Final Ruling!!!

Just a quick update since there is so much to do!  We leave in THREE DAYS to pick up our daughter. We got the civil ruling on May 8th, she turned five years-old on May 10th, and we heard about our final ruling May 28th.

In the midst of all of the logistics and flurry of activity to book hotels and flights (four of us on the way there and five coming back!), I am re-reading Karen Purvis' Connected Child.  I think constantly of how many changes this child has experienced in her young life and how scary the next few weeks are likely to be for her.  When the initial cloud of euphoria is gone and we are left with our "forever" family of five, balancing her needs and fears with the uncertainty my two older children are bound to experience about their new roles in our family will take all of the energy and love I can muster.  Please send me your warm thoughts and love as we enter this new chapter!

We are coming, Ying-Tzu, and we already love you more than you can imagine.

Ready

The books are lined up on the shelves, the bed is made, the shades and rug were carefully selected.  There has been an empty room in our house for almost 2 1/2 years that has evolved and flowed and has held different dreams, but now it is finally ready for a specific little girl who will be our daughter.

We skyped last week!  It was surreal to interact with her, to have her call us ma ma and ba ba (mommy and daddy) for the first time.   It was so hard to wave goodbye at the end of the call.

Are we ready?  Yes.  Our plans for summer are all tentative as we wait for the call saying the judge has made his or her final decision and we can book our flight to Taiwan.  We wait, and our daughter waits in a foster family.  We are both trying to make the best of the waiting.  She is learning English and practicing her letters and looking at our pictures.  We are practicing mandarin phrases, sending her packages, and looking up places to stay.  But we are all anxious to be together.