Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Taiwan Facts
Taiwan is an island in east asia. It is located off the coast of mainland China. It is south of Japan and north of the Philippines. Taiwan is 245 miles long and 89 miles wide. 80% of the population speak mandarin and taiwanese. English is a second language. The population of Taiwan is 23 million. The president is Chen Shui-bian. The capital is Taipei city. This is where the orphanage is located. Taiwan is 12 hours ahead of the eastern part of the US. Taipei is a very busy city very similar to New York City.
Taipei 101
This is Taipei 101, the world's tallest building. It was completed in 2004. It also has the world's fastest elevators. It is located in the capitol of Taipei, where we will be travelling. I think we will look at it from the ground.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Setting Up William's Room
I started setting up William's room. There isn't much to set up at the moment. I didn't have anything left since my daughters are older and I gave everything away. I did buy a crib on Craigslist and it has a mattress. I need to get crib bedding. He doesn't have many decorations because everything I have is girly. I found some dinosaurs lying around and put them in there. My daughter bought me a baby bag and since I work inside Walmart, I look periodically for clearance clothes and now have at least seven outfits. I bought an umbrella stroller and front carrier for Taiwan. I did buy one box of diapers even though I don't know how big he is going to be. I had to!! Now I just need a high chair, stroller, car seat and a million other things. Tomorrow I am going to get my passport. Our post office is open such short hours, we can't all get there together. Billy works and Sam is at school, so we will go one at a time when it works out. I hope to hear about a referral before Christmas. That would be a wonderful present. You never know. Maybe I will get lucky. Pray for me.
Samantha age 10 and Jeffrey-the rat
Sam is my oldest daughter. She will be eleven on New years day. She loves animals,which is good, because we have alot of them.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Samantha is my big girl!
This is Billy and Sam at Disneyworld, our favorite place in the world. We would build a house inside of animal kingdom if we could!!
Our Timeline
Last September(2005) we began our journey to adopt a baby. After alot of research we decided to adopt a baby boy from Taiwan and chose Family and Children's Agency in Connecticut. We are in the birthmother program. Our baby will be at Cathwell in Taipai in Jonah house. It is a beautiful orphanage. The birthmother will pick us once we get to the top of the list. We will most likely meet her when we pick up William.
We started our homestudy in late September and finished it in December. Our homestudy required us to take an adoption class, be interviewed by a social worker multiple times. She came to our home and also interviewed my daughters. We had criminal checks done and alot of paperwork!! We had physicals which required all four of us to have Tb shots. We had to write autobiograhies and get references from family and friends. A lot more complicated than I once thought. When the homestudy was completed, we sent it off to Taiwan along with a dear birthmother letter and photo album. We then began the process of getting approval from Homeland Security which included fingerprinting. At the end of December (2005) we were put on the waiting list for an infant boy under the age of nine months. We were told the average wait for a healthy infant is 8-10months. It is now mid September and I am hoping for a quicker referral. But seeing the timelines of others, I think Christmas or later will be likely.
When we receive a referral, we will get all the medical information on our baby and pictures. We will then get our paperwork certified and authenticated as quickly as possible and send it to Taiwan. We then will be put into the court system. This will take four to five months, Hopefully. When we receive our final decree we will get a travel call. They will give us approximately three weeks advance notice to leave. We will travel to Taiwan on Eva air. My mom has connections and may be able to get a couple of tickets. We are going to be bringing my older daughter with us. When we get to Taiwan we will pick up our son. We are naming him after my husband-William. We will incorporate his real name into his new name. I will let you know when we know who he is. We will pick him up at Jonah house and bring him back to the hotel. The next day we will have an appointment at AIT and the next day we will get his Visa and may meet the birthmom. All this could be different but I just want to give you an idea of how things may go. After that we bring him home.
Right now I am waiting and keeping busy. I have been doing some shopping, because I threw out or gave away all my baby stuff from my daughters. I didn't think I would be having another child. I have been working alot and trying to pass the time. I sent away for our birth certificates for our passports. We all had the wrong kind. Then I will get those ordered. I know the call will come, but the waiting is getting to me. I know the court waiting will be worse than this, but sometimes I go crazy and don't think I can make it one more month.
We started our homestudy in late September and finished it in December. Our homestudy required us to take an adoption class, be interviewed by a social worker multiple times. She came to our home and also interviewed my daughters. We had criminal checks done and alot of paperwork!! We had physicals which required all four of us to have Tb shots. We had to write autobiograhies and get references from family and friends. A lot more complicated than I once thought. When the homestudy was completed, we sent it off to Taiwan along with a dear birthmother letter and photo album. We then began the process of getting approval from Homeland Security which included fingerprinting. At the end of December (2005) we were put on the waiting list for an infant boy under the age of nine months. We were told the average wait for a healthy infant is 8-10months. It is now mid September and I am hoping for a quicker referral. But seeing the timelines of others, I think Christmas or later will be likely.
When we receive a referral, we will get all the medical information on our baby and pictures. We will then get our paperwork certified and authenticated as quickly as possible and send it to Taiwan. We then will be put into the court system. This will take four to five months, Hopefully. When we receive our final decree we will get a travel call. They will give us approximately three weeks advance notice to leave. We will travel to Taiwan on Eva air. My mom has connections and may be able to get a couple of tickets. We are going to be bringing my older daughter with us. When we get to Taiwan we will pick up our son. We are naming him after my husband-William. We will incorporate his real name into his new name. I will let you know when we know who he is. We will pick him up at Jonah house and bring him back to the hotel. The next day we will have an appointment at AIT and the next day we will get his Visa and may meet the birthmom. All this could be different but I just want to give you an idea of how things may go. After that we bring him home.
Right now I am waiting and keeping busy. I have been doing some shopping, because I threw out or gave away all my baby stuff from my daughters. I didn't think I would be having another child. I have been working alot and trying to pass the time. I sent away for our birth certificates for our passports. We all had the wrong kind. Then I will get those ordered. I know the call will come, but the waiting is getting to me. I know the court waiting will be worse than this, but sometimes I go crazy and don't think I can make it one more month.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
