share something with everyone for what it's worth. Saturday night DeanAnne and I took the boys to Chic-Fil-A in Dublin to eat and play on the slide. While the boys were playing I ran across the street to Office Max to pick up a few things . While I was in Office Max I saw Herschel Walker. For those of you not from Georgia, Herschel Walker carried the Bulldogs to a 1980 National Championship in what is considered to be the best freshman year for a college player ever. He is ranked in many top 100 college players ever polls as #2. He left UGA after his junior year and joined the now defunked USFL. After the USFL he went on to play in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys. He was traded to the Minnesota Vikings for 5 players and 6 draft picks. This trade is considered to be the turning point in Dallas Cowboys rise to dominance as they acquired Emmit Smith and several other powerhouses with the draft picks they got for Herschel. He went on to do very little for the Vikings. He played for several other teams and was eventually re-acquired by Dallas where he retired in 1997. He also was on the U.S. bobsled team in the 1992 Winter Olympics.He is a born-again Christian and commented freely about his faith in numerous interviews while in the USFL. In 2006 he claimed on a talk show to still do the same routine everyday he has done since high school 2500 sit-ups and 1500 push-ups daily.

I called my friend Mark Abney in Raleigh, NC to tell him I had just seen Herschel. When he answered the phone I said, "You'll never guess who I just saw at Office Max in Dublin." He said, "Herschel Walker". I think I was more amazed that Mark guessed it than I was at seeing Herschel. He was very friendly and he attracted quite a large crowd. I didn't see him refuse to sign an autograph for a single person, and in fact he carried on conversations with many of them.

Ready to Fly

Well I just got off the phone with our travel agent, Todd Gallinek. He comes highly recommended from scores of adoptive parents. I hope he comes through for us. The plane trip is now finalized. This is what it looks like:

• July 4 - Depart - Savannah, GA - Arrive - Atlanta, GA - Delta Airlines


• July 4 - Depart - Atlanta, GA - Arrive - Los Angeles, CA - Delta Airlines


• July 4 - Depart - Los Angeles, CA - Arrive - Hong Kong - Cathay Pacific Airways


• July 6 - Depart - Hong Kong - Arrive - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Cathay Air

Total flight time will be 23 hours in the air. With layovers the trip will take about 32 hours.If you notice we leave out of Los Angeles on the 4th and arrive in Hong Kong on the 6th. The flight is only 14 hours long but since we leave at 11:30pm on the 4th and we travel through multiple timezones we will land in Hong Kong on the 6th.

We are also flying out of Savannah which I have never done before. Tickets cost $10 more. We are almost centered in between Atlanta and Savannah but I would pay $100 extra to not have to drive in Atlanta.

Flying out on the 4th means we will miss the annual 4th of July shindig with all our Rebie community friends at Jimmy and Amy's house. We were gonna kill and barbeque a whole hog. Jimmy says if I'm leaving, then the hog killin' is off. Oh well, I guess it'll be the Piggly Wiggly meat counter for Boston Butts this year. I really hate that we won't make it since it has really become a tradition, but we've got important business to take care of this year and I think Jimmy and Amy will understand. I guess we'll just send J.R. and James in our place.

Wednesday Worries

Well, we didn't get a whole lot done today. DeanAnne got some documents notarized, and I stayed on the phone and computer. Speaking of DeanAnne, let me show ya'll what she's doing while I work on this blog. She will probably kill me when she sees this, but I just couldn't resist. I'm gonna make some kind of reservation for flights tommorrow. Hopefully tommorrow night I'll have a flight itinerary. We have waited so long to get this far, and now that we are here, things are beginning to sink in. In seven days from now we'll be several hours into a 20+ hour flight. 10 days from now we will be meeting baby Jett. I'm ready, but I can't help but be nervous. Our friends Joe and Katie, who are also adopting, made it into Saigon today. I'm looking forward to hearing about what it's like first hand. That's about it for tonight. To be fair, I'll just post a picture of myself sleeping so maybe DeanAnne won't be to mad. And for those of you who are wondering, that is my natural hair color.

