Current events

From Journey

12/31/07 New Years Eve
Redemption - Packers crush Bears as the season ends.

Sunday 9/10/06
Nicholas' first Packer-Bear Game. Looks like we are settling in to life in Oak Park. Friday night he did well at Cucina Paradiso, and this morning breakfast at the Kozi Korner went well! Go Pack Go! Beat the bears.
Ugly loss, but not unexcpected.

Wednesday 9/6/06 Yesterday he passed his physical with flying colors. He is 25% in height, weight and head circumference, a healthy 21.5 pounds! We put him through his first round of vaccinations and tests, he was stuck 5 times! I felt so bad for him. But after about 10 minutes he had forgotten about that and was back to his normal self. Da, da, da, etc.
We haven't taken any pictures (but some video) since we got back, just too busy getting into a routine and trying to catch some sleep! I am hoping he will sleep through the night tonight, he only woke up once last night. So, he is almost adjusted to the new time zone, which is amazing! He is still having some trouble falling alseep. Last night we tried snuggling him in a comforter in the rocking chair and it worked like a charm. Thanks, Dr. Kim! Of course, just because it worked last night doesn't mean it will work again.
Over the next few days we get to collect stool samples. We are very excited about that!
Hope to have some new pictures soon!

Labor Day September 4, 2006 Talking in his sleep
Both Cathy and Nicholas are taking a nap. Cathy is drooling and Nicholas is talking in his sleep. Absolutely hilarious because his only word is 'Dah', so babling while alseep all he says is Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah.
Hopefully over the next few days he will settle into a routine. Tomorrow, Tuesday afternoon we take him for his official first American Physical with Dr. John Kim.

We're Home 9PM Friday night!
Thanks Everyone. Time to adjust from the Sureal Life of the past 3 weeks.
2:30AM Update: We are all up and hungry!
Looks like the Tombstone Pizza will be a hit with Joe and Cathy. Nicholas got plain vanilla Gak, We are calling rice soup -- Gak. So the first word he has learned in English is a made up word.
We also gave him his first baby food - chicken with vegetables. And he liked it! So now he will be getting some good American protein!

Happy 5th Anniversary Cathy! I love you!!! Joe

Click Here for the Guest page We are going stir crazy waiting in the hotel! We'd love some comments on the Guest page!!!

NOTE: We will post todays events on this page. To see previous day's postings see Current events

Tuesday 8/29/06 Travelling to Hanoi today
We might not be able to post much over the next few days. Keep posting your comments and questions!
All is well after 11 days in Saigon.

Monday 8/28/06 Passport Day

We spent about an hour in line with Nicholas getting his paperwork for his Passport signed. I have to ride a motor cycle to get it! Do these people know I have no sense of balance, and have never driven a bike?
Hopefully it will be uneventful.
Bought a couple of flags today and check out a couple hotel lounges. We like to pick 5 star hotels. One 3 star place that we had to skip over, it did not meet Cathy's standards.
Oh, the weather is hot and humid again.
We did a lot of eating today. We found a very elegant restaurant for lunch - 5 course fixed price lunch came out to about $10 US. It was one of the best meals we have had here. For dinner, we went to a very good Thai restaurant. On the way back it was raining so we ducked into the Sheraton and went up to the rooftop bar for a drink.
Nicholas feel asleep easier tonight, we decided to not even try putting him to sleep until 8PM. Within 20 minutes he was asleep. Other nights we struggled for an hour with him but he still went to sleep around 8:15 either way. We think he fell asleep with a bottle every night in the orphanage. We decided not to do this and that would explain his struggle to fall asleep. I am tempted to give him a pacifer but we'll decide that once we get home. Anyway, Nicholas is a great kid and we can't wait to get him home! Tomorrow we leave for Hanoi finally!!!

Sunday 8/27/06 Evening
We went to dinner at a nice French restaurant (Bi Bi) and had pasta. I know it doesn't go together, but it was really good. Nicholas was eating like he'd never eaten before. I'm not sure if he is really that hungry or if he is playing games with us to see how much we will feed him. It is 8:00 and he is asleep. The stroller worked again to put him to sleep. However, moving him to the bed may wake him up and then we start over.

