HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!

It's Thursday at 3:47 p.m. so I'll be the first to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! I'm definitely missing the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, and most of all the green bean casserole! We made it to HCMC (Saigon) yesterday afternoon about 5 p.m. 7 or 8 hours in a van with Olivia and Anna was an experience. Olivia actually did incredibly well. She slept through a good bit of it and checked out the scenery a bit. Poor Anna had a bit of motion sickness though. She's such a happy baby though. She smiles and laughs all the time. Olivia is spending a lot of time checking out her surroundings from the comfort of her Mommy's hip. She did great yesterday with no crying. She HATES the bed though. She doesn't want to lay on it under any circumstances! This is obviously a problem. Actually, it's not just the bed, it's the hotel room in general. Mike thinks it's because she's spent her life in a place without windows or doors so she feels very confined. I think he's probably right. He finally had to walk up and down the hall with her today until she fell asleep. She was SCREAMING in the hotel room. I'm sure they heard her all the way down in the lobby and we're on the 7th floor. I am heart broken for her. I can't even begin to try and imagine what must be going through her head. As far as she was concerned she was perfectly content and happy living in the orphanage where she had spent almost all of her life. Then here we come speaking a strange language that she doesn't understand and we take her from the only life she's ever known on a van for 8 hours and into a bustling city with people everywhere going every direction. Then we seclude ourselves into a small room without open windows and doors and expect her to be fine with it. We don't know what else to do though. We can't very well sleep on the sidewalk. This is very very frustrating. I know it will get better with time, but right now it's just plain tough.

I'm also getting very homesick for Jake. I had been doing really well up until now, but we've hit the 1 week mark and it's definitely starting to set it. I just need to smell his hair and kiss his sweet cheeks. I need yucky boo boo kisses and for him to hold something behind his back and say in his most adorable voice, "Mommy, I have a surprise for you!" Usually it's gum or a diet Mt. Dew. He's such a sweet boy. Oh my goodness. I miss him so so much. I actually ache for him. My arms are aching for him. I don't know if that makes any sense at all.

Anyway, I want to write about a few interesting things here. Number one, Ho Chi Minh - the deceased and most loved president of Vietnam whom they renamed Saigon after - looks just like The Colonel from KFC. (If you are Vietnamese and reading this by chance, please forgive me for saying that - but it's true.) There are statues and pictures everywhere of him and on all of the money. There is also an actual KFC around the corner, but we haven't checked it out yet. We'll be here probably until at least Monday or Tuesday and then we'll fly to Hanoi once we know what day our Visa interview is. Please pray for it to be next week so that we can be home by the end of next week or the first of the next week!!!! That would be such a huge blessing to us. We love Vietnam but we're SO ready to come home.

Secondly, the potties. Most of the places we go they have western potties which are like the ones we use in the US. They also have squatty potties everywhere. These are potty "holes" that you obviously squat over. We were expecting that. So far I haven't had to use one, but I'm a country girl, so it really wouldn't be that big of a deal. I've been squatting in the woods my entire life. I know I know, too much information. The weird thing is that when we were at the orphanage Olivia's Nanny took her to the potty and I followed. She pulled her pants down (they don't wear panties by the way - I of course think this is fabulous and perfectly normal) and had her squat on the bathroom floor. NOT over the potty, just on the floor. She said ssshhhh sssshhhhsssshhhh and Olivia teetee'd on the floor. Ok. Interesting. So then when we went to the G & R ceremony yesterday at a government building, she took her to the potty there and did the same thing. Just right on the bathroom floor and didn't clean it up either time! I was puzzled and of course a bit, um, grossed out. Especially since I thought back to all of the wet bathroom floors I had traipsed across recently. So I asked Thomas about it, who is our Vietnam facilitator and attorney here who works for Dillon and he said that's just how they do it here. What? Oh dear me. I'm very happy to say that Olivia has only used the toilet since we've had her. We had to introduce it to her, but she took to it quickly. She's also like her Mommy and doesn't like to use unclean ones! She refused to potty on the way to HCMC from Ninh Thuan yesterday. That's 8 hours! My girl has a good bladder! She went at the hotel when we got here. She'll also go to the bathroom or tug at her pants when she needs to go. We're very happy that she's potty trained! We put her in diapers at night, but she hasn't wet them yet. She's doing just great. If only we could get this hotel room/bed situation figured out we'd be perfect.

She started waving bye bye and blowing kisses last night and this morning Mike got the coveted FIRST KISS!!! It was so precious. He was beaming of course! I have gotten several since then as well, but he got the first one. Lucky Daddy! She's just a sweet, beautiful girl and we are very proud to be her parents. We can't wait to see her with Jake. He'll love her to death. I can just imagine all the yucky boo boo kisses now! For those of you who haven't been fortunate enough to receive one, those are VERY wet open mouthed kisses from Jake on the cheek. Although these days, he tends to give puppy kisses more often which are obviously little licks on the cheek. Yucky, but sweet! I miss them very much.

I have a million more stories, but they'll have to wait for us to come home. I also am not sure I'll be able to post anymore pictures because the laptop we have isn't working properly right now so I'm having to use the hotel's computer downstairs. You can all see the MILLION pictures I've taken when we get back. If you see my Jakey Poo, give him a big hug and kiss from his Mommy, Daddy and baby sister. He talked to her on the phone yesterday, but she hasn't started talking for us yet. She's still holding herself in a bit. She's opening up little by little but it will take time. HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!!! Enjoy some casserole for me and some turkey for Mike.

Please pray for us and our traveling partners that we'll receive our passports and I-600 interviews tomorrow and we'll get our visa interviews next week!!! We're ready to get back to the good old USA and make Olivia an official American girl!