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
