Our first Christmas with Asia-Faith...

This was our first Christmas with our little fairy princess!

She was so excited to open her presents and was really happy to get a new "baby", who she now calls "Dora" and her pram and baby bottles! She is a real little mommy!

The pram has the Disney Princesses on it, which she loves, since she has a pillow with them on too, so everytime she sees the Princesses, she says "pillow", so she was really excited to find her pram had them on too. She also got a story book, all about the Disney Princesses - she was really pleased with that!

Of course she got lots of other little goodies too, including her Dora puzzles, little bangles and a lovely little pink cellphone in a fluffy pink bag from Sheldon and Clarice.... so she was really spoilt!

We were all so glad to spend our first Christmas with Asia-Faith and we are so blessed for her to be a part of our lives, and cannot imagine our life without her!

Enjoy the pics....

This was a few days before Christmas with her new sneakers from Granny Mouse...

From our Tribe to yours....

Glitter Graphics

10 month anniversary and our Homestudy appointment

Well, today is our 10 month anniversary of Asia-Faith being home with us!

It is also the day of our Homestudy, which went very well.

The supervisor came with a Social Worker, and we invited our friend Wendy (who is Taiwanese) to help translate (although the supervisor did speak a bit of English).

He just asked us a few questions, like our motivation for adopting, Jason's salary, and what is our "nurture plan", (not too sure what that was, but he seemed satisfied with our answer), and then he had a quick look around the apartment.

He said he would have the report off to the judge in the next few days, so hopefully when the judge gets it he won't take too long to make his final ruling!

I am so glad to have another step behind us!

Enjoy the pics...

(She has a mouthful of food in these pics - looks like a hamster!)

Her "cute" look.....

The sunset today...

We have a Homestudy date!!!

Woohoo!!!

Well, finally we have a date for our Homestudy!

We asked our friend Wendy to call the Social Workers to find out when they will come and do a Homestudy (Wendy is Chinese so she made the call for us - I tried to call them myself a few days ago - with no luck - they did not understand me at all, nor I them! LOL), so Wendy made the call, and then this afternoon I got a call from the Social Worker (who could speak very little English, but we were able to make a date), anyway, I was quite surprised because she asked when it would be convenient for "me".... well I was tempted to say she could come right on over, but since the house looked like a whirlwind had ripped through it and the kids and dad were all at the park, I suggested they come on Monday morning at 10am!

So Monday at 10am they will be here! And believe it or not, Monday is the 17th December, which means it will be our 10 month anniversary of Asia-Faith being home with us!
I am just so glad to finally be another step closer to finalising the adoption!

On another note, last weekend was spent at the hospital with Asia-Faith. On Thursday evening (or rather 3am Friday morning), I noticed her breathing was very fast - she woke up and came to our bed, which she doesn't normally do - she usually goes down at night and sleeps right through, so I knew something was not right. I woke Jason up and said to take her to the hospital to get her checked out (the other kids were sleeping and I don't drive, well I ride a scooter, but don't drive cars...), so Jason and Willow-River (who had woken up), took her to the hospital and when I called about an hour later Jason said they were on their way home - turns out another hour had passed and he still wasn't home, so I called again and was told they were admitting her and he was comming to pick me and the other boys up to take us to the hospital. I was so nervous because I didn't know what was wrong, and none of my kids have been in hospital (well, Willow-River had his tonsils out, but he was only in hospital for the morning).

Anyway, we arrived at the hospital and Asia-Faith had been given stickers and clips for her hair and was really the centre of attraction at 5am in the emergency room! She had an IV drip in and was being admitted to the hospital. The doctor had done chest xrays and taken blood and it turns out her white blood count was higher than normal, and his diagnosis was Bronchial Pneumonia.

We had to stay in the hospital for 3 days! It was quite a different experience to South African hospitals in that you have to take your own food and drinks, none are supplied by the hospital, visiting hours seem to be anytime, no limit to visitors or the number of people staying in a bed! Our first night there the bed next to me was a lady and she had 3 kids sleeping in bed with her - don't know which of them was sick, and in the bed next to her was obviously a friend who had another child with her! They left that day, and I was not on my own for long, because soon the 2 beds were occupied again. There was no tv and I couldn't even talk to the moms in the room with me as they didn't speak English and I can't speak Chinese, so Asia-Faith and I played a bit and I tried to catch up on a bit of sleep, but not all that possible when you have the fellow bedmates having their kids with them all day (not the sick ones, but the siblings), so sometimes in our room we would have up to 9 kids (if mine were there too)!

On the Friday night the boys all stayed with Kim (Jason was working till 9pm), so the boys went with Kim before lunch and stayed the night. It was Keanu-Storm's first sleepover and I was really worried he wouldn't make it through the night, and when Kim called me and said he would be fine, that it was me who would struggle the most, well, I just burst into tears! My little boy and his first sleepover! And he DID manage fine and was ok - all of them were - My Boys!!!

On Saturday when the doctor came he said Asia-Faith would probably need to stay until Monday!

