A Huge Virtual hug to Sarah W. for sending Ti a wonderful gift! you have become a great friend and support through out our process and we hope to be yours and can't wait for you to bring Hannah Claire home! We also cant wait for you to meet Ti and Landon in person :) We have to say that the best part of teh adoption process (ASIDE OF BRINGING HOME YOUR CHILD OF COURSE) are the friends you meet along the way! I was so excited yesterday to return from a day of shopping for things as we prepare for travel to find our first gift off the registry! You are so awesome Sarah. Thank you so much she will love it and we will love helping her learn to use it :)

We are also very happy to report that we have purchased our tickets for Greg, Landon and I. The travel agent Susan though nice as can be, wasnt able to get us a very good deal even being 5 weeks away and Todd the other travel agent we used last time never called back. After searching for days and internet sites, we finally purchased our tickets direct from online EVA Airlines. We are now working on Ti's ticket which EVA says should be made through a travel agent. Weird. Anyhow since hers was a one way ticket we couldnt book them together and then we couldnt book it seperate since she was a child and it would only allow an adult with a child. Needless to say these tickets hurt the bank LOL but we chose to fly EVA deluxe becaseu we didnt do that last time and swore we would NEVER EVER do that again on a flight that long. So we have both gained about 30lbs since then and have a very active 3 year old on the way there and a 6yr and 3yr back, I wasnt going for coach if it saved $600-$1000 or not. After not sleeping the entire way there or back I just thought we would be best with a little sleep and more patience. So we will book our hotel soon but we are still awaiting a few details for Taiwan. Greg lef for Mississippi today and wont be back until the day before we leave most likely. He drove also and will be driving back so I can only imagine how tired he will be when we leave. I have her bedroom to finish up and a few more home details and am begining to pack. We bought new luggage today too. Our biggest suitcase last time was so heavy before we packed it that even though I weighed it at home when the airlien weighed it it was over and we had to pay $50.00 extra. So I am hoping that this one will be better. Still fitting 4 people clothes in one suitcase for a week+ worth of travel is difficult. One large suitcase will carry many of the Christmas donations that are heading to Chung Yi so that suitcase is full too. :) Happy packing!

WE HAVE TRAVEL !!!!!!!

We finally have travel, we can't believe it. We will head to taiwan in 5 weeks to meet our daughter. We are so elated and in a blur. We found out on our 8 month waiting mark, last night. All the details are still being worked out but looks like we will head out on October 31st, pick her up on November 5th, AIT november 6th and visa pickup November 7th. We will probably head home on the evening of the 7th or the morning of the 8th. We are taing Landon with us and visiting Tainan and SLC during our trip. We will keep everyone updated meanwhile we have tons of AIT paperwork to send, travel packets to go through, flights to make and a room to finish :)

Eight months waiting for our daughter! To celebrate, or not so celebrate : ( the fact that we have been waiting 8 months (wish I had some fancy scrap book clip like Sarah from Journey To Taiwan For Hannah Claire) but not that blogger savy, and for all the friends and family that have asked about a shower and registry, since the time is near that our Ti will soon be home, we have finally made a registry. We had a shower for Landons coming but no registry so I thought it was sort of fun this time. Since Ti is older and the travel of an extra person (landon) and a new child withtheir own seat, our expenses are alot to go to Taiwan. There for it has been a little difficult in terms of getting the things we need for Ti for uniforms, clothes and toys or crafts. We do feel that she needs these things not to mention the fact that I think shopping will be difficult for a while when she gets here. So without further ado, we chose to have our registry at Target. You can find it at the baby registry at Target.com under Nicole or Gregory Hughes. We anticapated her finale arrival home to be in November even though it may be as early as October. So thanks to Family and friends in advance for any help or gifts for our daughter :) We are so excited and know the time is so close. Our family will soon be a family of 4!

An amazing and wonderful person,our friend who I will just call our little bird was able to find some very valuable and precious information out for us. She sent us the document that we will treasure. Matt and Molly's cabin is indeed a lucky one, and with that being said... On Sepember 14th we recieved our first decree! We had our hearing on September 10th and now we wait for the 10 days which will be over September 24th and hope to get the finale! We havent heard from our agency yet and assume that Chung Yi just got this info probably. We are so thanful to have meet this person whom we have come to know and cherish as a friend and today we all celebrate here in the mountains. We will be heading back home to Fl tonight and posting picks on Landons blog of Malone and Landon. Hope everyone gets good news soon epecially our little bird!

After much agony yesterday... whining, crying and down right complaining, we were sent a 9 page letter from Ti's foster mom. It was very personal and gave more inforamtion than I could have hoped. Many things we had no idea of and wish we knew when we started even though it wouldnt ahve changed our decision, we know she is our daughter, it is nice to be able to prepare for certian issues directly. AT any rate, I cnat go into detail of course publicly but I will say that it is still very apparent that Ti is loved beyong words. With our letter came a small update of our process. There was a miscomunication and our hearing was not September 3rd after all. It wasn't until September 10th just a couple days ago. That is a delay of about a week. I am not sure where that leaves us as far as travel. They did say that everything went well for the hearing. They did say that they expect the finale soon. So that is good news. I started wraping my head and heart around fear and worry but no need so far. The foster mother has invited us to stay with them during our trip. We are not sure that our agency or Chung Yi will allow this but we think it could be very beneficial to everyone especially her. Of course we wouldn't stay with them the entire time even if Chung Yi allows us but a couple nights would be good I think. Cheers to some news and a letter that I will hold dear and Ti will appreciate when she is older.

