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

Building Blocks

Still no court date....

There is still no news about a court date....

Deana is away in the States for a few months, however she did manage to get a hold of the social worker who told her that the judge still has not set a date.....but as soon as he does we will be notified... so I guess we just wait!

Asia-Faith has been home with us for 8 months already! Wow!!!

She is just such a precious little thing! She loves to have her nails painted and her photo taken these days. She also LOVES brushing her teeth and washing her face in the morning with Daddy... she boots him out of bed so she can brush her teeth:o)

I am in the process of putting together her scrapbook all about "Gotcha Day", and looking back at the photo's of that day, and seeing her today, wow, what a difference!

Asia-Faith on Gotcha Day...

Asia-Faith today....

She continues to be a joy and a blessing to our lives....

Enjoy the pics....(there are lots today!)

FuShan Nature Reserve, Ilan

Mommy and me....

The "Cute Look"...

Me and my baby brother....

By the way... that is cheese under her chin!
She is doing her "cute look" and didn't know what to do with the cheese! LOL

We have moved...to Yilan

We have finally moved and settled in Ilan! Boy, what an adventure we had these last few weeks.

When the time was approaching for us to move, we heard roads were still closed due to mudslides and rockfalls, so we weren't too sure if we would actually move on the 15 August as originally planned. Also because we were organising a move through a friend using her friend, so it is kind of like playing "broken down telephone"!!! LOL

Anyway, then the threat of another typhoon, this time upgraded to a category 5, arrives a few days before we are due to move! Jason and I start getting a bit concerned because if the 2 previous ones flooded our town, what will it be like with a category 5????
Wednesday morning, the day we are due to move, I am checking weather reports, and they are confirming that the typhoon will make landfall by Saturday. Jason and I decide it is time for the kids and I to pack up and go!!! So I throw the rest of our stuff that I had not yet packed into boxes (running around like a mad woman, telling the kids to stay in their room until I tell them they can come out - except for Willow-River, who was my helper!)...

We then call for a taxi to take us to Kaohsiung (an hour or so by car, AND during 5pm rush hour), just as we are about to arrive in Kaohsiung, Asia-Faith, who had been sitting in the back started getting restless, so I put her on my lap in the front, and then guess what??? She vomitted all over me!!!! YUCK!!! I guess she was feeling a little car-sick! Then the taxi driver hands me a plastic packet, and his tissues, and there is only 1 tissue left in the box! Just then we arrive at the High Speed Rail (train), and we all get out of the taxi! Now we have 4 kids, 1 stroller, 1 cat who we are trying to hide in a basket in a bag as we did not know if they let cats on the train, (and I forgot about her when we packed the taxi, and we put her in the boot! I was really praying she would survive the hour in the boot - she did!)... Not to mention we had a big bag of our clothes (I tried to pack light, but you know me, always need to take extras - just in case!), the computer, and my handbag - and noone around to help, not even a trolley!

Next stop were the toilets as we had to get all the puke cleaned up and get changed, then we headed off to go and buy tickets for the train. By this time I was now exhausted! Our train was due to leave at around 7:30pm or so, so we headed straight to where we needed to board. Finally we all got on the train, the kids loved it, but I just couldn't wait to get to our final destination. We were to arrive in Taipei and then still another train trip to Ilan (2 hours or so)...

We finally arrive in Taipei, and just as I am getting all the bags together the boys say there is daddy! I thought they were being funny as we were still on the train and dad would be upstairs waiting, but no! There he was!!! He had bought a ticket so that he could get on the platform and meet us there!!! I was SOOOOOO happy to see him!!!
We decided to take a taxi to Ilan (Loudong actually), as it would be alot quicker than the train. So we took the taxi and arrived in Loudong at the apartment Jason had been staying with a friend, Sam. I was just so happy to be back with my man and almost to our new home!!!

We stayed with Sam for a few days, and then on the Saturday the typhoon made landfall!!!! Wow, it was something else! The wind was howling and the trees were almost doubled over. Once it was over we went for a walk and there were just so many broken trees lying around, but not all that much other damage.

Then Sunday we finally moved to our apartment! It was the first time I was seeing it and it is really great!

We only managed to get our stuff from Donggang about 2 weeks later, so now all is well and we (or should I say *I*) have finished unpacking, and everything has basically found its home:)

As for the adoption process, well, the papers were sent to Ilan courts, only to be returned to the Taitung courts because that is where Asia-Faith's household registry is held. So we are waiting yet again for a court date... hoping it will be at the end of September.

Enjoy the pics....

During our transition phase in Ilan, waiting to move into our apartment....

Taking a walk after the typhoon....take note of the trees....

Dragonflies....

The local dog pack....