WE HAVE AN AIT DATE!

 Approximately 930 tonight we got THE email we have been waiting for for 6 1/2 months!!  WOO HOO!!!  We have an AIT appointment....It is September 13!  We have been planning on being in Taiwan about a week....SOOOOO we are leaving NEXT Wednesday!  (tentatively)  
It suddenly feels like a whirlwind!  Daddy and Momma stayed up....too late!   Discussing some of what we will do and when!  We contacted the travel agent!  Hoping to hear back from him tomorrow on the exact times and dates we leave!
Momma works Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend.....12 hour shifts!  and then if we are leaving Wednesday!!!!!!  WHEW!!!  That's not much time to pack.....Should keep us plenty busy enough for time to pass quickly!!!  And next week at this time God willing we will be holding Kerrigan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The really great part is that Lily's parents have the same AIT date we do SO we will be traveling with them!  That is very cool!  Our girls have been friends for months!  And we have communicated with Smith's over the past 1 1/2 years of WAIT!  It is wonderful we get to experience this together!   We have plans to get the girls together here in the States with a Chattanooga trip sometime too....to keep them close:)
Thanks to everyone for the prayers and positive emails, facebook post etc!  We love them!--KEEP them comin!!!!!!!!  We are very blessed to have been given such wonderful support!

God is in control always!

 Yesterday we were very upset that the notary was to be cancelled once again!  We were also told to the date was to be Friday which would almost certainly guarantee no travel dates this week....Well this morning we woke up to the news that the date has been changed...it is Thursday in Taiwan (our Wednesday night) at 2pm   Yipee!  We will be glad to get this part done!  Then atleast we are only awaiting to hear again from AIT.  Hopefully we will hear a travel date on Friday!  Still no guarantee we will hear this week but atleast there is HOPE!!!  

Will it ever end!

 Ever had one of those dreams where you are running and running towards something and never quite get there!   WELL that's what it seems like is happening with us!!!
Wednesday morning in Taiwan (tonight here) the birth Mom and Dad are to sign a paper at the notary.  We are legally Kerrigan's parents but AIT (our government) wants them to sign a paper before they will give Kerrigan a Visa to come home!  We were delayed last week because of that crazy Typhoon!  It hit there again yesterday...so we thought we were in the clear!  The countdown was on.....WELL again there may be a delay!
Heard from Cheryl this morning and the birth mother may not be able to get off work to do this today!!  UGH!!!  That means they won't be able to do it until Friday and that means NO travel dates before NEXT week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Im still holding out hope the birth Mother can get off work atleast long enough to sign this paper!!!
Seems like this will never end!!!!  Momma isn't Donkey or Dory today.....I'm Eeyore!  Gloomy and feeling sorry for myself!!!!!!!
Praying we get good news tonight yet!  But NOT counting on it!

We are trying Baby girl!

This is Momma today!

Typhoon Take 2!

Praying we will get travel dates this week!   Also praying because that silly Typhoon Tembin is threatening to make a reappearance!   Who even knew a typhoon could double back and return!  But apparently it can!  So we are praying for the safety of the people of Taiwan and that we can get our needed paperwork done and not be delayed another week by this crazy typhoon!

 

Auntie Christel is keeping us updated through her blog. Here is a small paragraph that explains the typhoon! 

 

Typhoon Tembin: Round 2

 

The really crazy thing about this storm is that it is now lingering in the sea just southwest of Taiwan’s coast, and it will probably do a U-turn and pass back over us sometime around Tuesday. This is due to Typhoon Bolaven raging out at sea to the north of Taiwan and the Fujiwhara Effect---When cyclones approach each other, their centers will begin orbiting cyclonically about a point between the two systems due to their cyclonic wind circulations. The two vortices will be attracted to each other, and eventually spiral into the center point and merge.    

 

So please say a prayer for the people of Taiwan and for our paperwork to finally be done this week so we can bring our girl home! 

Typhoon Tembin Take 2!

Daddy Loves you too Baby Girl!

Typhoon Delay!!!

