Taiwan Adoption Round 2

2007-11-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. Let me first say that I am so thankful and blessed to have the support of all of you. Without that I dont think we would have any sanity left right now. I am moving the blog as we are now home and have a new focus. One other than getting our daughter home but more of finding her, the real her. I knew we had allot of support but I had no idea of the responces I would get when I opened up about our struggles. All I can Say is Thank You from all of us. Each day will bring new things to our lives for a very long time. No one can listen to sad struggling families each and every day or we would all go crazy for sure so I know the issolation will come just as a death but with time we will all heal. I have to believe that. Here are some of the photos from Taiwan. You can follow our family life, celebrations and struggles at our new Blog. http://findingliberti.blogspot.com/ I will post a few more Taiwan photos here and then will continue to post but at that blog. Thank you all again.

2007-11-11T04:08:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't already read, this is what I shared with our adoption groups. I havent the energy to go back into it all so I'll just cut and paste. We had another hard night as Ti and Landon were both up crying off and on since 3am ...

Hey everyone, we made it home. I have to say that I have thought over and over about sharing the details of our lives here recently. In the end I have decided that if we are not open than how can anyone else learn or gain knowelge from our experience as we have from others. I also thought about the families that said they wish they would have shared much sooner than they did. With that being said this post will be long. Our last couple days in Taiwan and trip home were pretty eventful. Ti was as prepaired as a 6 year old could be like we were told. I think that as we thought there is no real way to prepare your heart for what you are about to experience fully until you do experience it. She knew very well what was going to happen as far as that goes. In respect to that she has done very well. She didnt mind so much going with us (though sad of the loss), the hotel, the plane or the ride home. She wasnt shocked by any of it. She reacted accordingly with wanting one of us then rejecting us, a natural reaction. She would recite who she was going to see and look at pictures of our house. She cried 2 nights, not consecutively, for her loss of her Keelung mommy and daddy. She likes her new home, her dogs, and her room. She is happy with Ahma, Nana, papa and her aunties. But I have to share however personal this may be, We are having serious issues. They are not so much related to the transition of families (though hightened is clear) as it is to many other facts. But let me back up a little so you can understand. Before we recieved our rulling, we recieved a very long letter from her foster mom that was very detailed about her personality. We felt very blessed to get such a long detailed letter. Much of what came as a shock as we had never been told any of it. As time passed the next month the conclusion was that culturally they can focus on some negatives and are critical. So we went with it for the most part though we are not naive to adoption or the issues related to older child adoption nor fostercare children by any means. We now know that everything that was said in the letter was true and said politely. Please understand that we already love our daughter and we are commited to her future and her in our family. The problems that she had with the foster family for 4 years were very real and they are the same that she has now. We have been punched everywhere including the face, smacked, clawed, strangled, kicked,bit, and spit in the face more times than any of us can count. She has hurt Landon several times and just about broke his finger, ripped his skin, strangeled him, and kicked him in the face with pointy toed boots, and then some. All for no reason and out of the the blue to Landon. For him at Random and for no reason other than to do it. Most other times these things arent done to us unless we do not let her get her way 100% exactly as she wants it. It is very real. Fostermom said that she can not be left with small children that she doesn't understand she can break bones and it is true thought we believe that she completly understand that she can hurt him or anyone else. We can not leave her with Landon at all. Her aggression comes out when she is happy, sad or mad. She will be very excited and happy, touch his face softly and then claw him to death in that very spot and touch. Landon is so affected by her and can not trust her at all. He runs in paranoia most of the time and is on gard with every touch or if she nears him. But when everything is good, and rules are not having to be told or enforced so much she is sooo happy, smiles and giggles. Very sweet, happy and affection. And some days are better than others so far dependng on how much rules have to be applied. She is also very very smart and can manipulate already. Odviously we know that she isnt used to our rules and we cant expect her to follow our way of life right away. We would never expect that. For examples of some of the rules we had to enforce in which she reacted in this way: standing up in the plane seat and bopping the person in front of her and behind her on the head, trying to open mouth kiss me, being aggressive or physically hitting any of us, and/or break or throw things. We were told that she does not like adults unless she thinks that she can control them and we have found this to be true already. When I tell her no or do anything that she doesnt like or want me to do she screams over and over in every tone and expression on her face "NO, NO NO NO NO" stairing me down and ussually swinging. She then stairs without blinking into my eyes sticking her head forward as and says in this voice that you think only a 15 year old would be doing "NO" and if I look away she celebrates. Yesterday I decided I wasnt going to look away no matter what and she litterally staired at me for over 20 minutes until she fell asleep. It broke my heart and I cried after. I hate to have a battle of wills or domination but I cant let her celebrate her win of dominance when that is what she has done with them for the last 4 years. Unfortuenlty we honestly feel that she will not make it successfully in life on her own, never depending on any one else and we can not successfully parent her if she controls us and we live in constant fear of her. She will have to learn to respect us and everyone else. She will have to learn not to result in physical aggression and contact when she wills. Though I dont want to scare any of you, I have to tell you what is real. The strugles we are having are unique but every child comes with their own set of challenges. She was thrown out of one school for beating up a boy 2 years older than her. I have to think that there had to be an incident more than this or wonder the severity of the incident if she was not allowed back and made to go to another school in which they had to work on these behaviors. Liberti is very happy when things are going her way and no rules are given. Today was a really good day for her considering it was her second day home especially surprised us. She did punch Greg in the face when he asked her if she needed anything and sat down by her. (she was fine with him yesterday) It wasnt because she was rejecting him today. she went to bed mad at me and woke up mad at us. So we left her alone for a while. Then I came to talk to her and she got furious and began hitting me as well. I held her hands from hitting and explained she cannot hit and it wasnt ok to hurt people. She does understand "no hitting" She would not stop. I put her in my arms and rocked her telling her I love her and that she would be ok. She began to cry and trying to still hit i just held her and wouldnt let go. Not like typical holding therapy just kinda rocked her like a baby. until she gave in and layed there but she was furious. Still the feeling wasnt that she was mad at me for any other reason than I didnt let her do what she wanted yesterday. She can hold a grudge too. When I let her up she punched me in the face 2 more times so I held her again. I wasnt holding in her arm or hand or not letting her move. I just rocked her holding in a natural position. After about 10 minutes she calmed down and then Greg came in and she reached for him and I allowed that. We are not 100% sure of the things to do just putting into use some techniques from our research of other families and what feels natural. She calmed down, ate breakfast and was happy all over again. She played and laughed. It is easy for her to be rebelious to us and hate everything we do as she should, not knowing us or loving us. We accept that part of it. But when she is not fighting a battle of wills she is completly content with showing affection, talking laughing and things of the sort. She wants me there if she goes to the bathroom or takes a bath and feels secure in that. She litterally is like nite and day. Jsut as her videos were of her having one of these fits and the other of her enjoying her time at the zoo. We are sure that if she wanted anything she had/has to ask me. and if she refused then she didnt get it or couldnt do it. She was happy the rest of the day and into the night. Though I didnt have to enforce any rules today really so she didnt have too much to get mad over I stil felt better today than yesterday. She was better with Landon too and he felt ok to ride around with her in the riding toy outside and play with her on the floor for a while. Still she did little things to him when she would walk by that werent enough to make him cry but enough to make him flinch. she would grab his hand and squeeze, or bop him a little too hard on the head or things like that. But this you could expect from most siblings. Not completley acceptable but progress considerably. We are very compassionate about the fact that her world has turned upside down and if we didnt know that she has done all of these things for so many years then we would think it was all do to the transition and move. There is considerable stress, fear and confussion, loss of culture, family, country and language on her part. There have been some other incidents as well of things just as serious that have to be looked into further. This and her pain are nothing to forget about or take lightly and we won't. Even with today being so good we cant help but wonder what tomorrow brings. This is going to be a very very long journey. Her foster mother expressed that life with Ti was like a relay race and that she was very tired and hading over the baton. That sentence speaks very loudly to me now. She also expressed that she has the potential to be a very good person or a very bad person in life. That too is loud and clear. Still with all of this, alot of tears and emotionally drained we still know that she is our daughter and we must help her. We have begun talking about some steps to help her move forward. We will give 4-6 months of dicipline, love, and structure and if without enough progress then consider professional therapy unless we feel it is needed sooner for what ever reason. We hope that a very strict aware school and a sport like gymnastics in which she can feel personal gain and reward as well as release energy in a positive physical way will help. We will be contacting our homestudy agecncy and our adoption agency to speak with them and get their professional support and opinions about implemementing some strategies and resources. We may even consider to have counseling to some degree sooner. At home we will be consistant in working towards trust and bonding in and of itself that can take a long time, as well as rules that she can clearly understand and abide by. We have a very strong support system with family and friends but we know there are sure to be times we feel very alone in all of this. We trust that love and time heal most. We know that these habbits that have been aloud to develope are very instilled and it will take a lot to reroute her reactions to many things. We have faith that can and will happen in time. How much time we dont know. Will we be pulling our hair out? yes. Will there be lots of tears, yes there already have been. Will we question what we are doing, have done or whats working? Of course who wouldnt? Right now we are tired and a little weary but again faithful and trusting that we were lead to our daughter. Do we feel the way we did with Landon? No we dont. Do we feel love? Yes we believe we do and its still growing. Are we sad or discouraged. Yes a little. I am sur eI sound like a crazy person right now with limited sleep, stress and jet lag. This is all just being honest. And I write it today as I am not sure I will have the gutts to its publicity tomorrow.
Still needing and asking for prayer
Nicole

