WE GOT THE CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lindsay and I have had a crazy night. This week I have had the strongest feeling that I needed to go to the temple and clear my mind and say a special prayer to our Heavenly Father. The pressures of life have been weighing heavily on me and I really needed to step outside of the world and find some peace, the temple would have to be the place.

I asked Lindsay if we could go tonight and he tried to make it home sooner but he ended up getting home at 6 PM and we were off to the temple at 6:30 PM. We were both starving and instead of waiting to eat after (as we usually do, but that's because we usually make it to the temple bye 5 PM when we go). We thought we would have time to hurry and stop and grab something and still make it for the last temple session at 8 PM. Every where we went the lines were to long. I was determined to get to the temple. Any other time I would have given up, only because it was later then usual and we were both so tired (we didn't know if we could stay awake through the session), we were starving, we couldn't find parking at the temple. I would have found some excuse to go home. Something kept pushing me on. I knew I had to be there.

We skipped dinner and made it to the 7:30 PM session. I had a prayer in my heart the whole evening that Heavenly Father would bring our baby girl home soon. I was so overwhelmed with emotions and it was one of the best sessions I have ever been through. Surprisingly enough I was wide awake the whole time as my thoughts were racing and I could feel my Heavenly Father close. As we sat in the celestial room I said a little prayer to my Heavenly Father and the most calming and wonderful feeling came over me. I knew at that moment that Faith would be coming home no later then March and we would be a family soon.

Lindsay and I stopped for dinner on our way home at 10 PM (so not good on the body) and when we got home we read a little out of a book we have been reading and then decided to call it a night at 11:15 PM. I turned to my cell phone to set my alarm for tomorrow morning so I wouldn't forget to wake up (I have song practice with some of my Young Women in the ward for New Beginnings coming up next week). As I went to turn up my ring

Spoiled!

Some of the cute clothes Faith has received from friends & family.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Studies

Lindsay and I are always reading and learning while we prepare and wait to bring Faith home. We have started a good collection of many wonderful books that will help us.

We are determined to learn a little bit of the language so that when we travel to Taiwan to pick her up we will be able to say a few of the basics to the many people we come across : thank you, good morning, hello, nice day, how are you, etc.

Getting Started

Let the fun begin!!!

We cleaned out the guest room and painted the walls. Cleaned out the closet and started filling it with all kinds of fun things for Faith. IT IS SO MUCH FUN!

I will be painting more on the walls and Lindsay is working on her dresser. As the room and furniture come together we will take more pictures. The few I have added are just to show the beginning. As you can tell it's so empty and waiting for a little girl to come and cheer up the place, adding life and color just as she will to her parents lives. We have waiting for this for a long time. We have so much fun going out and looking at items at the stores as we prepare. When ever we go out I have to pull Lindsay away from all the clothes and toys. He gets so easily distracted with the fun things, always telling me what he is going to buy her and how he is going to spoil her (not such a good thing). I have to keep him focused on our mission, the nursery items: crib, dresser, rocking chair, car seat, stroller and all the major necessities at this time.

These few pictures are a little boring but we thought it would be fun to post the beginning and then the end result as we put it all together. Stay tuned!

2nd Care Package

We are going to send Faith a care package every month until we go and pick her up. It's not much but it costs quite a bit to send packages to Taiwan and we figure she will receive PLENTY when we bring her home. We always want to send something that will help her learn of her new home and her Mom and Dad. Of course we want her to be comfortable so that's where the blanket, clothing and toys come into play. This is her second package and we thought we would send her some soft and squeezable books with fun colorful pictures and then we wanted to send her some pictures of her Mom and Dad and Grandparents too. We want her to become familiar with our faces so she is not so afraid when we go and pick her up. Inside the book of pictures we also placed some Mandarin Characters by some of the photo's that say "Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa, Grandma, Home, Kitty and Horse" so she can learn of who each person is and the care givers can read them to her and point. We hope this helps!

2nd Care Package

We sent two books, one photo book and some basic onesies too

Patiently Waiting.....

Well it's been 7 weeks since we received our referral and it's been 6 weeks since we signed our Power of Attorney documents and sent them to our agency. They have to travel through many hands before they actually reach the Taiwan court system. We are told that our agency sends them to the State of Utah, then they are sent to the Taiwan office in San Fransisco and translated, then sent back to our agency for review and then sent to St. Lucy's in Taiwan before going to the court.

