December Updates!

We finally received our December updates of Jason Pin-Hao! We were so hoping to have them before Christmas. It is so nice to think that hopefully this time next year he will be celebrating Christmas with us!

It looks like these photos were taken on November 27th. He has grown so much! He is wearing the overalls and shoes that we sent to him. The little Thomas the Train toy that he briefly plays with in the video is also from us.

We got such a kick out of the part in the video when he suddenly gets a funny look on his face when he is trying to make his toy squeak! He seems to be doing really well and we are more anxious than ever to go to Taiwan to bring him home!

Hearing

After waiting for three months since our referral, the big day is finally upon us. Our Hearing is set to take place in Taiwan on December 23rd, and because they are 16 hours ahead of us, this means that it should happen the night of the 22nd here in the U.S.. I believe from what I've heard from my JOH friends that both the birth-mom and Jason Pin-Hao will be there in the court room. The birth-mom must state her desire for him to be adopted in front of the judge.

Having done that, the judge will usually take 1-3 months to make a "First Ruling" that the adoption is to proceed. The birth-mom has until 10 business days after this ruling to change her mind. After that the "Final Ruling" will hopefully come within 4-6 weeks.

We would appreciate it if those of you who pray might keep us in your prayers during this time. We want what is best for Jason Pin-Hao, and his birth-mom, and that ultimately God's will be done.

Give A Kid a Cardboard Box.......

Stephen is taking a hiatus from his beloved Legos and has created for himself a Time machine/Transmogrifier out of a cardboard box. He has always loved "Calvin and Hobbes," and has read our three-volume set of comic strips over and over again. He even has his favorite stuffed otter, "Sigmund" or "Siggy" (previously "Hobbes," but changed as to not to copy "THE Hobbes") along with him for the adventure.

Apparently a Transmogrifier is something that can turn one thing into another. In the comic strip Calvin changed himself and Hobbes into many different creatures. So, you can imagine that combining this gadget with a time traveling machine can provide hours of entertainment! Last night he went on three missions. The first mission was to get rid of his homework, the second to destroy his sister's science book (?), and the third was to visit Jason in Taiwan. Evidently only the third mission was successful. Maybe I'll ask him to take me along next time!

Updates are In!!!!

Yeah! Updates are finally in! As much as I love looking at the same pictures and videos of our sweet boy over and over again, I was longing for some new ones. I was so thrilled to see that Mrs. Chiu (his foster-mother) showed him playing with the toys we sent him! He is holding Mickey Mouse while looking at the musical storybook toy that was in his first care package. He isn’t wearing any of the things we sent him, but it might be too warm for them still since he is in shorts in the photo. I am not quite sure what he’s up to with his tongue in the video, maybe teething? He definitely looks older than his last update. I just want him to stay little for a few more months until we go and pick him up!

Also, I wanted to share that we will eventually be calling him “Jason,” with the middle name of “Pin-Hao”. I’m sure we will slowly transition from one name to the other. We actually kind of decided on the name last summer before his referral, but wanted to leave our options open in case it didn’t seem to fit. When I was ten years old I was a flower girl in my favorite older cousin’s wedding. The ring bearer that walked down the aisle with me was a little boy named Jason, and I’ve liked the name ever since. It’s funny that the name used to be so common that there is a baby name book called something like, “Beyond Jason and Jennifer,” but now you don’t hear it as often. Anyway, I think it also fits well with “Katherine,” and “Stephen.”

Now I must go blog surfing to check out everyone else's updates!!!

Kate Turns 15!

Our daughter Kate just had her 15th birthday party with ten girlfriends and, of course, her little brother. Her actual birthday is tomorrow and she has decided that she wants to take a couple of friends to "Top Gun," which is a Chinese restaurant that my friend from Taiwan told us about. We have been there a few times already and love how the waitresses come around with carts of dim-sum, filled buns, or noodles and you just point to what you want (unless you speak Mandarin and can actually tell them what you want). It's great because most of the people eating there are Asian. We can't wait to take Pin-Hao there when he comes home.

