Welcome to the Family, Lulu!

As of approximately 12:30 pm local time, Lulu officially became a member of our family (at least as far as the Vietnamese government is concerned). We enjoyed a little naptime with Lulu in our arms on the long and bumpy ride back to the hotel. She's a cuddler, grandmas, so get ready.

The ceremony was relatively short and straightforward once the flurry of paperwork and signatures was complete. The Vietnamese official wished our families' well, we had an opportunity to thank them with a few words (and some boxes of chocolates), and Lulu was ours.

Back at the hotel, Lulu is putting on quite a show. She's rolling over (both ways), holding our head up in the prone position, and generally having a great time with her teething toys and other small toys we've given her. She continues to be a very cheery little girl and hasn't fussed much at all. She does jibber jabber a little bit, and she grunts a lot (she's either working on something or simply fond of that sound, :) ). In any event, we're having a great time with her, and now we can focus on her and getting us all home as soon as possible.

On that issue, we're a bit concerned. The two day delay on the front end will likely mean we'll need to reschedule our return flights. We have e-mailed and will later call our travel agent to get that ball rolling and see what our options are. We're still hoping to get all of us home before the 11th of August (the date we had previously set for her baptism). So, continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers and wish us well in our efforts with our embassy and the airlines.

We can't wait to introduce Gabe to his little sister!

God Bless,

Aaron, Joni, AND LULU!