Farewell To Hanoi

Day 19-21 Aug 2nd – 4th Thurs-Sat
Written Aug 4th and submitted Aug 4th

The last couple of days have all blended together. One by one the other adoptive parents have left Hanoi each day since we have received the children’s visas last Wed. The Allsup family is more than ready for the long flight home. Logan has been great but he needs more space than what the hotel has to offer. He needs to spend some time with people his own age because he is bouncing off the walls.

We are trying to find things to make the days go faster but we’re done shopping and we’ve seen every museum and local sight seeing thing there is close by. I noticed some day trips in the tourist center that we could take but they are all a 2 hour van ride from Hanoi and that doesn’t sound appealing nowadays. Our last few days have pretty much gone like the following schedule:

Go to breakfast
Walk to the tourist center to check the comments on our blog
Walk around the lake
Walk back to the hotel
Put Gracie down for her nap
Read
Play with Gracie
Go somewhere for a late lunch
Back to the hotel room to play with Gracie
Order room service
Watch the wonderful B movies on the one channel we have in the hotel room

Saturday we did the same schedule but when we put Gracie down for her nap, we started packing. This was a good feeling but when we finished our packing it was only 1:00pm so we still had a lot of day left. We are really trying to rush this last full day.

We received an email from Becky’s brother Kevin asking what we planned to do when we get to Chicago. We replied that as long as it included drinking COLD cow’s milk and eating cereal and bagels we didn’t have any set plans. We have been three weeks without milk so we have been all going threw withdraws.


Gracie first came to us just over two weeks and since then she has made some remarkable improvements physically. When we got her she didn’t grab for anything and she could barely lift her head up for more that 10 seconds at a time. Even when she was sitting up her head would hang forward. Gracie had rashes on her head, under her neck in the front and rear in which some of these were open and oozing, and a different type of rash altogether under her feet. Within one week the rashes were almost completely gone and the only rash that was still obvious was the one on the bottom of her feet. It’s amazing what a little air conditioning and a nightly bath can do to clear up the skin. After ample “tummy time”, Gracie has no problem keeping her head up and she can even start from a lying position on her back and we can pull her up (holding onto our hands of course) to a standing position. She grabs for everything that comes within reach of her and the rash under Gracie’s feet is almost gone. I think she really started to get comfortable with us after one week because that’s when she started talking to us. She sounds a lot like the cat that Logan always wanted but can’t have at home(due to allergies.) So we now get a great voice to go with her open-mouthed smiling face.

Although we are anxious to leave Hanoi, these last few days have been very important because they have enabled us to get to know Gracie better. I can’t think of an easier way for a family to spend quality time together than being sequestered to a hotel room with absolutely nothing to do. If Gracie is happy in this hotel, then I can’t wait to see her face when she gets home and is surrounded by all the people that love her.

We would like to thank everyone who has taken time out of their busy schedules to read our blog and follow our travels the last several weeks. It really means a lot to us to read the encouraging words from the people back home. Those persons that have left comments and sent personal emails have allowed us to stay connected back home during this time away and it’s proof that we have many caring and loving friends and family. Again, we are very thankful.