Man, that's a long flight! 13 hrs. 20 mins. to be exact, but just glad to be at our hotel. It's almost midnight here, we are 13 hours ahead of EST, if you're curious.
Tomorrow we don't have a lot planned, other than doing some investigating around our neighborhood and watching Lily eat everything in sight. She already wanted to go to the night market, but I told her we could wait until tomorrow, we're all tired.
We may be meeting Callie on the 23rd in the morning, instead of the 25th. We should hear by tomorrow. We won't be able to take her, yet, but getting to meet her early would be awesome! I can't wait to see her again, and Rick and Lily are excited to meet her for the first time.
Thanks for all the prayers to get us here :)
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Yes, we got out of Grand Rapids!
Well, what an interesting morning it turned out to be! After passing multiple slide-offs, and accidents, we made it to the airport, with about 10 minutes to spare, to board our plane. Then, once boarded, we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes while we were de-iced. I've never been through a de-icing before, so while it was cool, I knew that our lay-over in Denver was only 50 minutes. OK, so we might be spending the rest of our day in the Denver airport, trying to get to San Francisco. We got into Denver with about 20 mins. and had to book in down the terminal, which was incredibly long! We were all winded and tired after basically almost jogging at least 1/2 mile. I couldn't believe it when we got there, that flight had been delayed... by 40 minutes. Wow, we had time to grab boxed pizzas from Pizza Hut and board the plane. Fabulous! We also had a great view of the Rockies on the way out of Denver. I've never seen the Rockies from the air. What a beautiful site!
San Francisco is nice, but rather cold, a bit rainy and windy. Whatever, we had a great time walking around and taking the cable car down to Union Square and back to Fisherman's wharf where we are staying. We'll be headed out to dinner at Pier 23, shortly. Lily wanted to specifically go to this restaurant for crab, as seen with Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. We make it a habit to visit the restaurants he's featured and have yet to be disappointed! Here's some pictures of the day, which I managed to stay out of ;)
Monday, January 21, 2013
We're Going to Taiwan!
We were notified on Jan. 11th at 4:45 pm that we had our final ruling! I was in the middle of a meeting and couldn't quite wait the entire 15 mins until the day was done to let Rick know, so at 4:55 I stood up and walked out of the board meeting. I decided they would understand!
Rick was obviously ecstatic! The only thing that didn't come with the final ruling, was travel dates. Now, the problem with this being our second adoption is, I know this isn't normal. Usually, they tell you the ruling is in and these are your dates. Not so, this time, so we were told the dates would be coming soon. :)
I waited, as long as I could emotionally stand to wait, and emailed our agency on the Jan. 16th - where are our dates? Our agency contact said that she didn't know why they weren't there, but she thought they might be having email trouble. So, I asked if it was OK for our friends in Taiwan to call Chung Yi (the orphanage doing the paperwork) to let them know that no emails were being received on this end. She said that was fine to have them call, so I emailed Brandon and he called right away. He responded with good news that the email had been resent and our agency would have the email on Thursday.
Thursday came and at noon, we were told our pick up date: Feb. 26th, 2013. Calie's Gotcha Day had been set! Yipee!!!!!! So excited!!!!!
Travel dates are now set for Feb. 19th - March 2nd. We will be spending a day in San Fran. because Lily has always wanted to visit that city. I think I've told her 100 times how much I love SanFran,, and she saw a restaurant on Pier 23 on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives that she wants to eat at. Lily lives for seafood and most food in general, so no surprise she wants to travel across the U.S. and ocean for FOOD!
Now to travel planning, preparing the girls new room and wondering how Calie is doing with the news. Adoption is soooo wonderful, but I always have in the back of mind that our gain is other people's loss. Calie's loss, mostly. Loss of country, cultural, language and identity. We are hopeful that we will be good parents that will help her know her identity is actually in God and not here on earth, but the rest of it, we can only pray she's able to handle the loss. Calie is not Lily. She may or may not react the same, I don't know. But, I do know that God doesn't leave his children high and dry. He will give Rick and I the words and tools we need to help her adjust and to love her the best we can.
So, now we will rejoice and pray that Calie is close to God's heart and he's already whispering reassurance into her ear and into her heart.
