Taiwan: Lunshan Temple, Memorial Hall, National Museum of Art

Bates enjoying soup

Jillian and Steph in the beautiful gardens at the National Museum

Steph & Johnny at the National Museum of Chinese Art

streets of Taipei- there are scooters everywhere!

Lungshan Temple was incredible, we left an offering for our big day

Part of Memorial Hall

Memorial Hall.  The tents are the discovery channel set up for an episode

Entrance to Memorial Hall Courtyard

Taiwan: Travel & Taipei 101

We keep looking at one another and saying, "this is surreal" and "I can't believe we are really finally here".  Our journey to Ying-Tzu has begun!

We traveled to Los Angeles and connected with a direct flight to Taipei.  Jet lag is tough; we are relaxing in the hotel now but my body really wants to go to sleep!  With a 12 hour time difference, at 1pm here it is 1am at home.  We were met at the airport by our adoption agency's facilitator, Mr. Yeh, and his 13 year-old son.  His son and I had fun practicing English and Mandarin with one another.  Everyone we have met has been unbelievably kind.

Today we took the MRT to Taipei 101 to get a great view of the city.  Taipei 101 is the 2nd tallest building in the world.  Taipei, Taiwan's capital city, is a lot like New York.  It is clean and modern and full of life 24 hours a day.  The food here is wonderful, but we have already been surprised a few times when ordering as we have to guess... very little is in English.  Tomorrow is a full day of sight-seeing and then Friday we meet the newest member of our family.  Thanks to everyone that is at home watching our progress, watching our dogs, watching J's guinea, feeding our fish, etc.  We could not do this without your love and support!

In line to re-check our luggage at the international terminal in LAX

EVA Air loading

The famous LOVE sculpture outside of Taipei 101

One of the views from the top of Taipei 101

Our cheesy photo booth pics; we had a blast with all of us stuffed inside the booth!

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.

Packages and Paperwork

Our adoption agency sent us all of the paperwork to prepare for our in-country stay and appointment with AIT (The American Institute in Taiwan).  I am telling myself this means we are getting close!

In the meantime, our daughter is getting acquainted with us through pictures, our voices, and presents we send in care packages.  It is a challenge to send the 'right' stuff, when it is being viewed by not only the social workers but YT's birth father and perhaps court representatives.  I have tried to forget all of that and focus on the relationship these things are building between ourselves and our little girl, in place of actual contact.

I have not met the social workers at New Hope, but already I am impressed by them.  They are so thoughtful when sending us updates.  When we get an email each month linking to new pictures and videos in our dropbox account, it is like Christmas!  We watch the videos over and over, seeing her reaction to each item we have sent, seeing her giggle and run and hug stuffed animals.  And sometimes she seems sad.  Already, we have seen it all... but from so far away.  We are still hoping to travel in June- we make very tentative plans for anything during the summer at this point, as we are on hold.  Please send us your prayers and good vibes that the court process is going well and we can bring her home soon.

Care Package #1: a book we recorded, photos with labels in chinese, 1 outfit and a special snoopy that she loved

Care Package #2 A lot more clothes, some sensory toys, and songs in English that the social workers requested

The cutest TEVAs ever.  They sent us an outline of her foot on a piece of paper, and guess what?  They fit!

Court Date

YT looking at pictures of us with her social worker in January

Just a quick update to let everyone know our first court date was today, February 22nd.  It actually occurred while we were asleep last night, so of course she was the last thing I thought of before I went to bed and the first thing I thought of when I woke up.  

We will not hear anything today unless there was paperwork missing... sort of "no news is good news".  We were represented by our Power of Attorney, and YT and her birth father were probably present.  I thought of her birth father so many times yesterday, trying to send him strength and peace in his decision.  

The next big step will happen in two to three months, when we get the verdict from the judge, which is called the "first decree" or "civil ruling".  From there, it is just 4-6 weeks until the final ruling, when she is legally our daughter and we can travel.  Thanks again for all of your support, inquiries, notes, smiles and hugs- our friends and family have been incredible during this process!

A New Kind of Waiting

I bought her an outfit, size 4.  It is pink and frilly and has a matching headband for her very short hair.  It is louder than my typical style.  But from her pictures I can tell she will love it... something new and girly, but with leggings so she can still ride her tricycle fast like we saw her do in a recent video. She was flying!

I also searched for a nursery rhyme book in Chinese with English translations and beautiful pictures.  I can envision the social worker sharing it with her since he says she does not know any songs or rhymes.  I do not have a nice voice, but I sang every day to my children when they were toddlers.  And I would repeat the songs as many times as they wanted, over and over again.

We are allowed to send her a care package after the first court date, and eventually we will get to skype with her.  We are still waiting for court dates and a revised I-600A (our petition to the U.S. Central Immigration Service to bring an orphan into the U.S.), but we have something useful to do as we wait.  We get to prepare her room and work on our language skills, find play therapists and read about her culture.  We are finally preparing for not just "a child" but our daughter, specifically.  It is joyful and scary at the same time, because we are so attached and hopeful, and yet worried about the court process going smoothly.  As your gift to us this holiday, I ask again for your good prayers, meditations and intentions.  Thank you, friends and family!