Sleeping Beauty

They call her Sleeping Beauty and now we see why. The beauty part was obvious, but this girl likes to sleep! I think she slept for 9 hours last night and we finally slept too. Then she was awake for 1 hour before falling asleep again for another hour. This morning we bought a postcard to send to Maya. When we were all done getting ready to mail it they told us it would get there in about 1 month. We figured it wouldn't get there before we got home but 1 month! After that we went to get the Household Registry changed. We also went to see the hospital where Ciana was born. They told us that the hospital is known to perform a lot of abortions and they think it is a miracle that the doctor referred Ciana's birthmother to Hannah's Hope to consider adoption. After lunch at the hotel, we took a 2 hour drive to Hualien to meet with Ciana's birthmother. It was an emotional meeting, but I will save the details for Ciana when she gets older. Then it was back to the hotel after a long day on the road. Ciana is doing well. She's been pretty quiet, but tonight she started "talking" quite a bit. She is very smiley. She likes to stand up, with help of course. Our stay in Taitung is now over and tomorrow morning we fly back to Taipei for the rest of the week.

Gotcha Day!

Today was Ciana's Gotcha Day!  We didn't sleep at all last night.  I went to bed at 8:00, woke up at 11:30 and I think I might have slept about a half an hour after that.  It was terrible and Jeff was almost as bad.  We had a short, but bumpy flight to Taitung this morning.  We were picked up at the airport and since we couldn't get into our hotel room yet we went straight to Hannah's Hope to receive Ciana.  It was an awesome experience.  Very different than when we got Maya.  The staff sang a song and played the guitar as they brought Ciana out to meet us.  She loved listening to them sing.  She was wearing the outfit we sent to her.  She looked adorable.  They handed her to me and they were all talking to her and calling her by her nickname "Cuh Cuh", "Cuh Cuh" they would say.  They were all really sad to see her go.  You can tell that they love her and have taken really good care of her for the last 5 months.  They showed us around the home and her special nanny showed us how to bath her, put her to sleep, prepare her bottle, etc.  She had tears in her eyes, because she loves her so much she didn't want to see her leave.  Before we left the staff said they wanted to pray over Ciana and us.  It was really moving.  Then they took us out for beef noodle soup for lunch.  Ciana fell asleep in the car on the way to the restaurant, but didn't stay asleep long.  She has been very quite and peaceful.  After lunch we came back to the hotel and she had a bottle before laying down for a nap.  Tonight they are picking us up to go out to dinner.

Day 2 - Taipei

This morning started out with a walk thru Daan Forest Park.  It is a nice green park with lots of trees and walking paths right across the street from our hotel.  There is a really nice playground there too.  Lots of people were there doing their morning excercises.  Then we went to the Flower Market and Jade Market.  This is held every weekend right under the freeway.  Hundreds of vendors were there to sell their merchandise.  After that we took a walk down YongKang Street to try and find something to eat.  It wasn't an easy task.  Finding a place to eat has been our biggest challenge so far.  There don't seem to be that many restaurants, but lots of roadside stands.  If you do find one it is hard to know what they are going to serve you.  We finally got pulled into one by the lady standing outside.  We had pineapple shrimp since it was the only thing on the menu that looked edible, in our opinions.  It was pretty good.  There were lots of cute little shops on YongKang Street too. I found the cutest little shoe store with lots of really awesome shoes. The only problem is Asians seem to have smaller feet and it was really hard to find a pair that fit. The girl working in the store was so funny and tried her hardest to find a pair that would work.  The pair that I really loved was on clearance so they definitely didn't have that one in my size. 
Then we took a taxi to WuFenPu Garment Market.  It was alley after alley of little shops all selling clothes and shoes at discounted prices.  After that we were worn out so we went back to the hotel and ordered Pizza Hut.  We ordered a medium pizza and when it came it looked about the size of a personal pan!  And our last adventure of the day was coming up the elevator to our hotel room.  We got in, pushed the button, the doors closed and Jeff's biggest fear was realized.  The elevator shut off!  He was freaking out.  I pushed the call button a couple of times.  Then we finally found the door open button and it worked.  We took a service stair up to our room.  Jeff has vowed never to use another elevator in his life.     