2007-11-07T13:47:00.000-08:00

Last post before we head back home tonight! We are ready to get home and start healing. Ti cried herself to sleep the first night, not the second night, but again last night. It is heartbreaking. Her pain is so clear and so strong. i cant even imgaine. She is spitfire though and many of her charicteristics are the same the girl we fostered for so long so i think we can make headway. There is jus tno way around the pain. She has to go through it unfortunetly. She is happy and giggly most of the time, hates to here the word no but loves to shout it, has the biggest smile I have ever seen, and is so smart. She can say, write and pickout of order the entire English alphabete. She can also count to 20 in English, and make pronunciations for words like C ca ca cat. It is very good. We here new words everyday a nd like Landon she has the need to communicate. Today she practiced on her own "Come here Landon, Come here Daddy, Come here mommy" It was so cute. In English she can say...Thank You, come here, goodbye, hello, Landon, uh oh, NO, yes or no?, wow, cool, laptop, computer, CD, and a few other things slipping my mind. So kids are getting up! Gotta run but hopeful will post more from home. Thanks for all the support. I'll post pics once we are home an can get a good enough connection :) I forgot to say that she can also say and spell her name as Liberti. I am not sure if she can write it yet but she can write several other English words already!

2007-11-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

Well I haven't had much time to talk to Nicole but I am going to post a couple of pictures. Their internet is still pretty bad so communications have been pretty limited. Ti cried hard the first night, as to be expected.

She is more comfortable staying in the hotel room then she is going out.

I have seen a little bit on the webcam and she seems to be very affectionate

towards Nicole. She is still refusing to have her picture taken though. I miss Landon so much and I can't wait to meet Ti. I will be glad when they

get home.

2007-11-04T20:45:00.000-08:00

FINALLY!!!!

I talked to Nicole for a minute on webcam and was able to freeze this shot. Nicole said so far so good and the meeting went well. She will tell me more and try to send me some pics after Landon and Ti are settled down for the night.

2007-11-04T11:38:00.000-08:00

More Pictures

2007-11-04T08:35:00.000-08:00

Today was another AMAZING day! We toured Keelung with Nick Lee. Super great guy. We fell in love the our daughters city. The weather was horrible and has been since we got here. Very very cold, lots of rain and overcast so we werent able to make it through some of the sites like the Queens Head. We visited temples and festival spots ect. lots of hiking, walking, climbing and taking in but it was all very very good! Nick invited us to his favorite local resteraunt the Shabu Shabu. He got us to eat alot of stuff we wouldnt have thougt of and alot of which we told him not to tell us the name LOL We are not teh adventurous type when it comes to food and anyone who knows us can attest for that. (even Randy and Jes) We enjoyed our lunch very much and it was wonderful to experience a meal in such a way. I guess he takes many of his customers here to get a feel for the culture. After touring Keelung most of the day we headed to his house to meet his family and have a traditional Tea ceremony. We were very honored and humbled by this invitation and have been told that an invitation to one home here is a big deal, especially for Tea. Many types of tea! We feel like they are friends. His wife is beautiful and very kind. Their children are just as sweet as they are and played with Landon for a couple hours. We learned alot about them and Nick's collection of Baseball everything LOL He plays and so does his son. Many of his customers have given him memorabilia like bats and balls, many of them signed which he treasures. It was a great day. We ended the night with him dropping us off at a local American diner to pick up some food to go. I laid down my head at 8:00pm after being awake for 18 hours and how now been wide awake since 10:30pm! yikes not good. We meet Sally at 9:30 am and take a taxi to Chung Yi. We will meet with the governemtn social worker from CCF and the fosterfamily from 10-11 and then the birthmother from 11-12pm! Can you imagine. What a day we are about to endure. I have to e rested and sorry to say I actually just took one of the musscle relaxers to help sleep, that I got from the dr here for my tooth and TMJ. Not sure it will help but willing to try anything to be well rested before meeting our daughter. We feel much better so far, despite the obsticals, about this trip than last year. We have learned far more about our childrens country and ahve been able to really appreciate their cities, country and culture of birth. Landon did really well up until last night and after such a long day it was a blessing. Hoping he sleeps through the night and doesnt wake again at 4 or 5. SO THIS IS IT !!! LAST POST UNTIL WE MEET OUR DAUGHTER IN 10 HOURS! cross fingers, say prayers, and send well wishes please!!!

2007-11-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

Today was a little easier day. We started out by eating at NY Bagel which was ealy nice. It didnt taste exactly like American food but close enough for me. I ate french toast and potatoes, Greg and Landon had eggs,pancakes, and potatoes. Theirs wasnt as impressive but Landon shared mine and was happy for a while. HE hasnt eaten much at al here. He doesnt like the taste or the smell of the food. He didnt like alot of the food her when we picke dhim up last year thoug etiehr and was happy to quickly switch to american food or more so american Italian LOL Loves his noodles but douced in Italian creamy sauces for the most part. He doesnt like anything even a tad bit spicy which is hard to find so far for us. Yesterday he was bak to on and off crying, whining and tantrums. Just wants to be carried everywhere. Not too unlike our home life LOL but worse. Although he was happy to run around a small park by our hotel just fine. I think that alot of it is he really is over stimulated, off schedule, very tired and just plain mad about the food. I am so happy that our Tainan visit was way better than yesterday. Today we will tour Keelung. Our daughters birth city and the place she has grown up in the last 6 + years. Randy and Jes left last nigth and we were sad to see them go. We never did get to meet the Nicholsons though. They couldnt get to the pizza party as Harley fell asleep and they didnt want to wake her. We are excited to go to Keelung. Nick Lee will pick us up at 10am and we will head out there after breakfast. Leaving it up to him pretty much where to go but I am thinking alot of walking LOL. I'm praying that Landon stays asleep for another few hours at least. I cant seem to sleep past 3 or 2 today. I went from 3am till 8 last night, yikes. I was so drained. I know I need my strength when we meet Ti. Still cant get pics to upload but was able to send some through messenger to Gregs parents and mom then she posted them to an album. Tomorrow will come quickly as we tour most the day then travel back to our hotel for the night. We have to get our gifts ready and situate the room. We are praying that this transition will go smoothly but as normal hoping for the best and expecting the worst. We love you all and and thankful for all the support. SOON VERY VERY SOON! (dreading the 24 hour flight home I must say though )

