On The Home Stretch

Day 17 & 18 July 31th & Aug 1st Tues/Wed
Written Aug 1st and submitted Aug 2nd

Visa Interview at the US Embassy (Tue)

On Tuesday we tried to pass the day playing with Gracie and reading or watching movies while she was taking her nap. Later that afternoon was the last trip to the US embassy for the second interview. We have been waiting what feels like an eternity for this stage since we have arrived here in Hanoi.

We received a call from Martin in the morning that everyone must meet at the hotel lobby at 2:00pm Tues to get cabs to the US embassy. There was Alison, Nancy, Christy, Amy, Becky, Logan and I and all with our new additions. Everyone was very excited. Most of these mothers have been here one week longer than us so they were also tasked with getting standby flights as well. Gracie was in good spirits and seemed like she was ready for the process to end too. We entered the building, climbed the stairs to the second floor, we went through security and into the same room as the previous visit. We weren’t sure exactly what was supposed to happen, but as always we expected the worst and hoped for the best. Although we all had heard this was the easy part. We didn’t have to go to the interview room as before. During this visit we were called one-by-one to a widow in the main room to show our passport and pay the $380 US for the visa. After we sat for a few minutes we were called to a second window where an officer conducted a short interview with Becky. Gracie, without warning, decided she was very hungry and started to let me know rather loudly so I quickly made her a bottle while Becky finished the short 3 minute interview. Gracie finished her bottle and she was happy again. We took our seats and waited for the other to finish their turn. Logan and I decided to go across the hall and buy some hats as souvenirs of our travels to the embassy. There was a woman across the hall in another office that was selling the items so Logan and I went there. While I bought some hats, Logan thought it would be a good idea to go in the hall and run up and down the flight of stairs. As I walked out of the office after buying the hats, the security personnel were on their way to tell Logan to stop going up and down the steps. I smiled at the woman and said I was sorry and told Logan they would probably throw him in irons if she got to him first. Logan is just dying to just run around and play. We’re almost home buddy. All the interviews were complete within an hour and we were on our way back to the hotel. In twenty-four hours (Wed) we will have Gracie’s visa and the only thing stopping us from coming home is our flight doesn’t leave until Sunday.


The rest of the night we walked the Old Quarter to do some shopping. We dropped by the tourist center to read the comments on the blog. We sure appreciate all the comments from the special folks back home. Gracie just doesn’t realize how much she will be loved by her extended family and friends, but she will soon find out. We stopped by an outside shoe store to see about getting Logan some tennis shoes. Becky found a good deal for $15 US. Logan doesn’t mind walking the streets if we are buying for him. As Becky and Logan looked at the shoes, a merchant selling books approached Gracie and I. He started by asking if she was Vietnamese and how old she was and that he had a daughter at home the same age. This guy didn’t realize that I have been here over two weeks so I knew the drill but he was good. He finally asked my to buy some paperback books on the Vietnam War or some DVD’s so I quickly told him I have bought everything I wanted in the last two weeks and the only thing left to buy was my son’s tennis shoes so “NO THANKS.”. This night for some reason the merchants were especially pesky because he wouldn’t leave and was soon joined by the cigarette lighter salesman. I kept telling him I didn’t smoke but I don’t think he understood because he kept asking me to buy. Gracie seemed to take it in stride. Becky and Logan finished so I just left the two peddlers standing there and we headed for the hotel.

Gracie was very tired. She had sort of a mad cry so we got her ready for bed and fed her a bottle in which she practically cried through the whole thing then we put her to bed. This was the first night since she had been with us that she acted this way. She was screaming bloody murder. At first we thought she might be hurting. We did everything the baby manual(did we tell you she came with a manual, just kidding) said to do but nothing worked so we just put her in her crib and within minutes she calmed down and went to bed. The rest of us watched the movie Ice Princess on TV (remember, we only have one channel) then went to sleep.

The Day We Received the Visa (Wed)

This was a long day. The days seem to get longer the closer we get to leaving. After breakfast we went to check on some items that Becky had ordered. We met Christy and Grace at the lobby and went to a few shops not far from the hotel. Becky needed to pickup the diaper bag she had made and check to see how the painting of Logan and Gracie was coming along. If it was being painted in that studio then we were hoping to take a picture of it being worked on. The sales woman said the artist was working on it at another studio or at home. I didn’t quite understand where but just not there, but they said it will be done on Thursday. We stopped by another store to buy a decorative plate made of bamboo and then headed back to the hotel. We went to the room to let Gracie get a two hour nap and then headed to the VinCom Plaza with Christy and Grace to get smoothies and coffee at Gloria Jeans so we could get a break from the Old Quarter. Logan got his opportunity to play on the escalators again so he was happy. Poor kid is starting to get delirious. Both babies were very good on the trip. We had to meet Martin back at the hotel around 5:00pm because he was going to drop off the final paperwork. We didn’t want to be late for this meeting so we jumped into a cab about 4:30pm and sped towards the Old Quarter. We all went to our rooms to wait for the call but by 6:00pm Martin hadn’t called yet so we made up our minds to eat downstairs in the hotel restaurant. Before we left to eat, Christy called and said that she talked to Alison (quite the network here) and she said Martin had everyone’s visas but Nancy’s was not correct so they were trying to fix it for her. Nancy is supposed to fly out tonight so if they can’t fix it by 6:00 tonight, then she will miss her flight again because she will have to wait until tomorrow to get her son’s visa. Nancy has already been here a week longer than us so she was more than ready to go home.

We had to wake Gracie to go to dinner or she wouldn’t sleep tonight. Even though she only had about 30 minutes of sleep, she seems to always be happy when she wakes. We went down to dinner and soon after Christy and Grace joined us. While we were eating Nancy stopped by our table and said everything had been taken care of and she was on schedule to leave tonight. We were all very relieved for her. We eventually met Martin at our table so Becky went upstairs with him to go over the paperwork and give them their gifts we brought from the states. She was only gone about 10 minutes. We have all Gracie’s papers and passport and all we have to do is step on US soil and she will be a United States citizen. Wow!

After dinner we all retired to our rooms. Amy had to run to the store because she was leaving at 8:00am the next morning so we sat her Collett while she gone. She and Gracie played on the bed together then they both started to get hungry and tired. About that time, Amy returned to get Collett and Becky got Gracie ready for bed. Gracie gave me a run for my money tonight trying to take her bottle. She was throwing another fit like the night before. She was fed, burped, clean diaper, and everything else we could thinkof and she still cried so we put her to bed and she cried herself to sleep. She was out in less than 5 minutes.

Logan watched one of his DVD’s, I typed my journal (2 days worth) and watched some TV while the rest of the Allsup family went to sleep.