We're feeling alot of nervous energy now, so we decided to be productive and go shopping for Mika. We bought a toy box and two toys for her. We're so excited and happy about having a toy box (the LAST one at the PX!!) in the house. We also made a "countdown to Mika chain." We'll remove one link at the end of the day every evening. Only 28 days to go until we fly to Taiwan to bring her home! We're hoping to meet up with our friends Heather and Ian who live in Canada and are adopting two beautiful sisters from the same orphanage as us. We're picking up Mika the day before they arrive in Taipei, so we're hoping to finally see each other! We plan to stay in Taipei for 6 days and then come home to Okinawa.
It's very emotional to realize our dream is coming true.....we feel very grateful for all of the love and support we've had around us over these past few months.

getting ready...

Today was a big day because I notified my school that I was taking an indefinite leave of absence to stay home with Mika. Everyone that I work with was super happy and excited for us. The principal gave me an open invitation to return to work anytime I'm ready, so that was reassuring.
I still can't believe we're going to have a little one running around our house! Just the thought of it makes us smile.

We washed all of her clothing today and that was an amazing feeling. We're flying to Taiwan in 34 more days to bring her home! Friends and family are beginning to send gifts, and that's very exciting.

Getting ready to go.....time for vaccines!

We went to the clinic on base today and got our first set of shots for our trip to Taiwan. The Corpsman was laughing because I wanted to go first to get my shots, so Max and I were trying to negotiate who got to go first. When we told them what the vaccines were for, everyone got very excited and they got another Corpsman so Max and I could stand side by side and get our shots at the same time! They said they'd never seen anyone so happy to get a shot. We all laughed and we showed them a picture of our beautiful Mika.
We also made hotel reservations today! We'll be staying at the Agora Garden Hotel in Taipei from April 26th-30th. It looks like a beautiful hotel and this is the hotel our adoption agency has arranged for us. It's so amazing to know we will leave Okinawa as a family of three and will come home as a family of 4!

Mika is coming home!!

This morning at 5:48am we received the news that we have been waiting for:

We will fly to Taiwan on April 26th to bring Mika home!!!!

The official adoption ceremony will occur on April 27th at 2:00pm. This is the answer to many, many prayers, and we are so grateful to all of our family and dear friends who have supported us, cried with us and are now rejoicing with us!

Now we can start packing!! What a blessing.

This is one birthday that I will always remember and this is the best gift I ever could have wished for!!!! (I turned 44 today)

We finally put the car seat in the car today. That was a funny and wonderful moment!

We are very happy to say that our adoption coordinator is currently in Taiwan! He went there to meet with the orphanage director, visit hotels, interview guides/translators and visit the AIT (American Embassy) office to see how the process works. Because we will be the first family to adopt from Taiwan with this agency, they wanted to send a representative to Taiwan to understand what the families will be going through. We think that's a brilliant idea and we know how very lucky and blessed we are to be working with such a wonderful adoption agency!

We're hoping he'll be able to gather more information about Mika and our court process while he's there......we'll post an update as soon as we receive any news. Please keep us in your prayers. We love all of you for being such a steady shoulder to lean on over these past several months. Thank you! We're hopeful the judge will issue his ruling soon and allow us to go get Mika and bring her home. As soon as we recieve our travel date from the judge in Taiwan, we'll post it immediately! We're ready to go and just waiting........

court hearing update Feb. 28, 2009

We received an email from our agency today telling us that they recieved news from the orphanage that the court hearing went well on the 26th and that the judge has requested a little more information. Once the judge receives the information from the social worker in Taiwan, then the judge has said the ruling will be issued.
We're hopeful that the social worker will submit the requested information quickly.
At this point......now we pray and wait!