This is one of the most recent videos we have of Ti though it is still quite old. It is from April 28, 2007.


Well we recieved our update of No update yet again :( We are told that Ti's foster family has been undergoing some home renovations so they have not been able to get the info requested back to Chung Yi. Also that is the same reason that the meeting has not been set for Ti and Sally, our incountry coordinator, still. No news on how the hearing went either. So I guess we will have to wait till we get that travel call and then get there before we know anything. If they are really busy, Which I can understand during such things, I hope that they are still able to talk with her about the adoption as the time nears and work with her on her English they were going to do. We haven't received anything since we have been approved when they sent all the pictures and Sally had her very first meeting with Ti and the foster mother. But I guess they told us this could happen, so what do you? We just have to be prepared for what ever may happen and however she may react once we get there. I guess we will bring a couple different sizes and hope we have soemthing that fits. We will make due. Apparently Sally has stressed the importance of their meeting as well as the requested info, to Chung Yi and they say they will forward this info to the social welfare social worker and try to work with them to get it taken care of. I hate to be any kind of burden to the foster family especially during a time of stress, grief and home renovation. We just hoped to know how Ti is feeling about the adoption at this point so that we can better address her possible issues when we pick her up and she arrives home. If we do not know there will be alot of guess work. A pretty good disapointment.

Her furniture will arrive tomorrow and that is something to look forward too. Her room is painted a nice hazelnut cream, the same as most of our house, from a suede grey. We settled on a very nice White "chantilly" set with a Full size Panel bed with rails, matching Chest and night stand and then we will add a desk and hutch later. The bed has bows for detail on the headboard and footboard but just one on each. The other pices have a beautiful beading detail with crystal type knobs. WE both really love it and it should grow with her. SOlid wood so that it can be painted later on when she grows out of that cute little girl theme :) We also agreed on a Circus toile desing for the decor with beautiful reds, sage greens and ivories and some coordinating fabrics if all goes as planned. Her favorite color used to be red so maybe it still is. As she settles in, in the next few months she may start to like some characters or other things and we may change it later on to better suit her wishes. For now we hope it will be cheery yet calm during her transition.

WOW no post in a month? What is that all about?! So our hearing in Taiwan was today, September 3rd. Technically yesterday in Taiwan. Of course we have no news about it. We probably won't even get any news until our finale unless that doesn't happen by the end of the month. We were told that the foster family would have answers to our questions and information we requested back to Chung yi and then to us by the end of August, in plenty of time before travel. Of course this is just past and we have no news. :( We hope all went well for the hearing and that the judge had all the info needed to make an informed decision and ruling on the case. We reflect on what is happening in Taiwan and struggling with the knowing and hoping that the judge sees that we are best suited to be Ti's parents while knowing that this means her birth mother isn't. It also means that the family that has taken care of her from the time she was 2 years old will not be her parents. The feeling of being happy and excited about that, meaning we can be her parents, just feels wrong to celebrate such news. We are well aware that if it wasn't us then it would be another US family most likely but that doesn't stop the fact that she is losing something that we can never fully 100% understand. So though we trust that this is Gods plan and pray that we ARE her parents we pray for her birthmother, her foster family, and her for the huge loss they will endure once the 10 day waiting period is over and finale ruling occurs.


On a lighter note... We have painted her new bedroom and have begun looking for her bedroom furniture. This has been very fun, exciting and a little stressful. Who would have thought that shopping for girls would be stressful? Well I am not the best at decorating anything especially rooms or the house. not to mention that I grew up a tom boy and never wanted anything cute, nice or decorated! So for me trying to pick out osmething that she will love, that she wont out grow too quickly and that will help her feel comfortable has been hard. Should we go white furniture or cherry? Full bed or twin? Really girly with bow designs and detail or less design and no bows. Slegh, post or platform bed? and don't get me started on the bedding LOL Greg wants everything really cute and girly. Her closet is about half full of clothes and that is only because we still have no idea what size or weight she is. I doubt we will know before we trael either so we have only been buying size 6 mostly but a couple 5's and a couple 7's to be safe. When we picked up Landon they had the size for us totally worng and he ended up miss matched and rolled up the entire time. I hope she comes with atleast a couple things. I am sure she will as she is always well dressed with plenty of clothes from her pictures as best we can tell. We have also sent several outfits but havent heard anthing about them fitting or being liked so who knows?

Landon is so excited about his sister coming home. Today in the grocery line he told a little girl ahead of us in line that his sister was coming home tonight. It was so cute but so sad when I had to tell him we are not sure when but hopefuly soon, unfortunetly not tonight though. Of course this little girl was only about 2 years old and could care less who he was let alone his sister who she thinks is out with her/his dad probably LOL. So...painting, furniture shoppping, inlaws visiting and court hearing! Wow, what a week at the Hughes residence :) Lets pray that this judge can rule as quickly as Chung Yi expects and we can travel to pick up our little Ti soon. We cant wait to meet our daughter and learn who she is. Hope everyone gets travel news and referrals soon!