Happy Holidays!

Since Mom has been so busy getting back into the daily life, I thought I should make our final post to our blog.
Life has been a bit hectic since coming home a little over two weeks ago. I must say, it wasn't easy for me to adjust to the new time, the new bed, the new smells and lots of new faces....but as time has gone by, I think I'm doing pretty well. And I have two new teeth!
Mom got a little teary on me the other day because I laid my head on her shoulder when we were playing - first time for that and boy did it feel nice.
What a great welcome when I came home; lots of visitors from family and friends - but this cold weather is for the birds! Of course Mom had me out in the fresh air almost everyday; I still catch my breath when that cold wind blows, but I'm getting used to it. I even went sledding with my brother Billy after our first snow.
So as time passes by, I wanted to thank you all for joining me and my family on this wonderful journey to my new life here on Stone Avenue...I am so looking forward to all the blessings that this life has to offer me. Mom & Dad keep saying that I am their best Christmas present ever - but I know that this new family of mine is going to be my best present ever too. (I have gotten used to all the kisses, and now I love them!)
We still say our prayers every night for my friends back in Hanoi - that they too will have a family of their own someday. I am hoping they will.
Happy Holidays to All - Thanks for supporting my family these past two years, its been a very long journey for them, but I knew they were out there and couldn't wait for them to get me home! Lots of Love - Ken James

There Really is No Place Like Home

Well, we finally made it...20 hours of time in the air, 3 airports and only a few tears, Ken and I made it home!

Not gonna lie, the flight(s) home were not the greatest, and the jet lag hasn't been too easy, but its all worth it every time I see Ken smile with his brothers.

Of course Dan waited up for us, and Kenny took to him right away. Billy was first up in the morning, wanting to feed Kenny (he still likes to be in charge of making the BaBa's as he calls them!)

Once again, I can't thank everyone enough for all of the support throughout the past 2 years. It certainly has been an incredible journey for our family, one that we've always kept the faith, no matter how many obstacles we've had to overcome. Kenny is so happy to be here with us and we are the luckiest family around to have him be a part of our family.

How We Spent Thanksgiving....

What a great Thanksgiving we had!

We started off the day at the local Metro - which is like Cosco or Sam's Club in the states - we were there to purchase some items for the orphanage! A few of the adoptive families, along with a very generous donation from my college roomate Jen, pitched in to purchase a well needed washing machine and 4 heaters for the

infant rooms (they had no heat!) and a few big containers of laundry detergent. Talk about a great way to do for others on Thanksgiving, having so much to be thankful for.....

Ken & I then joined 25 other American families for a real turkey dinner at a local restaurant - it was fantastic....all the trimmings too. Mmmmm did I love those smashed taters.....doesn't Ken look like he has a little food coma going on?

It was nice to be with all the families and felt sad leaving such a great group of folks - please remember in your thanksgiving prayers all those that still haven't gotten clearance to go home, especially Kenny's pal Helen....

All the packing is done, and we're off early in the morning. So as you are waking up for Thanksgiving at "home", know that we are thinking of you and cant' wait to be with you all. God has certainly blessed us with this little boy - I can't imagine my life without him....

Blessings to all - Claire

I'M COMING HOME!!!!

My visa has been approved and Mom & I are headed home. I will be sad to leave my birth country, but can't wait to become a part of "the village".

Soon you'll see me strolling the streets, playing at the park with my brothers and friends and reading books at the library.....

Thanks to everyone for the kinds thoughts, lots of nice emails to my Mom since she's been by herself - it was pretty tough for her. Now she can't stop singing and dancing to that song "I'm Coming Home, to the place where I belong...." - can we please get her some singing lessons for Christmas? or it could be the combination of tears of joy and relief.....

Dad, Danny and Billy get that cheesburger ready for her!

Love to all, Happy Thanksgiving and may the blessings of all my friends at the orphanage give them hope that they too will be with a family soon.

Mom says her usual "God Bless" you all know how special you are! Ken & Mom

ps - a special prayer to my crib mate Helen...you will be going home soon too, I just know it!

A Day To Remember

It was truly an amazing experience. Today I returned to the orphanage with donations from all the generous folks that donated to our son Dan's "Sneakers for the Kids" fundraiser.

