Adoption Day Part III

After the caregiver handed me the letter, and as I was preparing to ask my questions, Ninh (the coordinator) told us we had to leave now for the giving and receiving ceremony, and before I could protest, he said we could come back for one hour after the giving and receiving ceremony. Now it was off to a government building near Tam Ky where we would make things official in the eyes of Vietnam. The pictures are of the ride from the orphage to the government official building (note: no car seats allowed in the van -- no room), and the other picture is at the actual giving and receiving ceremony). The van was much more packed once all the six families had their new additions.

We arrived at a government building, and we were escorted into a room with bottles of water and glasses. Five of the families sat in seats on one side of the table, and there were only seats on the other side left. I went to sit down and was scolded, as this was the side of the room for the officials. I (Pam) stood instead of sitting down. Adam was busy taking pictures and shooting video. We were handed some forms to fill out. Adam filled in his name and signed with one hand (the other hand was on his cameras), and I signed with one hand (the other hand was holding Lilly Tai). Each family went in front of the government official and the director of the orphange and were handed their official paperwork. Lilly grabbed her own paperwork so it is a little crinkley (she's so sweet and yummy). We were all taking pictures of each other's families and promised to share everything with each other. When we were all finished, the government official thanked us and said Vietnam is letting us adopt their children and they are proud they are going to such fine families. We then had a few moments to speak to the official, and a few parents thanked the government official and then the translator said this concludes the giving and receiving ceremony, thank you and good-bye (a few parents did not get to thank the government official since it was cut short).

The pictures below are from the van ride back to the orphanage (no car seats) following the giving and receiving ceremony. More to come including my talks with the caregivers and all the information I was able to obtain when we returned to the orphanage.

Gotta go now and get some rest.

PS -- everyone is terrific!