two little monkeys

ALL JANUARY PICS (loaded soon)

Here are my two little monkeys. They love playing together in Nehemiah's crib. I bought these matching p.j.'s at Sams knowing they would be cute someday. We pulled them out this week and boy did they look precious. Avi Joy did not get to sleep in her monkey p.j.'s though because when we put her in bed she kept unzipping them and waltzing out naked.
I know they did not have the exasaucer on the Oregon trail (I am always comparing our days to the old'n days) and I am sooooo thankful for this awesome invention.
Avi Joy loves stickers. Nadra gave her some at Nehemiah's shower, she apparently got bored with the paper.

Out celebrating the 55th wedding anniversary of our grandparents Bob and Doris.

Life is becoming more normal now. Its wild to say 'normal' when we have only been a family of four for less than a month. I have been to wal-mart with two kiddos (although lists will have to be cut in half), Avi Joy is back in school on Tuesdays, and we are back to booking haircuts and playdates.

We are grateful to the Lord for our miracle family. Can't wait to see what the future holds for the Perrymans!

"We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty." 2 Peter 1:16

Adam, Natasha, Avi Joy and Nehemiah

We have been home a week and are adjusting well. We all had the vomit/diarrhea virus when we got home, so that was rough. They have both had one really really bad day, the kind that drives a parent mad, but we got through them and now life is falling into place.
The only issue that is really hanging on is morning-sleep. He's almost over the jetlag, but the 5am wake-up call is still hanging on. When he gets up, Avi Joy gets up as well and uhhh, 4 days in a row of two kiddos up at 5am, its not fun, so we are working on getting over that.

Avi Joy has really been a ham. She hasn't quite figured out she can talk directly to Nehemiah, so all day we hear...
"Can you tell my brother that I sneezed."
"Can you tell my brother that I am eating pasta for dinner."
"Can you tell my brother I hid the football behind the couch."
She also got a talking too about not waking up when she hears Nehemiah crying at 5am. After talking to her for a while she told her daddy...
"Stop talking now, I am tired of listening to your voice."
Ouch. : )

Medusa Airlines.
Playing on the bed with mama.

Hugs at Dillon. We stopped by today for a visit with the Dillon staff, they love seeing the children, and well you know the parents love showing them off.

Nehemiah's trampoline! Heather brought us dinner last night, we got to hang out and let the kids play.

Visiting with Papa Chettar and Aunt Emily.

Lovin on Great Grandma Fern.

1 Corinthians 2:6-16

Hugs

The Perryman's

We are home!

FOR CAN THO FAMILIES (Six families sent pictures for the nannies to have in Can Tho. Here are pictures of the director looking at them. Unfortunately, she said the nannies could not look at them while we were there. She said I could stand next to her to take pictures. She laughed A LOT and kept putting her hand to her heart. She said she missed Rhett and Eli. She adored all the pictures and wanted to make sure I told the families thank you for the pictures.)

WE ARE HOME PICTURES

Thank you family and friends for coming to welcome us home. We look forward to visiting with everyone soon!
We will be home in 10 minutes! "Latest Addition" tee-shirt.

Avi Joy, NanNa, Sarah, Aunt Emily and Nehemiah.

Adam and I missed Avi Joy. She was ready for lots of hugs and to give kisses to her brother.

Getting love from his grandfathers. Adam's dad on left, Natasha's dad on right.

Adam's mom loving two of her four grandchildren.

Sitting pretty for mommy. This was our first time to use the bumbo, he did great sitting up.

Playing "night night" this morning in Avi Joy's bed. She is doing awesome with him and vice-versa.

Here are some things she has said to him:

"mom, my brother and I are talking... he is saying hi, you are my sister."

"I have a new sweet brother."

"He's my favorite."

"I love you brother."

