Hi everyone! I want to fill you in more on Larkyn's Giving and Receiving Day. We left the hotel at about 6:00am and got back here a little after 8:00 that evening. It was a very long and exciting day. They have road construction going on so that added to the length of the trip. As you can see from the pictures the country side is beautiful!! Larkyn's Province (Tuyen Quang) is North West of Hanoi, up in the mountains. So in the pictures you will notice as we go along there are more mountains also the livestock changes. Closer to Hanoi you see those brown oxen are everywhere as we got closer to Larkyn's province we saw only the Blue Oxen. They are so cool looking. The people would be on the side of the road with them or in the fields working with them. You notice the houses are tall and very thin but long. The reason is because road frontage is more expensive so the build then tall and narrow. Also there are little shack type homes. The picture that is kind of blury that looks like a yellow arch is the gate to the orphanage Larkyn was at. The building has three big doors on the front the fist door goes to the tiny baby room, the middle door is where Larkyn was (babies a couple of months old and up) and the last door is the toddler's room.
When we got there everyone was either being handed their baby or looking for them. I went over to one of the cribs and saw Larkyn right away. She looked just like the pictures we have of her, she has such a distinctive face. The doctor at the SOS Clinic said he that she would be an actress someday because her face is so expressive. After we all found our babies we changed their cloths and went to the Giving and Receiving Ceremony. There we signed the big offical record keeping book and the adoption papers. It is a very nice little ceremony for each family. Then we went across the street to have lunch. The orphanage Director and the caregivers all came with us. They brought out all kinds of food, I couldn't tell you what it was, but it was good. Then we headed back to the orphanage to visit while our guild went to take care of paperwork. The caregivers were so nice, we took lots of pictures and a couple of them gave us their address to mail pictures to them. They had such a hard time letting the babies go, they cried through out the day and kept getting the babies from us to hold them. The trip home was so long because we were all so tired, but it was a wonderful day. While Larkyn's caregiver was holding her I sat down by the little two year old girl that is in my lap in one of the pictures. She was so sweet and quite, she almost went to sleep in my lap. I had to have that picture of her because I wanted to take her home too. It was hard to leave her. :(
We were on our way to the first Embassy Appointment. Larkyn slept the whole time. She is such a good baby! 
A few of us got together for dinner at the Hoa Soa Restaurant, it is in the Old French Quarter. We had our own room which was a good thing. The babies were taking turns crying and we were tag teaming with them. It was great! 
We were on our way to the first Embassy Appointment. Larkyn slept the whole time. She is such a good baby! 
A few of us got together for dinner at the Hoa Soa Restaurant, it is in the Old French Quarter. We had our own room which was a good thing. The babies were taking turns crying and we were tag teaming with them. It was great! 
