Meeting Loc

We went to the orphanage this morning, about a three and a half hour drive, and the last 30 minutes are a blur to me, I was so nervous. We took a ton of photos from the windows of the car on the way out, which I hope to post later, because it was an amazing trip. Saigon gave way to rural Vietnam, which was at once beautiful and shockingly poor.

We got to the orphanage, and older kids rushed out to greet us. Then, before I could take a breath, we were ushered into one room with another couple to see our kids. Theirs, a 4-month-old, was in her bouncy seat. And there, standing across the room, was Loc.

He's smaller than I imagined, but there was no mistaking him.

His nanny brought him over to us, and he immediately started fretting and getting anxious. She tried to sit him on my lap, and that's when the real waterworks started. He was so afraid of me, he was trembling like a leaf. He kept pushing at me, trying to get away. So, we sat for a while on the floor and talked to him quietly while the nanny held him. We got out some bubbles and he chased them, and eventually he let me feed him a piece of Oreo.

After a while, he was getting antsy about being cooped up in the hot room -- he kept running over to the door -- so the nanny gestured to me to try to take him outside. She put him in my arms, and this time he didn't protest. "He loves to be outside," Thao translated for me, and I thought, good -- he's going to get along with his cousin Renee just great.

I walked around the orphanage courtyard with him for a few minutes, and he wasn't protesting, and then he started blinking really slowly, so I shifted him so his head was resting on my chest, and he went right to sleep.

I held him for 45 minutes while he slept (he's a little furnace and it was HOT, so my shirt was soaked to the skin by the time he woke up). He was a little disoriented when he woke up (who the heck is holding me?) and started fretting again, so I put him down and let him run around.

Then a little while later, he let me pick him up again, and Ray fed him little Teddy Grahams, which he liked. And then, and this is where I really almost lost it, he started feeding cookies to me. Ray would give him one, and he would reach up and put it right in my mouth.

We were there two and a half hours, and while I didn't get a smile out of him, he seemed to get more and more used to us. We go back tomorrow for another visit, and then we hope to have the G&R on Wednesday, at which time we'll get him full-time. I was ready to take him home today, of course, but maybe another visit isn't such a bad idea. He really needs time to warm up to us.

The orphanage was about what I expected, except for the decorations on the walls, which included a giant Santa Claus and a wooden carving of Betty Boop straddling a beer bottle. WTF?

There are a lot of kids there -- a bunch of babies, and a lot of older kids, including a wonderful 17-year-old boy who speaks good English and did some interpreting for me. What does Loc like to eat?, I asked. "Candy." What does he like to do? "He likes to watch TV."

Well, he'll have no problem becoming an American.

The caregiver to kid ratio is really good there, and the place is clean if sparse. No, there aren't any mattresses in the cribs. Yes, it's pretty chaotic -- some of the kids are pretty rowdy -- but they all seem to get along and take care of each other. One girl held Loc a lot while I wasn't holding him. They've had some problems with only having electricity every other day, so the kids all have prickly heat. Loc's back and arms are covered in spots, but that'll clear up when he gets into some AC.

Otherwise, he looks pretty healthy, and he's certainly getting around a lot. He carries the two stuffed toys I sent him and guards them with his life. He knows they belong to him.

We're at the very swank Novotel resort in Phan Thiet right now and can't upload photos from their Internet center, but I'll upload some tomorrow night when I can borrow one of the other parents' computers.

It was such an emotional day. I think everyone was crying at the orphanage. The other three families' kids look great as well. It was tough to leave this afternoon.

So, round two tomorrow. Let's see if Loc recognizes us and if we can coax a smile out of him. But we're off to a good start. He's wonderful. We couldn't be happier.