Waiting is so hard to do

Its been some time since I last posted but really we have no news. We had some issues that our Doctor brought up about Sarah's head circumference but very impressively, the agency had an e-mail back to me within a week with a health check up - her measurements are fine and her foster mother says she has grown "much" this month! Matt and I bought a new stroller - so that was exciting. We are hoping to get an update next week.

Today is Halloween and Maggie is going to be Hannah Montana - I really wanted her to be Minnie Mouse but I guess those days are over....

Chicago trip pictures...

So we told Maggie she was getting a surprise on Thursday. We picked her up early from school and told her that we were taking her to Chicago to the American Girl Doll Store. She cried - apparently she was hoping for a high school musical dance mat. Hey, we can't do it all I suppose. In Chicago we went to... Rain Forest Cafe (where she was scolding the gorillas), American Girl Store (she didn't want to get another doll because she didn't want to hurt Kit's feelings), horse carriage ride with a horse named Taco, the Museum of Science and Industry, the play Wicked (we have been singing the songs ever since), great restaurants, & Garretts popcorn. In two days. The pictures of our trip are below - if the music is annoying you can click the speaker to get rid of it.

New Video and Pictures of Sarah

Hi everyone - its been a happy few days! We heard about our first court hearing (October 25th) and today we received an updated video of Sarah, updated pictures, and medical information. This video was taken on September 28th - so she was three months old. At that time she weighed 14.6 pounds and was 22.6 inches long (tall?). She is clearly with her foster family now and is even wearing a little shirt that we sent her in a care package. It looks like her tummy needs more room to breathe so we will be sending another care package soon with some roomier clothes. She is really growing so quickly! I can't wait to finally meet her and kiss those adorable cheeks!

First Hearing!

We found out today that our first hearing is scheduled for October 25th. There are 3 hearings until it is final and we can travel. We are hoping that we will be traveling around Christmas or early January. But it could always take much longer. You never know.... but we are thrilled!

Summer Fun!

My little kindergartner is a big girl!

Maggie read at Mass today! She did GREAT! I think I may have blinded father with my flash - but I got some great pictures of all the kids. Here is one of Maggie.

Favorite Adoption Song

Dossier Documents

Our case worker sent me the Fed-Ex tracking number for our dossier and the first care package we sent to Sarah. Our dossier was received by the agency in Taiwan on Sept 10th and the care package was received on Sept. 11th. The good news is that everything got there last week - and we have not heard that there are any problems.

I am chanting fast judge, fast judge, fast judge! Maybe we could go to TW as early as the end of December or January. That would be the earliest. Fast judge, fast judge, fast judge!

Updates Today - New Video and Pictures!!!!

Meaning of Hsin-Yi

Thanks to Jenny who figured out the meaning of Sarah's name. (欣)Hsin: means happy, joyous and delighted. (怡)Yi: means harmony or pleased. You can look these up on a website called mandarintools.com. You can copy and paste the Chinese words into the dictionary and the English meaning comes up. Thanks again Jenny!

Sarah means princess.

Its off to Taiwan

The dossier left Pittsburgh yesterday - along with a very hefty care package. We are so glad to have the paperwork done. We just wait now...

This is Sarah's name. (Wu is her last name). Hopefully someone out there can tell me how to translate it :)

TECRO

Matt really came through - he got all of our documents notarized on Wednesday, then drove to Harrisburg to have them certified, then FedEx'd them to TECRO in New York to be authenticated. There was much more drama in there, but I won't go into it - I am trying major positive thinking lately. We forgot to put in a copy of my passport, so they called on Thursday afternoon asking us to fax it. We talked to them today (Friday) and they said they would be FedEx'ing the documents back to us today. So we should be able to get all of our documents into our agency by Tuesday...then we wait.

We have a care package for Sarah all ready to go - a baby photo album, lots of clothes, a taggie blanket, and other blankets made by Catherine and Pam! Thanks girls! I also put a Seda candle in the care package for the foster mom.