Sunday 8/27/06 Afternoon
We just got back from a trip to the Municipal park. We got some great video of the park and all of the activity going on. There is a big playground with really cool play equipment and tons of kids playing on them! We saw groups of boys that looked like they were in boy scout uniforms. Also, groups of boys playing hacky-sack with a feather with a weight instead of a stuffed ball. Groups of girls chanting songs, everyone in a great mood. At one point Joe drew a crowd with the video camera when he was shooting. Everyone is so friendly everywhere. People (especially women!) are always stopping to smile and play with Nicholas. We also saw an event that looked like school registration but not sure. Lots of families and many of the kids had balloons. Definately a more upscale neighborhood of HCMC, we saw very nice villas in the area and all of the families were well dressed and healthy.

Sunday 8/27/06 Morning
It's Nicholas
From a Fiona point of view. He was very squirmy putting on his clothes. When he gets this way we say -- It's Nicholas.
We lost Cathy's camera in a cab ride yesterday so we are down to 2 cameras not the ubiquitous 3. Cathy was bummed for a while. We'll continue to search for the one cab in a million here in Saigon.

We got an update today from Thuy that tomorrow at 8AM we apply for his passport here in Saigon and need to get it processed and back by Tuesday AM. Once we have that we can Fly to Hanoi for 2 days to get the Visa.

Have we been here a long time? Somtimes it seems that time is going slow and other times it already has gone by quickly.

We met up with the other 5 families from the States that just arrived and are now heading to Vinh Long. Another set of newbies....
They should do fine. Their kids range in age from 4 months to 14 months. We might see them next Tuesday afternoon before we head out to Hanoi.

Saturday 8/26/06

Today was kind of a bummer day. I left the camera in the cab and we won't see it again. Luckily, our video camera also takes excellent pictures. We went to the War Remnants museum. It was quite depressing and graphic. Nicholas slept through the whole thing. They portray the Americans very negative as participating in very severe torture of the prisoners. It seemed so unbelievable, I hope it wasn't as bad as portrayed.
Then, he was happy again. We met a few of the people in the next Vinh Long travel group. We met Mindee and her mom and Joy and her husband. Nicholas put on quite a show for Mindee and her mom.
For dinner we returned to Vietnam House, which we went to at the beginning of our trip. Nicholas fell asleep when I was trying to feed him dinner. He slept through dinner but we woke him up since it was already 6PM and his bedtime is 7:30. He was not happy. His diaper had leaked and he was also very hungry! So, we quickly raced the stroller back to the hotel where we changed and fed him. We had a hard time getting him to sleep (again)! He was very overtired but finally fell asleep a little after 8. When we get back home we will feel more comfortable letting him cry but at the hotel we don't want to bother other people.

This is what he is like when we try to get him to go to bed at night!


Here is a page of Night Shots 8-25-06

A Great Big Thanks goes out for Dave Shade and Wellspring! You made Joe speechless.

YEAH!!! We are leaving on Sunday, August 13th! Giving and Receiving date is August 18th! We should return on September 1st (our 5th anniversary!) or maybe sooner if things go well.

Friday 1030AM Hong Kong Time
Nicholas is wearing his first long sleeve outfit. At first he sucked on the sleeves and pulled his hands into them. By the time we got off the plane he was pretty much used to them.
Since we sat in business class to Hong Kong, we had those little TVs that pull up for each seat. He was amazed by the little TV and kept looking behind it to try to figure out where the picture was coming from. He is so curious about everything!
We have made it to Hong Kong! Looks like we'll fly out at 5pm Hong Kong Time.
Nicholas is so excited by all of the activity here at the air port he won't take his nap. Hopefully after an hour of walking him in the stroller he has settled down.
It will be intersting seeing our house for the first time in a month!

Thursday PM 8/31/01 Everything is as scheduled
Cathy thinks that we will take 1-2 hours to clear immigration and customs. Please follow the itinerary page for flight details.
We will be on the 6AM flight to Hong Kong then on to Chicago.
We should land around 715pm Friday night. We look forward to getting home.

