Home at LAST!!

Sorry for the delay in posts......... Yes, we made it home!! It has been wonderful to have the family together at long last.

We couldn't have asked for anything more- really. Petch continues to smile, and go right along with all the kids and craziness that we came home to. He is still pretty quiet, not trying a ton of English yet. He says "mom" and "dad" just as he has from day 2. He also uses the kids names, and when he is being silly we catch him copying us say phrases. We seem to stumble through the language with a mix of charades and thai/english word jumble. Yesterday he said a new word or two, so we are hoping that he will start being more comfortable using more and more. That will be really fun for all of us!

This week we have had so much going on. It has been hard for us to try and figure out what is too much and what is okay. I think since it was Halloween week, we just have to realize it was probably all too much- but we just took it one step at a time. We did take the family out Trick or Treating last night with the cousins and some close friends. Petch had picked out a costume earlier in the week, and was excited to put it on and hit the town with the rest of the gang.

I can't believe we have been with Petch for a month! He is such a remarkable kid. It is nice for now that he is able to stay home with his dad during the week while I work and the kids are at school. It gives him some time for him to continue to build that bond, and I think it is also nice that the timing worked out he gets to spend the time with his dad. (Although sometimes I feel sad it isn't me.) The two of them have been talking fishing, and I'm not sure which one of them is more excited to go.

Some of you might have heard, one of our dogs was also in an accident this week. He had one of his hind legs amputated on Friday and will be coming home tomorrow. I just have to think about all the strange things (Halloween and all) that Petch has experienced this week, and hope he doesn't think we're too crazy!! Tomorrow he gets to go get our 3 legged dog. WOW...... so much to absorb!

Thanks for checking back with us. I plan to continue to update the blog periodically with photos and stories, so if you are lonely pop in from time to time.
Love, Hollie & Devan + the 5 silly monkeys

Hanging in Bangkok

We are having to work hard to make the best out of these last few days here in Bangkok!! This is truly an awesome place, and we will be back again but the trip is taking its toll.

Today we headed back to our favorite place Siam shopping center (sad I know) but it is huge, and you can eat lots of different foods, see a movie, go bowling, or shop of course! What's not to like- a little for everyone. Yesterday we tried out the bowling alley- very cool!! Petch hadn't been bowling before, and he gave it a shot, but fell down with those shoes on then decided to sit out for a while. In the end he did give it another try (without the shoes) and he liked it much better. We will have to work on that as some of you know we like to hit the bowling alley in Brookings.

Guess what else we ran into in the shopping center? Yes you could never believe it- a gaming convention! Just what a bunch of boys love best. There were some tournaments going on, and some game demos. The boys enjoyed looking around there a bit!

The last few days have been harder for Petch. He has been more outwardly grieving- I am sure all of his losses. We are glad that he is more comfortable with us, but it is hard to see him go through it and the communication gap doesn't help. Tonight he is back to his usual happy-go-lucky self. I am sure this is only the tip of the iceburg, but at least we won't be living out of a hotel for much longer. Everyone is tired of getting up to go to breakfast!!

We met another couple adopting their little one also through Holt and spent some time with them tonight. They are fun, and it was nice to talk to someone else adopting. We are all going to be going to our Visa interview on Thursday morning. That will be when we get the final piece of our approval (Petch's visa) to travel home. (I know some of you suggested we try and leave early -and trust us we are ready, but Petch is leaving on emergency paperwork which is good only for the 23rd of the month.)

Tomorrow is our last free day here in Bangkok. We booked a trip to the Water park, and we will be gone all day! Hopefully it will be a reprieve from the hotel room for the day. :)

Good night!

Back on Track

Well after some real nerve racking days of not knowing how and when we were going to be able to bring Petch home we were pleasantly surprised by how smooth our interview and paperwork was completed at the immigration office. We are back on track to bring Petch home with us to meet our Families, and Friends on Friday as earlier scheduled.

We have been doing very little the past couple of days mainly just killing time before we can leave. All of us are looking forward to getting back to our NORMAL life if that is what you call it! We are getting pretty homesick and can't wait to see all of our family and friends.

More Pictures from Phuket

Hello all!

We just got to Bangkok and as promised I have uploaded some photos for all of you to enjoy. I will add a few more in a couple of posts! Notice the boys got to float in a bubble at the pool. How cool is that?

Beaches, pools, islands, and fun!

Well we would love to post more, but we've been so busy working on our tans! :) Actually we have had a lot of fun resting, relaxing, and exploring this beautiful place. We have so many wonderful photos to share when we get back to Bangkok tomorrow!!

