GOOD NEWS / BAD NEWS!

The GOOD NEWS is we are going to be TRAVELING IN FEBRUARY!!! Dana and I are planning to go in mid February and spend about 10 days. It hardly seems possible to me--I've been imagining it for SO LONG.

The bad new is that Sarah Grace will not be able to come home with us yet. But we are feeling blessed and are believing that this too is in God's hands. On the positive side Kai Wei will get us all to himself for a couple of months (all SEVEN of us!) He will have a chance to establish himself a bit. And another positive is that Sarah Grace will get a chance to meet us, her new parents, and spend some time with us. (Hopefully this doesn't backfire and she does LIKE us!) We think it will really be good for her to feel like she knows us a bit before it is her turn to fly that long journey to the land unknown. . .

Of course the down side is the added expense of a second round trip air fare and stay. Also, if the court in Taiwan drags the case out too much longer (like not having even the first hearing by March 1) We will have to go ahead and update our homestudy and apply for an extension of our I-600A (petition to adopt through USCIS)even though we won't need it if we pick her up before May 16. Another $300 and all that paperwork. . .

Please pray for all the court proceedings and travel to work out and for us to travel and meet in peace and great joy.

God Bless!

Eight Dogs!?

We talked to Kai Wei and Si Ya again tonight. As always, it was good to see the kids, but we're starting to get impatient for the REAL THING. We don't want to talk to them just over the internet, but actually have them here in our home, in their home. However, it really is good to talk to them and get more glimpses into their personalities.

We had a "lost in translation" moment with Sarah Grace that could have been slightly disastrous. We were asking if she likes animals and then asked her if she liked ducks. She said yes, so Jonathan told her we had eight ducks outside. Her eyes got wider than I've ever seen any child's eyes open. She was shocked. My Mom, who was listening to the Chinese, said "wait a minute, did she just tell her we had eight dogs ? " Thinking back we thought she had said "ba gou" (eight dogs). Apparently the social worker misheard duck as dog. Since Sarah Grace has seemed frightened of the fact that we have a dog on several occasions, we hurried to clarify that we had eight ducks, not 8 dogs. "ducks, not dogs!" "quack quack quack" We hope she realizes now that we don't have 8 scary dogs, only 1 (non-scary) puppy and a flock of ducks.

Happy Birthday Sarah Grace!

Yesterday was Sarah Grace's 8th birthday. It's hard to believe that half a year has gone by since we first saw her picture and she's still not home. Eight somehow sounds so much older than 7, and I'm sad we didn't get to spend any of her 7th year with her. I can't wait to have this little girl home. She's a bundle of energy, that's for sure!



We spent a couple of days over the Christmas break rearranging rooms in the house so that the girls have the largest room (since with 3 of us, it was going to be a tight squeeze in the room Rebecca and I were in). It's fun to have it all arranged now with a bed all ready for Sarah Grace, and clothes for her in the closet and a dresser, and even empty drawer space. (and believe me, that empty drawer space was not easy to come by). Not too much longer now until she's living in it!




Happy 8th birthday Sarah Grace!