One Month from Today...

One month from today is our first court hearing in Taiwan.  Since they are a day ahead of us in their time zone, the hearing will actually occur on March 23, our time.  Hopefully by March 24, a month from today, we will hear how the hearing went.  This past month has flown by, so I'm hoping that the next four weeks fly by, too.  So many of my "bloggy" friends are traveling right now or soon to get their children, and I'm getting antsy to be on my way, too.  I know God's timing is best, though, so for now, we wait.  Getting that update last week was so helpful in the waiting.  Hopefully we will get another one sooner rather than later!  Every day that passes is another day that Sophia grows and develops without us.  I feel as though I'm missing out
on so much of her life, but I'm also so grateful that she has a caring foster family there right now who love her as their own.  Adoption is as much about grief and loss as it is about the joy of building a family.  I pray that these last few months with her foster family are joyous for Sophia and her family.  We owe them so much for taking care of our little girl!

Musing in the waiting...

Updates!

We received the translated October 2010 report today and some video of our baby girl!!!  I wish I could post it...she's getting so big!  As of October, she was over 34 inches tall and weighed 26 pounds.  She was learning to walk up stairs with assistance--that's huge!  And she's saying words like "mommy" and "hug" and her foster family is using her English name and they even named the dolly that we sent, and she loves her dolly!  (The name's Angela, if you wanted to know!)  I'm beyond excited about this update, and that's only from October!  Who knows what she's doing now!  I can't wait to bring her home!!!

Thankful for some good news today...

Message from Taiwan...

"Sorry for the delay.
We are still translating the reports.
Once we complete the translation, we will email you as soon as possible."

Hopefully soon...

In the Waiting

It's been several weeks since we found out about our court date on March 24.  I've asked for updates on Sophia, but thus far have not received any.  We haven't had any updates since August, so I'm really curious about her progress with walking and talking.  It almost seems surreal that we have a daughter waiting for us, what with the lack of updates and pictures the last six months.  But hopefully her foster family is preparing her for us, showing our photos and sharing the book where we recorded our voices reading to her.  Fortunately we've been so busy lately that the time is flying by.  March 24 will be here soon, and hopefully, all will go smoothly and we will travel within a couple of months after that!  At least that's our prayer!

In the waiting...

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year.  It is the Year of the Rabbit, supposedly one of the more luckier animals on the Chinese zodiac, if you believe that sort of thing.  CNY is one of the most important holidays in China, so I imagine Sophia will be celebrating it with her foster family.  Next year, we will celebrate it with her...what fun that will be!

Enjoying Chinese take out in honor of Sophia...

A Quilt for Sophia

Last summer I found some fabric that I loved.  It was in the pink and brown color scheme that I wanted to use for Sophia's room, and it had the little sparrows and daisies that I wanted to use as motifs in her room.  I had to buy the fabric as curtain panels, but I figured it could be used by someone talented in creating a quilt for Sophia's bed.

Fast forward a year.  I checked around on Etsy to find someone who could make a quilt for me, and I checked around with some of our "Blue Mountain Quilters" (ladies who get together every Tuesday at our school to quilt for our school's benefit auction) to see if they knew anyone local who could help me out.  But nothing came together for me.  Right before Christmas, Donna, the woman who heads up the quilters, asked me if I found anyone yet to do the quilt.  When I said no, she said to bring the fabric in after Christmas so she could take a look at it...so I did.

Long story short, Donna pieced the quilt top you see in the photos, and even made the ruffled bed skirt to match.  Next week it will be put on the quilting rack and the Blue Mountain Quilters, many of whom have become well known to me over the past two years that I have taught at Blue Mountain Christian School, will begin to quilt it for me.  I am thrilled that Sophia's quilt is being made by people I know who are as excited to see Sophia come home as I am.  As you can see, it's absolutely beautiful--I told Donna she gave life to my dream.  I can't wait to see this on Sophia's bed in Sophia's room very soon!

The "pieces" are coming together slowly but surely for Sophia's homecoming...

We Have a Court Date!

We found out today that we have our first court date on March 24 in Taiwan (that would be March 23 EST).  Two more months to wait until that important step!  Hopefully it will only be 2-3 months after that for travel!  As soon as we have final decree (second court date) I can post photos of our beautiful daughter!

Another step closer to Sophia...