2007-11-02T03:21:00.000-07:00

We we made our way to Tainan today. It was a pretty emotional but very very good day. Landon started screaming with excitement when we made it to SLC. He was so happy to see the caregivers and play with them as they showered him with love and gifts. The went through the picture album we brought and all ooh and ahhed over his pictures. He tried hard to mimic alot of what they would say to him in Chinese and their tone. They thought that was really cool. They said that he was always very smart and quick to learn. Always independent and strong willed, yup that is our kid! We were able to spend time with some of the babies but NO PICTURES ALOUD :( at all in the nursery. We wished that we could have shared with families what they let Judy share but they did not. Judy we didn't get to see Eric as he was out getting a shot, ouch. WE enjoyed our time in Tainan alot. We toured all over with the driver that Judy H. reccomended and he was sooo great. We took the high speed rail there and yes got on the wrong train back, lucky for us it was also going to Taipei :) We are so exhausted. Tomorrow we take it easy but tour around Taipei. We will head to 101 as well but not rushing anywhere. WE are suppose to have our pizza party with the Nicholsons and Dias's in just a bit. It was postponed until tonight. Still cant get pictures to upload and weird since we are in the same hotel as Jes and Randy LOL but you guys know me and pics, I post them. So I will keep trying! Only 2 days left and we meet our little girl. Oh, we saw amany kids fromteh schools out touring in Tainan today and it stopped our heart many tmes when we would see the little girls with similarities of Ti. We cant wait. But soon...

2007-10-28T00:08:00.000-07:00

We are here! The donation bag was way too heavy and so was our suitcase as we tried to minimize carrying more and filling to the brim. Needless to say it was going to be $200 more and lucky for us mom had packed 3 empty duffle bags just in case. Then we were notified that we were going to have technical stop when getting ready to board in Orlando, for Dallas to Seatle. No big deal we (way out of the way to Taiwan we know) thought till our plane was really late and then they notified us while landing we were changing planes. Lucky for me this once that greg was not happy and let every flight attendant know as they quickly gathered us as we left the plane we were husstled away along with many other guest out the side of the plane down to the ground and into a van like the secret service or something. Then away we went driving really fast across all the runway ground area over to a plane on the otherside of loading. Al teh whike they said they couldnt guarantee that our bags would make it but that they would come a day late and deliver them to our room. We said with how fast they got us to the otehr plane no way they could get all of our 6 bags into that plane. I mean when we got on the new plane everyone was already boarded and buckled and as soon as we all sat and buckled they began to move to the runway and took off. All of about 15min total time! Much to our suprise we were so worrie daobu our bags and imigration lines when we arrived we didnt get Ti's ticket upstairs. ARHH... but our bags were here safe and sound! One really bad thing is I have had a Horrible horrible tooth ache the entire time. Wouldnt be my life any other way people :) We are tired but we are checked into our hotel. We like the room. We did get in right away thankfully with early check in. The staff let us know when making our reservation that they may or may not have a room available for early check in. So we knew we may be droping off our luggage and knocking on the Dias's door LOL. We are going to venture out soon and get some pictures. We have a busy day tomorrow as we head down to Tainan via the high speed rail, visit SLC from 10-1pm , then tour Tainan with this awesome taxi that Judy H put us in contact with. We know this wil be an exiting day for Landon and us. We already have that anticipation feeling as we are so anxious to get to the part of the process wehave been working and waiting towards for the last 9+ months. YEAH getting closer still LOL We ate breakfast, meet Jessica (just as sweet and nice as I thought she would be!) and now tha tGreg and Landon are taking a cat nap I am going to look for that awesome doctor that Laura told me about to help pout this tooth ache. By this morning with not so much sleep and horrible pain I was already loosing site and patience. Of course Landon turned into mr crazy with about 4 hours left of the flight , mean, not listening, hyper little boy till now whne he cried himself to slep :(. He did well most of the flights though which we were really happy with considering everything else LOL Anyhow, having a pizza night with the Dias and Nicholson families and get to meet their little girls!!! We are soooo excited of course. SORRY GUYS BUT IT WONT LET ME UPLOAD PICS NOW but Ill try agian later.

2007-10-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

Some of our "blogger buddies" and familis that have actually become friends are in Taiwan already meeting their children. Judy and Steve arrived several days ago and got to visit their son Eric at SLC for many days already. The judge asked them to come to Taiwan (kinda on a fluke) and they had to rush off the next week. Judy is wonderful and has sent so many families pictures and info on their children. What a blessing that is and how thoughtful of her. Also the Nancy, mike and Melanie Nicholson also arrived in Taiwan and have meet/picked up their daughter Harley! This was especially nice to see since she is an older child too though younger than Ti it is god to see how she reacts during their stay in Taiwan. You can view their blog at http://nicholsongirls.blogspot.com/ ! We leave in 4 days. So much to do and I still have to find time to read these blogs :) Jessica and Randy,http://randyjess.blogspot.com/, have already head out and we will see them in a few days after they arrive. Wow this is getting so exciting.

2007-10-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

And so the time is near that our daughter will leave a life she has known for 6 whole years and brave into a new. 15 days until we board a plane and head for Taiwan and 21 days until we meet this litle girl that has stolen our hearts from afar. 21 days until this child is not just a picture that we study and wonder. She is real we just know it! Our minds can not yet wrap the idea of "this real" little girl but once the time has ended and we can hear her voice, touch her, and begin from that day forward to heal, bond, love, and be the family we were meant to be...Ahh that is when it will be real. And that is what life is ALL about. Those moments that you are sure to remember no matter how old you get. The feelings that you are sure to feel every time you think of the second you saw your child for the first time no matter how or where, they came from. No matter when or why, but that second and the feeling you had. I can't wait for that moment, the one that I realize, feel and know " I really have a daughter and she is right in front of me".

I forgot to add that we recently found out that we will be meeting Laura T. for the first time during our trip as well as the other volunteers heading to Taiwan for the "picture the future" SLC project! We are so excited to finally meet her and in Taiwan of al places. The first time I ever spoke with her over 3 years ago she was in Taiwan and now we will meet a world away. Can you believe this trip. More importantly our arrangements have been made for our fosterfamily meeting. We will not get to spend the day with Ti prior to meeting her at Chung Yi. After many metings and long discussions the conclusion came a couple days ago. We will meet Ti's foster mom at Chung Yi. And a surprise... we may also meet her birthmother!

2007-10-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

We have received more gifts from our friends and family through the registry and it has been so fun thinking about our little girl opening and using the things that so many have sent. It is amazing to us that so many people care about us and our children. What a blessing it has been. I have to say thank you to the Smiths, Miller's, and Barnett's (sorry if we forgot anyone off hand) for the gifts we received most recently in addition to the others we have already thanked and received from. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

We finally added the bathroom set to the registry that we knew we wanted to get but couldn't decide on the actually theme. We know that most likely we wont get the pieces but thought we would let everyone know what we were lacking and hey if she got it then good and if not we will just wait a while to do it. No biggy. Ti loves the Zoo and all the animals so we chose the jungle as the them for her (and Landon's) bathroom. Landon could care less obviously but we chose the one that was not girly but something she and he would both love. It is fun, bright and since Landon thinks there are monsters in the bathroom now, hopefully he won't rub off on her with a nice cheery bathroom!
It is so wonderful to be able to share our journey and have the support we all feel from our Internet groups, friends, and family. We know that we are not going to be able to watch the group most likely as closely once Ti is home at least for a few months. We will have to focus on our daughter and son's adjustment and I feel a small loss and sadness for that. I do know that everyone will be there when I have questions to ask but cant get back to posting how things went when we try your advise. I know that I can count on any of you if I have to make that quick call or email, if I am frustrated, depressed, and if/when I am overjoyed and speechless. Adoption is such an amazing journey the whole way. With ups, downs and unexpected turns. I am brought to tears so often by the entire experience of ours and our friends as we all bring home our children, learn of our kids, and experience parenting first hand. My excitement builds each day as I envision this little girl waltzing through our house with her long beautiful hair, pitter patter feet, high pitched little voice, smiles and tears. I think of our son following her around, bugging her, asking "why her...", copying her as best he can, squeezing between her and us, and calling her sissy. Our lives will change forever. Our daughter is coming home. We will be a family of four. We will try and learn how to juggle 2 kids and our ever changing schedules while we strive for normalcy and adjustment. We can't wait to meet her and find out what makes our little girl tick. What makes her cry, what makes her smile, what makes her laugh. How she has grown and became the child she is for the last 6 years we have missed. How do we make up that time? How we will morn for the life and years we missed with her and how we will morn the life she missed without her parents. How we were not able to protect her when she needed it. We accept it but that isn't to say it doesn't hurt when we think about it and I am sure that pain will come more as we experience so much with her and how happy that makes us, but wishing we had even more. Greed for a time we feel we should have been there for but were not. Not disregarding the love and life she has had for the last 4 years either. So allot of feelings these last few days and many conversations between Greg and I. I think it is all normal to think, fear, wonder and be overjoyed with excitement. I think Greg has cried more times the last week and half than I did all year. My silly, sappy, emotional husband, how I love him and am so thankful that he is our children's father.

