If you want to play catch up-
Part 1- Traveling to Vietnam & Part 2- Meeting our Son
After an amazing first day at the orphanage meeting our son, we were so excited to go back. There had been talk the day before about possibly allowing us to take him out of the orphanage to our hotel for a few hours to get him more used to the idea of being with us, but we wouldn’t know until around noon.
We woke up to another hot but breezy day and ate breakfast by the beach while we tried to think of ways we could move here and live in Phan Rang forever.
After breakfast, we grabbed a taxi back to the orphanage. As soon as we walked through the gates I saw someone that we had been praying to meet while we were here- Toan’s dear sweet nanny who he loved. Though we didn’t ever get to talk to him prior to arriving in Vietnam, it was clear through the updates and pictures we got that Toan was very close to one of his nannies. We knew she had taken him on numerous trips to Saigon (a seven hour train ride each way) and that she had been the one who stayed in the hospital with him during his surgeries and rehab. We knew how important she must be to him and so we were very hopeful that we would get to meet her. Sometimes when kids are leaving, the nannies who were the closest to them will take those last few days off so that they can say goodbye in private since it can be emotional, which is completely understandable, but I was very excited when we walked through the gates and saw her sitting and holding him.
As we came up to say hello again, our agency rep told Toan in Vietnamese “It’s your Mom!” and he responded right away that he was wrong, that the nanny was his Mom. He always calls her Mom. He still warmed up to us well, but he did not want to leave her.
As we began to play with him we saw that he had drawings on his arms and legs. His sweet nanny told us that the other children thought that he was leaving for good today so the night before they had all drawn and written memories all over his arms and legs to wish him goodbye and in hopes that he would remember them. It was so incredibly beautiful, this almost ceremonial goodbye from the other kids. Some of them have helped care for Toan since he was a baby and I can’t imagine how hard that would be to say goodbye. Many of them are close to aging out into a world that is not kind to orphans. My heart broke for them and their tears. I tried to get a good picture of the drawings but it was hard to get them to show up on camera because they had faded so much.
We were able to get contact information for each other so we could stay in contact and then she offered to give us a tour of some of the parts of the orphanage that we hadn’t seen yet, like his room and answer more of our questions about caring for him. She was so sweet and you could see how much she cared for Toan. I loved getting to see his rooms and bed and the places that he has known and lived. This is his home, and these places are and always will be so important to him and his story. He has been loved and happy there.
They approved us taking him to the hotel for a few hours and so after lunch we were able to take him back to our hotel for a couple of hours. They were so sweet and sent him with extra clothes, diapers, and everything he might need for his little adventure. We grabbed a taxi and were so excited to take him with us for a little while! 
When we got to the hotel, we pulled out some of the toys we had brought with and figured out really quickly that he makes up for not being able to walk by having very strong arms! His favorite activity was throwing the balls that came with the toy dump truck we brought as hard as he could into trashcans, suitcases and anywhere he wanted. We were so glad that he was relaxing and having fun with us. After playing with the toys he was ready for a nap and we sent Brandon and Sawyer to the beach. Once he woke up we went to see what they were up to
He was not sure about the sand, he didn’t want me to let his feet touch it at all. He didn’t even want me to touch it haha
In the evening we took him back and enjoyed our last few hours at the orphanage. After we left we grabbed dinner and went to a grocery store to have Peter help us pick out snacks and supplies for the train the next day. We wanted to have everything we could to make the transition to us as easy as possible. 
Later that night we got a message from his nanny letting us know they were having a big goodbye party for him and that we could come by and bring a cake for the kids. Sawyer was already in bed so Brandon and Peter took a big cake and got to be there for Toan’s last night with all of his friends. The nannies sent us lots of videos of how silly they were all acting and of all the fun. Our little boy has been so very loved.
We all headed to bed thoroughly exhausted and ready to have Toan become ours the next day
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