Six Years Ago Day…We Brought Our Daughter Home

As I began thinking about posting on our trip home, I came to realize that I can't find any of the photos that we had of us meeting the grandparents in the airport.  That sounds awful.  But, I suppose we were so jet lagged and weary after spending five weeks away, on unpaid leave of absence from our jobs, that we weren't coherent enough upon arrival to keep track of taking pictures.  But, I'll put some photos of just before we left Thailand and the early days upon coming to Colorado.

The above photos was taken at a park on a VERY HOT day, the day before we got the call that we could come interview for getting Penny's immigrant visa.  Below was a beautiful Christmas tree near the upscale mall that was burned to the ground about a year later by political protesters.  This was very close to our last hotel we stayed at in Bangkok.

In our last days in Bangkok, we got a phone call from someone saying that she wanted to see Penny before she went to America.  Because of the language barrier, I couldn't quite understand who she was.  At first, I thought it was a former nanny who happened to be in Bangkok.  But, as it turned out, it was a girl who had lived at the same orphanage as Penny.  She had been like a big sister to Penny and often helped take of Penny when she was young.  She had gotten a generous grant by an employer when she got out of the orphanage, which had enabled her to become a college student in Bangkok.  So, it was special that the girls could meet once again, before Penny moved to America.

Here are some more pictures from that VERY HOT day that we spent in the park, just before we finally got the call that we could get Penny's visa.

Here is our last hotel we stayed at.  It was one of those cheap, small hotels that lots of college students, or others who are on a tight budget, like to stay at.  There was a beautiful picture of the king and a fountain right outside.  We liked the price and it was very close to the embassy.  We put up with the gas odor in the hotel, but had very good service by a small staff with one person who could speak English.  They allowed us to be totally flexible about our departure date, since we were having so much trouble obtaining Penny's visa.

These are some sweet pictures of our girl who was beaming after we had just had a dance party in our room, since we were going so stir-crazy, tired of waiting in hotel rooms for "the call".  The next day we ended up getting "the call".

So, finally, after having rebooked our flight home several times and being one day short of our own visas expiring (after trying to apply for and only getting a one-week grace period for the price of a full extension), we finally had the visa in hand.  That night we went to a tailor shop to pick up the Thai dress that we had them make for Penny.

Now, it's really hard to see it, because it was getting dark, but I tried to quick get a shot of the baby elephant that was walking down the sidewalk, by us, as we left the tailor shop on our way back to the hotel on our last night in Bangkok.

Here is what the buildings on our street looked like that night, as we walked to a restaurant for dinner.

Here we are checking out of our hotel.  We waited for our taxi driver whom we had called for ahead of time.  He ended up being an hour late, so he drove about 100 mph on the freeway at midnight to get us to the airport on time.

And here's the sight that greeted us when we arrived home in Colorado.

For Jay and me, it was a sight for sore eyes.  For Penny, it was the start of a whole new life.  There were a lot of new things.  Here are some photos that she took of new things that she was encountering for the first time ever.

Needless to say, the changes were all so overwhelming, that the first night, she ended up in her bedroom, with me putting my arms around her shoulders, while she sobbed and begged to go home, which now seemed a world away.  

But, the next morning, she was very thrilled by seeing snow fall for the first time, ever.

The only problem was, that after playing so vigorously in the snow, so soon after arriving in Colorado, she proceeded to get altitude sickness and that morning lost her breakfast at Walmart, while we were shopping for Daddy's birthday gift.

Soon after coming home, we also went out to eat at a Vietnamese noodle shop 

And we thankfully remembered to go back for our electronic dictionary, which we accidentally left there.  Boy, that would have been a tragedy, if we had lost it!  It was our main way to communicate with Penny!

 Then we took a drive up to Horsetooth Reservoir.

And, believe it or not, Penny even was eager to try out ice skating for the first time ever, just about a week after coming home.

It's been quite a fun adventure, along with all of the natural bumps along the way.  We love our daughter dearly and are so proud to see the young woman that she is becoming.  It's hard to believe that six years later, she is now a senior in high school.  

We never dreamed that Mom would be teaching her and we'd have moved to the Denver area.  There have been so many unexpected changes in the past six years.  But, God, in His grace, has been seeing us through all of the ups and the downs.  It'll be exciting to see where the next six years take us.