Ready To Kick It BD Style!

HUH? Yeah time to kick it BD (Binh Duong) style with our VN travel buddies Rich, Jackie and Mya! We are looking forward to re-uniting the girls and spending time with the three of them! We also will be making an appearance to Hank's sister's family since they are so close and a first time meeting Sophie for Uncle Chris, and the rest of Team Hognon! WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO IT EVERYONE!

Ah......the Vine in Ha Noi on our last night :-(

Palmettos & Gardens

Sophie and Poppa invaded the Palmetto State the other weekend to visit with Moots and Big Top and help celebrate Moots' birthday. We had a wonderful time and I know we were both tired when we got home. Sophie did very well on the flights.
In SC we enjoying the zoo, swimming, riding in the golf cart around the neighborhood and just having lots of fun! Thanks Moots and Big Top! We had a great time.

Riding in the air-mane


FREAKY LOOKIN CAT ANIMAL, THING.. LOL

Drawing with Big Top out at dinner.

Moots and SLNB!

Smiles and laughs.

Party time!

Birthday wishes!


Riding the horse at the zoo.

Feeding the Lorikeets...

and the giraffe...Sophie was freaked out...

Water fun in the fountain

Swimming with Moots

Loving life..

Um yeah, that is a TON of newspapers and underneath it, the same amount of cardboard to what is the start to Sophie's flower garden. Hank had to dumpster dive at the recylce center to grab enough newspapers. We were just looking for the coupon to Lowe's :-). Anywho, beginning this fall we will begin planting as soon as everything is composted. We hope our girl will enjoy it for years to come.

Anyone find the Sports section?

Tons of peat moss later, we are composting!

Being a Father

Being a father....Never thought I would be able to actually experience it. With all that Tricia and I went through, my first Father's Day was very special. Not only was it awesome it had some very special moments. I was able to watch my daughter with my own eyes. Watch her laugh, play, cry, sing, dance all in one day. One year ago she was half way around the world, not knowing how much her Poppa loved her and missed her, even after just seeing her picture 48 hours before.

As we sat at dinner tonight, she looked over at me, held out her arms wide and said, "Poppa...hug....Poppa hug". WOW! Sophie is a loving little girl, but never had she said that to me. She will give a kiss when asked to, but she really has not just reached out like that to me. That was something I will never forget.

We really had a nice day. No bouncing around from place to place, just enjoying the family and the wonderful humidty here in St. Louis on the first day of summer. I began work yesterday on what will be "Sophie's Garden". A special place with beautiful flowers and that "Rock" we had in our garden last year.

I am very fortunate to be a father to such a wonderful little girl. I thank God each and every day for her. As we put her to bed tonight, I picked her up so she can turn out the "big light", we said night night to "cat that waves", night night to Mr. Binh and night night to Spicy like we always do. She gave me a big squeeze and I thanked her for making me a father. I now know what all the other father's feel like. And for that, I am forever grateful.

Poppa's Angel in the Moon...I love you Sophie!

A good word to live by.....

Legal Fun

Right now we are eyes deep in legal papers to have the state of Missouri legally recognize Sophie's adoption. Since she was adopted in Viet Nam, Missouri does not formally accept that when it comes to Sophie being an heir. So, in lieu of going through re-adopting her, there was a new law that allows internationally adopted children to be recognized by the state and serves the same purpose as a re-adoption..HMMM!! Yes there are some smart things our government here in Missouri does!

There is, yes you guessed it, more paperwork to complete, filing a petition with the family court, supplying them with proof of adoption, her birth certificate, proof of immigration and citizenship, and expenses, yaada, yaada. Amongst all of the recognition of adoption papers is the section in there to legally change her name to Sophie Lee-Nguyen Belz. Everything we do when it involves doctors, school papers, etc uses her birth name, since technically and legally that IS here name, but to everyone else she is Sophie.

All of this recognition of adoption/name change stuff CAN be done without an attorney, but we have one helping us out pro bono which is nice. If anyone is in Missouri who would like info please let us know. So we have to have a few notarisations and then our attorney will file the petition on our behalf next week sometime at the court house. He is going to try and push up our court date. Right now we are looking at 6-8 weeks to get in front of the judge. With the waiting that we had to do, that really is not much but we want to get everything all wrapped up and out of the way.

Look this weekend for pix and more from Sophie's trip to South Carolina! But to hold you over, here is one...

Feeding the Lorikeets at the Riverbanks Zoo.

The Call Of A Lifetime...One Year Later

It was Friday, June 13th. I was home waiting for Trish to return from work. It had been a long week, we were very down and depressed and the day before Trish almost had a nervous breakdown with the looming 9/1 deadline. Her post from 6/12/08 said this,

"Today I wake up as I do every morning wondering if today will be the day. I wake up every morning at 2:15 a.m, 3:33 a.m (make a wish) and lay there for another 30 mins. wondering what will happen today. I know I'll spend an hour and a half getting ready for work, and thoughts will flow through my head. Thoughts about will today be the day, will I have a good day and what can I do to make it the best day. I get into my car drive to work and most days I'm happy to be alive and blessed to have a great job and I know that I will not think about this turmoil if I just keep busy. However, today is a different day. My heart hurts, a hurt like I have never felt before. I feel the pain in my throat. Most days I just go through the motions, day after day after day. On my way home every single night I am very angry and I don't understand WHY NO ONE CALLED TODAY! WHY WHY WHY? What have I done? Why have we been dealt card after card after card. Five years of marriage we have done nothing but fight through life. Why can one person have everything perfect, but others have to climb a huge mountain every single minute. It's not fair. As I try to not "lose the faith" it's very hard to keep that positive attitude. Today I am sad and for once I want the world to know that we are human and we feel pain and today I AM VERY SAD."

And then the next day, it happened. At 4:43pm on 6/13/08, Judy called and asked where Tricia was. I said at work, She said, "well I been trying to reach her, so I wanted to let you know that, we have a little girl for you!". I was numb, excited, anxious, everything all at once. It was like when we drove up on the CWC in Binh Duong and saw her sitting on that bench. I wanted to call Tricia and tell her, but decided to wait until she got home. I just kept looking at the pictures, saying, its you....you are OUR daughter! It took no time at all to fall in love with her. Tricia got home I said, hey come on in here, took her to my man cave, turned on the monitor and up popped Sophie's picture. I said, "What do you think?" Tricia said, "she is so cute!" I said, "That's our daghter" then the tears came. Wow...What a beautiful day. We love you Sophie! Happy Match Day!!! You are our little girl an we just are head over heals about you and the joy you have brought us!

Then.....

Now.....