Monday, September 25, 2006

Hi everyone,

Here are some more pictures for you to enjoy. If you didn’t see the orphanage ones I posted yesterday, they were added to the posting from the day before (thanks to my excellent website creators Joe and Jen!!)

I was amazed at how beautiful the courtyard was at Zoe’s orphanage. It is no wonder that being outside is her favorite thing. You cannot keep this kid inside too long. She loves to explore.

We are hoping that everything went smoothly today at the US consulate. We haven’t heard anything which is good news (we think) Tomorrow is physicals for the babies and vaccinations and then Wednesday, a 4:30 am wakeup call for our early flight to Hong Kong and then to Chicago and finally Boston. I think it is a 24 hour trip total! Yikes!

Happy belated to Bob Dagley (the big 50!) Sorry we missed it!

All is well here. Zoe continues to do well. I’m feeling better (but still resting a lot in preparation for Wednesday) I re-read some of my earlier entries to see if I forgot any stories and I think I may have missed a few funny ones.

For example, the day after my high fever, I’m feeling so much better that I decide to venture out of the room and down to the big dining room of our 5 star Hotel. I walk into the dining room and a waitress comes running over shaking her head and pointing at my feet. I was still wearing my slippers (which apparently were not allowed in the dining room) It was hysterical! I had to go upstairs and put on some flip flops (which somehow are allowed) and come back down.

Another funny story is that there are two couples traveling with another group that asked for twins (thinking that there was almost no chance at all of getting twins) Well, they both got twins. These families are easy to recognize because the parents are the most tired looking of the group (I thought about asking for twins for about a minute, but thought better of it)

I’m not sure if I told you about how horrible the water is here. At our last hotel, my hair felt like straw because there was no hair conditioner. I couldn’t wait to leave and get to a hotel with conditioner (I left mine at home because of weight issues with my suitcase as we were limited to 44 lbs) Well, when we were packing to leave, it turns out that Tom had been using the hair conditioner as lotion the whole week! I was so mad (although very amused) I thought it was odd that this hotel had everything, but no conditioner.

When I get home, I’m going to have to deal with my new addiction to Tums. I’ve never really taken them before, but now I never leave home without them! They are a miracle cure after every meal (nobody’s stomach is quite right over here)

That’s it for now! I think I have one more posting before our long trip home! We are really looking forward to seeing everyone! We may need a few days to get over our 24 hour journey, but we will be in touch!

Tom, Kathy and Zoe