A bitter-sweet day before meeting our son

It has been a very lovely day here in Taiwan. Tomorrow is the day I have been waiting for all of these months and I am so joyful and excited to meet our son. Sadly, it has also been a very emotional day for me because our dog, Cookie, who I thought was going to pull through an attack from a coyote, is apparently going to have to be put down after all. I have cried my eyes out feeling so much guilt for having let her out alone on the day of my departure and so much sadness at the fact that after five years, she won't be there when I return home.

Now it's time to leave those sad feelings behind, though, and to prepare for this incredibly special day tomorrow. If one good thing has come of this loss, it has made me realize in just a very small, small way what Jason will have to go through and what he has gone through with the loss of his birth-mom and now his foster mom.

Fion is picking us up at 8:40am to leave for Taichung, which is a two hour drive away. The agency has asked the foster mom to bring Jason to the agency because they feel that it will be too hard for him to be taken away from his foster mom's home. I am disappointed that we won't be able to see where he has lived for all of these months, but I definitely want this transition to be as smooth as possible for Jason. Also, I have been told that the birthmom doesn't want to meet me at this time. There is a possibility that she could change her mind, but it doesn't look very likely at this point.

So, a bit about our first day. The flight on Eva airlines was very nice and seemed to go much more quickly than I had anticipated. Fion picked us up at the airport and then took us to the hotel, the Howard Plaza, to check in. Then she took us to a huge souvenir store for some shopping. Unfortunately, I was just starving at that point and could not set my mind to picking out things. After a while we met Fion in the lobby empty-handed and she looked at us with unbelief! Apparently we had missed the downstairs portion of the shop, so we went back and found some fun things there.

We were going to continue on to Chaing Kai-Shek Memorial Hall but we told Fion that we had to eat something first. It was too early for the restaurants to be open, so she pulled over in front of a dumpling stand (I'll add a picture of it) and bought us some dumplings, which were quite tasty! We then carried on to the Memorial, which was beautiful.

Most of the afternoon was spent trying to figure out why my calling card wouldn't work so that I could call home, and then dealing with the news that I had received via email about our dog. We did, however find time to try out the hotel lounge downstairs in the hotel. I discovered my new favorite drink there, the Singapore Sling, or something like that.

Finally, we walked the town and explored a department stores and a few other shops, and ended up at a very popular dumpling restaurant called, ""DIN TAI FUNG", which was really good! We took a cab home, which was quite an experience! Apparently pedestrians DON'T have the right-of-way here. It has been amazing to see all of the scooters and even more so, all of the people that wear mask (like a doctor's mask) to keep from breathing the pollution. My one complaint is that I haven't been able to find "bubble tea" anywhere!

Tomorrow is the big day. I have envisioned it so many times that I can't believe that it is finally going to happen. I just pray that it will be a good day for Jason, and not too tramatic for him.

*****Quick Update!!!*****

I just received news via email from my husband that he took our dog to our regular vet vs. the emergency clinic where she has been, and they really felt that Cookie could heal well given rest at home with medication. Needless to say, my heart is lighter, and I am so thrilled to know that if all goes well with her recovery, she will be there to greet me with Jason back at home!!!!