We are adjusting to our schedule. Poor little Nehemiah did not do well last night. Pretty much crying from midnight-5am. Then woke up and threw-up/yucky diaper. He took a morning nap and is doing well with bottle/food now, so hopefully tonight he will sleep better. We are doing good, I'm sure it will just take a few days to get back to normal.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5

Adam, Natasha, Avi Joy and Nehemiah

Day 13, headed home

LAST DAY PICTURES

The boys took a long morning nap so I was able to pack our suitcases. I also ventured out all by my big-girl-self. I took a taxi to the luggage district and bought a carry-on suitcase for stuff to precious to check. 

Then all the boys, Chris, Ro, Brandt, Jeremiah and Adam all headed to the US Airforce Museum. They all enjoyed the boytoys personified. 

While the guys were away the girls did play... I gave Melanie a haircut and we shared stories about our lives. When Nehemiah woke up we slathered our kiddos faces with Buttpaste (that's the brand name). They have such bad windburn/chapped faces that we have tried everything but diaper ointment. So far it looks better.


We have spent 2 precious weeks in Vietnam and here are a few of our favorite things...

Adam:

Nehemiah and his motorboat sounds (brrrrrr with his lips)

Sushi with Brandt

Shooting at Chu Chi Tunnels

Moto ride with Minh

Mac and Cheese at Bobby Chinns 

Buying artwork

Natasha: (like x3 of Adam's list : )

Falling head over heels in love with Nehemiah

Visiting the Red Cross Center (orphanage) in Can Tho

Thai massage

Ho Chi Minh shopping, the market and art district

MeKong boatride

Hanging out with the Robbins

Moto ride with Thomas

Dinner in HCMC with the staff

Pictures of the "gates" as Adam calls them (doors/windows)

Walking Hoan Kien Lake 

All the new restaurants and food

Sincerely thank you for following our journey. 

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26

With Love,

The Perryman Family

Day 12

ALL DAY TWELVE PICTURES

We started off our morning with a clean diaper then headed out to the streets of Hanoi. We walk through the maternity, office supply, Buddhism, flower and cake districts. Randomly thrown in were some fruit stalls, basket makers and a giant mall that sold high-end stuff.

We had lunch at Bobby Chinn's which was recommended by other families. Our stomachs have been not quite right so we dined light on mac and cheese. It was the best mac and cheese in the free world, penne pasta, lots of cheese and baked in a clay pot.

At 2pm we had our visa app't at the US Embassy. It was a simple interview and Loc from Dillon picked them up at 4:30 this afternoon. With these in hand we can come home.

We went to the airline office and it was either Tues or Sat. So we choose Tuesday. I am glad we spent our extra days in HCMC because I am in love with that city. Adam is more of a Hanoi guy so we have spent extra time soaking in as much as we can since we are leaving tomorrow night. Our plan...

Hanoi - Hong Kong - LA - Dallas - Tulsa, arriving Wed 14th 7:30am.

We headed out with the Robbins to the famous water puppet show then we had a friend date night. Melanie and I went to have massages then the boys went to eat sushi. (Wish I had pics from the show, but our camera battery died this afternoon.)

Adam and I were talking about going home and he asked me if I was more excited to see Avi Joy or eat Taco Bueno... if you do not have Taco Bueno, just think of your favorite mexican food and know that yes, I cannot cannot wait to see Avi Joy. Then eat Taco Bueno. : )

We will be checking out of the hotel tomorrow at 4pm and will see everyone soon.

Nehemiah's verse from the Lord when we started our adoption process:

"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your Name in all the earth." Psalm 8:1

Soon to be a family of four!

Day 11

ALL DAY ELEVEN PICTURES

Our special delivery : )
We walked through the button, thread, fruit, clothes, c.d. and movie districts today. We have been walking at least 2-4 hours each day. We have so enjoyed all the walking, it really does allow you to take-in all that is going on. This afternoon though we decided to take a break from walking and hired a cyclo to take us through the city. 