Again, thank you all for your support. blessings and your celebration with us. I know I keep saying it but I feel like there is no real way to show our gratitude. I just feel so blessed in my heart :) Love you guys! Woohoo we leave in 23 days!

OHHH, And a HUGE thank you to all the families that are participating in the Chung Yi Christmas drive. We are so excited to be able to do this for the kids of Chung Yi and are thrilled at the families that have choose to help. As we read the letters we are so excited for the kids and know that this will make such a difference in their lives now and when they are older and see and read how a family a world away thought about them!

2007-09-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-09-26T06:10:00.000-07:00

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 :)

2007-09-25T06:09:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-09-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-09-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-09-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-09-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-08-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

We recieved our update today! We entered the courts in June, had a judge scheduled in July, and our Hearing is set for September 3rd. Alot farther away than we anticipated but atleast the end is in sight. We are told that everything is going smoothly and no worries! :) They explained that our process looks like it will follow another families that is currently traveling. They expect to work with the courts to have everything they need before the hearing so that the hearing is indeed the last step before the finale. They have a tentative travel date of end of September or begining of October. That seems far fetched and I am thinking more in the lines of October or November but will happily be pleasently surprised! I jsut cant see how you can get a hearing in September and travel in September. But you never know. I would love to hear that. They also let us know that the foster family is to have our questions answered and back to us by August in pleanty of time to travel. We will be sendin her another package in a few days. We do not know her sizes still and didnt get photos as we assumed we wouldn't. We are still very happy to know our case is moving along as it should and we have a hearing date!!! Our daughter will be home before xmas for sure. WOW 2 kids this Christmas. How blessed are we? Hope the good news comtinues to come for our fellow families.

2007-08-02T20:31:00.000-07:00

Well, updates were do again. Last month Laura explained that Chung yi updates to them, had been running late and into the 1st or 2nd week of the next month. So now it is August 2nd and into the next month. We have yet to hear if we are in the courts. Debbie, the director of Chung Yi had been in the states so I am sure that has things a bit slowed down. We were suppose to here the next week, after last months updates, why we didn't have one. We are jsut sad we still know nothing. Unfortunetly we know that if FFC knew anything we would know. They wont sit on info so to speek. It is just frustrating to know that it has been about 8 weeks since our docs were received in Taiwan and we still do not know if we entered teh courts. We try like all the families to be patient. It is hard. You jsut want to know things are moving along. Since court can take 1-6 months you really want to get into court ASAP. Anyhow enough griping and complaining. We know everyone is busy and hope that our file is moving along and we jsut are not hearing anything yet. Maybe updates will be in, in the next few days. Maybe we will hear that Ti has received all our packages. Maybe we will hear her sizes. Maybe we will learn taht we have been in the courts. Something??? So the wait doesnt get any easier. ohh brother the adoption blues. On a lighter and happier note, Our friends are on their way to Taiwan to pick up their children. Denise her Katie and Janel her Dawson. We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet them when they get back to Fl. :)

2007-07-20T03:57:00.000-07:00

Since we didn't and probably wont get any new pictures of our daughter I will have to post from the many that we do have, like I stated previously. Though most of them are older it is difficult to pull this blog and another month has passed without a new picture. Having received them almost every month for Landon with SLC it sure is different to say the least. But we knew it would be. So here are a couple. hope everyone else can enjoy them the way we do :)

2007-07-18T20:35:00.000-07:00

Talked back and forth with our agency coordinator the past week and still nothing to report worth reporting! Last we were told that Sally will be seeing Debby, one of the directors at Chung
Yi, this week and should learn something of our update. Mostly what is the hold up? Government sw, Chung yi, who or what? So still the same info. We are still trying to collect donations for Chung Yi. The last pacakge was $113.00. OUCH is right. We are working on getting a company to donate shipping cost, like our local DHL shipping offices or business like that. Meanwhile some of you have asked that we set up our paypal account so that you can donate funds towards shipping and donations. Thought I was sceptical at first we have decided to do so. Once I figure out how to add the link it should be up and running by the end of the weekend. For those families that have sent things... A HUGE THANK YOU!!! The items we have been told are for 45 children toddler age on up to teenagers and about 10 infnats. I know I have said this before but just a reminder. :) They are in need of:

GIRLS AND BOYS CLOTHES (ALL SIZES FOR ALL AGES)
TOOTHBRUSHES&TOOTHPASTE
SOCKS
SHOES
DEODERANT
SHAMPOO&CONDITIONER
SANITIZER
LOTIONS
BRUSHES
COMBS
MOST ALL TOILETRIES
VITAMINS

This is the most current list we have. We are working to get Shands hospita/dental clinic to donate the toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss and rinse. Robeez shoes has comitted to donating shoes but not until we travel. They also mostly have toddler and infants shoes from what I understand though. These will also be split between St Lucy Center and Chung Yi donations. We are also working on getting families to commit to packages for Chirstmas for the kids. Anything can help and what better way to pass the time?

2007-07-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

UPDATES ARE IN!!! BUT NOT OURS?! Well there you have it. Chung Yi didnt provide us with any new info. No court filing date, no hearing date. They forwarded the height and weight stats from last time which Sally thinks are wrong. Atleast for height anyway. Laura hopes to talk to Sally over the weekend to ask her to contact Chung Yi to find out what the hold up is. She thinks it could be that the government social worker is taking longer to get the file from the last 4 years together and over to Chung Yi as it also has to be filed in the courts along with our documents. So it was depressing to know that we are most likely not in the courts yet. About 99% sure since they didnt give us a date that it hasnt happened. Which means the court wait has yet to start and can be 1-6 months then another month to travel! :(

I kept busy the last 2 days assembling those packages that I have been accumulating along with some extra shopping from Mom and I for the donations. Laura said that Chung Yi is in need of many things. When I went to ship the 3 boxes today they were $72, $53, and $67!!! Yikes. I sent the one for $72 which was to Ti and included our family video, 1st letter to her, and our first letter to her foster mother. We also included some clothes, books, flash cards, build a bear slippers among many other little things. In the other boxes Mom bought the older boys 6 pairs of really nice shorts some with belts, undershirts, 2 large packages of boys socks, some girls clothes, and some hygiene stuff and then I picked out some girl clothes, underpants, packages of socks, 2 little boy outfits, lotions, toothbrushes, toothpastes, and lots of other stuff for the kids and staff. There are about 45 kids from Toddler age to teenagers and then 10 infants. They are all in need of clothes, toiletries, and art supplies. I guess they are not getting all the donations they need for the amount of kids they have right now. Most donations are for infants and girls but they have mostly older kids. Anyhow it was fun to do but I hated the shipping prices. I had to come back and compile the other 2 boxes into one bigger box as I couldnt get them into the flat rates and hope that that it is a little cheaper to send on Monday in that box.

