Still on hold

Hi,  I just wanted to give a short update to let everyone know we still don't know when we will travel.  Sadly, our finger prints expired.  (a paperwork detail I somehow missed)So now we are waiting for FBI clearance.  Please pray this would not take too long.  Also sadly, after we were all finger printed,  Annie and I both had our fingerprints rejected.  DON'T WORRY!    This does not mean we are "bad guys."  It just means we have dumb fingerprints!  Well, actually, they are just full of lines over the swirls that are supposed to be read.  Now if you want, at this point, to think that we are hard working women,  with our our hands in the wash tub and soil, toiling all the day long--please think that. Make us in to good, hard working, 'women of the earth types'.  Why not?   But,  to be honest,  we just think we have the "barely there finger print gene" OR the "old and wrinkled finger gene"  Which is a double bummer for Annie who is only 24!

On the subject of bummers for Annie.  She will leave 2 months from yesterday for a six month discipleship training school.  So each day we wait for our fingerprints to clear is another day she won't spend getting to know this little sister.  So we really could use your prayers for God to speed things up.

Thank you.  And I want you to know, even in this last minute, unforeseen and completely foolish delay( which I can blame myself for), even in this,  God is good and his mercy endures forever and he knows the beginning from the end and he is the First and the Last.  I am so thankful to serve a living God!  Amen.  

Daniel's video

I made this video shortly after I made Kai's and Sarah-Grace's, but I got side-tracked (or tired of waiting forever for videos to load) and never shared it.  Here's Daniels video. Photos are from spring 2007-December 2008.  Enjoy.  :)

IT'S FINAL!

We heard today that the judge in Taiwan has made his final ruling!  We are scrambling to make sure all the paperwork is in order here and half way around the world.  We are hoping to travel in the next few weeks.  Please keep our family in your prayers!

Spring Fever

Some of the things we've been doing to combat the winter doldrums-

Making and eating crepes- even without the Eiffel tower in the background there is something supremely satisfying about a crepe.







Cooking delicious mealsKai with the dinner he and Dad cooked for the family. Now Kai thinks he has bragging rights as the best cook in the house.













And having "good-bye winter doldrums" parties.


Task one: Blindfolded paintgun target shooting

Task 2: Using GPS coordinates, locate your first clue.


"Go to the place where one cousin works and ask a friend for a package"


On the way to the Sport's emporium where Erin works.



The package: tokens, an envelope with the message, "you must win 25 tokens to open", and Task 3: the 2 youngest members of each team needed to climb the rock wall.

Hmm, I missed taking any photos during task 4: a scavenger hunt through Wal-Mart, including a run-in with a rather unfriendly dressing room attendant and a mad dash through the rain to get the grocery cart guy's signature.

Task 5: Bigger and Better.

Starting item: wind up Easter toys.

Exchanged along the way for: a box of substitue sugar, a Dora balloon, a bag of peanuts, a broken stick vacuum cleaner, a golf-themed chip and dip tray and probably a few more crazy things I'm forgetting.

Trades we wouldn't accept: 2 cute kids and one dog. :)


The returning teams:

Team One: everything INCLUDING the kitchen sink


Team 2: A brand new wok and some decidedly not brand new video games and consoles from the good-old-days.

We Have Good News

We heard from Taiwan that they received the civil ruling and the birthfather's rights have been terminated.   We need to wait 20 days for the final ruling and then we will hopefully be able to travel.

This is great and exciting news.  However,  I just don't want to be disappointed again.  I don't want to find out we have to wait more. 

It is hard to imagine what life with Sarah-Grace will be like.  I remember thinking the same thing before Kai Wei came home.  You just can't "imagine" the future.  But it is fun to think about,  and wonder,  now that I feel I can let myself :-)

Webchat

  Well,  I never did get the cute pictures from the photo album scanned.  But here are some cute ones from our webchat this morning.  (Please note that I was up and dressed and even had my hair combed[AND makeup--well, the bit that I wear--so I didn't look too tired ;-] at 6:15 AM.  Pretty good for someone not planning on leaving the house today!).

We had a nice chat.  She seems to be doing really well.  She asked us some questions and asked for her brothers that were still in bed (we brought the laptop up to Kai-Wei--mean parents that we are--she got a kick out of that).  She showed us her dinosaur cards and we showed her some projects the boys had made.  She asked to see the dogs and then said she would like to play with dogs.  Really amazing as that was one of her biggest concerns when she learned about our family and heard we had a dog.  Our little girl is growing up and I think growing out of some of her fears, which is a good thing.  We thank God and hope we can see her soon in person!

A Surprise in the Mail

I was washing dishes at my sink today when I saw the mail carrier pull into our driveway. I went out to meet her because I had some mail. She had an envelope from Jonah House!  There was a whole little photo album inside with pictures of
Sarah-Grace's trip over the holidays. It is so cute. It has little gnomes on the cover and inside it is full of pictures of Ssu-Ya enjoying herself with her little friend Renee, the daughter of the Cathwel worker that has been so kind to her.

There are pictures from a fun park, from a hike in some beautiful countryside and pictures of her learning how to ride a bike! She apparently is willing to work hard to master something--even when it hurts. Hopefully I will make the time to post a few of those cute pictures. She looks happy and very healthy.

There was also a monthly report from Jonah house and a very insightful note from the woman who had her home for the holidays. It was good to have some first hand information into her personality and character traits. I am just so thankful for the love God is pouring out on our little girl through these kind people. I know she will really treasure her memories of this trip. I believe it was a time for her, after more than a year in the orphanage, to feel a part of a family. I hope she enjoyed that feeling to the fullest and is ready to begin being part of a forever family soon! I imagine she is, as we are, MORE than ready!

We have not heard anything from the court. But I don't imagine we will until the judge makes her ruling. I am hoping and praying it will be this month and I'm hoping, of course, for SOON. We'll keep you posted :-)