We have not yet heard anything from our agency as to where we might be in the process. When we received Faith's last update with pictures there was a small note attached that said "waiting for court filing update". This might mean that our counselor Laura (with Families for Children) has yet to hear back from St. Lucy's as to when they submitted the documents to the court. I hope we hear something soon, it's killing me.

Once the documents are in the courts the following is how the court process should flow:

1. Family Court assigns a family court Judge to the case (Please NO SLOW JUDGE).

** I think we might be at this point in the process.

2. Judge reviews the case and schedules a hearing.

** This can take a while or happen quite quickly depending on the Judge and Court's schedule.

3. All parties are notified of the hearing. Birth family to represent themselves if they choose. If they choose not to attend the hearing the court assumes their consent to the adoption. An orphanage representative directed by their legal counsel represents us as the adoptive family.

4. Judge finishes reviewing the case and/or requesting additional information and issues the first ruling. Parties are notified of the first ruling.

** At notification of our first ruling, St. Lucy's contacts us with the update and gives us a travel date!!!

5. 10 business days are allowed for all parties to be notified of the Judge's ruling on the case. All parties have the ability to file any disagreement to the Judge's ruling. If the Judge's ruling was contested by any of the parties during the 10 days, the case would continue and the judge would hear all new concerns regarding the case.

6. When the 10 day notification period has ended, the court prepares the first and second ruling documents. These are the final civil judgement documents showing Lindsay and I as Faith's legal parents and will be used for immigration, re-adoption and citizenship.

7. St. Lucy's receives the final judgement documents and sends them out to be officially translated. Faith is scheduled for and receives her immigration physical exam performed by a US government approved hospital or physician.

8. Documents are changed at the local government offices to reflect Lindsay and I as Faith's legal parents. The documents are forwarded to the AIT for our VISA appointment.

9. When we travel to Taiwan to pick Faith up we are then scheduled to meet at the government offices the next day to sign documents and pay a fee, they process all the legal documents over night and we return one more time to pick them up. These are all the forms that bring Faith home safely and legally with us.

10. BACK to the USA with Faith!!!

As you can see, we have a lot of steps to go through and no idea how long each will take and where exactly we are in the process. I think one of the hardest steps will be step 6 and making it through the 10 (business) day waiting period.

Please keep us in your prayers. We love you all so much and it is so comforting knowing we have so many people rooting for us.

Loves

Faith's First Gifts

I have a really hard time holding myself back when ever I walk in a store these days. There are SO many cute girl things. The following pictures are some of the very first gifts Faith received.

1 - A beautiful diaper bag (I absolutely LOVE it!)
2 - Faith's first baby doll (SO sweet)
3 - The very first thing her mom bought for her where some cute little soft & fuzzy booties for the winter time (the very first baby gift her mom has ever bought period for the family).
4 - Her very first article of clothing. It was the cutest little sweater her mom had ever seen and had to get it. She will be absolutely adorable in it, as in everything she wears of course.

Thank you all so much for the gifts we keep receiving. It so fun planning and preparing for our little one to arrive. I go in her room often and look at everything over and over again. For some reason it helps me feel just a little bit closer to her.

Taiwan Information

Wheather, Maps, History, Etc.

Culture

You will find some of the wealthiest yet some of the most poverty stricken people of The Republic of China on this island.

Taiwan Sites

I thought it would be fun to post a few of the sites around Taiwan. It is a beautiful island.

Power of Prayer

At this time we would like to ask our family and friends if they will remember us in their prayers as we go through the final process of bringing home our little girl. We know through the power of prayer that all will go well and quickly through the courts. I can not wait to hold that little angel in my arms. We hope to bring her home soon.

I would also like to thank everyone for their love and support. It means so much to us. Every one's love and generosity has been amazing. It has truly been so wonderful to experience so much joy and happiness in our lives. We are so lucky!

Thank you for EVERYTHING!

We Love You All!

Care Givers

Thank you with all of our hearts. True Angles!

Care Givers

We are so grateful for the wonderful women who are taking care of our little sweet heart and all of the beautiful children at St. Lucy's Center. They work so hard and truly love the little children.

I am so thankful for the gentleness, love, care, laughter they bring to Faith. They are amazing women and we love them.

St. Lucy's Center

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St. Lucy's Center

August 2006