Then on Sunday morning the doctor came and checked Asia-Faith over and said we could go home! (They were having a political rally opposite the hospital so it was very noisy and the doctor said it would be quieter at home for her, so I mentioned that I have 3 boys at home - it is not much quieter! LOL) . But I was just so glad to be going home! And the total bill for the hospital and medication NT$170 (about R34)....Because Asia-Faith is aborigine she has free health insurance as long as she is living in Taiwan!

Today Jason took her to the clinic for a checkup and the doctor is happy with her, and has given a few more meds to take and she is on the mend!

Now we just wait for the end of the weekend to have our Homestudy - will let you know how it goes!

Enjoy the pics...

Little Drummer Girl

Our Court Update

We left on the train to Taitung on Wednesday evening. It was a 4 hour train ride and we arrived in Taitung at 10:45pm. Our translator, Linda, was very kind to pick us up from the station and take us to a hotel where we spent the night. Keanu-Storm and Asia-Faith were with us and Willow-River and Talis-Rain spent the night (their first sleepover in Taiwan), with their friends, Sheldon and Clarice (and their parents of course, Kim and Colin).

Linda picked us up on Thursday morning and we headed for the courts. Jason and I were dressed up a bit (as I thought we should for court), only to find everyone else there was in jeans and sneakers! LOL

The birthmom was also there, and once again I had that bitter-sweet feeling. It is the word I use to describe our time with the birthmom as I have no other words to describe it.

We sat with Linda while we waited our turn (our case was delayed by 2 or 3 cases), and we discussed various questions that may come up with the judge, so that she was prepared with our answers, and then it was our turn to go in....

The courts are very efficient, with a computer monitor on each table so you can see exactly what is being typed up as you speak (although it wasn't much use to us because it was all in Chinese!) LOL

The judge asked us a few questions, like why do we want to adopt, can we afford it financially, how long do we plan on living in Taiwan and then also the basics like where we live and work, and then it went on to the "official" paperwork, wanting to know who translated the documents, and I told him a company in Taipei. Then on one of the documents from SA Department of Home Affairs, it was signed by an "Acting Director". Obviously when the word "acting" is translated into Chinese, it becomes questionable, because the judge asked us what we mean by "acting", so we had to explain that it means 2nd in charge. That seemed to satisfy him and he actually had a bit of a chuckle! LOL

Then he started asking the birthmom questions and Linda (our translator) told us that the father had not signed any documents, however the birthmom said he can't be found and gave the judge his last known address. I was a bit worried about this, but then the judge said that the next step is a Social Worker will visit us at our home (Homestudy), and then the relevant documents would be sent to us. I asked him if we would need to appear in court again, and he said no. Then we had to sign a document and that was that!

It was such a nerve-wrecking experience to be in court, and the birthmom kept saying how nervous she was too being questioned - it almost felt like I was in the principal's office in school! LOL

When we were leaving the courts, Jason mentioned that this would be the last time we would be seeing the birthmom, and of course, me being the emotional soul that I am, I started tearing up and then the birthmom asked Linda what was wrong and she told the birthmom that I was thankful to her for what she has done, and to that the birthmom replied that she is the one who is thankful to us!

After that Linda took us to a lovely restaurant for lunch and then to her parents business (they manufacture wood), and then it was time to catch the train back home...

I am just so relieved to finally have the court date behind us, and that all went well.

Enjoy the pics.....

The Tribe that Asia-Faith is from...

The view from our hotel balcony...

Can you see the ocean?

With Linda, our Translator...

We have a court date!!!

Well, we have finally received a court date! We got our notification from the courts on Monday that we are to appear in court next week Thursday, 15 November, at 11:20am. We are so thrilled to finally be entering the courts! Fortunately, during our Chinese tutoring on Tuesday evening, I asked our tutor to please translate the document from the court for us, and she told us that the court needs a copy of the South African adoption law AND translated into Chinese!!! This sent me into a tailspin...nosedive....panic attack....

So I had to go through my archives...files....emails......folders.....everything I have on record, and then I contacted a friend I met through my internet searches on adoption, who happens to be an adoption lawyer in the USA, but familiar with SA law, and she happened to have what I needed! Then it was trying to find a translator at such short notice - then the question - does it need to be a qualified/certified translator or not??? Well, lots of friends offered their support in finding people to translate and such, and then Deana mailed me with a contact in Taipei who is a certified translator and can get the document to me within 2 days! (at a fee of course), but at least it will be done in time for court!

So the headache I have is lifting and the knot in my stomach is slowly undoing itself!

I was so worried that the document would not be done in time and we might have had to postpone the date!

But, alas all is well, and we plan on leaving on Wednesday evening by train, which takes about 4 hours, and then we will be in court on Thursday at 11:20am. We also have a translator, Linda, who will be meeting us at the station and assisting us in court.

So please keep us in your prayers that all goes smoothly!

Enjoy the pics.....

Mommy did our nails....

Can you tell she has older brothers?

Pretty in PInk