We have our first Skype date scheduled! I am so excited because it’s in less than four weeks. I am also terrified because the Skype call on our last adoption attempt was awkward and not at all what we had expected. I’d almost rather go into this Skype call with no prior experience because I know how hard it can be. On the other hand, I know a few things I can do to help it go better. Hopefully this Skype call will go much more smoothly. At least we know that Cin-Ru wants to be adopted!

Because we have a few weeks until our first Skype call, we have time to prepare a care package for her to open on the call. I am excited to put this package together for her. We already have a couple of things picked out to send and want to pick out one more. Hopefully we can go shopping tomorrow to find that last item. I want to send the package off as soon as possible so that it will definitely arrive before our call.

All of our dossier paperwork is on its way to California! We received the contracts this morning, finished filling out dossier paperwork, and visited the notary this afternoon. The notary was so fast. He just signed everywhere we pointed. We were in and out in only 15 minutes, which means we made it to the post office in time to guarantee delivery to our agency tomorrow.

Next up – sending the contracts back to Taiwan so that the agency will release the rest of Cin-Ru’s paperwork. We need that in order to submit our I600 application to USCIS. The I600 is the US government’s method of verifying that Cin-Ru is an orphan and thus eligible to be adopted by an American. While that is going on, our agency will send our dossier to a couple government offices to get the authentication processed. That prepares all of our paperwork for the court process.

I am trying so hard not to figure out a timeline of how much longer it could possibly be until we travel. I’ve already worked out a rough estimate in my head but don’t want to rely on that. We know first hand how much things can change. After all, it’s already been over 18 months and we still have a long way to go. All of our research showed that Taiwan adoptions are supposed to take under a year. In the meantime, I will just take it one day at a time!

We ended 2014 with a bang. Praise the Lord, because Lord willing, we will have a daughter home in 2015! Our agency emailed this evening with news that the adoption contracts arrived in their office this afternoon. They don’t yet have a report of the meeting with our girl but the contracts arriving means she said yes and we are moving forward!

We will receive the contracts and instructions for completing our dossier early next week. I am so excited to see what the next steps are and to find out what contact we will have with her next. Maybe a Skype call? Another care package? I’ll be emailing my agency on Friday to find out what we can do next to start bonding with her.

I am so excited and can’t wait to see what God brings our way in 2015. Hopefully we’ll have a daughter home soon!

Happy New Year!
新年快樂!

Today marks 18 months since we officially started our adoption journey. I feel like so much has happened and yet I feel like, in some ways, we have made no progress at all. My husband and I talked about this tonight and agree that we have made progress but it sure doesn’t feel like it! We have an up to date home study, approval from the US government to adopt a foreign born orphan, and approval from a Taiwan agency to be matched with one of their children. It’s progress, but not much.

Hopefully we hear an update soon on the meeting with Cin-Ru so we know if this adoption attempt is going forward. I hope and pray that we will have a daughter home sometime in 2015!