Rick was obviously ecstatic! The only thing that didn't come with the final ruling, was travel dates. Now, the problem with this being our second adoption is, I know this isn't normal. Usually, they tell you the ruling is in and these are your dates. Not so, this time, so we were told the dates would be coming soon. :)
I waited, as long as I could emotionally stand to wait, and emailed our agency on the Jan. 16th - where are our dates? Our agency contact said that she didn't know why they weren't there, but she thought they might be having email trouble. So, I asked if it was OK for our friends in Taiwan to call Chung Yi (the orphanage doing the paperwork) to let them know that no emails were being received on this end. She said that was fine to have them call, so I emailed Brandon and he called right away. He responded with good news that the email had been resent and our agency would have the email on Thursday.
Thursday came and at noon, we were told our pick up date: Feb. 26th, 2013. Calie's Gotcha Day had been set! Yipee!!!!!! So excited!!!!!
Travel dates are now set for Feb. 19th - March 2nd. We will be spending a day in San Fran. because Lily has always wanted to visit that city. I think I've told her 100 times how much I love SanFran,, and she saw a restaurant on Pier 23 on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives that she wants to eat at. Lily lives for seafood and most food in general, so no surprise she wants to travel across the U.S. and ocean for FOOD!
Now to travel planning, preparing the girls new room and wondering how Calie is doing with the news. Adoption is soooo wonderful, but I always have in the back of mind that our gain is other people's loss. Calie's loss, mostly. Loss of country, cultural, language and identity. We are hopeful that we will be good parents that will help her know her identity is actually in God and not here on earth, but the rest of it, we can only pray she's able to handle the loss. Calie is not Lily. She may or may not react the same, I don't know. But, I do know that God doesn't leave his children high and dry. He will give Rick and I the words and tools we need to help her adjust and to love her the best we can.
So, now we will rejoice and pray that Calie is close to God's heart and he's already whispering reassurance into her ear and into her heart.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Yay! Just waiting now on Final Ruling
We skyped last night with Calie for the second time. She looked great and was all smiley. :) She loved seeing the dogs and we were able to walk her around the house with the laptop. I think she liked seeing the layout of the rooms and we showed her, her closet that already has clothes waiting for her!
Another big help was Jeanette, our exchange student from last year, came over to help with translation. Calie was able to understand things and she asked questions about school.
We asked if she was feeling better since the hearing, since we knew she got pretty angry with the judge. She actually smiled and said she was fine and even laughed about being angry. It will be interesting to hear from her perspective, once she gets here, what the judge asked her. Whatever it was, wasn't bothering her anymore.
Alice, our Chung Yi social worker said that Calie already wrote her letter to the judge and Alice would send it in this week. So, that means we are just awaiting final ruling from the court. I asked Alice if it would take 2 months and she said, probably this month or next month, which is a 1-2 month estimation. However, I think this could be optimistic, just because I know of other families that recently waited 2-3 months for final ruling and travel dates, which comes with your notification of final ruling. We'll see, but given the many bumps along the road on this adoption, I'm not expecting anything until end of January.
It feels really good to be in the final stretch! So much paperwork, appointments, adoption training classes, my trip to Taiwan to visit, waiting, waiting and waiting! It really is hard emotionally. It's also distracting to your day to day life. One of my good adoption friends, Lori, also waiting on final ruling at this moment, put it very well, "It's like living your life while holding your breathe". I couldn't have said it better myself!
Thanks for all your support to us during this process! Please continue to pray that things move along without anymore hiccups. Also, pray for Lori and family. They are waiting on Sadie, 14 yrs old, also from Northern Region Children's Home. Both of our kiddos need to come home, to their forever homes!
Another big help was Jeanette, our exchange student from last year, came over to help with translation. Calie was able to understand things and she asked questions about school.
We asked if she was feeling better since the hearing, since we knew she got pretty angry with the judge. She actually smiled and said she was fine and even laughed about being angry. It will be interesting to hear from her perspective, once she gets here, what the judge asked her. Whatever it was, wasn't bothering her anymore.
Alice, our Chung Yi social worker said that Calie already wrote her letter to the judge and Alice would send it in this week. So, that means we are just awaiting final ruling from the court. I asked Alice if it would take 2 months and she said, probably this month or next month, which is a 1-2 month estimation. However, I think this could be optimistic, just because I know of other families that recently waited 2-3 months for final ruling and travel dates, which comes with your notification of final ruling. We'll see, but given the many bumps along the road on this adoption, I'm not expecting anything until end of January.
It feels really good to be in the final stretch! So much paperwork, appointments, adoption training classes, my trip to Taiwan to visit, waiting, waiting and waiting! It really is hard emotionally. It's also distracting to your day to day life. One of my good adoption friends, Lori, also waiting on final ruling at this moment, put it very well, "It's like living your life while holding your breathe". I couldn't have said it better myself!