Dan's goal was to raise enough $$$ to buy each one of the older children a new pair of sneakers. He did reach that, and because you were all so generous, each one of the 42 kids (age range 11-17 yo.) also got a new winter jacket and 2 pairs of socks. We were also able to buy some much needed presciption medications for the infant rooms - of which I also visited, but we'll talk about that another time - Another family that is in our group brought enough backpacks and school supplies for each child - the smiles were huge!

Anyway...most of the girls were available to receive our gifts (the boys were not "at home") - they were truly the most gracious children I have ever seen. They sat for over an hour, waiting for us to arrive, and then waited while we handed out their gifts one by one. They were smiling, laughing and so humble and thankful for all that we did. As they walked us to our waiting van, I couldn't stop crying, felt like I was leaving these tremendously brave children, who's life was changed by some new clothes and backpacks....

Handing out some of the gifts...winter coats, sneakers , socks and new backpacks for all!

this girl in the pink was one of the older girls, and she couldn't stop hugging me and saying thank you - her smile was shining the whole time

the two older boyz - we had some really fun coats and sneakers picked out for them!

Here are some of the kids - after this picture they walked us out to the van, kept hugging and smiling and saying thank you and kept waving until we pulled away; the tears were rolling....

Okay, you would have to know that someone stole my heart...well here she is. From the moment I got there, she couldn't stop smiling at me and was just wiggling in her seat with anticipation - and YES I wanted to bring her home....I still can't stop thinking about these children and what their lives will be like.

Thank You to Everyone - especially to the kids that opened up their piggy banks, donated their birthday money, used their special savings to this well deserved fundraiser - there are 42 childrend going to bed tonight with a smile on their face. Know that you made a difference in a child's life today...and remember these smiles. Cheers Dan - you done good.

A Little Hometown Snack...

Kenny and I thought we'd have a little afternoon snack; so we searched the grocery store for a "little something something" and found Oreo's! I did a great job eating the whole stack of cookies, not an easy feet, but who can leave one?

One thing missing....Oberweiss Milk!

Ken chomped on the wrapper and got a taste of the crumbs. He played with this for about 2o minutes - all the toys in the world and he likes the wrapper to Oreo's!

Daddy goes home....

Well it's Sunday, the day Bud goes home and needless to say I'm a bit sad and nervous to be on my own. But Kenny brings me such joy, so I'm hoping the time will fly by! So that when we can get back to the states we'll be a big family again - such a nice thought!

Kenny is doing so well, as you can see, he loves his Dad so much and they are thick as thieves.

We didn't get any calls from the Embassy this past week, so we're hoping for Monday or Tuesday. There is still a slight chance I could be home by next Friday, but it really is slight! A few of the families here are getting together for Thanksgiving - they'll be about 20 of us, and the restaurant is serving "imported
American Turkey" nice!!!


Last night we traversed the streets of the city and took some pictures - it was probably too late for Ken (he let us know that at bedtime) but we wanted to go out for a nice dinner - steak and mashed potatoes - a little bit of home.





This is how the folks hang out
and have their tea and Pho - cocktail hour....not much room for the peds to walk!














Two dozen roses for $1.50 US - these make me happy and keep the apartment feeling like home!











Welcome to the city....

We miss everybody so much - dreaming of home!
Lots of Love
Claire & Ken

A note from Kenny!

Hello all my family & friends!

Kenny Bach here, just haning out in my Charlie Shanley pj's having coffee with mom and dad....we've been doing a lot of waiting these days, mom jumps whenever the phone rings. I'm having a blast getting to know my folks - although I do think my mom kisses me way too much; guess that won't change.

I've been out with the folks seeing the sites of the city, taking some well needed naps and loving life. I do miss my crib mates a bit, but we see them here and there (I hung at the pool yesterday with my girl Cami from Michigan). The food is getting A LOT better around here too! I was so tired of all that milk (mom says just like my brother Dan) - so I've been chowing on lots of goodies - no teeth yet, so hard bread is good to chomp on.

I can't wait to come home and see all my cousins and friends! Mom keeps telling me I'm in for a shocker - although this cold weather she keeps talking about gets me a little weary, I kinda like it in the tropics!

I'm really looking forward to meeting all my brothers - mom says I have four! - and my sister, Beth, who has taken such good care of the two crazy ones still at home. Dad still can't believe he has six kids...he just laughs when mom jokes with him about it.

