WOW!!! What a week!

On Monday we received photos and video, on Tuesday we received updated measurements and this morning we received our CIVIL RULING!!!!

I am jumping up and down with excitement (not literally) that we are one step closer to meeting our boy!!

What does this mean? The civil ruling indicates that the judge intends to rule in favor of the adoption. This notice gets sent to all the parties (including the birth family) and they have 10 days to object. Assuming no one objects (which they should not since they already told the judge they favor this) the judge will issue the final ruling (when he has time).

How long does this take? We were told 6 to 8 weeks from our agency but this is totally an estimate and it could be slower or faster. Historically, it has been closer to 30 days. After we receive the final ruling, our agency will confirm our AIT (American Institute Taiwan- like the embassy) appointment date (to get his Visa). Typically families travel 2-3 weeks after receiving the final ruling. So, if we receive our final in 4 to 8 weeks, we would travel between late July and late August. WOW!!

Are we ready? Yes, Yes, Yes! We have some miscellaneous things to do, a few things to borrow and shop for but we are in good shape overall- I could be ready Saturday if needed.

Measurements- He is still a small fry but getting bigger. Based on his weight (15.4 lbs) and length (24 inches) as of the last week of May, he is still in 3-6 month clothes but should be getting closer to wearing 6-9 month clothes when we travel. Luckily, I have some of both and should be all set for what is left of the summer.

And- One of my bloggette friends received her final ruling today also and is getting ready to travel!!! Congrats J & J!

As cool as this all is, I am sad my other waiting friends did not also get court news today (that I know of). We have this wonderful group of families we correspond with some of which have completed the adoption process, some are in the middle like us and some are waiting for referrals. We are there to support each other because we get how hard the wait is and encourage each other that it will be totally worth it. When anyone in the group has news I feel like it's my own news. Especially the referrals!! That is always an amazing day on the board! I am thinking of you all and know good things are coming with the courts and more referrals.

The best video yet!

Here he is!! Danny will be six months old this week! WOW! He still is not wearing any of the clothes we sent. (I wonder if I sent the wrong size?) I love the video and seeing him hold his head up and put his hand in his mouth. Take a look!

I am really excited about getting photos and video but in reality this is getting old and I thought we would be getting ready to travel before we received our 5th update.

The courts? It has been two months since his court date and we have not heard anything. We are disappointed to say the least. We had hoped to travel in June based on the original time frame of traveling 4-6 months after referral but now I have "reset" my expectations and am hoping we can travel in August. I have heard rumors of new judges in Taichung County that are slowing the process but don't know if that is why we have seen any rulings. I'm trying not to take this out on our agency and staff because they really have no control over the courts in Taiwan and nothing they tell me can change the situation. Patience, Patience, patience... (I'm not sure it is working!!!)


I am still having trouble picturing how big he is now. As of April 30, he was 14.5 lbs but we should get new measurements from May 30 soon. Whenever I meet a mom with a baby around his age or younger I am always asking how much the baby weighs (they probably think I'm odd asking that!) to try to picture him better. Yesterday, I held an adorable little boy who is one month older than him but I am assuming Danny is much smaller based on the measurements and weights so far.

He is sooo cute!!

After checking my e-mail constantly last week hoping for update photos, we received photos and video this morning! Hurray!!

I love his smile! He is still in close competition with Ed on who has more hair!

We had a false alarm last week when we received a message to get started on some paperwork because we received our "civil ruling". We later learned that we did not receive the ruling but they did want us to get going on the paperwork. Our social worker is on her honeymoon, so the person e-mailing us did not have all the info. Bummer!

Although we were disappointed, the positive is that this really pushed us to "get ready". (As all my BTDT friends have been saying for weeks!!) So we have drafted the immigration paperwork, started gathering the other documents we will need to travel, purchasing gifts, purchasing baby stuff, reading our Taiwan travel book etc.

An extra huge "thanks" goes to my amazing employer who was so supportive when I told him about Danny! and being off for 12 weeks!

Now we need some court news for us and my blogette girlfriends!!!!

Happy Day!!!

It is a very happy day in our household! After no news on the courts for two months, we received word today that our hearing took place on April 8th. It feels so good to finally see some progress. I am definitely not a patient person and waiting for news has been tough!

What does this mean? The first step towards our final ruling is completed. Since we have not had any requests for additional information this is also considered good. We have been told repetitively that if there is a problem, you will be notified and no news is good news.

We received the following detailed estimated timeline with this news:
First ruling should take place 1-2 months after the court date
Second ruling should take place 1-2 months after the first ruling
travel 2-4 weeks after final ruling.

Helpful timeline? I'm not complaining, the agency just does not know how quickly each judge will rule.