Thanks for all your support to us during this process! Please continue to pray that things move along without anymore hiccups. Also, pray for Lori and family. They are waiting on Sadie, 14 yrs old, also from Northern Region Children's Home. Both of our kiddos need to come home, to their forever homes!
Friday, November 30, 2012
Some Good News!
Well, we got news yesterday that Calie will not have to go back to another hearing. She will just need to write a letter to the judge, saying that she is in agreement with the adoption. The social worker will help her with the letter, "soon", is what they said.
They also gave us more explanation on the problem in court. Calie said she was angry with the judge, because she asked too many questions. I can only guess what these question may have been, based on what other previously adopted children from Taiwan have said they were asked. The Taiwanese tend to treat the children like adults, expecting that they can understand all that is happening to them, and just accept it, like an adult (which I'm not sure even an adult would be real keen on being sent to a new culture, family and language, without some major apprehension). So, when children respond in a childlike way, they seem to be confused by this. The Taiwanese also are trained to be polite and follow whomever is in authority over them, without questions. It's their culture, which sometimes contrasts to what we (Westerns) would consider normal human behavior. Cultural differences are the most difficult aspects of international adoption, both during the adoption and once the child comes home, in my opinion.
We are also excited about our next Skype chat which is TOMORROW!! Yea, I'm so glad they didn't make us wait to talk to each other, when I think we all need the contact. Going a month without talking to her I don't think it good for us or her. We're hopeful that she will be getting over her anger at the court process and that we can help bring her back to the point of this whole thing - forever family!
They also gave us more explanation on the problem in court. Calie said she was angry with the judge, because she asked too many questions. I can only guess what these question may have been, based on what other previously adopted children from Taiwan have said they were asked. The Taiwanese tend to treat the children like adults, expecting that they can understand all that is happening to them, and just accept it, like an adult (which I'm not sure even an adult would be real keen on being sent to a new culture, family and language, without some major apprehension). So, when children respond in a childlike way, they seem to be confused by this. The Taiwanese also are trained to be polite and follow whomever is in authority over them, without questions. It's their culture, which sometimes contrasts to what we (Westerns) would consider normal human behavior. Cultural differences are the most difficult aspects of international adoption, both during the adoption and once the child comes home, in my opinion.
We are also excited about our next Skype chat which is TOMORROW!! Yea, I'm so glad they didn't make us wait to talk to each other, when I think we all need the contact. Going a month without talking to her I don't think it good for us or her. We're hopeful that she will be getting over her anger at the court process and that we can help bring her back to the point of this whole thing - forever family!
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Adoption - Joy and Loss
Well, our hearing was last night in Taiwan. We were fortunate enough to have a friend that lives in Taiwan and happens to be an attorney, attend the hearing and be our eyes and ears. We were hoping for good news, which actually, we got some, but also got "bad" news.
The good news first, the judge, whom we were told was very thorough were supportive of the adoption and OK with it, as was the court social worker. That's a huge relief!
Yun-Qing (Calie) isn't so sure, yet. I guess she still has questions and really what this tells me, is that she is still scared and nervous about being adopted. My visiting her I thought had taken care of any of her concerns, but evidently after I left, she went back to doubting. We also skyped with her just three weeks ago and she seemed very happy and didn't ask any questions, so I'm also wondering if the whole court scene was just too "official" and daunting looking for her.
The judge said that they would allow more time for her to accept the adoption and ask us the questions she still has. Our friend didn't say what the questions were, but I'm sure we'll be getting them on Tuesday, when our social worker at our US agency is back in the office.
My heart aches for her and for us, both. She has been through so much, and while we are so joyful in the adoption, for her it is loss of everything she knows. Loss of country, loss of friends, loss of family. Adoption is a beautiful thing, but also a hurting thing.
We will wait for our girl to be ready. We will wait as long as we need to wait. In God's time, not ours.
Blessings to all of you! Please have a wonderful Thanksgiving and hug all of your family members that are home for the holiday!
The good news first, the judge, whom we were told was very thorough were supportive of the adoption and OK with it, as was the court social worker. That's a huge relief!
Yun-Qing (Calie) isn't so sure, yet. I guess she still has questions and really what this tells me, is that she is still scared and nervous about being adopted. My visiting her I thought had taken care of any of her concerns, but evidently after I left, she went back to doubting. We also skyped with her just three weeks ago and she seemed very happy and didn't ask any questions, so I'm also wondering if the whole court scene was just too "official" and daunting looking for her.
