Goodbye 2008... Hello 2009 !
It's difficult to believe that we are beginning our 3rd year in Vietnam! It's also difficult to believe that this time next year we will be back in the USA... eating at Taco Bell, Burger King, Mamacitas, Chili's, Outback and all of the other health food restaurants!

This fall was extremely busy. We won't bore you with the details. This year, for several reasons, we decided to homeschool the boys. The first reason was that we didn't feel as though they were getting the kind of education that they needed. We definitely were not getting our money's worth! So, Robin has been teaching them at home and I became the principal. Needless to say, it has been a challenge, but they boys are doing much better and we have already seen an improvement in their academics.

In October, we met some friends in Phan Rang which is near Nha Trang. It was a beautiful place to get away and relax. The boys got to play with some other American children which was good.

We celebrated our 3rd Thanksgiving in Hanoi along with our third Christmas. This year Christmas seemed a little strange. I guess it was because we were so so busy. We had some friends from Virgina visit us during the Christmas holidays and they came bearing gifts and Butterfingers! Yum, yum!

Now we are getting ready to celebrate TET with our national firends.

This was also the year of technological breakdowns. We lost the services of 2 i-pods and 1 I shuffle! The 2 i-pods were big losses since we had all of our music on them. If anyone has an old i-pod you would like to part with let us know! Just a few months ago, Robin's computer crashed and we saw the "blue screen of death. We lost many things along with a number of addresses that we had not backed up. Oops!

This year we also began meeting in our home for church along with several other people. It's proved to be a real breath of fresh air!

We gotta go!

Love all of you!

SUMMER 2008...

We have had an extremely busy Spring and Summer. If you have checked out blog you've noticed it appears we have done nothing since 2007! Yeh right! We have tried to post new blogs on several occasions but for some reason our pictures and new text never showed up. Oh well!

The boys have finished their second year of international school and it will be their last! Robin and I have decided that it is time to bring them home. The tuition is ridiculous for the quality of education they were receiving. So, Robin will be the head teacher and I will be the principal! I love authority!

Here are a few pics of our recent trips: Thailand, Robin in Hai Phong, Joshua and Regan in Ba Vi.

Okay... So we don't update very often!
We apologize to those of you who return over and over to our blog to see if by some miracle we have made a new entry or added some more pics. Well it's finally happened! Hooray!
It's hard to believe that we have completed our first year in country and our second Christmas and New Years. We have had an extremely busy fall. We will try to add as many pics as we can in this blog and a few more later.

Thanksgiving 2007
We celebrated Thanksgiving 2 times this year. Once at the place where several of our ex pat friends live. We had turkey and all the trimmings! It was yummy! The second celebration was at the home of some friends from church. He is American and his wife is Vietnamese. They just built a new house outside of Hanoi. It is a beautiful home! They are a sweet family and love the Lord. In the pic Darren is telling the story of Thanksgiving.


CHRISTMAS 2007
This year we enjoyed Christmas in a number of ways. First, on the 23rd we had a party at our home. Of course we had "gumbo". We had invited many of our Vietnamese friends and those that didn't have to work showed up. Robin taught everyone some Christmas carols and I had the chance to read the Christmas story from Luke 2. The reading was pretty bad but I think most people understood.


On Chrismtas Eve we went out to eat and then attended the Christmas Eve service put on by the two international churches in Hanoi. It was a wonderful serivce and afterwards we walked down the Hanoi streets which were full of people celebrating Christmas. We doubt very seriously if most of them even knew what they were celebrating. But, people in Hanoi always look for a reason to celebrate. The only way to describe the streets that night is that it was "civil chaos!"



On Christmas day we opened gifts and then for the first time in 23 years of marriage we went out to eat on Christmas Day! I think it might become a tradition! Robin really enjoyed it!


After lunch on Christmas day, went to the home of some of our dear friends. There we had "tra nhan tran, qua buoi and other small snacks. It was a wonderful day! We feel so blessed to have so many good Vn friends!

ASEAN Resort.......
After Christmas, we went to a so called "resort" about 30 km outside of Hanoi. It was a beautiful place; however, I think we were the only ones there. As a result, we were invited to the staff Christmas Party where for the first time Robin and I tried "thit cho" (dog meat). I must say it was quite deliscious! Yeah.... right! You know what people say after eating a plate full of dog?.... "Dog gone!" The boys had a great time running on the grass. We also met the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. In one pic Daniel is playing Ping Pong with one of the "big dogs!" I had the opportunity to introuce our family and tell about my work with Akin Industries. Robin also got to Kareoke (?). They were impressed! But, they didn't ask me to sing? Go figure!

AFTER CHRISTMAS WE WENT TO SOC SON TO VISIT FRIENDS...

"Tet Trung Thu"

This is commonly known of as "Children's Tet" or "Mid Autumn Festival". It is an exciting time in Hanoi for parents and young children (big kids enjoy it too!). There are so many beautiful colors on the streets. One of my language teachers along with her family took me and the boys out to experience some of the celebrations. It's difficult to describe because there are so many customs and stories that go along with it. The Chinese have a similar one but Vietnam has applied it's own uniqueness to their celebration. Typically, parents will buy toys for their children during this time. The toys are not expensive and sometimes they are very traditional hand made toys. I tried to take some pics of the street but they didn't turn out too good. There are also several traditional foods that are eaten during this time such has grapefruit and "banh trung thu" (a type of small cake made just for this celebration).

The pics below were from the home of one of my teacher's good friends. The party table was decorated with fruit and a "dog" made out of a grapefruit. The "flower" looking thing was carved out of papaya. The picture of the family is very special for many reasons. If I understood accurately, the older lady is 93 and her late husband was a friend of Ho Chi Minh and served in his cabinet. This particular family has a long list of political ties. I'm not sure why we were there? The lady on the far right, front row is one of the most well respected professors in Hanoi. She speaks exceptional English. They were all very kind and gracious to me and the boys. When we left they gave us several gifts to take home in honor to Tet Trung Thu.

JOSHUA'S 11th BIRTHDAY!

Now the entire Miller family has celebrated a birthday in Vietnam! That's worth at least a... hooray!... yee ha!... or something like that! Joshua's birthday was an adventure! It took the help of some sweet friends in the states to secure his gift and a group from Tennessee to get it here. If that wasn't enough, on the Saturday that we had planned to take his buddies to the water park everything was going great until... we arrived at the water park. In typical Vietnamese style, once we arrived we discovered that on this particular Saturday the entire park had been reserved by a petroleum company! I stood at a distance to watch Robin's facial expression and body language as she experienced "c-u-l-t-u-r-e s-h-o-c-k!" I will not go into the details!... It wasn't pretty! Just kidding. She handled it very well. It must be an indication that we are adjusting. When you come to Vietnam, flexibility is just the beginning! You must be "fluid." Therefore, we gathered everyone up and "poured" (pun definitely intended) ourselves into a nearby swimming pool. The boys still had a good time. You will notice in the pics that none of Josh's buddies are American (Vietnamese, Taiwanese and Indian). You will also notice from the pics how big he is getting. We are so proud of him!