 Well.....in the adoption world they call it a roller coaster!  Well thats what we are on!   Today was to be our appointment at the notary to get the one last paper signed so that we could get travel dates!   Instead.....Typhoon Tembin came and shut down everything!   So no paperwork got signed today!  They have rescheduled it to be done next Wednesday.....so we will not be getting travel dates before that!  Disappointing to say the least! 

Momma has to decide everyday whether its a "Donkey on the edge" or "Dory....just keep swimming....swimming....swimming!" kind  of day!  Never know what your gonna get;) 

It will happen.  She is legally ours we just have to wait to get her Visa to bring her home!

And thankfully the Typhoon didn't hit the city that Kerrigan lives in very hard at all!  Praise the Lord! 

Donkey or Dory! Never know what your gonna get!

Typhoon Tembin!

Momma can't stand it anymore!

And Another Thing..........

 And another thing.....AIT decided today they need another paper.  This paper signed by the birth Father.  We are blessed to have a wonderful birth family so this isn't an issue, just a small delay.    ReaFang and Cheryl have an appointment to get this small detail taken care of Friday morning and hopefully next week we will have travel dates!  

Ava and Momma decided today to go see Dayne at college!  Kept us busy and our minds off the delays!   We got to see his dorm and went the zoo and saw the penguins!!!   What a fun distraction!

She already Misses her Bubby!

Dayno's dorm!

Momma and Dayne

Zoo Fun!

Worth it all!!

Waiting......

 Today all the items that AIT requested arrived to them!  We hope now to hear when we travel!  Praying its soon!  

This week there are 2 major typhoons headed toward Taiwan:(  Typhoons and Earthquakes are very common in Taiwan.  But for us here thousands of miles from our daughter it is very hard to watch on TV a typhoon headed towards her and nothing we can do about it.  They have had a couple Typhoons while Kerrigan has been there but none as strong as the ones headed there this week!  So please say a little pray that everyone there is safe!  Also we hope to hear about our travel dates this week, but with a typhoon headed that way....they may have a "typhoon day"  a little like our "snow days" except EVERYTHING shuts down...including the mail, government....AIT!  So again we WAIT!!!!

Kerrigan loves her best friend Lily!

The first Typhoon this week! Yes Kerrigan lives in Kaohsiung!!!:(

Little Farther!

 Right now Kerrigan is legally and officially OURS!  The only thing we are waiting on now is a Visa so that we can bring her to the USA, and make her a US citizen.  Today we heard from AIT (American Institue in Taiwan- they can ask for different things while processing Kerrigan's Visa)  They requested a copy of the homestudy that was done in Taiwan.  Trena was able to go to the court house today and send the homestudy to the translator to have it translated into English!   We hope to be able to send this back to AIT on Tuesday!  They also wanted a picture of Kerrigan for her Visa!  We are hopeful that this is a good sign that they hope to issue a Visa very soon for her!  So we are one step closer!  But still not THERE!!  Waiting on travel dates!!!!!!!!  

I'm Ready!!!!!!!

Final DECREE!!!

 Woke up this morning to an email from Trena!  Our final decree has arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!  YAY!!!  We are completely done with the Taiwanese part of this adoption.  Trena has already submitted our documents to AIT (American Institute Taiwan) and requested a date for our interview!  NOW we are officially just waiting to hear from AIT so we can buy plane tickets!!!  We could be leaving next week or still next month depending on how fast AIT is moving!  But this is our LAST wait!!!!  We are beyond thrilled!!!!!!!!

I'm Coming Home!

I'm going to miss Auntie Sara!

6 months ago today we found our baby in the inbox!

It has been 6 months today since we found our little baby in the inbox!!!!  We are so close to getting to bring her home!
My sweet husband brought home a surprise!   He got me jewelry!   He is great at picking out the perfect gifts!  He always has been!   He got me a golden cupcake charm to go with the butterfly necklace he gave me in China with Ava!  It's perfect!  Kerrigans name at the orphanage was cupcake before we named her;)
We are so excited and almost packed!!!  It's finally almost time!!!