We have Nicholas' VISA and Passport. He become an American Citizen the moment we hit USA air space. Tomorrow the 1st will be 36 hours long! Our longest anniversary yet. It is #5 but who is counting.
We are in Saigon now at the Rex Hotel. We leave for the airport at 4AM Friday (your 4pm Thursday).
We should land in Chicago at about 715pm Friday night.

Friday 8/25/06 Quiet Day in Viet nam.
Today would have been my Dad's 81st Birthday, Happy Birthday Dad! I have been reflecting on how he and my Mom would have handled this trip. Probably pretty well. They would have been very doting Grand Parents like Cathy's folks - John & JoRene. They have been great In-Laws for 5 years!
For dinner, we went to Cafe Latin, which had a small menu of tapas. The food was pretty good. Our waitress talked with us most of the dinner, she had very good English and was very interested in Nicholas and his story. The restuarant reminded me of a sports bar in the US. They even had passable Chicken Quesadillas.

Travel Update 5PM, we just got a call from Thuy (twee). It looks like we will continue to be here at the Rex Hotel in Saigon until Tuesday the 29th. That evening we will fly to Hanoi. Wednesday is the Visa interview and Thursday we fly back to HCMC. Friday we will fly back to Chicago as planned. Tomorrow afternoon the 5 other families show up, we can't wait to meet them. It is getting a bit confining being in the hotel all of the time on our own. It is very hot and humid so the trips outside last 2 hours max. Tonight we will go to a Latin tapas place, the only one in Saigon I believe.
We have done some shopping for gifts but it gets so hot and we don't last long at the market. We have decided to buy most gifts at the Tax center (which is fixed price and more expensive) instead of sweating at the market.

Thursday 8/24/06 Today we went to see a pagoda and drove through Chinatown.
Then, we had the CIS interview (Department of Homeland Security). They asked some basic questions about the adoption, it was pretty easy. Now we are waiting for his passport to come from Vinh Long. Then, we can go to Hanoi.
For dinner, we went to a Texas BBQ with the two other families of Lucas (parents Jamie and Dave) and Selah (Erin and Jeff). We had a great time. The ribs were really tasty and they had fries, onions rings and ice cream (among other things!). They even had Tex Mex on the menu. It was pretty authentic. Tomorrow, the Dillon families leave for Hanoi. It looks like we will be here over the weekend and maybe leave on Sunday or Monday for Hanoi. We will get to meet the 5 other families from CHI picking up their kids from Vinh Long. We are looking forward to that. We will show them video footage that we took at the orphanage if there is time.


Nichloas walking the headboard.

More waiting.
INS interview at 2:00PM Today. We are looking forward to it. Once we have that approved. We can then go to Hanoi, of course after waiting some more. We'd love to be in Hanoi Sunday night!

'Here are photos of the breakfast club:
Selah's Family


Lucas' Family



For Jeff and Karen: Some eaten Dragon Fruit (the red rhind)

He gets to start each day looking at this goof ball:

Wednesday 8/23/06 Visitied the Reunification Palace today

This was the former capital of Viet nam, built in the 1960's. Not much has changed since then. The color schemems and furniture all read Dean Martin or Elvis. Nicholas did well again. We found a great French Restaurant, Augustin, about 3 blocks from the Hotel. We also found a good Chinese restuarant for lunch, we had dim sum. Cathy's Mom JoRene has offerred to correct my grammer and typo's. I was smart to accept her offer.
Nicholas had his first experience in the pool. He seemed a bit frightened since he didn't smile the whole time! But, he didn't cry and splashed around in the water. We will try again in Hanoi and see if we can get him to laugh this time!

I need to convert a few pictures and I can post them in a bit. We found a little bakery as well, and have dessert in a bag somewhere here in the room. It is dark - trying to get the kid to clam down and fall alseep. There was no news on our INS interview today. We only found out that one official paper needed to be re-signed. We are still opportunistic about getting home on the 1st.