Good News and Not So Good News

We have been anticipating an email from Tien letting us know when our Hearing date would be. She finally emailed today and said that our court hearing is for December 23rd. I'll have to say that I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't sooner. She said that The birthmother will express her adoption decision to the judge at this hearing. At that point it will take about 1-3 months for the judge to issue a "First Ruling". This means that any time up to the first ruling, the birthmother may change her mind.

She also informed us that Pin-Hao has been recently diagnosed with a condition called G-6-P-D. I have only done a bit of research on it at this point, but it looks like it is a hereditary disease in which there are abnormally low levels of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. These G6PD protect red blood cells and without them Hemolytic anemia can occur. Children with this may have anemic like symptoms if they consume fava (or broad) beans. They also have to avoid certain antibiotics and pain killers.

Immigration Approval!!!

We finally received a notice in the mail today that we were cleared by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to adopt internationally. Brian had his fingerprints done twice for them, and neither were readable, so we had to get more documentation in order to obtain clearance. Fortunately, once we sent in the necessary paperwork, we received our approval within the week. Now we are just waiting to find out when our first Hearing will take place in Taiwan.

Kate & Stephen Enjoy the Fall Colors

Pin-Hao's 1st Update!

I was so excited to find an email with Pin-Hao's first update today!  It's so funny because when I think of him, I always imagine him in the little Mickey Mouse outfit he was wearing in his first pictures.  Well, sure enough, he was wearing them in the new pictures as well.  I think I am going to have to beg his foster mom to let us take the outfit home when we go to Taiwan.

Speaking of his foster mom, I found out from a fellow Journeys of the Heart mom, whose daughter is now home, that her little girl most likely had the same foster mom when she was being taken care of in Taiwan.  She was able to tell by the background of Pin-Hao's pictures.  The foster mom's name is Mrs. Chiu.  She has three children of her own, 2 boys and 1 girl who are all 10 years old and up.  It sounds like many other JOH babies have been taken care of by her.  I believe there is also at least one more child with her right now, as evidenced by the baby crying in the background as well as all of the packages of diapers behind Pin-Hao in his video (surely they aren't all for him!) 

Pin-Hao's 1st Care Package!

We received an email from Tien yesterday that our dossier has been sent to Taiwan!  It should take 3-4 days to get there, and then after it is reviewed by "Program III," it will be submitted to the District Court.  At that time it can take 1-3 months for the first court hearing.  This will be followed in another 1-3 months by the "First Ruling", and then 4-6 weeks after that should be the "Final Ruling".  

We were also given the go ahead to send our first care package to Pin-Hao!  We have been collecting things to send him for the last few weeks since we received our referral call.  Of course, three weeks worth of collecting has ended up with a box weighing much more then the recommended 4lbs.!  

 

Our paperwork finally came from Taiwan and was delivered to us by Fed Ex on Friday morning Oct. 3rd.  We spent the day driving around getting a notary's signature and taking the signed paperwork up to the JOH office in Shoreline.  Tien was there and we were able to get a picture with her before we left.  She will now send everything to the Secretary of State, and then to TECO.  Once they come back to her, which should take about a week, she will be able to send our dossier to Taiwan.  This will start the process of court hearings and the 4-7 month countdown.

We began our journey at the beginning of this last June when we decided to add to our family of four.  Kate (14) and Stephen (10) have been extremely excited to have a new little brother to play with (and spoil)!  

After all of the extensive paperwork was turned in and our homestudy was completed, we finally got on 'The List' at "Journeys of the Heart" adoption agency at the beginning of August.  

On September 20th we got a call from Tien at 'Journeys' saying that we had been matched with a 16 month old boy from Taiwan named Pin-Hao.  We checked out Tien's email message to see the three pictures of this adorable little boy!

Now that we have seen pictures of this precious child and are longing to hold him, we begin the process of waiting for the court process in Taiwan to be completed, which can take 4-7 months.  At that time we will travel to Taiwan to bring our sweet boy home.

Until then we will receive updates with photos each month, which we will post to this blog for others to enjoy along with us.