Our updated I-171H is here

Hooray! We just received notice tonight that our updated I-171H is processed and being sent to Taipei via the NVC (National Visa Center). We will receive our original in the mail in the next few days! I'm so happy - this is the last loose string from our move that we needed to tie up before we could travel. Now all we need is the Judge to get our case expedited! lol Hopefully we will travel before my fingerprints expire in the middle of August.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to my brother and his wife on their first baby.
We're glad you're here Josiah Ray!

April Updates are Finally Here

What a great surprise to see the updates in our inbox this morning! She has really grown between last month and this month - I think her outfit is probably a 3month size and she finally fills it out! lol Where Caleb was wearing 12month outfits at 6months, she's the opposite - 3month outfits at 6months. At least she'll get plenty of use out of her clothes!



Her video (see above) makes us smile. She is so busy checking everything out! We can't wait to get her home and are praying that everything went well with our hearing and that the judge took a look at our stuff and said 'I think these people are ready to have their daughter home. Let's expedite the process for them.' We can dream can't we? lol

Those eyebrows crack us up!

We Have a Court Date!

Hooray! We just received word from our caseworker that we have a court date scheduled in Taiwan! This is the first of three court hearings. After this there will be a Civil Hearing and then there will be a Final Ruling. Once the Final Ruling takes place she will legally be ours! After our first court date, which is scheduled for April 18th, we can expect a 1-2 month wait until our next court date. We pray it will go quicker, but are just thrilled that we have our first court date so soon! Our dossier was sent to Taiwan on March 17th and usually it takes appx. 2 - 2.5 months to get a court date so we feel like we are finally making up some time. We are hoping and praying to travel in June, but it could be anytime this summer.

Our Baby is Six Months Old

Happy half-birthday sweet baby girl. I hope we get to see you soon!

Taiwanese Heritage Festival

This weekend Phoenix had a Taiwanese Heritage Festival. It was small but fun. We met up with some friends who just got back from Taiwan with their new son Leo and had a nice time chatting with them and watching the kids play. The ring toss was a favorite but the Chinese Yo-Yo was very interesting too. Both Caleb and Leo got to give it a try and Caleb has decided this is a souvenir he would like when we go to Taiwan. I will consider it only if it is played with outside - it's pretty much a spinning cylinder that you can toss up in the air and hopefully catch. Again, this will be an outside-only activity.

Getting a lesson from a lady about how to spin the Chinese Yo-Yo.

Getting the hang of it by himself.

His new buddy Leo - we could never get both of them to look
at the camera at the same time.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone. In case you couldn't guess the Easter headband and the necklace were Caleb's idea. I love six year olds!


This is Myah's Easter dress (we sent it over to her in the last box of goodies). However, based on her recent measurements, it will probably fit her next year. lol My favorite part has to be the ruffles on the bloomers - too cute!

Measurements & Dossier

This has been a great week so far. Caleb and I just got back from PA for my sister-in-law's baby shower. It was a great trip but a bit of a whirlwind. While we were there, we received updated measurements for our little girl. I am quite literal when I say 'little'. She is healthy and developmentally right on track for a 5 month old - she's just small - about the size of your average 3 month old. This is fine by me because I can love on a 'little' baby for longer and I don't have to worry about her outgrowing the clothes hanging in her closet! At 4 1/2 months she was 12.5lbs and 23.2 inches long. Considering she was only 5.2 lbs and 18.9 inches at birth, I'd say she is definitely growing just fine.
We also received word that our dossier has arrived in Taiwan and will be submitted to the courts sometime this week. Now we are at the mercy of the Taiwanese court system. Hopefully we are assigned to a fast judge and will have quick rulings. That would more than make up for all the delays we have faced in the past few months!

Another Care Package

Well, it's time to send another care package to Taiwan. This time I actually remembered to take a picture of everything I crammed into the box instead of boring you with a list.


On a side note, the box of chocolate truffles (for foster family) and the bag of chocolate wreaths (for TWCA workers) has since been replaced. I came downstairs to write out the address label and when I went back upstairs to get the box, I noticed that our dog ate all the candy! Stupid dog - doesn't he know that chocolate is bad for dogs? At least it wasn't dark chocolate which is the kind that is really bad for dogs. He's outside for the rest of the day so in case he gets sick he can take care of that in the grass instead of on the carpet.

March Updates Are Here!

Yeah! Updates for the month of March are here! Guess what? Our baby knows how to smile! Rob was beginning to call her 'Grumpette' because we haven't seen her smile yet. Now he can't do that anymore! She is growing and getting cuter by the month. I love the video - she seems very much aware of what's going on around her. Plus her cute little laugh is precious! We are soooo close to having our dossier sent to Taiwan. Hopefully all the bugs get worked out this week and next week it will be on it's way. We will keep you updated.