Well its time to go, Dad is looking for his egg breakfast, better get used to that huh? Can't wait to meet you all and thanks for checking in on us!

Lots of Love

Kenny J. Bach

One Week Already...

Here's a little smile from Kenny - Dad can really get him going sometimes!

We've spent the last few days seeing some of the sites of Hanoi - keeping our travels to a minimum as the stimuli is a lot for Ken, and me too! We attempted to go to church, the Cathedral of Hanoi in a great part of town, it was packed, spilling out onto the sidewalks on each three sides. When we went back again at night it was even more crowded and they had a video screen hanging from the side of the church, filming mass....can you imagine the crowds spilling out onto Ogden Ave in front of SFX! The choir was beautiful - and even though you couldn't understand, it was still very moving. The Vietnamese clap after the homily! Here is a shot from our cell phone...

We pick up passports today, medical visit tomorrow and waiting, waiting for our embassy call. Bud told me there was an article in the Tribune about Int'l Adoptions, specifically Guatemala; I hope you all know a lot of dark things do happen in the adoption world - even in the good ole USA. But we are truly lucky to have chosen an agency whose main focus is the children and giving them better homes.

One of our team members went back to Dong Anh yesterday, she is a med doc, and she told me there were so many babies in the orphanage...waiting to be placed and looking for homes. Luckily there are more countries adopting from VN, b/c the US is making it so difficult for families due to publicity etc. etc. on adoptions. A few of Ken's crib mates are in the hospital - which is very sad for us all here...hoping they get better soon. The doctor only visits the kids once a week, so any other visits they can get from a med team is good. It seems this virus is running through Dong Anh. Another group of parents arrived yesterday, they are the last that can come in country for a while because of the Immigration changes.

Covering some of the babies w/the blankets I made

Nothing like a tubby!

A view from one of the older hotels that we had to bunk at on night

The entrance to the Temple of Literature - circa 1046

Embassy Visit #1

Friday we completed our first visit with the US Embassy - it seemed to go well, although there is the "wait and see" attitude with the entire group that is here. Hoping to get a call for our second meeting sometime next week - with Veteran's Day and Turkey Day during our stay here, it does put us back a few days...
Kenny seems to be doing really well! Good old zithro seemed to knock down and drag out that bug. We have been working quite a bit on sitting up by ourselves, that'll be our next picture. Still up every 3 hours or so, but to be expected in this part of his little life - but he seems to getting a little attached...we had a visitor today in our apartment and he was shy and put his head to my chest - Loved It!
Unfortunatey it doesn't look like we'll be doing our orphanage visit today, maybe next week. Things change so quickly around here.
I've been asked a few times about "the little girl in the red hat" from our video...I requested a bit more information about her and so happy to report that she has been matched with a family from Italy! Not sure when they are coming for her, but hoping soon. What a doll!
Three more families from our agency arrived yesterday - some of Kenny's bunkmates will be at
the apartments to visit with him again. The rest of his buddies will be with their families soon; one of our mom's here is a doctor and hopefully will be allowed to make a "house call" to the babies to make sure everyone is doing well.
I did venture out into an outdoor market today. I'm a little tired of eating out, so I decided I would "cook" tonight. Shopping for produce fruit and rice noodles was about all I could manage, but it turned out well! Amazing what a little soy sauce can do....
By the way, the Embassy official made a comment on the way out about the "Bear Fan"! Guess he wasn't a Pakcer fan after all....Smiles, Claire

Getting to Know You...

Greetings - well my title says it all....Kenny and I and Dad have been very busy getting to know one another. Sometimes he's having a blast and other times he realizes he's somewhere new and wants the other life back. This is to be expected and we trudge through the late nights (well, I do that, once again Dad got a solid 12; things are'a'changing' tonight) anyway, Kenny is getting used to our voices and especially the new language - we are a lot more high pitched than the VN - and of coures the way we feed, rock and soothe is very different for him. Westerners are all about holding close, coziness etc and in the orphanage they had so many babies that the kids were fed two at a time from the floor or bouncy. So I try, although I still give kisses way too much (love under the chin!) Kenny's cold is getting better and we were so lucky to come when we did; the babies don't fare well at all in the winter and pneumonia settles in very quickly. I'll let you guess the rest.....

