BIG news!
We are growing our family through adoption!
We are beyond excited and are doing everything we can to be prepared to welcome a little girl into our home. We appreciate any support you are willing to give to help assist with the high financial costs associated with the adoption process.
Through this crowdfunding campaign, we invite you to take part in the work the Lord is doing growing our family through adoption.
We cannot say thank you enough for any support you are able to give, and we ask for your prayers as we walk through this process.
Hello everyone!!!
Some good news!! Our 1-600 (provisional visa to enter the United States) was approved for our daughter! We received it last week. Our report was also sent to the courts in November and we found out that our case was assigned to a judge last week! Praying that our judge moves things along quickly. Some judges can take their time and ask for additional information.
Alvin has been writing letters to her, and at our last Skype she talked about how she wanted to come soon. We know she will be here next year, but waiting is always hard! Thank you for your continued prayers!
On August 1st, our family made the trip to Tokyo/Taiwan. It was actually against the judgement of our adoption agency because we might have to take a trip when the first court decision is made (resulting in 3 trips) but also because no one had ever asked if they could just go and visit before.
I think our agency in Taiwan felt bad because everything was taking so long. (We later found out that our daughter's first government social worker had been holding on to the documents for 2 months for some reason, which also added to the delays.) The trip was set to visit her for 3 days, August 7, 8, and 9th. Because we were in country, we would also be able to sign the documents that had not made it back to the states.
Alvin rented a car that could fit the 7 of us (including our caseworker). Driving around in Taiwan was quite an experience with all the scooters, not to mention everything being in Mandarin, but Alvin did well!
We spent 3 days playing basketball, taking her places, buying clothes and toys and feeding her. We all enjoyed our time together and she already felt like part of the family!! It was a great time of bonding and we hope to make our final trip out soon!
In other great news, our dossier was sent to Taiwan! Now we wait for our caseworker to finish writing the report and then after it's sent to the courts, for the judge to make their decision. We are praying for a quick decision by the judge and for this extra visit that we took to be looked at favorably.
Hello! We have been waiting for the dossier to come from Taiwan. The original timeline was February, and then it kept getting pushed back. The way it usually works is for the Dossier to come from Taiwan, then we have to get our documents authenticated and notarized here in the States through the government. That could take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. Then they have to be sent back to Taiwan where they would be translated. The Cathwel social worker would then write up a report with the documents and send it to the courts.
However since everything was so pushed back, Cathwel had our documents translated early. Our documents here in the states will be authenticated and then we will be able to take the documents with us to Taiwan to sign the dossier and get everything notarized. It's a backwards way of doing things, but this extra trip that we're taking is actually working in our favor!
Praise God for progress!
Our daughter's birthday was early June, so we had a skype call with her on Monday. We opened presents that we got for her such as shoes and wireless ear buds. She was really excited for the earbuds!
Unfortunately there was another delay in paper work. Our agency in Taiwan received our dossier but it was stamped and not signed so they had to send it back. We were told it would take another two weeks, when the first estimate was February. Needless to say we were very discouraged.
However we had mentioned to our social worker about the possibility of visiting over the summer. At first she said it wouldn't be a good idea since we might have to make 3 trips (including a first court trip and then to bring our daughter home) but with all the delays I think she felt sorry for us. So she said the first two weeks of August would be the best to visit our daughter, so we bought tickets today!
We are going to fly into Tokyo and roam around with the boys. Then we're going to Taiwan and spend 3 days with her! We haven't decided what to do exactly, but we anticipate lots of eating and basketball.
Hello!!! We just had another skype call with our daughter today! She sent us video tours of her orphanage and where she slept and ate. The boys made videos for her. Aidan sang a song and rapped, Tobin made a stop motion video and Brennen showed off his rubik's cube skills.
There was a change in government officials in her area over the new year, so they're behind again on paperwork. The dossier was supposed to come at the end of February, early March but it looks like it will be more delayed. Our update here in America with an immigration form is also taking awhile...so we're just playing the waiting game.
Thank you always for your support and prayers!
