YIKES!!!

I had a "yikes" moment a couple of days ago. Well, let's be honest, it was really more of a freak out moment. I saw a Facebook status update from a mommy who just returned from Taiwan last week with her sweet little daughter, Emily. It said something about jet lag and an almost seven month old, don't really go that well together.

Then it clicked--an almost seven month old is a six month old!!! Six month old!?!? Lindy was just a few days from being eleven months old when we met her. That's almost twice as old as a six month old (I'm awful at math, so I'm not going to bother to figure out the real number). Six months old sounds so young and little and, and, and...

BREATHE! I polled some of the other mommies who have adopted from Taiwan and most of the babies have been between five to eight months old when they've come home. Wow! That's awesome and it would be so wonderful but I skipped right over those months in the What to Expect...book and a baby that young seems so mysterious to me.

I'm not sure how old our daughter will be but I'm going to trust that no matter how old she is, that God will help us figure out our new little creature and bundle of love just like he did with Lindy.

If she is that young, looks like this momma bear will be doing some SHOPPING for smaller clothes and toys but man I hope I don't have to cart around one of those infant carriers that look so heavy and cumbersome!

September swap

Accessories--that is what the swap theme was for September. Well, as a girl who appreciates HER accessories, of course she LOVES them for her future baby girl!

Katie was so sweet to send this fun stuff!


As you can see, Baby Osborn got some bows, socks, cute little comfy shoes, and some much-needed travel toiletries.

This was the last swap gift and a great way to end a fun activity that helped get me in the mindset of having a baby again and pass the time in a good way. Thanks, Katie, for your generosity.

Please keep praying for the process to progress.

August swap

My monthly gift swap gifts arrived a few days ago. This month's theme was "Nursery." Well, I probably didn't give Heather much to go on as I have NO idea what mei mei's nursery will look like. I am not even sure which room she'll be living in. However, despite the fact that I didn't give any clues, Heather really blessed us!

First, one must love the pink, purple, and polka-dotted paper! I think I even have that same paper! I also loved the flocked or is it fleeced cherry blossom note card she sent--so pretty...


Here are the goodies she sent...

A precious shabby chic pink frame...Can't wait to see mei mei's face in there!!!

A wonderful pink crib sheet.
I'm pretty sure baby girl pink will be in the nursery no matter what.

A sweet bedtime book.
Ironically, I sent this to one of my swap buddies earlier.

Ballerina stickers for Lindy! So thoughtful!

Thank you, Heather, for blessing our family!

July swap ( a month later)

As I mentioned in my last post, some gifts have been rolling in for mei mei...

In July the gift swap theme was playtime. Beth, who is waiting to bring home Emily, sent me an awesome box of goodies for our girl(s)...

It was as if she knew Lindy always wears a bow!

Lindy tried it out and approves

So soft and sweet

We will use this to send pictures of our family to our baby girl after referral and while we wait to bring her home

Mei mei will also be a bow wearer even sooner than Lindy was

Thanks for the wonderful gifts, Beth! Can't wait to see you bring home Emily.

June Gift Swap

While we were waiting for Lindy, I got involved with a couple of Yahoo groups for other waiting families. That was kind of before the blog revolution and the onslaught of all the new social networking tools. Through those groups, I made some sweet friends and developed a wonderful support system. We even had secret pals which was so much fun!

Since our switch over to the Taiwan program, I've felt a little bit like a fish out of water. Recently, I got plugged in with a great group and am learning a lot of helpful information about the process of adopting from Taiwan.

Some of the waiting mommies decided to put together a secret pal gift swap and I didn't need anyone to twist my arm to join. I love to give. I love to receive and I figured it might help me remember this WILL happen.

The theme for June was bedtime. Mei mei got a darling footed sleeper and pink sleepsack. Mei mei wasn't the only recipient, though! I got a beautiful red thread bracelet. I wore a red thread bracelet that Don made me until the day I held Lindy for the first time. I haven't worn one this time and I'm not sure why. Now I will, thanks to Michelle's generosity and thoughtfulness.

For those of you new to my blog or unfamiliar with what I'm talking about, here is the legend of the red thread:

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break."

I know that each passing day the "thread" to this baby is getting shorter and my desire for her is getting stronger. One day...

Well, we prayed for a change...

One of our prayers during this period of waiting has been for God to remove the obstacles in China and to significantly speed up the process. There have been times where I've just asked for to see some positive changes. In two days our dossier has been officially logged in with the CCAA for 15 months. As far as we can tell, there is no end in sight--with China, that is.

While the situation in China doesn't appear to be changing, we are changing direction and we believe God is walking before us and preparing our path for this change. We have decided to pursue adopting a baby girl from Taiwan.

I had heard of people adopting from Taiwan but felt like I couldn't get a good grasp on the process. Don and I don't come to decisions easily and once we've decided to pursue something it isn't like us to change course. I pretty much had decided Taiwan wasn't in the cards for us because I couldn't figure out much about it and our agency didn't offer it, anyway--until now.

This summer our agency took over several Taiwan cases for an agency that went under. At that time, my interest was piqued but they weren't actually saying they were going to open a program. I expressed an interest but wasn't sure it would result in anything and guarded my heart from being too optimistic about it. After getting acquainted with the way things work and having a chance to develop some in-country contacts, our agency decided to begin offering a Taiwan program.

After some initial fact gathering and phone calls with the Taiwan caseworker, we took the steps to become pre-approved. On January 6th we received our pre-approval and were given the green light to proceed.

We just got our updated home study today and now have to make some changes with our immigration paperwork to let the U.S. know we'll be going to Taiwan instead of China. Once we have that completed, we will send our paperwork to Taiwan and do what we do best--wait...

Currently, the estimated wait time until referral is 12-18 months (which could increase). After we receive our referral we expect we will travel four to six months later. While it still seems so far away, this wait time feels more manageable and tolerable.

We have also decided to withdraw our dossier from China. We believe this child will be our last child. If for some reason this adoption doesn't work out, we are so blessed with our darling Lindy.

I have some sadness knowing that our next daughter isn't from mainland China but am excited to get to learn about Taiwan. One of my first questions was, "Well, how do they say little sister in Taiwan?" I was excited to learn that the answer is, "mei mei" since the most commonly spoken language is Mandarin. Already, I am trying to process the differences between how things are handled regarding the adoption process.

In the past few weeks we have gone from sorely discouraged, to cautiously optimistic, to hopeful excitement. As is typical of the adoption process, we've experienced quite the rollercoaster of emotions.

So again (or still), we ask for your prayers. As my dear friend Diana reminded me this week we have a God who deals with details and wants us to be specific with Him, so here are our specific requests:

• Please ask for the necessary changes to our immigration paperwork to go smoothly and quickly so that we can have our paperwork in Taiwan within the next few weeks.
• Please be pray for God to provide financially for this adoption. It is significantly more expensive and during these terrible economic times we specifically ask for Don to remain gainfully employed.
• Please pray for the birth parents. It is possible we will get to meet our daughter's birth mother which is a lot to think about given the contrast to our experience with Lindy. However, we pray that the birth parents are healthy and that the birth mother will make wise choices to take care of this little one before she is born.
• Please pray for us to be patient and to look for ways to enjoy the wait and find the joy in the journey. God has given us a beautiful daughter, already, and I want our last months/years as a family of three to be special.

Thank you for those of you who have been praying already, for those who have expressed concern, and been faithful followers of our journey. We appreciate your love and expressions of encouragement more than you know.