He peddled us around the lake and back to our hotel. It was lots of fun, even if he tried to swindle us for another 100,000 Dong after he dropped us off. (He said it was for 100,000 for 2 people then dropped us off and said that it was for one and we owed him. We did not pay, but I am sure this works well for him with others.)

The Robbins have some friends who live in Hanoi so tonight we went out with them to their favorite restaurant, Mediterriano. We also met three families from Ireland who had their G & R today. We have seen many beautiful-colorful families since we arrived in Hanoi.

I was really homesick this afternoon. Yuck, its so sad. We will get our paperwork moving as our Visa app't is tomorrow at 2pm. Then we will pick up our visa and be able to book tickets to come home. Our travel agent said things look tight throughout the week, but we are still hoping to come home before this weekend.

Sidenote: We get Korea MTV in our hotel room and it is a riot!

"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son." Hebrews 1:1

P's

Day Ten

ALL DAY TEN PICTURES

Today Adam, Nehemiah and I ventured through the Old French Quarter in Hanoi and walked Hoan Kien Lake. We toured the local temple and shopped in the silk and art districts, just amazing hand-crafted pieces. In ode to the Homan family we at the 'The Real Kangaroo' restaurant for lunch. (Last trip after almost a month in country it was the first good American food we devoured, also I took a pic of Highlands and remembered baby Sarah having pumpkin soup for dinner, sweet memories.) 

Melanie has taught me how to barter. She lives in China and it is part of her daily life. She goes for less than half every time. She says just be sweet and fair... I have saved sooo much money this time just because I tell them the price (almost half, I am not quite as brave as her) and just hand them the money. They always accept the price because its still a good deal for them. We cannot wait to hand out our Vietnamese gifts!

Yesterday we met many friendly men and today was the Vietnam women's turn. The art shop worker was a doll, she adored Nehemiah and we met a woman on the street who told me I needed to try her bamboo and hat. They really are strong little women.

I have developed a love affair with the doors and windows. There are many pictures of them, sorry if it bores you, but oh they are beautiful. We took lots of pic's today, hope you enjoy seeing the sites of Hanoi.

Nehemiah is sound asleep. He really starts getting tired about 7pm. Our Avi Joy has never been a big sleeper, just a short nap and about 10 hours a night, so this is a change for us. Nehemiah is about 4 hours during the day and 12ish hours at night. He loves for us to sing, talk and play with him. Here was a tickle session...
"... for no other god can save in this way." Daniel 3:1-30

With love,

Adam, Natasha and Nehemiah

Day Nine

ALL DAY NINE PICTURES

We packed up this morning in HCMC and headed to the airport to fly to Hanoi.

When we got to the ticket counter some drama began. They told all the families the copies of our paperwork were not certified and they would not let us on the plane. (The originals are in Hanoi already.) We told them we wanted to speak to the supervisor and they sent us to see the security department. The man we worked with was not kind, we lovingly nick-named him 'Jack.' And he began asking us and little 5 yr old Ro all kinds of questions about how we "got" these babies.

We called Minh to help us but they refused to talk with him on the phone. They decided to hold the plane and grant us permission to board, but Jack wanted us to know, "I have broken rule for you..." telling us over and over. I told him we did not ask him to do that and we could take a later flight after everything was straightened out. He said nevermind and told us to board. They held the plane 20 min's for us and we were able to catch the flight. As we walked away Adam understood that Jack wanted cash for doing us a favor. Too bad, so sad Jack, you got nothin.

We arrived at dinnertime and checked into the beautiful Somerset Hotel. We are on the 13th floor and our views are amazing! Our room is bigger than our first apt. Its 2 bed, 2 bath, kitchen, dining and living. Its awesome and cheaper than the Rex.

The weather is in the mid-60's. We are now wearing our jackets and warmer clothes. Adam is in heaven, he loves fall weather.

Nehemiah slept on the flight and then ate his dinner and fell asleep at 7pm. He is doing great, no tears and has really bonded to us. He does prefer mommy but most little ones do. 

