My daughter Zoe does not enjoy having her hair brushed. She has thick red curls that challenge the effectiveness of most hairbrushes. So she wriggles and whimpers and complains throughout the entire hairbrushing, usually. Oh, how we take for granted the little things, the ordinary tasks we do as parents for our children everyday. Is brushing our kid's hair special? Was it special to us when we kids?
When we were visiting the care center in Vietnam, we decided to bring hairbrushes and various hair accessories so we could fix up pretty hairstyles on the girls. Those kids soaked up the hairbrushing like dry plants soak up water. Older kids, younger kids, boys and girls, wanted to get their hair brushed. A simple daily routine in my house is a moment of focused care in theirs. It makes me wonder, how must it feel to NOT have one person who loves you best? Kids old enough to walk dress themselves, get themselves what they need. Because I was suddenly aware that my brushing their hair was such a special treat for them, it also became a special treat to me. I will try to remember this when I am brushing my daughter's hair. It won't be long until she is brushing her own daughter's hair and I will be missing this routine, a gift I have overlooked until now.

America welcomes its newest citizen, Thanh Thai Roberts!
Congratulations Thai and Rebecca!

We are leaving Vietnam here, plus one! Our friendships are sealed forever with the sharing of this amazing journey of love. Sounds corny, I know, but that is what I am feeling right now, for these special people. Rebecca is an amazing woman with a big heart, a gentle spirit, and a gift for saying just the right thing at the right time. I feel like we are sisters now and I will never be able to repay her for inviting me to be a part of this event. Thai, a little man who has experienced loss enough in his two years, more than many do in their lives, and yet has come out the other side happy, brave, facing his new life with a beautiful smile. And my oldest and dearest friend, Cynthia, who I am destined so share global adventures with. We started that journey in West Africa 26 years ago, and we are still sharing adventures to this day. I am honored to have met Trang and Cha, the facilitators in Vietnam. They work very hard for those kids and are brilliant, strong women, making a difference. My heart has never been so full and so crushed as it was at the orphanage. Being there opened my eyes. I always say we should be grateful everyday for our gifts. Now I can say it with an absolute clarity about what those gifts are.
Of course I could not have gone on this trip without the support of my family. Mark, my husband, who just said "You should go. Its the chance of a lifetime". when I told him I wanted to leave for 3 weeks, right in the middle of us moving, by the way. Pat, my mother in law, for raising him right! My daughters, Mackenzie and Zoe, who did not give me a hard time, even though I know they wanted to! My Mom and Dad who watched the girls and the house, and who are always there for me. And Gage and Johni, thanks guys! I missed you all so much and I am on my way home!

PEACE

!st picture of the water buffalo. I heard this loud chewing. He was hungry. Wanna guess what he was feasting on?

2nd picture was a girl on a bike with flowers. I followed her with my camera to get a good angle and almost got run over by a scooter.

3rd shot is Romana Resort.

4th shot is of Rebecca and the head nanny at the care center. She gave Thai his name when he arrived at two days old.

5th shot is mysterious drainage into the Mekong River. Don't drink the water.

1st shot is of skinned chickens waiting to be sold.
2nd picture is fresh crabs in Can Tho.
3rd and 4th picture are me being immature at the Water Puppet theatre.
Last picture is of Rebecca, bleary eyed, as she updates her blog. This blog has been quite as bit of work and Rebecca and I long for the days when you took pictures, threw the film in your bag, then never developed it but kept it for years and years because you knew you would develop it someday and make a scrapbook .

1st picture is a silhouette of a woman cooking rice into a paste to make rice noodles.

2nd picture is of a guy carrying the rice dough that will dry in the sun and then be cut into noodles. I say add this to any gym routine and you will make a fortune. Use this picture in your infomercial.

3rd picture is of a baby sleeping in a hammock at the rice noodle family business.

4th picture. Pigs have it pretty rough over here.

We visited the Water Puppet Theatre in Hanoi, a national treasure. The show was about an hour long, all sorts of fabulous water puppets performed, live music and singing. Thai was totally engaged in the performance and has been sitting still like a stone on my lap watching the videos of the entire performance. Rebecca and I had to use evasive measures after the show to avoid meeting the very angry man that we shushed during the performance. Guy strolls in with his family, 5 minutes after the show starts, asks us to move out of our ticketed seats, talks loudly to his family. Finally I could not take it and I did a SHHH! and Please!. He was very unhappy to have been shushed in front of his family and just glared at me and Rebecca for the rest of the performance. I could feel his eyes burning holes in me, and sure enough, every time I glanced his way, glaring eyes! Anyhoo, the show was spectacular. If ever you are in Hanoi, you must see it. Today Rebecca and Cynthia are off on an adventure to some caves and Thai and I are going to visit the Temple of Literature where a human chess game is played. People are dressed elaborately as chess pieces. That should be interesting. Also on my agenda today is last minute souvenir shopping. I need to find something for my son and beautiful new daughter in law, Johni.We leave tomorrow for the U.S. I will miss being here, but I miss my family!

Bat Trangh-TAKE ONE

Bat Trangh-TAKE TWO

When we first arrived at the care center, the kids were pretty shy and it was a little awkward. Imagine being Rebecca and Thai, trying to find a connection with everybody watching you. Little Thai was vey scared and shy, very unlike the happy little imp he is only a week later!

