Rome Trip

As many of you know our I660A is only good for one year and that is just about here. Aug 20 will be our one year mark so we had to go to the US embassy. We can't have the documentation worked on at the consular's office here in Naples, it has to be through the embassy in Rome. so, off we go...... Mike command was generous enough to let him have 2 days of special liberty- Praise God!! It didn't count again his leave time!! Well, we haven't done any traveling since we've been here so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity. We caught the train out of Aversa at about 6:45 and got there about 8:30 (PM). That was nice because we still had some daylight left.
By the time we got to the hotel the sun was gone, but the walk was very nice. The streets were lined with these wonderful trees. It doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary, but we haven't seen that in a while. We checked out the hotel and an apartment they had for rent. After finding out that the apartment had no airconditioning we opted to stay in the hotel. The room was so small that the bed took up most of it. European to the max. It was funny. Very nice though. All we needed it for was to sleep and shower. There are pictures so that you can see. I have to say it was probably one of the cleanest rooms I have ever seen.
The next morning we got up early and headed down to the embassy and thank God I took a print out of our appointment made online because they had no record of our appointment. Then they didn't want to let Mike or Willow come in. They said that since we didn't have separate appts. listed for the three of us then I would be the only one allowed in. I told them that it didn't make any since to make separate appts. when on the options 3 people was chosen and our paper work would all be on one account. They agreed and let us all into the embassy. Since everything for us was still on file and all we had to do is renew our fingerprints, the process from there just took a few minutes and we were out the door.
From there we went and bought tickets for the hop on, hop off bus, very cool, if you haven't done it I recommend it. We were able to tour the city of Rome and see all of the sights. We got off and saw the Spanish steps, the Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi), several Chapels and just enjoy the tour. HOT, HOT, HOT. Oh man was it hot though.
Oh guess what?! We even had lunch at Burger King!! I know, I know we are in Italy. Well, we've been here for a couple of years so for us Burger King is a treat. We were so happy. You wouldn't believe how many Americans we saw in there though. Assuming that they must live here also we got into a conversation with a family and they just laughed. They were there on vacation and just had to get something to eat and couldn't find an Italian place to eat. Boy, how ironic that?
After touring the city by bus we also took advantage to the metro system, which is totaly amazing. 4 euro gets you a ticket for 24 hours any where it goes. We saw so much that in a was I have to stop and think because we packed so much in in that one day.
Ok, I'll have to finish up later. Mike and Willow are calling..


Blessings,
Meg

Homeschool graduation ceremony

The Naples Christian Home School Association (NCHA) held it's yearly graduation ceremony on May 30, 2008. It was really great to see each of the children recognized for their achievements. As you can imagine there is no quarterly awards ceremony. So this is the way of recognizing each child's achievements. First there was a talent show, which Willow did not want to participate in, followed by the Association president calling each family up separately. As our children's teachers we came up first and presented our children with their certificates of completion. Following that there was a small reception held in the fellowship hall. Needless to say, everyone was very happy. I forgot my camera!!! But my friend, Nicole took plenty of pictures for us. It's just a matter of getting them from her now. I'll get them posted as soon as I can.
Love,
Meg

Rumors that Vietnam is closed to adoption

The rumor is that Vietnam is closed to adoptions with the US. Ok, here is what is going on. They are not closed. The current contract between the US and Vietnam was to be renewed as of May 1, 2008 if there was going to be a renewal. The contract was not extended, therefore this contract will run out on Sept. 1, 2008.
Does this mean that adoption at that point is over between our two countries? There are many variables so that is hard to say. First, they are still in the process of devising a new contract or extending this one. Secondly there is always more than one circumstance. So no one knows for sure what is going on. Don't count us out, God has a way of working these things out for us. Look what he has done so far.
If you would like, you can go to the Department of State website you will be able to look at the documents for yourself and read everything that has taken place.

Blessings,
Meg and Mike