HaNoi is CRAZY - the streets, the vendors, the women walking with huge packs of fresh produce, the stimulation is overwhelming and we've been trying to give Ken little bits and pieces everyday. We had a great fresh fruit smoothies today; its kind of well known for certain cafes as the produce is quite delicious - happy surprise for me. Last night I craved a good ole burger and was pretty disappointed. Oh well, I'm not sick of noodles yet and I've been sticking to a lot of scrambled eggs.

On to other news....we have our first US Embassy visit tomorrow, which I am very nervous about, to say the least. There has been a lot of political issues overseas these days with Int'l Adoptions. We've seen this in China, Guatemala and Russia. Now the spotlight is on VN (just my luck). Anyway, our case is pretty black and white, but you never know. The folks who came out two weeks before us were cleared to go home in 3 week timeframe, and their babies were from the same orphanage as Kenny, so this is good news.

We plan on heading back out to the orphanage on Sunday. It will be time to donate all of the shoes, winter coats and new clothes that we bought. Through all of the generous donations that Dan received (the orphanage director was in awe) we were asked to purchase not only shoes, but clothes for the winter and new coats are needed. The kids have said how sad it is when they go to school because everyone knows they live in an orphanage because of their old clothes that look all the same....so I am really looking forward to that shopping spree. We are being taken by
the director of our agency to the store and then will deliver. Of course this will be our next video production. I must add that things do change like the wind out here; but it is on the "today" schedule.

So....in closing I ask for prayers; for those babies that are sick - a speedy recovery or a match with a family to bring them to a new life and for our first US Embassy visit tomorrow - I'll dress Kenny in a Bears outfit, maybe there's a fan who works there???? Lots of Love and we miss you all so much! Thanks for keeping in touch.

A Moment to Reflect

Whew! What a whirlwind 36 hours...Thanks for all the beautiful thoughts from everyone - it makes us feel right at home.

I'd just like to take a moment to try and capture, in words, what we all saw on the video...or at least I will try. Monday morning we went to the lobby of our apartments and met the other families. You could tell right away who they were! As we boarded the bus together, we trades stories of travel and general chit chat - all nervous chat I might add. But the feeling was there - we had all waited so long for our children and they were all together - 5 babies!

Once we reached the outskirts of the city, the noise subsided as we saw the landscape turn from urban to a definite more less fortunate area. The further we got from the city, the more apparent it was that we were in an area filled with poverty. As drove past fields of farmers, we turned down a lane - very narrow lane for a van - and pulled up to Dong Anh. The adrenaline gave way to a weird fear....a mixture of fear and hope that this place where my child called home from his 3rd day of life would be somewhat "okay".....

As we turned the corner past a very run down area of buildings, you could see 5 sets of green doors. Our doctor opened the first set of doors and it literally took my breath away - you can actually hear me suck air in on the video! Laying on 3 cots were all these little babies; some rolling around, some in bouncy seats and 2 sets of cribs with 2 babies per crib. It was completely overwhelming. It was also a mad rush to find your baby!

Three families total had their children in that room and we all were clamoring to find our child....as you can see by our video, I think Kenny found us. He stared right at me, then at Bud; those deep soulfoul eyes never wavering for a moment. Everybody starting laughing, crying and reaching. As he came into my arms I was in total disbelief that we finally had him...I, of course, had trouble holding it together! So badly that my filiming of Bud's first moment of Kenny came out horrible because the camera was shaking - he'll not forgive me for that.

As we made our way out into the open area, I started to peek through the other sets of green doors, and the same image appeared in each room, babies younger and younger as you moved down a concrete hall. The last room held the true infants - can you imagine how I wanted to hold them all.

The Nannies all came out and laughed and played with the kids, as they were letting go of children that they had cared for since birth; it was emotional for them, but our translator told us how happy they were that these kids were on their way to homes of love. We handed out gifts to all - the baby blankets I had made this summer came out and the Nannies wanted me to wrap some of the children in them right away; so i had the task of laying some blankets on the kids. Each child I spoke to and told them that they would have a family soon.

One little girl in a red hat, who was in Kenny's room, was about 9 - 10 months old I think because she was standing in a crib the whole time watching this whole experience unfold before her eyes - her little look still haunts me after I put a blanket next to her and rubbed her face. ...