Before I left the U.S., my wonderful son, Gage, gave me his childhood beanie baby collection. These beanies are somewhat collectable, but they have never been more valuable than they were on this day. They were the best ice-breakers in the world! We had enough so that every child, younger ones and teenagers too, got at least two. Even the nannies snarfed a few for themselves! After the beanie baby give-away, we were in like Flynn! They opened up to us, played with us, and the time over the next couple of days with them is time I will cherish always. So, thanks for the beanie babies Gage!

I gave the camera to Hang last week when we were at the Care Center. She took some pretty good footage! All of the kids were so smart and figured out how to do stuff with our cameras that we did not figure out for ourselves. You can see by this video the environment. The care center was very poor, but it was clean and staffed by caring people. The children for the most part seemed to be happy and engaging. A few were little hellions!

On my boat tour of the Mekong, we got stuck in a down pour while on the boat. The boat is about 4 or 5 feet wide and the rain was coming in sideways for much of the trip, so we were soaked when we got off. I had to put my camera away because it was getting wet.

Crossing the street is a memorable experience for most visitors to this part of the world. When given advice about Viet Nam, the first thing people usually tell you is how to cross the street. The trick is, you have to walk with confidence, look both ways, even on a one way street because bikes and scooters often are going the wrong way, and know that the traffic will never completely stop, so an ebb is what you are waiting for. My advice is to play the game Frogger for a few days in preparation for your trip because this is that game on the ground. This was crossing during an uncongested moment. I would not attempt to film crossing in a congested moment. After a few times of seeing your life flash in front of your eyes, you get used to it. There is not much order here with the traffic. Those who are the most aggresive and with the loudest horn win. But, if there is an accident, it is always the fault of the person in the larger vehicle. So if a scooter hits a car, the car is responsible. Pedestrians are the smallest so maybe that is why the cars do so well avoiding hitting us.

Bras or fish! I thought this picture was so funny! They sold bras and fish. The yellow crates contain hundreds of little chickies. I was on the ferry and heard this loud chirping. I followed the noise to these poor little creatures. We had to exit the bus to get on the ferry because a few years back, a bus driver forgot to put on the hand brake when he went to buy his ferry ticket. TYhe bus rolled into the Meking River. Everybody except two old ladies in the back managed to get out. The poor old ladies drowned. This event occured on the ferry heading off of the island, so the rule only applies on that side. It has not happened on the ferry going to the island, so on that side, we stayed on the bis and rode on the ferry.

OK. Vietnam has the cutest kids on the planet! I visited Can Tho, a town my Dad spent some time in in the 70's. It is situated in the Mekong Delta and right on the river. They boast the largest "floating market" in Vietnam. Basically, all of the fruit, fish and other kinds of vendors, set up shop on their boats. People come and buy their stuff. I hopped on one boat that sold me a pineapple. They cut it in the coolest way and I ate it like a gigantic ice cream cone! The fruit here is incredible! Sweet, juicy, and ripe when picked. The little kids on the boats use their cuteness to lure customers, and it works really well on tourists!

The first picture is of my feet dangling over the Mekong River. I have to show my wonderful mother in law, Pat, that my pedicure is still going strong! Not a chip gone! We got a pedicure a few days before I left and it is the best pedicure I have ever had! Next is me holding a python, or visa-versa! We hopped on a tiny dugout canoe and rode up some little canals with women of all ages rowing us. It was very serene. When we got back in the big boat to cross the Mekong, a huge deep muddy river, the storm hit. It was quite an adreniline rush to think about those crocs waiting for people to get knocked over. Actually, I don't think there are many crocs left because I have seen an alarming number of croc wallets and such. When it rains here during the rainy season, it RAINS. Drenching intense windy rain. Like Florida on steroids.

Hang is 17. She has to leave in one year. In Viet Nam, life can be hard for a woman with no family. Hang helps a lot at the care center and is so sweet! I plan to sponser this child so that she can stay longer. For about $16 a month, she can stay at the care center and finish her education. She will attend a local trade school and learn a vocation. $17 a month can change the course of her life. The program is through Children's Home Society and Family Services, a well known organization in the U.S. Having a face to put with the sponsorship makes such a difference. These guys didn't even tell us about the program, we asked. They should tell everyone! I just love this girl! She wrote me a very sweet letter in Vietnamese. We are now pen pals. I am also pen pals with Hong. If any of you need a pen pal, I can hook you up!

More shots from the childrens's center.

Annie! Hello from HoChiMinh City!!!!!

This is Duyen. She is 11 years old and has been at the care center fir a coouple of months. She reminds me so much of Mackenzie!

Hong is 14 and a sweet gentle soul. She has been at the chldren's center for her entire life because adoptions were closed for a period of time. When the opened up again, she was an older child, harder to place. She missed her window. She is extremely shy.

Hi Guys!!!!

Our first glimpse
of shy little Thai.

Me and Juhn, the
driver/interpretor.

Little boy at
the zoo.

View of Ho Chi Minh
City from the
roof of a hotel.

Girls gone wild
in the HoChiMinh
City Zoo!