Paperwork galore

20 days until travel! 25 days until we meet our daughter!!

Today I finished gathering and copying and printing all of the paperwork we need for our visa appointment. I find it very ironic that she's already legally our daughter and yet we have to bring almost an inch of paperwork to Taiwan.

This packet is on top of all of the court paperwork, her birth certificate and family registry, passports, etc. How many trees does it take to complete an adoption? Many, I am sure!

We get paid tomorrow and I have to make a copy of our pay stub to include in this packet. Once that's done, we are ready for Taiwan! I can't wait!

Three weeks to go!

In exactly three weeks from this moment in time, we will be approaching the tiny island of Taiwan. I am excited about finally meeting my daughter. I am nervous about the first meeting with her. And I'm mildly panicked about all of the things left on my to-do list.

My husband has reminded me that as long as we have clean clothes, a passport, and the paperwork needed to get her visa, we'll be ok. The rest of the list can be left undone and our world will still move forward. He's right! I keep reminding myself of that even as I keep cleaning.

Today I am going to fill out one last form that's required for our girl's visa and gather the rest of the paperwork we have to take to the visa appointment. I'm also going to keep working on our kitchen. The top half of the kitchen is decluttered, scrubbed down, and organized. Now to tackle the bottom cupboards, the fridge, and the floor.

Three more weeks until we arrive in Taiwan! 26 days until we meet our daughter!

Yup, it's true!!

Did you know that I have a daughter? I have a DAUGHTER! Yippee!!!!!

Just had to post that tonight...

Can we go to Taiwan yet?

Shopping, shopping, and a travel meeting

This week has gone so quickly because we've been able to accomplish so much. Yesterday was our travel meeting with our agency. We had a phone conference to go over the flight, touring in Taiwan, meeting our daughter, the AIT appointment to get our daughter's visa, and the flight home. We covered a lot of information and I am VERY excited about traveling.

We also accomplished a lot of shopping this week. We are officially done shopping for our daughter! Her wardrobe is now complete. Amazon sent us the cutest box! I think the minions are really cute.

We ordered a backpack from one website but they ran out of stock and refunded our money. So we had to order another backpack through Amazon. The first one was really cute but I like this one too. We're giving her the backpack at our first meeting. We haven't decided yet what to put in it. I was thinking a coloring book with colored pencils, a manga in Mandarin, and... not sure what else! We have a couple of weeks to figure it out.

We also found a lightweight jacket to take to Taiwan in case we get hit with a bunch of rain. It took some searching, but I finally located a blue one.

Last but not least, we found a swimming suit for our girl. Both hotels in Taiwan have a pool and we want to go swimming every evening. It was really hard to find cute one piece bathing suits!

I'm relieved to have the shopping done. Our budget was taking a hit and now we can go back to saving for the trip instead of spending.

26 days until we leave for Taiwan!
31 days until we meet our daughter!!

Hotels and Skype and clothes shopping

It has been an eventful few days! This weekend went incredibly fast. Sabbath was all about church and naps and resting up for the upcoming busy week.

The other highlight of Sabbath was a Skype call with our daughter, the first one after the adoption has been finalized. It was so amazing sitting there and talking with a child who I know is legally our daughter and that we finally get to meet in only a month. We showed her the suitcase we have for her and all of the clothes we're bringing to Taiwan. She asked if we could bring her entire wardrobe to Taiwan! Sorry, sweetie, but we don't have a suitcase big enough for that!

On Sunday, I spent hours researching hotels in Taiwan and getting our reservations made. I am so relieved that we have both flights and hotels for our trip! Only 29 days until we leave for Taiwan and 34 days until we meet our daughter!!

We also went to the mall Sunday afternoon and found another pair of shorts for me. Taiwan is HOT and there was no way that I could survive a week in 90 degree heat with jeans. We stumbled across a sale at North Face and found a pretty blue jacket for my daughter. I also scoured the shoe websites and found a pair of blue sneakers at half price. Now all we need is a swimming suit for her and she'll be ready to go.

We had a beautiful surprise this morning. I had been hoping that we would receive just one more Skype call before we travel. God is generous and gave us two! We have one scheduled on the 14th and another on the 27th, just two days before we leave for Taiwan. I am so excited!

Liftoff!

We have liftoff! We are now the proud owners of two tickets to Taiwan and THREE tickets for the return flight.

I am exhausted but elated. Between the heat and a personal issue and the stress of trying to make travel arrangements, I am exhausted. I don't know how people do this with little ones already home. My hat is off to mothers who go through this entire adoption process and parent at the same time!

My email inbox is getting really full and my kitchen table is a mess and my Chinese flashcards are piling up. But I was able to clean 2/3 of a kitchen cupboard today! Yippee!!

Tomorrow we're going to start researching hotels. We also want to come up with several ideas of things we can do or see with our daughter while still in Taiwan. The Hello Kitty Cafe is already on our list. We'll ask her on Sabbath's Skype call which of the ideas she's interested in. Hopefully that will give her a better idea of what will happen when the three of us meet. I cannot wait!

It's official!!

I have been wishing and hoping and praying that we would be able to buy plane tickets in time for our Skype call this Sabbath evening. That way we can tell our girl that we are coming!

My prayers were answered! Our agency notified us this morning that the judge in Taiwan has issued Final Decree on our adoption. This means that the country of Taiwan legally recognizes our girl as our daughter. I am now a mommy!!!

With that notice of Final Decree came confirmation of our travel dates. We will be meeting our daughter on August 3rd and getting her visa on August 5th. I am so excited!!!

Today I emailed several travel agencies and had one get back in touch with me almost immediately. He and I have been emailing back and forth and we now have plane tickets reserved in our name. Once we get the "ok" from our agency, we'll pay for the plane tickets and be that much closer to travel. Hopefully we'll be squared away tomorrow!