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.

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!!!

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.

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.

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 :)

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!!!!

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.

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!

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

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 :)

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 :)