Home Early!

Hello!

Because Emma got her passport on Thursday and we (Isaac and Jonah) want to go home early, we are going home almost a week earlier than planned! We will be leaving tonight from Hanoi and arrive in MTL Sunday pm.

We can't wait to be home in Canada at our red door!

We are still in Hanoi and will be here until our return to Canada next week. We are still waiting for Emma's Canadian passport.

Yesterday we visited the Temple of Literature, the Fine Arts Museum, and the Museum of Military History. Our favourite was the one about the wars because there were a lot of planes, helicopters, and tanks. Mama can't put any pictures onto the blog today because the connection is too slow right now. She will try again tomorrow. Everyone is well. We really like getting comments and emails so please keep sending them!

Right now Emma is taking a nap. Baba and Isaac have gone outside for a haircut. Jonah has just finished up some homework. Maybe we'll do some shopping later.

Early this morning photos could be loaded up to the blogspot, but now the system has slowed down again so mama will try tomorrow to upload more pictures.

As we visit different places, we can see the influence of the Indian subcontinent, China, France, and now Britian and the US on the face of Vietnam. We visited a museum and Amar said, "How did these Indian gods get here?" Then we visit another touristic site and the Han Chinese architecture is very present.

Many people here think that Jonah is Chinese and Isaac is Vietnamese. Mama did her homework and it turns out that Jonah is Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group in China. However, Isaac is Jhuang Chinese, a minority group. It turns out that 88% of Vietnamese are of the Kinh ethnic group. Kinh in Vietnam is the same ethnic group as Zhuang in China. All that to say that: Isaac and Emma are of the same ethnic group!

We are all interconnected as human beings and all come from one person. And as mama likes to point out, somehow our family must look alike because we are all created in the image of God and we are all from one race: the human one.

Ta-ta for now,
The Rawal Bouquet
Hanoi

outside our hotel door in hoi an

the view from our breakfast table in hoi an

even Hoi An has coca cola

walking in hoi an

Hoi An

while waiting for emma's vietnamese papers, we went to Hoi An, an ancient village 30 km from danang.

here is jonah in the hotel pool

emma and baba hamming it up

jonah playing the clown for the camera

a few last minute pictures outside our hotel before leaving emma's hometown of danang

technical problems

we are having technical problems. we hope to be back up and running with photos very soon. thank you for your comphrehension.

We think she likes the suit, Aunt Jean! She was very curious about it. (We don't think they have them in Vietnam.)
Nighty-night for now!

First bath!

She loves her new shirt, nai-nai. She made a big smile when mama put it on her!

First nap!

First feeding!

First time we say, "No, don't touch that, Emma." (She doesn't listen yet.)

First bottle!

Jonah isn't sure how to keep her in his arms, but he'll get the hang of it.

And we think adoption is very very special because it made us a family.

It is also a day that we remember our adoption in China.

Today is a special day. It is the day we have the adoption ceremony and Emma becomes our sister on paper. (She's already our sister in our hearts).

We found this amazing lizard at our door. We wanted to take it up, pet it, and put it in a bottle, but mama said we should let it go free and run wild outside.

Mama and Emma

A Sweetie Pie

Baba and his baby girl!

When she is concentrating on something, Emma sticks her tongue out just like Isaac does!

Isaac and Emma having fun under Emma's crib

Isaac holding Emma for the first time!