Lance and Kristen Baker

So it has been looming over our heads to write a blog post to wrap up our time in Vietnam, so here it is.

Saying goodbye is never easy.  We feel sad to leave everyone and every thing we’ve come to love.  There’s no good way at this point to summarize our life in Vietnam or how we feel at this point so as a final blog post about Vietnam, so here are a few photos.

It has been incredible being part of these lives and we can only hope that we were able to bless them as much as they blessed us.

Recently we received a special gift to update the library at Promise House. The library had outdated books and many old, worn books. We wanted to give the children a library they can learn from and enjoy.

Chau and Kristen spent many afternoons over a period of two months buying all the books. The Promise House library is now the home to encyclopedias, books to learn English, books about science, comic books, picture books, fairy tales, novels… you name it, it’s there.

A few of the categories.

Chau and Kristen put a lot of work into the library.

Going through the old books.

Checking out the new books.

After all the books were purchased, Chau, Kristen, and some of the older girls cleaned out the old books, wiped shelves, and organized the new books by category and with a call number.

The long process of putting call numbers on all the books.

Just a few more books to categorize and the library will be complete. Once it’s complete, we will go over rules about how to take care of books, how to check them out, and how the library is organized. After that, the library is open! In the meantime, we can’t keep the kids out of there, they are so curious and eager to look at all the books!

Tam and Nghia found these masks in an old storage box. Too funny!

This past weekend the Da Nang Street Children’s Program put on a special two-day camping event for 6 orphanages in the Da Nang area and they invited Kristen and I to join.

Each orphanage or “family” had a special tent that they set up and decorated.  These tents were set up around a main stage which was where most of the events and activities took place.  The whole event just had such a fun vibe to it.  Kristen and I felt like camp counselors and all of the children seemed so happy.

During the day they had cooking contests, drawing contests, sang songs and did fun games for all of the children present.  Because of the heat, there was a lot of down time were we would just sit and hang out with the Promise House kids in the tent.

Lai (left) and Minh (right) made a new friend with this girl from another orphanage.

Afternoon swimming in the river.

In the evening, they had a special sort of talent show.  It started off with the lighting of a huge bonfire and we enjoyed an opening show by a Vietnamese illusionist who was really good!  For the following two hours, various groups from the different orphanages performed songs, dances and fashion shows.  The theme of the weekend had to do with protecting the environment.  The kids from Promise House did a fashion show and wore costumes that were made out of materials that should be recycled rather then thrown on the ground.  We were so proud of them, they looked so good!

Lai and Long in their newspaper outfits.

Waving to the crowd.

Girls from the Dai Loc orphanage performing a dance.

Lai from Promise House also sang a song.

I can confidently say that our night at the camp was the worst night’s sleep I have ever had.  The picture below isn’t that great but it shows the general sleeping condition.  The sides of the house were open, we had no mosquito nets, for safety the overhead light was left on all night and we didn’t have anything to sleep on.  Most of the children didn’t seem to mind and fell asleep rather quickly.  Kristen and I on the other hand… we probably slept about 3 hours total.

This is a picture from earlier in the day during nap time.  Those wooden slats don’t really help with getting a solid night’s sleep.

Despite the rough night, Kristen and I were so glad that we were able to share such a special and unique event with the children.   It was fun to have a lot of down time and sit together enjoying the day and we were so proud to see them up on stage performing.

On July 27 we will be returning to the U.S.  Our time in Vietnam has totaled almost 2-years and they have been some of the most rewarding and transforming years of our lives.  For every story that we’ve shared on this blog, there have probably been 5 more that we just never had the time to write about.  So much has happened and we have had the opportunity to be a part of so many peoples lives.  We are looking forward to returning to the U.S. but are sad to leave so many wonderful things behind here in Vietnam.

We have been so blessed by the number of people who have faithfully and joyfully contributed to our work in Vietnam.  It is difficult to ask for money but because of your generosity, we have rarely had to do so.  However, we are asking for your financial support just one more time.  Kristen and I need financial support to provide for our return flight to the U.S.  After that, we just ask that you would keep us in your prayers as we will need buy a car, find jobs, a place to live, etc.  We have finally managed to establish ourselves in one culture… now we must reestablish ourselves back in the U.S.!

For information on how to support us visit our donation page.

Thank you for all your help and support.  We look forward to seeing all of you in person very soon.

Alright so I know this gets away a bit from the normal purposes of our blog, but I am hoping for your help with something.  I entered two photography contests and I hope that you can help me out by visiting the links below and voting.

I don’t expect you to vote on the photo simply because it is mine. If you think the photos below merit a vote I would appreciate it;  if not, I am glad you took the time to look.  Here are the photos.  If you want to vote for the photo, just click on the photos below and you’ll be directed to the competition website where you can vote.  You can vote for as many photos as you want!

Contest #1 – “Great Journeys”

Winding Pass

Boats and Clouds

Buckets of Water

A Photographer’s Journey

Forest Path

Contest #2 – “People Doing What They Do”

Woman in River Boat

Selling Fruit

Preparing in the Alley

Smoking and Steering Boat

Selling Vegetables in the Market

Thank you for taking the time to look and hopefully vote!