Day 2: Tam Ky

Day 2: I am exhausted by the events of the day, both physical and emotional. I am reminded of the words to Emilie and my special song for Juneau (All the Words by Kutlass):

"How do I speak of the indescribable to you..."

But I'll try. We wake early this morning and it is nice to get a few miles in on the treadmill to shake off the stiffness of sitting on a plane all day yesterday. We leave Saigon and make the short 1 hour flight to Danang.

Driving to the airport in Saigon; Getting ready to land in Danang

Danang, the 3rd largest town in Vietnam is nice but a bit less developed than Saigon. We have a very nice lunch of local cuisine before heading the 60 km. to Tam Ky.

The road to Tam Ky

The road to Tam Ky winds through mile after mile of rice fields and small outcroppings of towns. After a dozen or so brushes with death navigating the multitude of cars and motorbikes (the dotted line down the center of the road is really more just a guideline or to serve as a point of reference), we arrive at the Red Cross baby orphanage in Tam Ky and are led to the director's office. The orphanage is very small and pretty much what you'd expect a small orphanage in a rural area of a third world country to be like. But Lilian has said repeatedly how well cared for the babied are at Tam Ky and how great the caregiver's are.
Juneau is still asleep so they have to wake her up. After an agonizing few minutes of waiting, they bring Juneau into the room. I'm immediately struck by how big she is. Emilie and I thought all along that she looked big in the pictures but figured in person she would be smaller than we thought. In fact, she is BIGGER than we ever thought. I am not convinced that she isn't a little bit older than her "estimated" age at the time she was left at the orphanage.
She is still tired and unsure but is content with me holding her for quite awhile. She lays down against my chest for a few minutes and it is clear she is still shaking off her nap and would just as soon go back to sleep. I am overwhelmed that I am actually holding her...after all this time I am standing in Vietnam holding my little girl. I tell her about her mommy and her little sister who can't wait to see her.

Her age is a prime phase for advances in limbic system development and though she is okay with me holding her for awhile, soon she hears several of the babies in the adjoining room start screaming and she decides it must be time to start screaming.

We ended our visit at that point and one of the nannies takes her back to settle her down. During the long drive back to Danang, the day starts to catch up to me and I'm exhausted.

Back in our hotel in the resort area of Hoi An, we grab a quick dinner and are ready to crash. Tomorrow is an early day of driving back to Tam Ky for the Giving and Receving ceremony when Juneau joins our family officially.

Please pray that she will feel relaxed and comfortable with me and be able to bond quickly to her dad. I know there will be some tough adjusting for her but I pray it will be minimally painful for all of us.
I also know this blog post cannot adequately describe how it felt when they brought her into the room today and when I held her for the first time but I'm not sure those words exist.