Getting Ready to Go

We started out the weekend by taking a trip to Macon to buy gifts to take with us to give to various people we meet while on our trip. These would include Jett's caregivers, the orphanage director, drivers, coordinators, etc. Just a small token of appreciation for the part they are playing in this adoption. We bought several UGA items based on a recommendation by others to give a gift that is representative of our state or area we live in.

Last night we started packing and it was a task. I think DeanAnne and I had two different ideas about how much stuff to take. DeanAnne's suitcase is on the top and mine is on the bottom. We bought a new rolling duffle bag at Eddie Bauer this weekend. Low and behold the thing is to big to check in on a plane. Total measurements are(L + W + H) cannot be over 62 inches. The duffle bag is 65 inches! I think we could get it in, but the excess baggage fee is $100 per flight. We'll leave it home to be safe. If anyone needs a good Extra Large bag for a trip, storage, or to park a small vehicle in, let me know. I'll make you a good deal. There is also a weight limit of 50lbs. After we re-packed the duffle bag in a smaller bag, guess how much it weighed. You guessed it, 50 lbs. Looks like we will be shifting some items to another bag.

I called about plane tickets today. I hope we have some concrete plans in the next couple of days. I'm really looking forward to getting those details ironed out. Right now the cheapest flight is out of Atlanta on Korean Air. For a few hundred more dollars we can fly out of Savannah on Cathay Air. I hope to make a decision before Thursday.

Let Us Introduce Ourselves

Most of you already know who we are, but I thought I'd give a little background for those of you who don't know us that well........ born on a rainy night in a one room shack on the outskirts of New Orleans, just kidding. My name is Jon and my wife's name is DeanAnne. We have been married for 5 years (is that right DeanAnne?). We have two sons, J.R. and James. J.R. will be four in August and James will be three in December. We live in rural Bleckley county on a farm that has been in my family for 100+ years. I drive a school bus for Bleckley County Schools( a fine bunch to work with if I say so myself) and work part-time as the attendance and safety officer. My brother Robert and I have farmed in a partnership for about 7 years now and we grow hay and cows. DeanAnne is a Physician's Assistant(PA) and she works for Eastman Pediatric Clinic in Eastman, GA. J.R. and James are currently un-employed.
Adoption was placed on our hearts about a year after we got married. Shortly after that J.R. was born and seventeen months later James was born. When James was almost a year old(October 2005), we once again felt led to open our home to an adopted child. We had no idea that 18 months later we would still be working on bringing a child home. God has used this experience to cultivate a new understanding of patience and longsuffering for our family.
In July 2006 we received a referral for a 1 month old baby boy who lived in an orphanage in the province of Binh Duong, just outside of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. We immediately set to work on coming up with a name. For several generations in my family, all boys have been named with the same initials, JRF. Our little boy's given name is Tran Gia Bao Huu (pron: Yah Bow Who Chong). We were torn for a while on how to save part of his given name while not leaving him out of family tradition. We finnaly decided to name him Jett Reuben Fordham. We will attempt to maintain his given Vietnamese name legally if possible along with his new name.
On June 25, 2007 we received an e-mail from our agency informing us that we have been cleared for travel to Vietnam to complete our adoption and we should be in Ho Chi Minh City on July 7, 2007. Since the flight from Georgia takes almost 24 hours, we will be leaving on July 4 or July 5. We have been chronicling this entire adoption on our adoption website at Journey to Me.com. We will continue to post to that site as we travel. I thought it would be great to have this blog as well to post on while we travel for the many people who have shown interest in our adoption.
I will do my best to make at least daily updates while we are travelling so that everyone can have an idea about what is going on. Please remember us in your prayers as I am sure we will face numerous challenges. I will try to give a lot of details as we have numerous friends that we have met through this process who are also adopting and will be interested in what is going on.
Feel free to post comments and e-mail questions as I know your correspondence will be of great comfort to us. We will also be posting daily to the boys, J.R. and James while they are staying with my momma and daddy back home. Thank you all so much for your kindness and prayers for us during this time. We are so grateful that you all have chosen to share in this experience with us.