Taiwan Day 1 - Flights

We made it to Taipei, Taiwan!  Yesterday was a LONG day.  We started out at 8:00 am with a 3+ hour drive to the airport in Minneapolis.  Then we had a 12 hour flight to Tokyo.  Immediately upon arriving in Tokyo we switched planes for our 3 hour flight to Taipei.  When we landed we took a taxi to our hotel.  We arrived at the hotel around 11:30 pm local time.  The day was long, but we couldn't have asked for better flights.  They were smooth and easy.  I watched the movie "What to Expect When You're Expecting".  Seemed sort of fitting given our situation.  It was really good.  I would highly recommend it.  We didn't get much sleep.  It was daylight the whole way here.  So, after our 26 1/2 hour journey we hit the bed.  We both had difficulty sleeping, however.  We woke up around 3:00 am and then went back to sleep for a little while.  Today we have a free day to explore Taipei before heading to Taitung tomorrow morning to receive Ciana.

5 Months Old

Ciana is 5 months old today! We have tickets bought and are ready to leave this Friday to head to Taiwan and bring her home. We will spend one day in Taipei before flying to Taitung to meet her on Monday morning, September 17th!


There is a woman who has been instrumental in Ciana’s referral. She and her husband adopted their daughter from Hannah’s Hope in Taiwan in August of 2010. After learning about the culture and challenges that women are faced with in southern Taiwan she felt led to go back and speak to doctors and social workers to try and save babies lives. She has made numerous trips back in the last year or so and Ciana and another little boy, Samuel, who was born on the same day as Ciana were the first two referrals that came as a result of her work. They hold a very special place in her heart. She saw Ciana when she was very young and since we were in Taiwan in May of 2010 I’m sure that we would have seen her daughter at around the same age. So, we each saw the other’s daughter even before we got to see our own. We also have another unique connection that only God could have planned. Her daughter’s name is Elise and Ciana’s middle name is Elise. We had no idea when we gave her that name that it would hold such a special connection. She also saw Ciana more recently so I asked her to share with me any observations she had of her and this is what she said. “Ciana is a sweet little girl. She is very calm and has a quiet personality. She smiles easily, enjoys being held and has the most beautiful skin. She seems very tender and is perfect in every way. Her eye contact is good and when she’s not being held she enjoys watching you.” From the conversations I have had with her through email she sounds like a super sweet lady with a wonderful heart. We will be forever grateful to her for following where God was leading. Who knows where Ciana would be today if she hadn’t answered the call.

Rollercoaster Week

It has been a rollercoaster of a week to say the least. 

Tuesday, August 28 -  We were expecting to hear that the signature they had been waiting on had been received and that we were scheduled to leave again!  Instead, we heard that the notary was not available so they couldn’t get the signature and didn’t think they would be able to until next week.

Wednesday, August 29 -  We got a call saying that they thought the notary would be available sooner than they originally thought!  They planned to talk to AIT the next day to request an appointment date of September 12th, which would mean we’d leave on the 5th or 6th!

Thursday, August 30 -  Signature was received!  However, they had not had time to get it to AIT to request a new appointment yet.

Friday, August 31 -  A new appointment at AIT has been scheduled!  However, it’s not for September 12th like we thought it would be.  Instead it was scheduled for September 20th.  Kate, our Taiwan adoption coordinator, was on vacation this week, so she is supposed to call us on Tuesday to confirm what day we will need to depart.

I think we’ve had enough with the false labor and are ready for the actual delivery!

6 Years Ago Today



Maya's Referral Picture 6 Years Ago

 

Six years ago today we traveled to our adoption agency’s office and saw Maya’s face for the first time. At that moment our lives were forever changed. She has brought so much joy to our lives. I don’t even know how I used to occupy my free time, but now I can’t even remember what free time is! She is always keeping me busy. The phrase I hear most often coming out of her mouth is “Mom, can we do gymnastics?” That’s how we spend most of our free time. Even when she’s been at gymnastics practice for 2 hours that’s the first thing she says when we get home. She has grown and matured so much since that day 6 years ago. She is a smart, funny, talented, compassionate and beautiful little girl that is growing into a beautiful young lady on the inside and out. This morning on the way to daycare I told her to look at the sky. The sun was hidden behind a cloud with a small hole in the middle where the sun was shining brightly through. You could also see the sun’s rays shooting out below the cloud. Her response was “Whoa! That’s cool how there’s strokes. It’s like God’s Power is coming out!” I wonder if she would have had the same response if she were being raised in China? It’s possible, but not likely. It was pretty awesome.



Maya Today