2007-07-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

Well we hoped to get our updates from Chung Yi at the end of June but it hasn't happened yet. I spoke with Laura a couple days ago and she explained that the updates are late and they are still awaiting them. We hope to get a size confirmation and confirmation of our documents filed in the court. I would of course love to hear that we have a hearing date too! Can't hate a girl for wishful thinking, eh? I doubt we will get pictures but you never know. So I thought I waws doing pretty good waiting for this update until today. I keep thinking it has to be here today but then it doesnt come. Goodness gracious! :) I'll post when we know something for sure but for now it is back to day dreaming and waiting.

2007-06-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

I spoke with Laura Tuesday and she was able to confirm that our contracts had been sent to Taiwan and already received by Chung Yi. She said they may or may not be in court yet but that we should receive an update on that at the end of the month. We are so excited! One more step down, the countdown really has begun!!!

2007-06-12T12:52:00.000-07:00

So many things going on with Adoption #2! We are happy to report that we received our documents for TECO, headed to Coral Gables, dropped them off for authentication and picked them up the next late after noon. We then sent them Fedex along with our family photo albums back to FFC where they received them on Thursday. Saturday we sent out our FFC contracts and formal referral acceptance and today everything was sent to Taiwan to be reveiwed and enter the courts! We have no reason to see any delays in our court process but you just never know what the judge may ask or do. We may get a hearing fast then ruling slow. Or we may get a hearing late but a ruling on our hearing date. The world of adoption is full of unknowns. We can safely say that we should have her home well before Christmas which is very very exciting and if we follow another families time line (wink wink) the way we have been, we may actually travel in September. We have also learned a few things. We will not be meeting Ti's foster family as we thought we would. Seems this is not something Chung Yi encourages. We are also aloud to write letters along with our care packages too! We are very excited about that. So there you have it. Lots going on and lots to think about. As others travel and bring home their older children we are faced with lots of questions and mroe research. We know this will be difficult for our daughter and us. We are learning through all of you.

2007-06-03T08:53:00.001-07:00

The girl that stole our hearts! We have to laugh at the temper on our little girl. Many think that it ends at about age 4 or 5 and we can attest that it does not. We are in for a ride! We love her compasion and how happy she is in one video and a spitfire in the other. She will fit in our family. Enjoy.

2007-06-02T22:11:00.000-07:00

It's here! The package filled with those "oh so important" contracts and power of attorney forms! ALong with that was just as Laura said, a nice little photo album of Ti and 3 discs full of photos. Over 1500 photos actually! Can you imagine? I am stunned. We are so excited. We feel taht we have learned alot by so many photos. A glimpse of our daughter to be. There were also several video clips that showed how happy, fun, and talented. We also learned that she has quite the temper (as if we didn't expect that!) It was amazing and we are still in aw about the whole thing. Getting all the information a few days ago and then getting more photos than we may have been able to take in her lifetime is a blessing that we could have never imagined. In the world of adoption you learnt ath you sort of take what you can get as far as pictures and info on the life of your child before you. My heart aches for her and her foster family even more so now then ever. We can see with our eyes already the love and compasion they have for Ti. In all of their hearts she is their daughter, they are her parents. We will not be able to deny that pain when they are seperated. We will be forever thankful of the life they ahve given her since she was 2 years old. They helped her over come many obsticals and helped her thrive. They have nurtured her and loved her as their child. Foster takes a unique set of people, very special people. I know we all live for the picstures so enjoy. I havent even been able to get through all of them, I mean when you stare at each and every picture and there are 1500 of them plus video...I think it will take a couple days :)

2007-06-01T12:26:00.001-07:00

Amazing news the last few days. We received a detailed report on the meeting between our in country coordinator, Ti and her foster mom. Many questions were answered about her, her personality, and her life. She drew us a picture of herself. It was sooooo cute. She looked through our family album over and over. We received 4 pictures. Unfortunetly they are pretty blury and inbedded in the report but we hope to get them seperatly soon so we can add them to the blog as they are the most recent. Her hair is beautiful and down to her lower back! She is about 45lbs they report which is age appropriate for US standards for 5-6 years old. We learned so many new things about her and her life now and before. Many things are personal so I won't share them publicly at this time. We received more WONDERFUL NEWS today!!! The contracts arrived at FFC. Along with them was a small photo album with captions! How amazing is that. And as if that wasn't enough...also 2 or 3 discs will be included as well with pictures from her life from 2 years old until now. Can you read our excitement? They should be here tomorrow or Monday. We will then head to TECO Miami for and overnight trip and pick them up Wed and fedex them from around the corner back to FFC. FFC will send those contracts and power of attorneys along with our translated dossier to Chung Yi. Chung Yi attest they will get reveiw and then get our documents into the Taipei courts. Who knows how long of time span for Chung Yi to ge thtem into court exactly or for the courts to take. Some families have been blessed with a judge that is skipping hearings or skipping fist rullings and giving a finale pretty quickly. We can expect about 3 months on average but it can be anywhere from 1-6 months in the actual courts. Witht he blessing of all involved and the circumstnaces of her birthfamily we dotn expect to have delays in court but you never know and we are prepared for jsut about anything. We can pretty much expect to have her home by Christmas no doubt and tha tis a good feeling. I will post pics as soon as we can.

2007-05-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

Contracts are on their way! I am so excited. We just got an email from Laura saying that she just heard from Sally with the amazing news. The contracts have been resigned by the birthmother and have already been Fed-exed to FFC. She hopes to receive them tomorrow so we should have them by the end of the week. Also when Sally was their meeting with Chung Yi while another family member picked up their son, the social worker asked Sally to be back at 3:00 to meet with Ti and her foster mother. She ran quickly to Taipei 101 and got a gift for them from us! How wonderful is she??? So as I packed up her box tonight and took photos she has already received a gift from us! We are very excited since know one expected the contracts to come until the first week of June. We are also so elated about Sally meeting with Ti and her foster mom for the first time and we hope to get news of the meeting very soon. I cant belive it, I may be heading to Coral Gables next week then into the courts we will go!!!

These are pics of our packages that went out to Ti, her foster family, and Chung Yi. It was so much fun being able to send something. Just hope she likes it. She loves crafts and art!

2007-05-25T20:37:00.000-07:00

So I messed around with this photo for a while until I could actually get it saved as a pic from her about me book scan! Finally it worked. If I could only see what the date is on it I would be happy :) No matter how much I zoom, brighten, and try to make it clear I can't read the date! Oh well. And no I didn't crop it like this it was like that already. Hopefully we will get a new pic in the coming weeks. Tonight we picked up a couple things for her birthday box that we pray will get to her in time for her birthday just a few days from now. Even if it is a couple days late at least it was close and we are still very excited we are aloud to send one. It was so cool picking out girl stuff and watching Landon grab things in the store and say "sissy like this one". We are still so excited and hope everything goes smooth from here on out. Thanks to everyone for their support and comments. We feel very blessed to know that people think of us and care what happens in our lives and with our family.

2007-05-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

Just a little background on the city our daughter resides in at this time. She is in Keelung.

Situated in the northern part of Taiwan island, Keelung used to be called Jilong, which means hencoop. The name was later changed to Keelung which means "rich and prosperous land".
　　The city occupies 132.7589 square kilometers of land, 95% of which are hills. The city is separated from the neighboring counties and cities by the mountains in the east,west andsouth.
　　The northern part of the city faces the ocean and is a great deepwater harbor since early times.
　　As the city is surrounded by mountains, communications between Keelung and other places were not very convenient in the past when transportation was not well-developed. Gradually, the isolation gave Keelung a chance to develop its own marine culture.

　　After hundreds of years of battles and struggles, the city now becomes an international harbor city visited by numerous ships. Every year, Keelung holds the Mid-July Festival, which often attracts thousands of visitors. When you visit Keelung, don't miss the fine and exquisite cuisine near the temple and be sure to plan a trip to visit the emplacements, the tunnels, the beak head, the bay, the fishery harbor and the fishing market in Keelung.