Tuesday 8/22/06 After the physical...
Crashed

Tuesday 8/22/06 Waiting for the call for the medical exam ...
Medical exam at 2PM. He is crawling everywhere today, has even ventured to the hallway. Also, standing and walking more while holding on to the mirror or the table.
I'm too Sexy for this Outfit.

Monday 8/21/06 Long day at the Cu Chi Tunnels
Disturbing, and yet interesting. Nicholas did well travelling and the parents did well carrying him.
Met up with another first time parent's family that were adoptiong twins! The kids played well together checking each other out in their new strollers.
Nicholas has a new trick. He will put the blanket on his head and pull it off to entertain his parents! Then, he just giggles and giggles!


Yes, this is a snake eating a snake in a bottle! This is as close as Joe will get to a snake!

Monday 8/21/06 Nicholas had to travel back to the orphange for a simple physical to comply with local adoption rules.
Back with his buddies and caregivers; these are all great people


The Chunky Monkey

Sunday 8/20/06 Evening Great dinner out with three families.
We went to an Italian resturant down the road a piece from the Opera House. There was a gala event happening and a band playing as people entered the place. The other two families have travelled together from Houston and adopted through Dillon, and went up 6 hours along the east coast of Viet nam. Their kids are so cute too! They have been here 12 days. We are going on 7 nights and 8 days. Truly inspirational stories or the trials and tribulations of adoption. I am too tired now to write much more. Cathy will have to fill in more details. But we have met two great families, that we will remember the rest of our lives.
The Dinner at Pomodoro's

Here is a photo of Kathy with Nicholas.
Kathy has been phenominal on this trip!!!

Sunday 8/20/06 Morning Cathy playing the flute for Nicholas in bed!
Another peaceful night.
Time for the 2-3 hour nap. Cathy and Kathy went to the market to buy some more baby rice cerial mix. two BM's this am, so we are happy. I can't belive I just typed that. It beats the alternative. We have to give him another bath today and clip his nails for the first time. We are both worried about it. Maybe I'll do it when Cathy is out. I'll try google for instructions. I ordered som Dragon Fruit for a snack while they are out. I think that I am eating healier here than at home -- all fresh foods and nothing pre-prepared.
Now to disprove any rumors about the lack of Cathy and Nicholas photos; when Cathy is holding Nicholas I am running around preparing bottles, fetching hot water, setting up a diaper change, et al. No time for photos!

Saturday 8/19/06 Evening Just got back from dinner with the coordinator Thuy and her husband. They took us to a beautiful place by the water. We saw a spectacular double rainbow during dinner. We found out Nicholas that "Da Da" has the same meaning in Vietnamese. Tomorrow we hope to go to the Reunification Palace if it is open. If not, we will do some more shopping. There is a Catholic church nearby but mass is at 5AM and lasts 2 hours. Don't think Nicholas will last long with that schedule! His schedule has shifted somewhat with us to 1 long nap in the morning and 1 short nap in the afternoon. At the orphanage there was 1 nap in the middle of the day. We are just going with the flow when he falls asleep. I think since there has been so much for him to process and he has been so active that he is sleeping more. He is waking up between 6-7AM and going to bed between 7-8PM. Since we went out to dinner tonight he is really overstimulated and still isn't asleep now at 8. Joe is with him now and he keeps saying "Da", "Da" but is not asleep yet! Monday we will be going to the Cu-Chi tunnels and may get a babysitter for him (although I'm not sure I want to do this!) Thuy's offered to give our laundry to her sister to wash. I have run out of clothes that aren't really sweaty or dirty. It is very hard to dry anything! And, I would say to others traveling here, you don't need many socks for yourself and for your baby just socks for the plane! Just a pair of sandals is fine for almost everything. In HCMC shorts are fine everywhere, even many nice restaurants. There are many westerners here, it is becoming quite a tourist destination. You can buy almost everything here you can find at home although it is confusing to decipher the Vietnamese on the boxes! Not much baby food to be found here though.