My friend Jen has a shop with lots of adorable baby things - she put a Petunia Picklebottom diaper bag on hold for me (and gave me a GREAT deal). It is wonderful although Matt is refusing to carry it....hmmmmmm. It is sort of girlie BUT he is outnumbered now 3-1 so he better get used to pink. Thanks Jen!

First Day of Kindergarten

It was Maggie's first day of kindergarten on Wednesday! She seems to like it and I did OK too :) Here is a picture...

Teddy Bear Tea

Today we went to Maggie's school for a Teddy Bear Tea. It was great, and nice to meet other families sending their kids to St. Killian's. Maggie drew a picture for the teacher - definitely a hit. My mom and dad are flying in tomorrow so they can be here for her first day of school which will be next Wednesday... Our paperwork is here from Taiwan and ready to go. I just need to have Matt in town long enough so that we can get it notarized. I guess it will have to wait until Saturday.

Future Big Sister - Maggie!

Maggie already has her bag packed for Taiwan - Polly Pockets, Hello Kitty lip gloss, and a Belle necklace. My mom and dad will be going with us to Taiwan too!

Hard to believe this little one is starting kindergarten next week.

Meaning of Hsin-Yi

If anyone knows how to find out what Sarah's Taiwanese name (Hsin-Yi) means - can you leave a comment? I haven't been able to figure it out.

We went shopping this weekend for clothes and toys to send to Sarah. Matt had a little too much fun and it looks like we will be sending many care packages. We bought a "Little Einsteins" photo album that we are sending along with comfy pjs and some disposable cameras for the foster mom to take pictures of Sarah. I am trying to think of a little something for the foster mom - but am having some issues. Any ideas?

City of True Love

Sarah was born in Chienchen District, Kaohsiung City Taiwan - which is known as "The City of True Love" .

Back...

When I returned from a conference this week in Colorado, I had over 500 e-mails! Most of them from Taiwan adoption message boards that I belong to. There were quite a few referrals this last week - twins, sibling groups, boys and girls. It is wonderful to watch people getting closer and closer to their dreams of a family. Its even better considering that referrals were VERY slow for the last 7 months. When we started this process in January, we were #3 for a little girl. And we just go our referral August 6th. But it seems there have been some changes and referrals are coming quickly. Its great to see.

Our next step is getting paperwork from Taiwan - basically (I believe) it is Power of Attorney paperwork so that representatives from the Taiwan program can appear in court. We will have to get that paperwork notarized, certified and authenticated. Then it goes to Taiwan and we wait for hearing dates...Right now we are trying to find pictures to send with our dossier to Taiwan. Its amazingly difficult to pick just the right pictures.

Sarah's Referral Video 4 Weeks Old (we think)

Referral

We accepted the referral of our little girl on August 8, 2007. I, of course, missed the call -- keep those cellphones with you! But, came home and Matt was waiting with pictures, and just a little tear in his eye. We were incredibly overcome and happy, excited, anxious, laughing, crying, celebrating. Our necks were so sore from looking at the video the agency sent us (it was sideways). Maggie said "I am a big sister...almost."

Her name is Sarah Hsin-Yi Emmendorfer. She was born on June 25th , 2007 - the same day as another little girl that was referred to a friend on a Taiwan adoption message board. And also the same day as her Godfather J.P.'s birthday. She was 8 1/4 pds and 21 inches long when she was born. A beautiful, healthy baby...we are truly blessed. I am going to post the video and pictures so that you can see her. Check out that hair - perfect for bows.

We celebrated at a local restaurant called Taipei - we thought that was pretty appropriate.

They say we will be traveling in 5-7 months, but I have seen 3 months and I have seen 7 months. We just don't know. Everything in this world seems to work out for a reason for us, so when its time, it will be the right time. But for right now I am going SHOPPING!