We have a free weekend so tomorrow we are going to scout out the town and Sunday take an all day Hanoi tour, museums, lunch and sites.

Adam bought some $1 movies on the street (bootlegged of course, video camera in the theatre) so we decided to rest, have a date night and watch a movie.

Thank you for your love, support and comments as we push though the last week of our journey.

"Do not grieve for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

The Perryman's

Day Eight

ALL DAY EIGHT PICTURES

Nehemiah woke up smiling.

First bath, he did great.

Nehemiah slept wonderful last night and woke up pretty early. By the time 8:30am rolled around he was already tired. He ended up napping all morning so we just had breakfast and hung out at the hotel.

We had lunch at the Sushi Train across the street then headed off to tour the Cu Chi Tunnels. We went with the Robbins family and had a fun time seeing all the sites again. Adam and Brandt shot machine guns and Adam went deeper into the tunnel system than he did two years ago. The men loved all the war history and the women loved all the cheap souvenirs. Our tour guide was all jokes and kept us very entertained with stories of how all the beautiful Vietnamese women have left to marry foreigners and how rubber trees became so popular in VN. (start of birth control)

We met a lot of friendly people today. After a great conversation with a guy at the market he said, "see you later alligator," we taught him after while crocodile, it was cute... the other guy asked how much our baby cost. When I told him you never pay for a baby, he said, "oh just a souvenir".

We are packing up tonight and will head to Hanoi tomorrow. Our time here has been amazing. I even love the honking. Weird. I love the hardworking people, my heart hurts for those who are lost and lonely and seem to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. But we feel at home here even if we are just visiting. We are so thankful for our time in this rich city and look forward to bringing our kids here someday.

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

Adam, Natasha and Nehemiah

Day Seven

ALL DAY SEVEN PICTURES

Today was a great day! We woke up early and the men went off to work on visa stuff and the women took the kiddos to have health exams. All the children were healthy. Annie was slightly malnourished and Ro had to have blood taken which was traumatic for both mommy and son. But overall the Dr. gave them all a good report.

Nehemiah has been perfect. No tears today except when he fell off a pillow and hit his head on the corner of the nightstand.

He slept over 12 hours last night and took two great naps today. He seems to be a sleeper right now, I am sure so many changes makes a little one tuckered out.

He is a thumb sucker for sure. Every time we look over he is trying to get that thumb in his mouth. We are trying to replace the thumb with a passy. My favorite moment of the day was when I caught him creatively finding a way to suck his thumb... here he is holding the passy, with his thumb through the passy ring.

Can't resist that precious face, kissably delicious.
We had a wonderful lunch today at a nearby hotel. They had Italian food, I ordered the best lasagna with steamed veggies. Its amazing what a good meal can do for you.

We were walking back to our hotel after lunch and I stopped to look at something in a window but Adam didn't know so he kept walking. He got about a half a street ahead of me so I took off to catch up. These two ladies walking towards me stopped all of a sudden, turned around and started following Adam. They pulled out their cameras to take pictures of this strange white creature holding a baby in a sling. Little did they know I took their picture taking his picture and could not contain my laughter.

We had dinner with the Dillon staff tonight, Thomas, Phoung, Trinh and Minh. Along with the three families here and their new additions. We are beyond thankful for their help, coordination and translations for us. They are a blessing to Dillon families. We have been here over a week and have had about 4 really really good meals and two of them were today! Our stomachs and taste-buds were spoiled by this authentic Vietnamese meal.

Adam got to have his turn on Mr. Minh's bike. He said it was "good times."

Avi Joy: 

She is doing great! She enjoyed staying with her NanNa and is now staying at our house with her Aunt Shannon. She has been to church, school, made crafts and even asked for Subway! : ) She is getting all the love and attention she needs and we are so thankful. She is such a dollbaby and we look forward to seeing our family together!