Saturday 8/19/06 Afternoon Today was a fun day (so far). We went to the Binh Tanh market, which is amazing! I negotiated an amazing deal on 500 grams (I think that is correct) of coffee for about $4. Also, bought a small wooden flute for $1 US. Nicholas is doing great. He says the word "Da" as a game with daddy where they go back and forth saying "Da". It may be a word in Vietnamese that he knows. Anyway, Joe thinks he is saying Da Da! It is very hot and sunny here today so everyone is very sweaty and tired! So, we are settling in at the Rex, which is really a wonderful hotel and in a perfect location for shopping and sightseeing. I am starting to get used to Nicholas being held by the waitress while we eat. It is a cultural thing that they do at the restaurants that you would never see in the US. It is a mixed blessing, I get to eat but worry that he is being passed around too much. He is very interested in everything! Here are a few pictures.

Saturday 8/19/06 Morning Seems like a low key day today. Met 2 other couples that just got back here from another province in VN. 3 young little kids getting used to their families. We aill be going out to dinner with them tomorrow night. Tonight we are going to dinner Thuy from our agency. Kathy Raschke (sister-in-law) has been invaluable on this trip. Cathy and Nicholas are napping now.
We can not access yahoo groups from here. We can only read the digest messages.

August 18, 2006 More updates. Wifi now working in the room at the Rex Hotel. The kids is recovering quickly from his constipation. We figure he will have one more round. But in the mean time he can crawl across the bed is seconds. He hates the thought of going into the crib. AKA the Box. So we let him crash on the floor, and move him into the crib. We went to a good Vietnamese restaurant today for lunch. He was well behaved. As local custom has it, the staff wanted to hold Nicholas, so we let them. They wisked him off across the room to play with the bamboo wind chimes. Just like the kind we got from Cynthia & Rich (Thanks Guys). No information from the agency today, So we'll see if they call us tomorrow for the big physical. He really started to open up today. He is very strong, and fast on his feet.
We'l be on yahoo and skype (cathy585)

Adoption Update 8/18/06 - The adoption is complete as of yesterday. We are now back at the Rex in HCMC. Tuesday we arrived in Vinh Long, Wednesday morning we picked him up at the orphanage! We got to spend a few hours there interacting with the care givers and other babies. There are about 23 babies there and 3 care givers in the room with him. When they first handed him to me, he cried a little bit but after a few minutes calmed down and let me hold him. Then, I fed him on the ground with the care givers (that is how they feed the babies). When we got back to the hotel we played with him on the bed and got him to laugh and giggle with a few toys. He is very alert and active.

August 18, 2006
Adoption has gone through here in Vietnam yesterday (8/17/2006). It has been a great trip so far. CHI, our agency, has been great. The bus/van ride to Vinh Long was rough a bit. We are still so excited. And betwen us - we can keep up with this active, excitable guy.

It is a very warm place, if the sun is out, you can back quickly. We are now a family! Wild!

August 17, 2007 Today was the G&R! We also drove back from HCMC to Vinh Long. So, it was a very busy day!

August 16,2006 Got up and went to the orphange at 9AM. Sat in a room for 10 minutes and I saw Nicholas with a care giving through a windows. We have the first moments of the arrival on tape!

Then after about 15 minutes we went with the care giver to see all the other kids. What a site. We are so elated at this time. The kid has a great sense of humor.

August 15, 2006 Tuesday Afternoon Travelled lat 2pm to Vinh Long

August 14,2006
We are now in the Hong Kong airport in the United lounge waiting to fly to HCMC. We are able to use the lounge because we were upgraded to business class for the next flight. On the way back we may not be able to use the United lounge but we found another pay lounge in the airport that has nap rooms and other amenties. It will be worth it for the 7 hour layover with Nicholas! We are all very tired but able to get a few hours sleep on the way here. I am hoping to be in the hotel room by midnight, we'll see how it goes! Tomorrow we will take a bus to Vinh Long and meet Nicholas! It may be a while before we can post again, I'm not sure if there is internet access at the Vinh Long hotel or nearby. We are both very excited, nervous and tired! I think we will be in this state for the next week until we return to HCMC to wait for the paperwork to finish in Vinh Long. Then, we can relax a little bit and we can all get used to each other. I am reading a book on the plane "Finding Katherine" about a single woman who adopted a little 13 month girl from Vietnam in 2001. I think she had some of the same feelings we do before picking up her daughter and also gives me some idea what to expect. We will post again as soon as we can!

