Myah Is Offically Our Daughter!

Myah is 100%, completely, totally, legally our daughter! Our case worker called this morning and I knew as soon as I saw her name come up on the caller ID that this was 'the call'! The judge in Taiwan issued the Final Ruling yesterday and now she is officially our baby. We can go get her as early as June 10, but are pushing this back by a few days so we can get Caleb to PA to stay with his Grandparents and have a moment to catch our breath before we leave. Right now it looks like we will leave here late on June 11 and arrive in Taipei early on the 13th. We will meet Myah on Monday morning (June 16) and then have appointments with the embassy on Tuesday and Wednesday for her Visa. If everything goes according to plan, we should be back in the US by June 21. We are awaiting final travel approval from the embassy and should be able to book our tickets tomorrow. (Pray for a really, really big sale on airline tickets for us) :-)
As you can probably tell, we are over the moon right now. God is so good and His timing is always perfect. Our adoption journey has been a testament to that from the start. Just when I start to worry and freak out over the details, He reminds me that He is in control and He knows so much more than I ever could about the situation.
We will post more when we know the details. Hopefully we will be able to use this blog as an online 'journal' to record our daily events in Taiwan.

Our Life is a Soap Opera

Setting: Tuesday Morning Bible Study

Friend: Hey Melissa, I can watch Caleb tonight if you and Rob would like to go out.
Melissa: That would be great. I'd like to surprise Rob with a movie.

Rob and Melissa drop Caleb off at friend's house then proceed to watch 'Prince Caspian' using a gift certificate.
Motivation: Free babysitting, free movie - what could be better.

Setting: Tuesday night at home after picking Caleb up

Rob: Where are my keys and cellphone?
Melissa: I don't know. Where did you last have them?
Rob: I left them in the SUV when we went to the movies.
Melissa: You probably left them at the sitter's when we picked up Caleb. I'll call in the morning.
Rob: My wallet and license were with my phone. If it was stolen someone could steal the other car and break into the house.
Melissa: It wasn't stolen. Go to sleep.
Rob barricades the front door and goes to sleep.

Setting: Next morning - Melissa calls the babysitter - Rob calls the Credit Card company

Melissa: Nothing left at the sitter's house
Rob: There are charges on our card that we didn't make
Melissa: Maybe someone stole your stuff

Hilarity ensues as Rob and Melissa cancel credit cards, contact the Police, call the insurance company, change the house locks and have the other car re-keyed. The keys, wallet and cellphone are never recovered, but Rob and Melissa listen to numerous plans from Caleb about how to catch the 'bad guys' and what to do to them.

Camping

This past weekend, in anticipation of it being our last vacation as a family of three, we went camping to Sedona and the Grand Canyon. We had a blast even though we stayed in a tent in a campground without electricity, showers or real toilets. We had a fire every night, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, woke up to birds chirping and then Rob made pancakes for breakfast - what a man! The Grand Canyon was incredible and so surreal - you felt like you were looking at a giant painting. We hiked the south rim and Bright Angel trail - according to Rob's pedometer we walked about 12 miles that day - Caleb included! The daily temp was in the mid-nineties and the nights got down to the mid-forties. Thank goodness for warm sleeping bags. We weren't chased by any angry bears, but we were harassed by an overly friendly squirrel we named Psycho. Psycho was the inspiration for Caleb's souvenir from the Grand Canyon - a stuffed squirrel. Caleb, being the great name-giver that he is, bestowed the name 'Squirrely-Pearly' upon his stuffed animal. 'SP' has now taken up residence with Mr. Moose, Snowball, Star, Green Bean, FuzzBall and several other stuffed animals in Caleb's room.

Congratulations Graduate

This is slightly belated, but congratulations to Caleb for graduating Kindergarten! Before we even got home that night, he was talking about how important First Graders are. I think I may have forgotten to mention that First Graders are big enough to help change diapers.

Newsflash: Arizona Birds Are Suicidal

Would you believe it happened again today? I left the dog out back and noticed ripples in the pool. Surely no two baby birds are that stupid... but there it was, another baby finch flopping around in the pool. I was very concerned about this one as there was much less flopping and much more gasping for air than last time. I got the net, scooped the bird out, then went inside and got the hair dryer - again. I didn't hold out much hope for this little guy, but he made it. We let him go after Caleb got home from school today. This one's name is Puddin'-pie.

I don't name the birds - I just save them.

Meet Fluffy

We had a bit of excitement over the weekend. Seems a baby bird fell into our pool and then couldn't get back out. Thankfully, I was walking by the back door when I noticed something splashing around in the pool. After making sure it was a bird (you can never be too sure about strange critters in AZ) I got out the net and scooped it up. The thing was so little and pitiful I decided to put it in a cage with an old sock so it could hopefully recover. A hour later the poor thing was still all wet and shaking so I did something I've never done before. I used my hair dryer... on a bird. That seemed to warm him up a bit so we gave him some water and food and then left him alone. Needless to say, in less time than it took to dry him off, Caleb became attached and insisted we needed another pet. We considered it for all of five minutes before saying 'no'. By the next day after church it was obvious the bird was ready to go back into the world (just not near our pool). Caleb was tearful but perked up when we let him hold the bird (now named Fluffy) and release it. Thankfully Fluffy is a common finch so I think we will be seeing lots of him around.

May Updates!

What a wonderful surprise to receive our update today - just in time for Mother's Day! I thought we wouldn't have them until sometime next week. Our little girl is growing and getting bigger all the time. I think she's getting some teeth now too. Check out the video - she practically devours her hand! lol



Coincidentally, we picked up a teether and a baby toothbrush at the store tonight - before we even saw the video. Talk about timing... We are starting to gather the essentials - bottle liners, baby nail clippers, baby medicines, wipes, etc. We will wait for diapers until we get back from Taiwan because we don't know what size she will be in.

We have also received new measurements. She's growing but she's sticking to that 10th percentile curve like glue! As of April 29th, she weighed 15 lbs and was 25 inches long. If she doesn't hurry up, her little cousin Josiah is going to beat her soon! ;-)

Civil Ruling!

We received notice from our case worker this morning that the judge in Taiwan issued our Civil Ruling yesterday! This is huge - and extremely fast! We only have one more step (the Final Ruling) before we can go get our daughter! There is a mandatory waiting period of ten days before the judge can issue the Final Ruling. This is the last chance for anyone to object to the adoption. Once the judge declares the Final, she is legally our daughter and we can go get her! We are not holding our breath for ten days (although it would be nice) but hopefully we should have the Final within the next month.

Thank you all for your prayers and kind words throughout this process. It is amazing to finally see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. We are starting to price out airfare and hotels and trying to figure out what we would like to do while we are in Taiwan. We would like to be in country for about ten days so we will be able to see a bit of the country and absorb some of the culture. Pray that the right airfare and hotel are available when we need them. Also, pray that we find a couple thousand extra dollars laying around the house in the next week or two... or some unknown rich relative decides to visit us. We're not picky - we'd take either one. lol