Another steamy day in Hanoi

Brass war statue at the Ho Chi Minh museum.

"Temple of Literature"

Entering "Temple of Literature".

Concrete dragon sculpture at Ho Chi Minh museum.

Dragon sculpture, "Temple of Literature".

Dragon sculpture, (Close up) "Temple of Literature".

A temple at "The Temple of Literature", erected in 1070, almost a 1000 years old.

Another temple at Ho Chi Minh Museum

We took a picture of this guy at the Ho Chi Minh Museum...we thought he looked like Ozzy Osbourne.

Me in front of a boat at West Lake.

I guess that this is some sort of vegatable market...

Very common sight on the streets of Hanoi.

Hello everyone!

We spent another day on the muggy streets of Hanoi. It has been so hot and muggy here. We have been going through big bottles of water just to stay cool. We decided yesterday to take a Saigon Cycle around town, which would be cooler than walking. It was a lot of fun. I just feel sorry for the poor guy peddling us around...he was smaller than me and cycling both Shane and I around town, not to mention he smoked about a pack of cigarettes while he was peddling away, now that is talent! I did take some video, but I am still trying to figure out how to get it on the blog. We have really been enjoying our time here...it is like nothing that either of us has ever experienced!

Tomorrow is our big day!! It is Lyla day :) It is about an hour and a half trip out to her orphanage, and we should be able to spend some time there. We are so excited that the time is finally here. We will hopefully have her Giving and Receiving ceremony on Tuesday, and then we will be able to apply for her passport and visa. We will make sure to take a lot of pictures.

I have been in contact with my parents and sister, and Aiden is doing very well. He asks about us a lot, but doesn't seem to dwell on it for to long. We miss him and Phenix so bad, but I don't think that either of them would have enjoyed themselves here. With the long flight here and the heat, they would have been miserable.

I will post tomorrow after we get our baby girl!

Take care,

Tiffany and Shane

A day out in Hanoi.

Bridge at Hoan Kiem Lake.

This picture was taken at a market nearby...the only thing missing is the smell!

These two little girls were hanging out at Hoan Kiem Lake. We just had to get their picture because they were so adorable. We showed them their picture on the digital camera after we took it and they just giggled :)

These women were doing their morning exercises at Hoan Kiem Lake. I can tell you that it was so hot we were sweating just standing there. These women must be in great shape!

We finally made it!

We are in Hanoi....I thought we would never make it :) The flight from L.A. to Hong Kong was about 15 hours. We were starting to get a little stir crazy towards the end, not to mention our legs and bottoms were hurting from sitting so much! We did get to eat about every hour. They really take care of you on international flights.

Once we arrived in Hanoi, we were greeted by a driver from our hotel and he brought us here. We are still trying to calm down after the ride from the airport to the hotel. I can't even begin to explain how they drive over here. It is crazy to say the least. There were people on mopeds carrying people, boxes, chickens, babies, you name it, they carry it! If there is a moped in front of a car, the car just keeps on moving and honks for the moped driver to get out of the way. We are just glad we made it in one piece and didn't hurt ourselves or anyone else in the process.

We haven't explored out to much yet. We went to the market today to pick up some things. We laid down for a nap when we got back to the hotel and woke up 8 hours later. We went to dinner at a little place next to our hotel, and are now trying to wind down for the night and will hopefully be able to go to sleep.

The room is nice and clean and is right in the middle of everything! There is a little crib in the room for Lyla.

We are scheduled to meet with our facilitator, Dr. Hong on Sunday to talk about our plans for getting Lyla on Monday. We are so excited to finally meet our little girl. I will post some pictures when I get a chance to find the cord for the camera.

Take care,
Tiffany

Next post....Vietnam!!

Well, the big day is finally here. We leave this evening at 9:10pm and fly to Los Angeles, then to Hong Kong, and then Hanoi Vietnam. We will arrive in Hanoi at 10:00 am Friday morning (their time).
My parents picked Aiden up this afternoon, and he was very excited to go with them, they have a lot of fun things planned. He is going to have such a good time, but I know he will miss us and we will definetly miss him!

I will update when we arrive in Hanoi!

Take care,
Tiffany

3 days until we leave!

I can't believe we are getting so close! I think we finally have everything in order for travel. I freaked out a bit when we received our passports and the Consulate had stamped the incorrect dates on our visas! I had to call them and send them back to get the correct dates put on them, and we received them on Thursday....thank goodness!
I have started to wash Lyla's clothes and get everything ready to put in her suitcase....I have got to say, the girl has a lot of clothes! I am going to have everything ready by Tuesday, so on Wednesday I can just hang out with Aiden and Phenix. Our flight doesn't leave until 9:00pm, so that will give us the whole day togehter.

Take care!

Tiffany

We have travel dates!

We are so excited that we finally have travel dates! We are leaving Cincinnati on June 6th at 9:00pm and will arrive in Hanoi, Vietnam at 10:00 am on June 8th!
I can't believe that in a very short time, we will finally meet Lyla. We have been waiting for this for a very long time.
We plan to keep everyone posted during our trip to Vietnam.

Take care,
Tiffany

Our newest addition...

Well everyone, this is the newest member of the Bordwine family. Her name is Thi Binh, we will call her Lyla. We got our referral on Feb. 28...my dad's birthday, (pretty good gift!) She is 11 months old and is staying in the BaVi orphanage in Hanoi, Vietnam. Isn't she precious?

Shane and I will be making the 20 hour flight to get our little one, sometime early summer. Aiden will get to spend a couple of weeks with Nana and Poppy, which I know they are excited about :) I can't even imagine spending that long away from him!

I will continue to post as I get more information on our travel dates.

Also, I hope to get more pictures of Lyla...there are a couple of families with our agency that have daughters in the same orphange, and they are traveling in a couple of weeks, so hopefully we will get new photos!

It is so funny to us that there is this little girl on the other side of the world that already has a family that loves her so much, and she doesn't even know it!