Hi everyone. We are truly and thoroughly enjoying our experience here so far. After the months of paperwork and preparations, to be able to spend all of our time with our son in his home country is something we cherish and will of course never forget. We also can't say enough good things about our adoption agency - PLAN. Both the U.S.-based and in-country staff are extremely supportive and knowledgeable, and always have the best interest of the babies as their highest priority. We would recommend PLAN to anybody considering adopting from Vietnam.

Anticipating that today was going to be another scorcher, we took advantage of being up early with Zach to take a walk in the city together to nearby Lake Hoan Kiem, where many people were also up and some practicing tai chi by the water. While walking by the lake, as happens at most times when we are out with Zach (as well as other families with their babies), people love to touch and talk to him (and, especially the older women, give thier advice how to hold him) - babies are treated especially importantly in Vietnam, and it is nice to see them light up when Zachary flashes his engaging smile.

After our walk, we expected to try to get a little rest in the morning (Zach did not sleep particularly well last night), then spend some more time in the Old Quarter. Just minutes before we were ready to leave for lunch at about 1, though, Cherie called our hotel room and told us that the U.S. Embassy could perform two first interviews today, and that since we were in the room to receive her call and available, we told her that yes, of course, we could be ready to meet our PLAN rep. in the lobby at 2. After the short drive to the Embassy with one other family, we had our interview, which is really more for administrative than personal purposes. The official (a young American) simply wanted to know things like what information we received about Zachary before traveling, how the process was going, when we arrived, how our agency was performing, etc. Now that we have completed our first interview, there is about a 5-8 day process to finalize the passport and Visa before the second interview and his final medical exam, so I think we will have some days now to get out and do some stuff.

This afternoon, we took Zach to the pool for his first swim. He is such a cutie and he loved the water!!

We love sharing this experience with all of you, and really appreciate all of the wonderful comments and emails we have received. We cannot wait for Zach to share his love with all of you that he has been sharing with us!