Tag Archives: Adoption

Today was an awesome mail day! First we received our travel packet from our agency. I’m shocked and impressed by how much information this packet contains.

Reading through it, I started feeling overwhelmed at how many decisions have to be made before we travel. I had to remind myself – one step at a time! One step at a time!

Then we received our Zulily order, which contained two pairs of shorts for our daughter. It was really hard to find shorts that were modest!

I was so amused at how our order came in two packages and they were two different shades of blue. One was delivered by OnTrack and the other by USPS. Efficiency? Not really!

We bought both of these tops at Macy’s yesterday, both on clearance. I’m a bit worried they will be too big for our girly, but at least they are light material and will work well with the Taiwan heat.

We bought this cute purple suitcase a couple years ago when we made some really short trips. Hopefully she likes it because it’s now hers!

Though to be honest, I’m wondering if we will even need a separate suitcase for our daughter. Her clothes are so small they seem like they will fit in our suitcase!

But, the airline gives us two free checked bags each and we’re only taking one suitcase for the both of us and one for her. She’ll probably like having something of her own to travel with. We also ordered her a backpack as a carry on. It won’t ship for another two weeks though. I can’t wait until it gets here!

Is it the end of July yet?

One more tiny step complete. Our AIT letter arrived today.

This letter gives notification that our daughter is “likely to qualify as an orphan for the purpose of eligibility for immigration benefits as an adopted child of US citizens.” What’s odd to me is that they don’t make the final determination until after our adoption is finalized in Taiwan.

If for some reason they determine our girl is not eligible to immigrate, it will be too late. By that point, she will already be legally recognized as our daughter by the country of Taiwan. *insert sarcastic voice here* Oh no. We will have to move to another country. Whatever will be do?” */sarcastic voice*

My husband and I have tossed around the idea of someday moving to another country for a couple of years, just to experience a part of the world. Yes, it would be a shock if we were forced to move rather than making the decision ourselves. But after the initial panic response, we’d be excited for the opportunity. Of course, this is highly unlikely to happen. I’m pretty sure that everyone involved in our adoption is certain that our daughter meets the definition of an orphan and thus will be granted permission to immigrate to the United States.

I am slightly disappointed that we have not been able to finalize travel dates yet. We need to confirm our AIT appointment (where our daughter gets her visa to come to the US) so that we can confirm the day we meet her so that we can buy a plane ticket. But the agency in Taiwan has not yet confirmed this date and our coordinator is now on vacation until Wednesday. Hopefully we will have plane tickets in hand by the end of the week.

Then I can start the countdown for how many more days until we meet our daughter!!

There once was a little girl in Taiwan…

who wanted a family.

And a family in America…

who wanted a daughter.

After lots of paperwork…

and lots of tears…

the little girl and the family learned

that they will soon be united.

We have travel approval!!!

We will meet this beautiful child at the beginning of August. Family Date soon to be confirmed.

Tonight was our seventh Skype call with Cin-Ru and it was the best one yet. Why? Because we were told that we had our first court hearing on May 8th. At that court hearing, Cin-Ru, her social worker, and the agency director stood in front of the judge as he or she reviewed our adoption petition. The judge asked Cin-Ru if she wants to come to America and if she wants to be adopted.

She said YES!!!!!

If everything goes well, this beautiful child will be my daughter very soon. We have to wait for the judge to issue a ruling on our adoption petition and then there are several other steps to make the adoption final. But the agency thinks we will be traveling to meet Cin-Ru in either July or August. I cannot wait!

Ah, Mother’s Day…

Last year my mom sent me a beautiful card with a note about how I was going to soon be a mother. I loved that card and was so grateful that my mom thought of me, even though our adoption was still in process. We thought for sure that we would be celebrating Mother’s Day 2015 as a family of three.

But then in October, our dreams for Zih-Ting came crashing down when she refused to join our family.

We immediately started Cin-Ru’s adoption, as we already knew that we wanted to adopt her. For months, I mourned the loss of Zih-Ting even while I slowly started to open my heart to Cin-Ru. Older adoption is scary and not just because of the trauma the child has already faced. Older children have to agree to the adoption. After being denied once, it was really hard for me to risk my heart again.

So I debated… should I celebrate Mother’s Day this year or skip it? All indicators point toward Cin-Ru telling the judge that she wants to be adopted by our family. But there is always a chance that she’ll get scared when the time comes to say yes or no.

My husband made the decision for me, telling me that he wanted to take me out for a nice meal to affirm the hard work I’ve done thus far to prepare for motherhood. I am married to such a sweet, sweet man. We went to the Teapot Vegetarian House, a favorite restaurant of ours. It’s nice that we can eat anything off the menu as it’s all vegan. I ordered spicy and sweet eggplant, which I absolutely loved.

Then for dessert, we split a slice of vegan cheesecake. It was fantastic!

I am still hoping that next Mother’s Day, we will finally be a family of three. I don’t know if Cin-Ru will be able to embrace Mother’s Day or if it will be yet another reminder of the biological family she lost. Either way, if Mother’s Day is a traumaversary for her or a celebration of a new mother, I’ll still be grateful for the chance to love this beautiful 13 year old girl that I have started to think of as my daughter.

Happy 13th birthday, Cin-Ru!! I hope she had a wonderful birthday today with her friends. 13 years old. Wow! I can’t believe she’s officially a teenager.

The above photo is when Cin-Ru modeled her new shirt. This was part of her birthday care package and I believe it was a hit.

I’m so glad that we were able to celebrate early with Cin-Ru, even though we couldn’t be there in person. Next year we’ll celebrate as a family. I can’t wait!