The three of us kicked off the Journey; Joe, Cathy & Kathy our sister in law from Madison.

UPDATE: We still don't have the travel date but the agency is estimating we will leave sometime between August 7-9th. Hopefully we will hear on Monday! We may have less than 1 weeks notice!! Of course the second floor is still not livable!

NEWS FLASH: We have been informed by our agency to apply for our Visa to travel to Vietnam between the dates of August 5th and Sept 5th! They thought we might get the actual Giving and Receiving date by the end of the week. This is actually happening!

Our agency coordinator, Nicky, got to actually see and hold him while she was there on a missionary trip to multiple orphanges. Thank you Nicky! And thank you CHI!

We also got a few more pictures from July 8th. We heard that our paper work has been official received back in Hanoi. We'll see what happens in the next couple weeks.

Pictures from July 2006

Introducing Nicholas Dan Raschke, currently residing in an orphanage in the Vinh Long province in Vietnam. Here he is at 11 months.

August 10,2006
Travel notice today! Thanks everyone! Travel Itineraries
In Saigon (14th; 18th-27th) we'll be at the Rex Hotel.
We'll be in Vinh Long from the 14th til the 18th.
During the last week (28th-31st) in Hanoi we'll stay at the Sheraton Hanoi Hotel

July 29, 2006
Looks like the trip will happen soon! He are guessing that we'll fly from Chicago to Hong Kong then on to Ho Chi Minh City (Siagon). From there we'll take a bus out south west to the Mekong delta and the Vihn Long province. From what we can tell we are actually going to the town of Vinh Long. Here is a link to the Google Map of Vinh Long

July 28, 2006
We are now in official panic planning mode. We have to plan out house remodelling, work related issues, summer barbeque issues, house sitting, packing and travel issues! Egads....

I can't forget laundry either! So we'll start travelling next week,

Thanks everyone for checking in!

July 13, 2006
We heard that our paper work has been officially received back in Hanoi. So the next step is to get a G&R date. A G&R is a Giving and Receiving appointment at the orphanage. This weekend in Chicago it is supposed to be 90F+ and 100% humidity. Just like the last month in the Mekong delta.
We also posted three more photos from July 2006 taken on the 8th of July from the orphange.

July 9, 2006
More painting as usual. We have actually finished Nicholas' Bedroom, a subtle Buxton Blue. Summer Barnes helped paint the first coat last week. We also finished the washer/dryer area. So hopefully the floor guys can finish that floor and install the washer and dryer this week. Ha!

TDA was in town but we missed them. We had two shots - the 5th at Abbey pub, we were are the Whitesox game with Christine and Rob; and last night - the 8th at the Schamburg Pavilion. We'll have to catch a show later this tour.

We dearly miss Nicholas. And we are ready to travel tomorrow!

July 6, 2006
We are stil waiting to see when we will travel. The house is coming along slowly. Hopefully the tile guy finished the bathroom this week. and the Floor guy gets the floors in to boot! We have been painting monkey every free moment. Cathy is tired of it!

June 19, 2006
More pictures from the orphanage June 2006. Hopefully we get to travel soon. The waiting is starting to get bothersome. Anything, other that this weekends' block party to distract us? It is painting time in Nicholas's Nursery and Bedroom.

June 6, 2006
So we have seen 1/1/01 this decade, then got married on 9/1/01. Then 9/11 happened, giving 9/1/1 a bad feeling.
Then a few months later there was 2/2/02 and 3/3/03 and 4/4/04 and 5/5/05!