This puts us traveling around June 22 (best case) and after labor day (worst case). Although in international adoption the worst case could easily get worse. I am focusing on traveling in July or August to keep sane!

I also want to congratulate the others in our group that received court news today!!! It is very fun to share this experience with all of you!! We are hoping for travel partners! I am keeping my fingers crossed for some referral news soon for some friends who are sooo ready!

We're back, slightly tanned and relaxed...

We returned Friday from a great family vacation to Puerta Valarta. We stayed at the Valarta Palace and give it a tumbs up- good food, pool, beach, accomodations and nighttime entertainment. Our only disappointment was the kids activities- they were very lacking compared to the the resort we stayed at last year.

Best Quotes- After a long day of traveling, when the imigration officer asked the kids what the best part of vacation was Paige said "watching TV" and Kyle said "eating". What??? Luckily, Ed and I enjoyed it so it was money well spent. You would think they would remember the stone necklace and turtle they had to have!!!

Photos below- Some of the other blogs I read have their photos displayed with great backgrounds so I have been inspired to try digital scrapbooking (I love one of my bloggette friends Easter photos and may need to call her for help!). Below is attempt #1. It is not exactly what I was trying to do but a decent first attempt.

Adoption News- I am very disappointed to say there is none! Our agency rep has every e-mail address I have because items with chineese characters won't go thru my work e-mail so she will usually send me updates to my personal e-mail. Therefore, I usually check my personal e-mail about a million times a day. You know the saying "The watched pot does not boil" or something like that. Anyway, we were hoping that we would get an email while on vacation about the courts since we were only checking e-mail once a day, but received no updates yet.

As I have mentioned previously, this is very frustrating and discouraging! Ed reminded me this week that we were very lucky to get a referral quicker than expected so it would be really odd (especially in international adoption- where nothing goes smoothly) to also have a quick court process. July travel seems less likely (to me) unless we are further along in the court process than we think. I am starting to cling to this hope- which I know is not at all likely but can't help it.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Measurements & Care Package #2

Today we received new measurements of Danny as of 3/31. He is almost 4 months old and is 13 lbs and 22 inches long. Since we received the last set of photos I have been concerned that his head seems huge. But based on the new measurements and discussion with some other families, his head is not any larger than the other babies around his age.

It amazes me how excited I get when any info is provided! This waiting is so hard we will take any little bits of info!!

I am very excited that another family in our yahoo group received a court date!! It is really helpful to see progress in the courts even if it is not our case. This news is especially good because their baby is in the same county as ours and I was starting to wonder if Danny's case was getting held up by a back-logged county. This type of news give me hope and helps me stay positive!!

Care package #2 also got to Taiwan this week. Now our boy will have clothes from us that actually fit. (I am sure the clothes in care package 1 were probably too small by the time they got there!) This care package included a teddy bear Mp3 player (I stole this idea from a family in our yahoo group- thanks!)

The Mp3 player idea sounded really great and simple. We record ourselves singing songs or reading books so Danny will get to know our voices etc. In reality, it took much longer than expected and lots of help from Ed to get it done.

First, no microphone on the computer- Ed purchases... Getting the microphone working- seems simple.. The kids recorded songs and Ed and I read a few books. We get the files uploaded on the bear and... nothing happens. Luckily Ed was smart enough to know the files needed to be converted from wav to mp3 (and how to do this!).

We get the mp3 files uploaded and press play and hear.... about two seconds of a recording then NOTHING! We keep messing around with it, eventually concluded it was defective and we would return the bear. I decided to change the batteries as a last effort. AND IT WORKED!! (Then Ed suggested sending extra batteries)

Above is a photo of the care package stuff and one of Paige with the Bear. It's hard to see, but you press play on one foot, stop on the other, volume controls on the ears. It is pretty cool once it works!! I hope our voices in English don't scare Danny. I know if I sang he would have been scared!!

April Update!!!

Yeah!! We got update photos and video today. I just love his smile! He seems to be having trouble holding up that big head in the video. I am having trouble remembering when babies develop their neck mustles?? I may need to get out the dusty "What to expect the 1st year".

They also included a photo of the big Mongolian spot on his butt! I did not think you needed to see that. From what I have read, they are very common in Asian babies, nothing to be concerned about and usually go away by the time they are five. There were not any measurements in this update but I kind of like that. It is exciting to get any type of news so maybe we will get that in a few weeks.

This is not an outfit we sent but maybe we will see one of those next time. The outfits in the first care package we sent are probably way to small by now. We sent another care package this week. I will post more about that later...

Danny will be four months next week. WOW! I wish we could go there now. No news on the courts but my very supportive Yahoo Group assures me that we would know if there was a problem or issue with the case. (Thanks again ladies- you are the best!)