2007-05-22T22:46:00.000-07:00

Tonight was finally the night we have been waiting for. As I was adding photos to a folder for Ti of our family, I got an email from Laura to check my voicemail. The one day that the phone hasn't been in my hand awaiting this call and she called. SO I am running frantically trying to find my phone and realize it is in the car. Getting through my messages... I hear her say the wonderful news that we have been approved by all party's involved including orohanage, government SW, directors, birthfamily, everyone for the adoption of Yen, Ti! Can you believe it???? So we may get that package to her in time for her birthday after all. More details to come after I talk with Laura tomorrow :) :) :) Thinking Pink Pink Pink!

2007-05-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

So 11 more days and still nothing new. No approval, no denial, nothing. The wait continues to be hard. Less than 14 days till her 6th birthday. We wont be aloud to send her a package. We won't be there to celebrate with her. As much as I love the fact that we can adopt to add to our family, the adoption process really sucks sometimes!

2007-05-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

Is any news good news???? Well accept when it is not much news! I am happy to report that we heard from our coordinator and she said that they had hoped to hear of our approval 2 weeks ago. She said that all Chung Yi reports is that they are waiting on the Government Social worker. OH!!! the sw? That means that Chung Yi approved us, right??? I think that means they approved us since they said that Chung yi wouldn't forward our file to the government unless they approved us. So there you have it. I found the good news in the bushes :) WE THINK atleast. She said that our incountry coordinator, Sally, would be contacting them again and she would let us know what she hears even if it is over the weekend. I don't expect to hear anything over the weekend but hopefully this means very very soon! Keep us in your prayers while the sw makes this ever life changing decision please.

2007-05-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

Well I spoke with Wendy today....She had nothing to report other than Laura and FFC staff have had conference meetings the last 2 days and of course that Laura just got back from Haiti and that she was still updating families on their case's. She did say that families will now get monthly case status updates even if it is to let you know that they have no news to report. She was forwarding our emails to Laura and was going to remind her that we have not heard from her and have several questions. We are hopeful we will hear from her in the next few business days but I would love to hear from her tomorrow. :) We are very anxious to know if we will indeed be Ti's parents or not. Several referalls are expected soon and without our approval or denial we will of course be skipped while we await the decision. As I have said before if we are approved we will be taken off the waiting list and if we are denied then we will recieve a new referall. It is hard to think that we may not be approved for her and still be skipped from this batch of referrals coming. The not knowing is killing us. We still feel like she is our daughter and as time goes by we fall more in love with the idea of this little girl being part of our family. She turns 6 years old next month. Another birthday with out her forever family, not that she isnt loved and cared for where she is. Not that her birthday won't be celebrated, it will. But ultimetly her foster family though they love her and care for her, are not the parents or the family that she will spend her life with. It does sadden me that if she is our daughter we have missed another milestone in her life. Hopefully we will here good news soon and the process can start moving forward. All we can do is pray and know that God is at work and taht we continue to have patience during this time of waiting and wondering.

2007-04-29T22:38:00.000-07:00

Well I had to report that there is still "nothing" to report. Wendy said on Friday that Laura should be returning from Haiti soon and that I should hear from her regarding a few questions we have shortly after. I assume that with it being the end of the month, meaning family updates, and no official update site yet, Laura will remain a little busy this week. I am still hopeful that we will hear news and answers to some quesions shortly though. The wait is hard even at thsi stage and considering last time it tok oer 9 weeks for approval I should be a pro at waiting but nope, no, not really. Let me see if I can't find those waiting patience somewhere. Uh, nope don't have any :) Let us pray this week will be the week so we can begin waiting on something other than approval or not!

2007-04-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

Still waiting unfortunetly! We are hoping and praying that we hear something soon. Right now our good friends, Matt and Molly, are on their way to pick up their sweet son Malone from St Lucy's center. We are so excited for them and can't wait to see them when they return. Congratulations you guys. In one week you will be holding Malone!!!!

2007-04-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

Chung Yi has our homestudy?!!! Yes Chung Yi has our homestudy! Laura let me know today that Chung Yi does indeed have our homestudy but they may or may not have our refferences. Laura says that last she spoke to Sally she was in the midst of translating them. But, I thought they already had those? No they didn't. So I dont know if they will make their decision without that or not. I have no idea when we will hear if we are approved and the wait has begun to get to me now. Some other families have been waiting a really long time to hear of their approval from Chung Yi but I was told to expect about 2 weeks for Chung Yi then 2 weeks for the government social worker. Here we are weeks later and wondering when that first 2 weeks starts! ARGG! On a lighter note Laura did say that FFC received our I-171H on Friday from the government! We have been on the waiting list for 2 1/2 months now. You are put on the list once FFC receives your approved rough draft homestudy. If we are approved for Ti, we will be removed from the list. We do not know how many other families are ahead of us on the list but my guess is atleast 4 -6 families are ahead of us. With the growing number of families joining the Taiwan program it was important that we were able to be on the list in case we are not the family chosen for Ti. We believe we are and that things will move in our favor but we still want to be prepaired in our hearts in case she is not. We also want to be able to move forward with the process of another child should she not be ours. Thougt it would be dificult we do understand that they choose what they feel is best for the child. We are on pins and needles waiting to here if Chung yi approves us, then we will be awaiting the decision of the social worker after that.

2007-04-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

Well I called and emailed our INS office worried and wondering what was going on with our I-600a approval since we hadn't seen it and hoped to have some sort of info. I received an email from the homeland security adoption unit that we were approved on March 23 and that our approval was forwarded to Taipei Taiwan! We were very excited. So another check check check!

2007-03-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

2 post in 1 day, Sorry about that. I talked with Wendy again today and she explained that Chung Yi has been sent the translations of our letter of intent for Ti, photo pages and family letter of introduction, and our refferences. She said that Sally had been working on our homestudy translation and hoped to have it sent to Chung Yi before she headed back to Taiwan this past Wed. but she didn't have confirmation that had happened. She said if not she would be bringing it to them. She also said that there is a meeting being set up for Sally to meet with Ti and her foster family so that she can get a better understanding of her personality, her and her foster parents! We are very excited about this and can not wait to get any information she gets of course. James T, with FFC, will be leaving on Monday (I think she said) and heading for the SLC opening celebration and will be joined by Laura on March 30th. Laura will be there for the weekend and then they should return to Utah.

So I guess our wait cannot begin until Chung Yi receives our homestudy and we don't know when or if this has happened :( Wendy did say that she would contact us as soon as she hears that Chung Yi has it. They stay so busy I told her that I dont meant ot bother but I will call as I get impatient like every other adoptive family I know. Of course she is so sweet and was understanding. So,yup, still waiting. LOL and this is just the very begining of it too :P

2007-03-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

Well, still no real news as of today. I did speek with Wendy yesterday and she was able to let me know that our packet with our oroginal homestudies and hard copies of referrences did make it to Laura safe and sound over the weekend. She wasn't able to tell me if they got our documents out to Chung Yi Friday or not. I wonder if we will even know, if they went, before we hear Chung Yi's decision? We were told to expect about 1-2 weeks for Chung Yi's decision and then 1-2 weeks from the government social worker. Unfortunetly, our documents always hit during the really busy times, but I guess that is just part of it. FFC families received more travel calls this week and I am so excited about that. Another family will travel at the same time as Matt and Molly to pick up there little girl Chloe. Another family will be there for the opening celbration which is coming up soon. Sally should be on her way back to Taiwan now so hopefully things will be moving along. So here we wait. Patiently and impatiently, still waiting none the same.We thank everyone for the thoughts and prayers they send during our time and we cant wait to let everyone know when we hear something, anything :)