Wednesday we took a tour of the Phi-Phi islands by speed boat. We were shown such beautiful places it is hard to write about. One of the islands is where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. There were quite a few people at the beach area all swimming around in the fantasticly warm waters- not like our beach in Oregon! Then we were moved to another island called "Monkey island". Yes, it got it's name from all the wild monkeys that live there. It was really crazy. One of the guys on our boat even got bit by one of them. Thank goodness our group decided they would keep their distance. We were taken to two more islands, one for lunch were it started a tropical storm that was absolutely insane. We just had to laugh and walk around in it until our boat could leave again. At least it's hot, and we were wearing swimsuits anyway! The last beach we stayed at for over an hour and just enjoyed the nice weather again. Some of the group did scuba. Petch tried it, but the stuff was a little big for him. He seems to be pretty adventurous!

Today is our last day here. We will be going to see a popular show called "FantaSea". I think it has lots of elephants, dancing, and dinner. We will see soon.

We have continued to have some stress working with the immigration department in Bangkok on our case. Today they contacted us and set up an appt for Monday morning which we were told will now be our "interview". It's all long and complicated and boring, but this is very good news!! We have a few more steps to do to be able to leave the Country on Friday, the 23rd and we need this interview before the rest can be completed. Thanks to all for your emails, posts, and prayers that things will come together for us!

Love to all,
Hollie & the family

Technical difficulties, but all is well!

Just wanted to let everyone know we made it safe and sound to Phuket. Our resort is for sure Heaven on earth, the only problem being getting online. We haven't been able to get internet access in the room here at the resort, so that has made things difficult. We are pretty busy with keeping all the boys entertained so by the time we finish the internet cafe & business center have closed down. TOday we have figured out we can come to the lobby (which is indoor/outdoor by the way- and get online here with a prepaid card. I guess it will have to do!!

The boys are doing well. We took Petch to the beach yesterday, and we are pretty sure he hasn't been before. He enjoyed it a lot. We have some pictures to show above. Joe was sleeping, and Gabe was watching a movie so it was just the 3 of us. TOday we will head back as Joe hasn't been there yet, and we will plan to stay longer.

Petch and I did legos for like 3 hours last night. I was beat, but it was something to interact with him with and he seemed to really like it. We built a fire truck! This morning he picked them up again- we tried to distract him! LOL

Devan is enjoying the swim up bar. He wishes his friend were here to enjoy it with him. Everyday at 5 is buy one, get one free.

Having trouble loading the pictures for some reason-frustrating! I will try to add them later on.
Love, Hollie & Devan & Gang

Good news and bad news!

Hi friends and family!

First of all I want to say thanks for all the comments and emails. We look forward to having some comments and contact with all of you at home.

Well Wednesday (Tuesday night there) was our board meeting with the Department of Child Welfare. Things moved fairly quickly there, and we were very pleased that we were given permission from the board to officially adopt Petch. Then things sort of got frustrating...... Most of you know the struggles we have had adopting our son due to complications of proving his citizenship. It is an unusual case, and have already had struggles getting here. I won't go into all the details as they are difficult to understand even for us, but we have to complete an extra step in order to get approved for the adoption. Wednesday in the afternoon we had to go to the Bangkok/US immigration office to submit documents of our case and await their review of them -and hopefully will have adequate documentation and receive approval. Well they did not receive information from the US immigration office that they needed to fully begin review of our case. It was frustrating, and stressful as we did confirm that the information was sent to them- however for some reason they didn't have it! Lucky us, right?! It seems that whenever there is a bump we hit it!! We are hoping the missing paperwork will be resolved by tomorrow (Friday) and have had much assistance and support from Holt to get this resolved ASAP. We have a few more steps before we are complete with all the "clearances", and do not want any delays.

That said, today was Thursday and after a quick (and very hot) trip back to the Immigration office to give them our emails of the follow up on missing papers we took the day off!! :) We went to a mall, got Petch a red PSP and Joe got a skateboard. Then we ate at some great places, and headed back to the pool. We traveled by the sky train, and I want you all to know we did a lot better-we didn't look quite as unable as the last time! We are turning into City folk now!!

Petch is still full of smiles. He did say "mom" and "dad" on his own today!! HOORAY.... He also said "yes" and "no". Progress. He is swimming like Michael Phelps (or dad thinks so) after only 2 short days in the pool. He is amazing, of course.

We are planning to go to Phuket on saturday. We don't think that there will be any hold ups since the immigration office is going to need time to review our documents. WE found a really nice resort with a 2 bedroom villa that will give us some more space, and more childrens activities. Booking that has also come with its challenges due to our family size (I know they aren't even all here), and due to Petch's documents. Devan will take his paperwork to the Thai airway office tomorrow and hopefully they will let him pay!! :)

Hope you enjoyed the photos, not as many since there has been a lot of meetings and phone calls lately trying to arrange things for the next week.

Love to all,
Hollie, Devan, and the three musketeers (or stooges) whatever you prefer!!