Catching up! First US Consulate Interview on Mon

There is a lot to catch up on.
On Monday we had our adoption interview, the first of two interviews, with the US Consulate. Kim and Kenny met us (Ken, Phoebe, Peggy, Neil and me) in the hotel lobby and together we took a taxi to the Consulate. Once at the building, we went through a security check where we submitted our passports for the attendant to log us into a book and then she gave us clip-on badges. Then we were asked to go to a large waiting room where we were the only people. After a few minutes, both families were called over to the counter, which had a thick glass wall separating us from the official, Mr. Anderson. He outlined the process, which he said was to basically verify our documents, and then he asked Peggy and Neil to a private interview room next to public area. Shortly thereafter, Peggy came out and we were asked to go in. The interview went smoothly with Mr. Anderson asking a set of questions to basically determine if the adoption was legal/ethical and if we were able to support our daughter. A few of the questions that I remember were:
How much did World Child charge for their services? Once in Vietnam were you asked to pay any additional fees? What is your annual income? What is/are the name(s) of your health insurance provider(s)? All of the questions required a simple answer except for one where he asked us to tell him all that we knew about the birth mother. When we told him that we met Phoebe's birth parents at the G&R Ceremony, he seemed pleased. All in all, we were at the Consulate office for less than a half hour. Mr. Anderson outlined the next steps, saying that barring problems with our documents, our CIS clearance, which is done in the HCMC office, would take 3-5 working days, at which time we would have our final interview for Phoebe's visa to enter the US.

Afterwards we drove to a photography “studio” near the lake to get pictures for the babies’ visas. I was skeptical that the photographer would be able to pose the babies, but Kim assured me that there was a technique, which she demonstrated with Neil for his shot. Place the baby on your lap, hold her at her hips, then a white cloth is placed between you and the baby, the photographer positions the baby’s head then quickly takes the shot. The first pictures were good for both the kids.

When we returned to the hotel I gave Kim Michelle & Brian Shaw’s care package for their daughter in Thai Hguyen, which she promised would be delivered on their next trip to the province.


Keeping with the tradition of the product report for families in the "waiting to travel" stage, I'd like to report on the the travel bed that Phoebe is using at the Hong Ngoc (bought at Target). She starts out in the correct spot but by the next morning she migrates to the bottom! We really like the bed because I can reach over to comfort her during the night when she wakes. I can also gently rock the bed, which helps to get her back to sleep (trust me, this can be very tough at times so the bed had been so helpful). For packing, it folds to about the size of a large computer bag. The dachshund stuffed animal(second pic) is from her special Uncle Craig. The final shot is of our little one napping in a stroller that we bought from another World Child family that was heading back to the US.