Things Are Going Well

Last Saturday I had my first baby shower for Faith. As the planning began and invitations went out I was really excited and could not wait to get together with my friends and family and share my journey with them. I look forward to any chance I get to talk about Faith. There was one shower held Saturday morning from 10AM to Noon for my friends and another held that same day from 3PM until 5PM for my family(Bott's & Jackman's). I woke bright and early and headed to my shower @ 9:30 AM (say goodbye to sleeping in). On my way to the friend shower I witnessed a car accident right in front of me. Both vehicles which collided happened to have little kids in them and when I saw them jumping from their cars and the mother's holding their little ones it almost brought me to tears. I experienced some serious fear as I continued to drive to my shower, thinking about Faith and how precious she is. Her life is in my hands and it scares me to death to think of anything bad happening to her (and the fact that the poor little thing is going to be under my care, ha-ha!). Every mother out there knows what this is like and more and more these days those feelings keep arising. I am going to be so paranoid and drive her crazy, I'm sure of it. Not only did this effect me in a big way but the last few weeks when ever I talk about her with someone or try and thank someone for something they have done for us I get all emotional and teary eyed. I may not be carrying this little one inside of me but I seem to be experiencing all the same feelings and emotions any mother would while carrying her little one and preparing for that day to bring her home (whether it be Taiwan or the hospital). My emotions are all out of wack!

Well I made it to the shower and all went well. The day was absolutely beautiful and I saw so many friends and family. Everyone has been so generous and I am overwhelmed with emotions. I expected things to be a little different though thinking that the baby showers would be exciting, make time pass quickly, make me feel closer to her and everything would be HAPPY! Don't get me wrong it was wonderful and my appreciation goes out to all of those who helped with the showers and all of those who came to give their love, but I longed for her badly. I wanted her to be there with me. I found my thoughts drifting the whole time imagining her with us. It was hard, it made me sad. Everything at times feels so surreal. I can not believe we are bringing our baby home! I open gifts and it just seems so strange, we have a baby!

I had a wonderful time at both the friend shower and the family shower. Faith is so very spoiled already. I do not know how to express my gratitude to everyone, words can not say enough.

As we prepare to bring her home in 3 weeks from today all is going well and falling into place. I feel my Heavenly Fathers love around me all the time and my heart is filled with such gratitude. The blessings never stop. He is truly amazing and knows us all personally so well. The power of prayer is real, I feel his love in my life daily and I am so thankful!

We have our flights reserved (flying from SLC to LA then from LA to Taiwan and it will be the same coming home), passports ready to go (we have had these for the last 5 months or so), all paperwork for Faith's US Visa has been completed and will be mailed to Taiwan next week so they can be preparing it for our appointment at the American Institute of Taiwan on March 13th (the day after picking her up at St. Lucy's). The crib arrived this morning so this next week (when Lindsay returns from working out of town, FINALLY) we will be able to finish up all the furniture for her nursery and put the piles of gifts aware and in their places. I will get everything organized and finally take some pictures of our baby girls room (SO ADORABLE!). I am so excited to have it all done and ready (experiencing the nesting period).

I have another baby shower this evening for the girls in my ward/church and then one more on Saturday @ 2 PM for Lindsay's family (Workman's, Openshaw's & Briggs). Talk about SPOILED! I hope to have pictures posted from all baby showers and her nursery in the next few weeks.

The week before travel we will focus on getting everything packed and all the letters and gifts written and wrapped to take with us to thank all those who have helped us along the way and have taken such good care of our baby girl.

We are to receive a travel packet from our agency as well with the schedule for Monday, March 13th when we pick up Faith. We are to meet Sally (translator) and she will take us to St. Lucy's and spend the day with us as we tour the facility, meet all the wonderful angels who work there, have lunch and see where our baby girl has spent the fist six months of her life. Also in the travel packet will be tour information and taxi cards that get us from here to there. Lindsay and I have decided to fly into Taipei (arriving on their Friday night). Get some good rest (yeah right). And then we have chosen to fly to Tainan on Saturday afternoon to spend two nights and two days in the city where Faith was born and really experience some of the true culture of Taiwan. Our Counselor Laura is thrilled that we have made this decision and she thinks we will have the time of our lives. We will stay in the Tainan hotel and take a few tours there and do some night market shopping. Laura said we can buy the most beautiful material and clothing here that you can not find in Taipei and that we should do most of our shopping here and what ever we don't find we can get later in Taipei because we won't find anything like what we should see here the rest of the trip. I am looking forward to this in a big way (although it's a lot of traveling in two days but worth it). Once we pick up Faith on Monday we then fly back to Taipei that afternoon for the rest of our trip. We will return to the good o'l USA March 16th late in the evening.

We hope all continues to go well and things go smoothly the next three weeks so that we will be boarding that plane on March 8th. My heart and my eye's have truly been opened to some amazing things over the last 9 months as we have prepared for this. Heavenly Father is so wise.

LOVE YOU ALL!