May 31, 2006
Well, the house is coming along. We have plumbing but no electrical. The baby's room MAY be ready in a month hopefully around the time we travel. At this point we are are thinking we will travel sometime between the end of June and the middle of July. We found out the hotel in Vinh Long is called Hotel Phuong Nam. The interesting thing is that the hotel cannot be found using an internet search but only can be found in the Lonely Planet Vietnam guide. That was enough to sell me on purchasing this guide book. It had about 5 pages on Vinh Long with a map which is a lot more than any other guide book. This weekend we will be in Denver for our first baby shower.

April 28, 2006
Road trip to NYC! 1700 Miles Round Trip in the rain without wind-shield wipers!

April 26, 2006
Remodeling of the house starts tomorrow so Nicholas will have a great nursery and bed room!

April 20, 2006
More people are travellingand returning from Viet nam!

April 7, 2006

We just got an unexpected surprise of more pictures from April 4th! He looks more grown up in every picture. We now have pictures every 3 weeks since we got our referral. If this continues, we will have a whole album by the time he gets here. Amazing!!

April 2, 2006

Last week I confirmed with our agency that Vietnam has our dossier! We will soon find out where it is in the process and still hope to be traveling to Vietnam in July. The most likely timeframe is mid to late July but the call could come sooner or later. We only will get 2 weeks notice!

We ran the Shamrock Shuffle today. Cathy had to stop to go to the bathroom in the middle of the race, which cost us about 6 minutes. Otherwise, we would have been under 50 minutes, which isn't too bad considering we only ran once or twice in the last month and didn't run all winter!

Cathy's mom embroidered Nicholas' Vietnamese name (Pham Trung Dan) on a blanket that we will be sending to him soon. We will post a picture of it before we send it to him. We have been sleeping with the blanket the last month so when we send it to him he can used to our "smells". I know, it is kind of gross, but maybe it will help in the bonding process.

March 16, 2006

Today we were sent new pictures of Nicholas taken only a few days ago (he is almost 8 months now)! The pictures were take just 3 weeks after the previous pictures and it looks like he has grown up a lot in just a few weeks. I can't imagine how different he will be at 1 year old!

March 14, 2006

Profile pictures of Joe from work!

March 13, 2006

Today I found out my sister-in-law, Kathy Raschke (yes, isn't that confusing!), will likely to travel with us to Vietnam!! She is an instructor in early childhood education, so we will be travelling with an expert! She has also raised 2 boys who are now teenagers so she has lots of parenting experience. It will help so much to have her along to take pictures, provide advice, and maybe calm us down during especially stressful moments.

March 8, 2006

Our dossier has been authenticated by the Vietnam Embassy! It took about twice as long as they estimated (1 month), but it is finally done! The story from the embassy is that they were totally overwhelmed with dossiers and had to hire an additional person who started last week. So, things should move faster now at the Embassy. Next step is to get everything sent to Vietnam, which should take a few more weeks.

February 28, 2006

Back to work, and starting to plan, plan, plan.

February 27, 2006

We have updated pictures from Feb 24th! He has wild hair and looks amazingly like Joe. Look at the Nicholas Dan Raschke pictures link to see the new pictures.

February 26, 2006

Back home. Looking into travel information on Viet nam

February 23, 2006

Joe - AM - I don't think Cathy slept much last night!

Cathy - Early tomorrow morning we head to Amsterdam. We won't get much sleep the next 2 nights either! Today my sister Chris bought Nicholas' first outfit. It says "Big Blue Whale" and is a little white pair of overalls and comes with a matching hat. I think the overalls will stay clean about 5 minutes.

Joe - There was no Packer gear sold at the store. So the Big Blue Whale line will be fine until we return to Wisconsin.

February 22, 2006

We were out travelling in Brugge today when Josh emailed us to say it was urgent to call Children's Hope International. We did! Say hello to Nicholas Dan Raschke

Cathy still in jubilation 3 hours later.

February 21, 2006

We are traveling to Brussel's this week.

After a number of years checking out adoption agencies we have settled on Childrens Hope International. They are based in St. Louis, Missouri, and have an office just outside of Chicago in the suburb of Des plaines.

We currently live in Oak Park just west of Chicago.