2007-03-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

Spoke with Laura yesterday about some things and she says that we should get a call on Friday evening letting us know if our documents went to Chung Yi or not. Since so many things are going on and Sally got into Utah last night, they will be going over a few more things. Sally will also be translating our refferences during her stay if at all possible which they are in hope so that they can go along with the other translations. If not then they can be emailed to Chung Yi and then a hard copy mailed to them. So no big news yet. FFC is hosting its yearly CNY celebration this weekend so they are very busy. Then Laura will be heading back to Taiwan for the St Lucy's Center Grand opening of their new building. Many other families will be able to attend and we wish we could be there too. I can't wait to see all the pictures. Maybe Laura will get to visit a certain special little girl while she is there! That would be really nice :)

2007-03-07T19:25:00.000-08:00

Well... I felt gulty posting any news about our adoption the past couple days but I have moved on. I guess there were several families that felt they would be a better match for Ti than we would. Our agency really took the heat for it as well. Unfortunetly, these other families do not know us or our background and are speaking out of pain. I can understand as we found Landon from a photo listing and I know the connection you get. It has happened 2 times to us. This little girls info stated that only homestudy approved and paperready families could apply. At the time she was listed our agency DID NOT have any of those families. They can not hold a child to wait and see if a families homestudy will be approved nor can they hold them while it is being approved through our agency and the organizations they work with. We were the family that was already approved again by FFC, was completely paper ready, including a homestudy over 5 weeks old and a dossier that had been with the agency even longer, and the first family to request her file and ask we be considered to be her parents. Since we have first hand experience parenting the older child and parenting an older girl, not to mention the experience that came along with adopting our son Landon whom was also older (not her age) and sn's, they were excited we were interested. That does not mean that they just approve the first family that applies. It is a process and there are many things that the agency, orphanage and SW will take into consideration. We believe that this is our daughter or we would not have applied. We will be heart broken if she is not. We will still be happy for the family that is approved for her if it is not us. We understand that the most important thing is the children and that the organizations have the "children's best" at heart regardless of what we feel or think is best. We do our best to remember that but we are human and we are parents in a very hard and emotional process. Having said that...

On Thrusday I spoke to Laura, our coordinator, in length about our process and Ti. Everything looks great so far. They received our updated homestudy and have gave the finale and recieved it back. We received word form Laura last night that everythig was sent to translation and should be given to Chung Yi next week! We are very excited. She was also letting them know of all the children from there, especially girls, we have close to us and have been in contact with. She was able to share photos of the kids and Landon together, with Chung yi as well, which is exciting too. If we are approved then they hope that Ti will be able to have meetings with another little girl that is residing at Chun Yi, that will be living with a family not far from us, so that they will have a connection and contact. That would be really good for both of them for many reasons. So as of yesterday our documents were in translation in Taiwan and will be going to Chung Yi for approval next week. We hope to hear something in 2-4 weeks. Since our dossier is done, if we are approved, we will only need to await for contracts, get them notarized and then authenticated by TECO. Our state does not require us to go to the secretary of State office before TECO and then the contracts would be sent back to FFC fed-ex from down the street from TECO just like last time! Then of course they would be sent back to Taiwan so that they can be reveiwed and enter the courts. The courts can take 1-6 months. Last time for Landon's adoption, we were in the courts for 2 months. All of this can only happen if we are approved by all the organizations, so we wait, pray and hope until we hear the words "approved or denied". So another wait begins...

2007-02-27T19:55:00.002-08:00

Yesterday we called our agency FFC with our decision to move forward with the adoption of Yen, Ti an almost 6 year old little girl. This decision was a difficult one and we were happy to get to the point of peace. Our file will have to be reveiwed by the FFC older child adoption screening committee and then if approved our file will be translated, sent to Chung Yi for approval and then on to the government social worker for approval.This process should take about 4 weeks depending on how long they take to finalize our homestudy, translations take, and how fast Chung Yi approves it and sends it to the government social worker. Long process but we hope it is doen quickly.From what we have researched with other families in the same situation, it seams taht Chung Yi and the Taiwan government are trying to work quickly to get these chidlren out of the system and into permanent homes right now. So we are hoping and praying that this stands to be true over the next few months. Our hoemstudy was sent back to our agency for a 2nd reveiw before finalizing and printing today. We were asked to also write a letter specific to the adoption of Yen,Ti. In this they hoped we could explain why we wanted to adopt her, who we are and what our family and lives are like. At this point we are very excited at the though of her being our daughter but we won't know if we are approved for about a month we guess. We have 3 photos, all her medical, and her "about Me" book! During this wait we will also be put on the SLC waiting list so that in case for what ever reason, we are not approved to be her family, we will not have lost all this time with many more families in front of us. Otherwise the decision would have been even tougher than it was.

2007-02-27T19:55:00.001-08:00

Monday February 19, 2007
Adoption never follows the plan...
On Friday Feb. 16th we were made aware of a little girl needing a family that is listed with our agency. We periodicaly view their waiting child list as that is where we were so lucky to have found our son. Our original plan was to adopt 9-24 months either gender from SLC as our #1 choice. But a few weeks ago I was "told" be open to Foster care and Chung Yi too. It kind of hit me like a ton of bricks and I told my mom and husband this but I had NO INTENTIONS on following through with it. I love SLC. I love that we understand the program fully, that the orphanage already knows us, that they would approve us, that we would get a child close to Landons age. All these things that we planned. They have all been scrambled up with the idea of this wonderful little girl waiting. She is at Chung Yi and is 5 years old. She would more than likely be 6 when we brough her home. And as much as we try to deny this isnt our plan our child, we are doing everything we can to find out about her,feeling like sh eis our child, reading her medical and viewing her photos. We get so excited thinking or talking about her. But we know we have to think about this fully and pray that the answer will be given to us. That we can bear the fact of never having had an infant to care for. That we can understand this is what was intended for our family or not. As we do a little sour searching and researching we hope that you can all send prayers and good wishes our way that we make the right decision for this little girl and our family. We have already reviewed her file and are awaiting her "about me" book and for our in country coordiantor to visit her. We hope to get video as well. She is indeed with the best foster family through Chung Yi. She is said to love to ride her bike, travel, has many friends and is happy.