Here she is dancing at my friends wedding reception.

"The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people." Revelation 22:21

The Perryman's

Day Six

ALL DAY SIX PICTURES

We had a great time in Can Tho. We were able to take a boat ride (posted pics on day 5) and that was really wonderful. The weather was perfect and it was a sobering look at the houses/life of the working citizen.

We woke up today and headed for the G & R ceremony held at the local justice department. We signed all the necessary paperwork to become a family forever. Then we headed back to HCMC.

We are now back in HCMC and had a great honeymoon with Nehemiah. No tears for about 5 hours, then the dam broke. Everything in his life just changed. The sights, sounds, smells, people, oh, the crying, poor little guy. He is now on-and-off crying and we know the bonding process has begun.

We went and had Indian food with the Robbins tonight and he was perfect and the food was excellent. We called our parents to show off Nehemiah and now he is asleep and we are soon to follow. 

"And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king grandted my requests." Nehemiah 2:8

Adam, Natasha and Nehemiah

Day Five

ALL DAY FIVE PICTURES

Had a wonderful visit with Nehemiah today. He was happy, playful, then tired. Tomorrow is our Giving and Receiving Ceremony day. The nannies will bring him to court and we will become a family forever.

Superbaby flying home soon!
We are off to bed... very tired tonight and we have a big day tomorrow.

"God sets the lonely in families." Psalm 68:6

The Perryman's

Day Four

ALL DAY FOUR PICTURES 

Thanks to my friend Alicia for emailing me about not being able to leave a comment. All this time we had no idea that the settings were wrong. We changed our comment section to 'everyone' instead of just gmail accounts, so if you would like please feel free to leave us a comment.

Today was the day we met our son. He is such a complete doll baby! And he says mama, oh yeah, melt your heart! Adam and I agree it could not have been more perfect. It was just the Robbins and us so we got to have lots of quiet one-on-one time with our children and the caretakers. 

He is happy (and the staff said he makes them laugh and is a talker) and seemed ready to attach to his parents. Our hearts are filled with joy and we are looking forward to giving him lots of love.

Here are a few of our favorites from our time together.




"Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world." Isaiah 12:5

With Love from Vietnam,

Adam and Natasha

Day Three

ALL DAY THREE PICTURES
The Rex Hotel has a fruit basket in each room. I decided to give some unique fruits a try this morning... a straight banana, the dragon fruit (pink with black/white) and a new red fruit I had never seen before the mam-roi.

Met up with the Robbins family for breakfast and lunch. They have lived in China for 10 years and are fluent in Mandarin. They have seen God do many amazing things during their time there and Adam and I were all questions with them about the mission field. They have a 3 1/2 year old son and will soon have a 8 month old little girl. 

Tomorrow, Sunday 4th, we will all drive out to Can Tho and meet our children for the first time!
My favorite shot of the day. Precious little girl thoroughly enjoying her coconut drink.

We finished our afternoon with Thai massage and pizza. The last time we were at the Rex the massages were $6, but like everything here (the room rates, laundry service, etc) the prices have doubled or more. The massages now are $32 for an hour. Not cheap enough for us.

So we headed down the street for a 75 min Thai massage for $13, tip included.

The little women pounded, stretched, walked, yanked and rubbed our whole bodies till they were putty. It was pure heaven for both of us.

Tomorrow's the big day, well not adoption day, but meeting Nehemiah day. Hoping internet will be working well in the province so we can post pictures. 

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" Philippians 4:4

(Reminding myself of this one as we saw a little girl today with curly hair who looked like Avi Joy. I got sad for a bit that we still have two weeks here. I know its the right thing, I am sure it will help meeting Nehemiah tomorrow.)

The Perryman's

Day Two

ALL DAY TWO PICTURES
Went shopping in the art district today, just amazing! The artists are very gifted.

