Thank you Judi!

How do you like the new look? Judi, of Doodlebug Designs, through Blogovers With Love has added some pizzazz to my blog. Thank you Judi!

Travel News!

First view of Taipei, at dawn July 2006

Finally! We got the call I have been anxiously awaiting for the last three weeks. We will be at St. Lucy's to pick up Hui-Min on Monday, September 22nd. I can finally book airline tickets. Yay! It's been an anxious few weeks. Ever since we heard about our first decree I felt like we'd be traveling the week of 9/22, but our agency discouraged me from making reservations until we had a confirmed date with St. Lucy's. With each passing day of no news, I got increasingly out of sorts. This Tuesday I had convinced DH to just book tickets for a two week trip, figuring that our appointment just HAD to be sometime between Sept. 22 and Oct. 2. He almost did it, but in the back and forth of trying to figure out how to use frequent flier miles with British Airways partner airline, Cathay Pacific, for one of the four tickets we need, the seat that was available was taken. So we were no closer, despite my desperate attempts to move forward. Back in July, when our dossier was FedEx'd to Taiwan, I put it in my head that I wanted some news by August 28th. This is the 2nd anniversary of our first decree in Alex's adoption case. It is also the 3 month anniversary of our referral. It just felt right. And by golly, it came to pass that we got the news I've been waiting for late in the afternoon. Now, I'm usually the last person to accurately predict anything. Give me a 50/5o chance, and I'll ALWAYS pick the wrong 50. So while I had high hopes for today, I really had no expectation that my hopes would actually be realized. So when we hadn't heard anything by noon, I figured it wasn't going to happen. With Taiwan 15 hours ahead of us, our agency usually gets its news from St. Lucy's first thing in the morning. By noon Pacific time it's the middle of the night in Tainan, so if you haven't heard by noon, you're not likely to. It turns out that it just took some time to get to the phone to make the call. I'm fine with that. I'm so fine with not having to wait through the long weekend. Our tickets are booked. Hoorah!

Cupcakes!

I've been spending alot of time knitting lately. Mostly gifts for others. But in the last couple of weeks I've turned my attention to knitting with a purpose: to help bring Hui-Min home. I've stocked my Etsy shop with some adorable knitted cupcakes. The first half dozen have been set aside for Hui-Min and Ella - special 1st birthday gifts for my two favorite nearly-one-year-olds. The others I am selling as an adoption fundraiser to help defray some of our travel costs. If you have a wee someone who would enjoy pretend tea parties complete with life like treats, please consider purchasing some!

Did I say end of August?

Before I had even made it into work this morning we received a call from our agency. We have a first decree! We'll be traveling to Taiwan in September to bring her home!!! Wow! That was fast. Happy Birthday to me. It was a great birthday surprise.

August update

We received new pictures and an update on Hui Min today. She's 17.86 pounds and 27.17" long. So I guess it's back into the box with those 6-9 month clothes I thought I was going to be able to use (she was so tiny three months ago!). She was 9 months old yesterday and is right on target for height and weight. We're told she is very active, very independent, likes to crawl everywhere, and is very curious. Our update also said she can stand up or sit down holding something - looks like she's getting some practice at that on the side of her crib.

We also learned that our case entered the courts on July 23rd. Which means we've been in court for two weeks now. Which means if we speed through court as some people have been lately, we could have our first decree by the end of August. We're hoping so!!