2007-02-27T19:33:00.000-08:00

TIMELINE
For those interested this is our timeline so far:
November 28, 2006 DH gives the go ahead to start #2!
December 2006 Discuss with Laura at FFC, adoption #2.
December 18, 2006 Completed FFC application and Letter of Intent.
December 20, 2006 Completed local criminal clearences for both of us.
January 4, 2007 Sent FFC: Application and Letter of Intent
January 4, 2007 Collect, complete, and notarize all dossier and homestudy documents aside of Physicals (employment verification, financial statement, passport forms, birth certificates and marriage license.)
January 5, 2007 Priority mailed all dossier completed in 3 packets (2 original and 5 copies) forms to FFC and homestudy forms and 1 refference to Adoption Support Services.
Januray 6, 2007 Priority mailed to FFC Digital Family Photo CD
January 8, 2007 Completed I-600A application aside of Homestudy
January 10, 2007 Priority mailed I-600A, birth certificates and marraige license to Tampa, FL INS office.
January 12, 2006 Priority mailed 2 more referrences to HS social worker.
January 11, 2007 completed both our physicals, notarized.
January 12, 2007 received reciept from INS that application and fees were received.
January 16, 2007 Priority mailed FFC and Adoption Support Services: physicals for both of us. Sent HSW 2 more referrences.
January 23, 2007 Received homestudy rough draft for reveiw and corrections.
January 25, 2007 SW sent homestudy rough draft to FFC for reveiw.
January 26, 2007 Homestudy was forwarded to Laura, our coordinator, and then on to FFC homestudy social worker (Shelley) for reveiw and corrections.
January 26, 2007 Oficially waiting family with FFC, on the waiting list!!!!
January 31, 2007 FFC program coordinator, Laura T., arriving home from Taiwan.
February 16, 2007 Found little girl we are interested in on FFC waiting list photolisting and Greg called to aks for her file. Laura called back and spoke with him in length about Yen, Ti. We received her file via email.
February 19, 2007 Received Yen, Ti's "About Me" book via email.
February 23, 2007 Nicole spoke with Laura in Length about Yen, Ti and her situation. We are to make our decision by Monday February 26.
February 26, 2007 Spoke with Laura again and gave the go ahead to move forward with Yen,Ti. We will be put on the SLC waiting list while we are awaiting approval from Chung Yi for Yen, Ti so that we do not lose time in the even we are not approved for her adoption. Also discussed our homestudy and changes to be made.
February 26, 2007 Laura called Lori our HS SW and advised of our homestudy changes.
February 26, 2007 I emailed a letter specific to Yen, Ti's adoption requested by FFC.
February 27, 2007 Lori, our HSSW, emailed new homestudy to FFC for 2nd reveiw before finalizing and printing.
March 1, 2007 Spoke with Laura about our homestudy, info and Ti. Told everything looks great. Homestudy in reveiw. Sent Chung Yi photos of Landon and the girls at CNY.
March 7,2007 Spoke with Laura. Homestudy is finalized after update and sent to translations along with letter of intro and intent. Told all will be sent to Chung Yi next week!
March 8, 2007 Asked to fax our referrences to FFC to help reiterate our parenting experience and support for Chung Yi and Gvnt. SW
March 9, 2007 Faxed 5 refference letters to FFC for our file to be translated and sent to Chung Yi for approval.
March 14, 2007 Spoke with Laura about process so far. Documents have been translated aside of refferences which will be translated by Sally which hope to be in the next couple days during her stay in the states.
March 15, 2007 Express mailed 2 original homestudies, 5 copies of homestudy, and 5 refferences to FFC in Utah. Priority mailed Original homestudy to USCIS as well as supporting documents to complete what is needed for I-600a, advanced orphan petition.
March 21, 2007 Wendy called form FFC, told that original homestudies/refferences arrived over weekend. She does not know if translations went out Friday to Chung Yi or not.
March 22, 2007 Spoke with Wendy again- translations of photo pages & family intro, letter of intent, and refferences have been sent. Sally was translating homestudy and hoped to have it to Chung Yi before she headed back to Taiwan on Wed.
March 23, 2007 Priority mail Landon's COC and supporting documents to INS so that he can get a US passport and travel with us to Taiwan.
April 6, 2007 Department of Homeland Security adoption unit emailed; I-600a approved on March 23 and forwarded to Taipei Taiwan.
April 6, 2007 FFC received our I-171H approval from the government/department of homeland security.
April 9, 2007 Was told by Laura that Chung Yi has our homestudy translation and other documents and that last she spoke with Sally, she was translating our refferences and they may or may not be at Chung Yi already. Also told that families are on the waiting list as soon as rough draft homestudy is submitted. We have been on the list for 2 1/2 months. If we are approved for Yen, Ti we will be removed from the list.
April 27, 2006 Wendy said that Laura should return from Haiti soon and we should hear from her shortly after in regards to questions we have.
May 3, 2007 Spoke again to Wendy and told to expect "monthly family case update" very soon from Laura as well as answers to several questions.
May 10, 2007 Spoke with James T and he said that updates are behind still due to several new referrals and the Haiti trip and we should hear from Laura next week :(
May 22, 2007 Recived news of approval! Chung Yi, government sw, director, foster family, and birth mom approved!
May 28, 2007 Received word from Laura:Contracts are on their way to FFC from Chung Yi.
May 28, 2007 Recieved detailed report of meeting between Sally, Ti and foster mom along with 4 pictures from the meeting and a picture Ti drew for us.
June 1, 2007 Received call from Laura that contracts arrived at FFC along with photo album and 2 or 3 disc full of pictures of Ti and her life!
June 1, 2007 FFC contract and offical referral acceptance sent via email from FFC to us.
June 1, 2007 Contracts,power of attorney and FFC contracts mailed from FFC to us.
June 2, 2007 Received our contracts, along with 3 disc (1500 pictures plus video) of Ti.
June 5, 2007 Headed to TECO Coral Gables, dropped off documents for authentication.
June 6, 2007 Picked up documents rom TECO sent them via Fed-Ex to FFC next day express along with Family photo album and required documents.
June 7, 2007 FFC received both packages and are awaiting one offical FFC homestudy approval from translations.
June 11, 2007 Estimated date Chung Yi recievd documents/dossier.
June 21, 2007 Spoke with Laura and she confirmed docments had been sent to Taiwan and already recieved by Chung Yi.
July 7, 2007 June updates are in but we did not get one. Spoke with Laura and she believes the gov. sw may be the hold up. Assuming we are not yet in the courts since they did not give a court filing date nor a hearing date.
July 7, 2007 Sent Ti a package including our first letters, one to her and one to foster mother, clothes, hygiene, art supplies, ect. $72 USPS Priority mail.
July 9, 2007 Donations sent to Chung Yi, Large box full of girls and boys clothes, gygiene, gifts for staff and volunteers. $113.00 USPS Priority mail (UPS would have been $247, USPS can no longer go boat/slower parcel.)
July 12, 2007 Back and forth with Laura for the past week about updates. Sally to be speaking and meeting with Director Debbie from Chung Yi.
August 3, 2007 We recieved an email from Laura/FFC letting us know we entered the courts in June, were assigned a judge in July and have a hearing set for Sept. 3rd. They (Chung Yi) expect us to travel at the end of Sept or begining of October. We are to recieve our questions answers by the end of August from foster family.
September 3rd, 2007 Hearing in Taiwan!!!
September 11, 2007 Told our hearing wasnt until September 10th. Received 9 page letter from foster mother regarding Ti.
September 14th, 2007 First Ruling! Found out we had our first ruling while at Matt and Molly's lucky cabin in GA mountains :)
September 24th, 2007 Told that Chung Yi had not received info of our first ruling. Invoice to be coming very soon from FFC.
September 24th, 2007 Made our registry at Target.com for Ti.
September 24th, 2007 10 day waiting period is over and anticipated finale ruling.
September 26th, 2007 Received our travel call! We pick up Ti from Chung Yi on November 5th, AIT appointment on November 6th, Visa pickup November 7th.
September 29th Purchased plane tickets, Leave October 30th and depart Taiwan November 9th.

2007-02-27T19:29:00.000-08:00

We recently made the decision to begin the adoption process again for our second child. We are excited to say that we will be using the same agency as for our adoption of Landon, Families For Children. They are a 501(c) non profit, licensed child placing agency out of Utah. We also chose to use Adoption Support Services of Florida, Inc. for our Homestudy agency. Our process is well underway. We have turned in our application, letter of introduction, photo pages, and dossier to FFC. We have also turned in all documents for our homestudy and and our rough draft was recently sent to FFC for review. Once FFC reviews it and sends it back with the changes, then our SW will make those changes and send it back to FFC for approval. Once approved, we will officially be on the waiting list! Taiwan has gained much interest in the last 2 years and most agencies working with Cathwell have a 12-16 month wait for referral. We requested our first choice orphanage to be SLC. That is where Landon is from and they have a strong place in our heart. We requested a child of either gender 9-24 months but may consider a child younger, twins, or young siblings as that is what we were approved for by our homestudy agency and we have learned to be flexable in adoption. Since FFC has many ties in Taiwan and they also work with Chung Yi orphanage, we can not close the door to the idea that our child "may" come from some place other than SLC should the wait get to be too long. At this time FFC is quoting 6-9 months for a girl and 0-6 months for a boy however our coordinator did explain to me in email the other day that their waiting list remains short though many families are in the homestudy stage right now. I am so glad we worked quickly to move forward when we did. So I am planning on our referral taking anywhere from 0-9 months. We are very excited and Landon is more than ready to have a play mate around the house. Not sure if he is ready to share mommy and daddy 24-7 but he says tells us when we talk about baby brother or sister "share mommy, share DaDa!" He will get used to it as all children do in time he/she is home for a little while we think. Landon's Gotcha day is quickly approaching and somedays it feels like yesterday when we picked him up and others it feels like he has always been here. We are so excited to be on the journey once again and glad we have our son to keep us busy during the wait!