We found artwork for Nehemiah's room and Susie/Heather both requested artwork in the Vietnamese style, which we found and bought two perfect pieces. My heart skipped a beat when I found Leo among the treasures.
We are happy as can be shopping in the market! Thank you so much to our family and friends for taking care of Avi Joy at home while we are here soaking up the beauty of Vietnam. Sunday will make it much more beautiful- meeting Nehemiah.
Busy street in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City.
They had everything we could want and more in the marketplace. They REALLY try hard to call you to their stand to check out their stuff. They resorted to flattery with us... here are the best two quotes of the day.

To Adam: "You have such beautiful eye, they have no color."

To Natasha: "You have beautiful form, I fat."

Below is the highlight of the day! After breakfast with Thomas and Phoung we went to check out the Dillon office in Vietnam. There was one seat open on Thomas' bike and I took it! It was 10 mins of pure delight from our hotel through the streets to the office. I loved every minute and am so glad he indulged my hanging on tight and screaming when we almost got hit by a car. "Happens all the time," he said. : ) 

We traveled out at night and the city was bumping. I have never seen so many people together in my life. Every citizen apparently comes out at night, many in p.j.'s, to eat, hang with family and play with their kids in the streets. The weather was PERFECT, it could not have been a better night. We came in and fell asleep about 8:30pm, I am posting this about 4am on Sat morning, I am sure I will have to rest later.

We look forward to meeting two other families today and having a Vietnamese dinner with the staff tonight.

"The father of a righteous man has great joy." Proverbs 23:24

Adam and Natasha

Day One

ALL TRAVEL AND DAY ONE PICTURES

We found the Dillon staff at the airport, we were all smiles.

We arrived in HCMC to celebrate the New Year.  Most people were off today so the streets were full of people hanging out with friends, eating on the sidewalks and shopping.

We went to Ryo Restaurant for lunch and had Adam's favorite, Japanese food. 

Speaking of that food note, San Fran was a great airport, lots of internationals. The thing that made us laugh was the Japanese people eating hamburgers-fries and we were eating Japanese food. Everywhere you turned there were groups of people, every shade that God has made.

Woman's waffle stand...

It was about 90 degrees and I here I enjoyed a coconut shake. They took a real coconut, poured in the juice and mixed with some kind of ice creamish stuff. Perfectly refreshing.

We walked through the streets before heading to the Tax center to do some shopping. I became completely pampered when I showed them my list of Ao Doi's I was going to buy. I picked out what I wanted and they ran, literally, to get the right size for me.

We accomplished buying Vietnamese Ao Doi's... three for Avi Joy, three for Nehemiah and as sent by Jamie and Heather, four for Luke and three for Heather. It was great and the ao doi's are handsome/beautiful.

We then headed back to our hotel and fell asleep N- around 6pm, Adam by 8pm. We slept great and do not feel jet lag at all!!!

We think the key was not sleeping for 2 days. We woke up on Tuesday at 6am to get ready and we arrived in VN Thursday afternoon. During the whole journey I slept for a sporadic 3 hours and Adam about 6 hours. We were not tired though, running on adrenaline I guess. But that helped our clocks flip perfectly.

Two things finally gave out for both of us. Our backs said- stop! They were so achey and needed to rest, but the funny one that completely gave out was my eyelids. Once I laid down I literally could not get them to open. They were always busy, reading and watching movies being forced to stay open, then they just refused.
This is the view from our our hotel.

We are going to have breakfast with Thomas this morning. He will not be accompanying us to Can Tho and we wanted the staff to see all the Can Tho pictures we brought from all the other families. Six families whose children were born in Can Tho sent us photo albums of their children for the nannies to see and keep. They are just precious and I know will be greatly appreciated. We are also sending one to Avi Joy's nannies in Ninh Thuan and one to be kept on file at the People's Committee for her birthmother if she wants to pick it up.

We are off to enjoy day two!

"This is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24

With much love,

Adam and Natasha

(we have no idea why the text is a link?? sorry)