The judge said that they would allow more time for her to accept the adoption and ask us the questions she still has. Our friend didn't say what the questions were, but I'm sure we'll be getting them on Tuesday, when our social worker at our US agency is back in the office.
My heart aches for her and for us, both. She has been through so much, and while we are so joyful in the adoption, for her it is loss of everything she knows. Loss of country, loss of friends, loss of family. Adoption is a beautiful thing, but also a hurting thing.
We will wait for our girl to be ready. We will wait as long as we need to wait. In God's time, not ours.
Blessings to all of you! Please have a wonderful Thanksgiving and hug all of your family members that are home for the holiday!
Friday, November 2, 2012
"New" Pictures of Calie
We received "new" pictures of Calie today! The reason for the quote marks is because these were taken when I was with Calie at the zoo and her orphanage, so basically, they're not new to me. However, they are new to you! So, I thought I'd share them with all of you followers. :)
Update on progress: They day after I returned home from Taiwan, I got an email from our agency that they had been notified by Chung Yi that the judge has scheduled our hearing, but had also said Rick and I need to attend the hearing, physically. Oh Boy! We had no idea that this was even a possibility, but found out that recently some of the judges had been telling the parents to come to Taiwan to take part in the hearing. Had we known this, we would have just waited and gone for the hearing and visited her then.
We asked our agency to have Chung Yi tell the judge that I had just been there to visit and taking another trip (3 trips by the time we would be done) was more than we could afford and would but a lot of stress on our financial situation. They responded about a week later that the judge was "sympathetic" to our situation and was not aware that I had just been there. She (the judge) requested we write her a letter stating our reasons for not wanting to come and also requested a report from the Chung Yi social worker, Alice, that had been with Calie and I all week. Photos of us together, was also requested. We had all of that in within another week or so and just this past week we confirmed that the judge is not going to require us to be at the hearing. Whew! As much as I would have liked to see her again, the cost would have added another $4,000 - $5,000 to our adoption costs.
So, our hearing date is Nov. 22nd, 2012! I can't wait to hear how things go. That will be Thanksgiving Eve for us, as they are 13 hours ahead of us on that date. Please at 8:00 pm on Nov. 21st, get on your knees and pray that God would bless that hearing and be with Calie, as she will have to testify that she wants to come to America and be part of our family. This could be pretty stressful for an 11 year old to be in court talking to a judge!
Tomorrow evening, we will have our first Skype session with Calie. Rick and Lily have never seen her live, so this should be fun. I can't wait to see her smiley face and ask her how she is doing, since I saw her. I miss her and so want her to just be here; part of our family and daily routine. Adoption is such an emotional roller coaster! I'm ready to get off and just go back to being a normal family not having to think about where my child is and what's she doing.
This is my smiley Calie!!
Update on progress: They day after I returned home from Taiwan, I got an email from our agency that they had been notified by Chung Yi that the judge has scheduled our hearing, but had also said Rick and I need to attend the hearing, physically. Oh Boy! We had no idea that this was even a possibility, but found out that recently some of the judges had been telling the parents to come to Taiwan to take part in the hearing. Had we known this, we would have just waited and gone for the hearing and visited her then.
We asked our agency to have Chung Yi tell the judge that I had just been there to visit and taking another trip (3 trips by the time we would be done) was more than we could afford and would but a lot of stress on our financial situation. They responded about a week later that the judge was "sympathetic" to our situation and was not aware that I had just been there. She (the judge) requested we write her a letter stating our reasons for not wanting to come and also requested a report from the Chung Yi social worker, Alice, that had been with Calie and I all week. Photos of us together, was also requested. We had all of that in within another week or so and just this past week we confirmed that the judge is not going to require us to be at the hearing. Whew! As much as I would have liked to see her again, the cost would have added another $4,000 - $5,000 to our adoption costs.
So, our hearing date is Nov. 22nd, 2012! I can't wait to hear how things go. That will be Thanksgiving Eve for us, as they are 13 hours ahead of us on that date. Please at 8:00 pm on Nov. 21st, get on your knees and pray that God would bless that hearing and be with Calie, as she will have to testify that she wants to come to America and be part of our family. This could be pretty stressful for an 11 year old to be in court talking to a judge!
Tomorrow evening, we will have our first Skype session with Calie. Rick and Lily have never seen her live, so this should be fun. I can't wait to see her smiley face and ask her how she is doing, since I saw her. I miss her and so want her to just be here; part of our family and daily routine. Adoption is such an emotional roller coaster! I'm ready to get off and just go back to being a normal family not having to think about where my child is and what's she doing.
This is my smiley Calie!!
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