As we left the infant area, we walked upstairs to the reception room. Looking around at all the buildings, we could see numbers where each child, toddler to 18 yo, slept 3-4 in a room. The director and vice director sat with us around a u-shaped table and we drank tea - wow, puts Lipton to shame with its strength! The director gave us a beautiful speech, once again thanking us on taking these children on a new journey to life - we in turn couldn't stop thanking him! Off to the bus and back home! quick change of clothes and on to the G&R to become Kenny's official parents; photo's which we've posted. He became part of our family.

Kenny wasn't feeling well by that time - he had a fever and bad cough and breathing difficulty. he didn't want to eat....Mom and Ken got to know eachother pretty well through our first night together as neither one of us slept more than an hour at a time (Dad got a full 12 hours, hmmmmm). by 6am he wasn't faring much better so we dressed and took him to the SOS Clinic. A very nice doctor decided to put Ken on some antibiotics, fearing that he could have been sick for some time. He has some skin issues, lots of little bug bites and some other lesions that we are keeping our eyes on. As you can see by our latest picture, he seems to be doing a bit better!

How could the chicken cross the road?

Claire seems to be a bit chicken about crossing the road here in Hanoi...

Giving and Receiving Ceremony

The Giving and Receiving Ceremony at which the
Vietnamese adoption process is finalized was held at 4pm in Hanoi within walking distance of where we are staying.










After signing the documents, there is a small presentation by an official,











We welcome Kenny into our family...

Kenny's Gotcha Day

Here's a video of us picking up Kenny at Dong Ang Orphanage today...

Kenny's first portrait...

Here's the first potrait! Holding Kenny now as Dad takes a nap...a very long day as we went to orphanage in the morning, then Giving & Receiving Ceremony held today (it was suppose to be tomorrow, but they've been trying to speed the process along). Kenny doing well, as you will see in the video (Bud will post when he wakes up), it was extremely emotional and almost surreal for us....walking into a pretty small room and seeing all those babies laying on 'beds" and trying to pick out Kenny - he seemed to stare right at us!

He has a cold and we're off to the doctor first thing in the morning. Danny, Billy, Bryan, Andrew & Beth: Meet your new baby brother!

We've Arrived!

After a long, long journey, we have arrived safe and sound in the very noisy city of Hanoi.

Motorscooters are the main means of transportation, and there is no real means of crossing the street; you are taking your life into your own hands when attempting this!

Arriving at the airport, we were taken on a taxi ride to Hanoi; passing so of the most dramatic scenes....lots of poverty. There was really no conversation between Bud and I as we passed through the province of Dong Anh (where Kenny is) - the roadside tin huts, people huddle together in makeshift homes and children sitting on the roadside. I kept thinking to myself if we weren't coming for Kenny this would be his life.

Onto the city of Hanoi - we went for a long walk to stay awake and saw some interesting sights; an open air market filled with all types of fruits, veggies and all sorts of "meat" (we skirted those as much as possible). I couldn't help but stare, and in the meantime almost got run over by some crazy motor bikes!

We're off to get Kenny in one hour; we've heard that we will also have the Giving and Receiving Ceremony today; the agency is trying to push through as much as possible in the hopes that the Embassy will allow us to bring our child home. We met two moms last night show sat with us; they are starting their 5th week here - but still had smiles because their kids were with them and not in the orphanage.

So...keep us in the prayers. We are off to make Kenny ours, my stomache is in knots (kind of like labor pains???) Love to you all - we miss you. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TOM!)

Claire & Bud

And We're Off!

The time has come to say goodbye! We're off to O'Hare -
Thanks for the great send off from "the girls" and everyone else
who called, stopped by etc. Danny, hope you are feeling better.
Talk to you all when we're in Hanoi! We heard from Kenny's
caretakers that he got a little haircut for Mom & Dad's arrival -
can't wait to see that!

The countdown begins!

Its officially official - we travel to VN to pick up Kenny November 2nd! He will be in our arms on Monday, November 5th! The packing has begun, the paperwork being completed.

It is our hope to film our ceremony for all friends & family to see (this is Bud's job!) - bear with me folks, this is new for me.

I am just so excited that Our Journey to Kenny is really finally happening. After two years of an emotional roller coaster I'm finally settled in to the fact that I'm going to be a mom for the 6th time! Yipee....