Halloween 2009

Halloween is over - we had a nice time, with friends over to carve pumpkins and trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. We also went to a fun dress up party in our neighborhood. I felt bad that all the other adults were in costume, and I wasn't. I didn't know! Next year I am going to dress up!!! Sarah was so cute she walked up to the houses with her brothers and would say "trick or treat" and "tank you" when she got her candy. She thought she was such a big girl. Now I have to figure out how much candy I am going to make disappear before the kids wake up! Can't wait to get the decorations down too, I'm sick of looking at it.

Chicago Photos

Here is my photos of the trip to Chicago. Once again, YouTube wouldn't let me have the "Chicago" music I wanted, oh well. It was such a great trip, but it was so hard to say goodbye. I wish the girls lived closer to each other. When they met it was so strange, I know they can't remember each other, and yet it seemed like there was a connection that I can't explain.

It was also great to see my sister, we went shopping in Chicago, and I got an awesome purse!

Chicago

We are leaving for Chicago on friday to meet up with the Cole family and get the two girls together! I am so excited to see the girls together again and see my dear friends Lora and Chris. I have been so busy with school and fall stuff that I haven't had time to post.

We took the boys and Sarah to Chinatown in LA on Sunday and were suprised to find a Taiwanese Celebration happening. They were celebrating their Independence Day. It was so weird that we didn't know that would be going on and just came upon it. We all had some wonderful dimsum and had our own celebration. Happy Independence Day Taiwan.

I also finished the book Lucky Girl. My MIL loaned it to me. It was an emotional read and I read it in two days. I was happy to read that the author felt loved by her adopted family. Sarah will never have a similar reunion with her birth family I think, but you never know what the future holds. Reading all her accounts of Taiwan - the sights, sounds, food and culture brought it all back to me. I loved Taiwan. I hope to bring her back someday when she can appreciate it. When would that be? I would love to go back with her when she is around ten years old - the age my oldest son is next month. Maybe we could meet up with the Cole's there too!

I will hopefully have MANY pictures of Chicago to share when we return!

Sarah's Birthday Party

Sarah had a great party with her cousins and one of Calvins friends. We had cake and a pinata and she blew out her candles with some help from Calvin. Hard to believe she is two. The last year has been hard in some ways - it's a very cute but hard age. She is getting easier as she tries hard to be a big girl. I don't know if she just has a "passionate" personality or if she has some issues still from adoption, but we are working on "being nice" and not hitting, pullling hair, etc. and it does seem to get better. I put her in a time out every time and that seems to help. She is very sweet most of the time and when I say, "I love you" she says, "I DO" - I think that is her way of saying she loves me too. I'm excited to go to Chicago in October with Sarah and meet Lora and Allie there again!!!!

Sarah is turning two!

Tomorrow Sarah will turn two. It's been a while since I posted, I've been thinking of retiring this blog.

Sarah is doing so well now. She is getting easier in that she tries to be a big girl and will stop most times if you tell her "no" and she isn't hitting and pulling the boys hair very much anymore. She is mostly happy and sweet and she loves to be tickled. I love that she loves tickling because she wasn't ticklish for at least two months when she got home. I thought maybe she just wasn't a ticklish child but now I know she was still adjusting. Now she will tickle me and then lie down to be tickled and then after she will say, "More"! She says so many new words every day and it's so exciting for all of us to teach her new words. The boys really like teaching her words but I don't like some of the words they choose, such as "dumb". She got that one right away to the delight of the boys. I just can't believe how quickly time goes by. I wonder if her birthmother will be thinking of her tomorrow.

The boys started school this week, it's been crazy busy, but fun to see them start a new year.

These are pictures of our trip to Newport in August. It was such a great trip for our family and Sarah loved having all the family together every day. I wish we could have gone for longer than a week. This night there was a beautiful sunset and a big full moon coming up. We brought a bottle of wine with our friends and watched the sun go down while the kids played. I think a unicorn even walked by.

Lora

I wanted to post this last thing about our trip. On Monday we went back to St. Lucy. And in the true spirit of St. Lucy, it was ANOTHER EMOTIONAL DAY. I knew that Lora and Chris were going to be there to pick up Allie. I was so excited to meet Lora. She had been such an emotional support through the wait to get Sarah. About half way through the wait I found a post somewhere from Lora that described herself as a woman that had three boys, was married to a doctor and had a referral for a baby girl from St. Lucy that she got in January. I sat there so confused - did I post this? I knew I hadn't and yet the it was too much of a coincidence! I posted back to her and said, - "Are you me?!?!" She responded and a friendship was born right away - we exchanged phone numbers and called each other almost every day while we waited for our first decree. Lot's of tears and complaining on both sides went on - haha! She traveled to Tainan to meet Allie in May and I was transfixed as she described her trip and her moments with my Sarah. My heart broke for her and our babies that she had to leave to come home without Allie. I remember she got her first decree on a day in May and I was so happy for her- but as the day wore on I became sad that I hadn't heard anything myself. Sure enough on the VERY SAME day we got our first decree too! So many weird coincidences. It was just another coincidence that we were at St. Lucy on the same day with our daughters. She is a soul mate for sure. My friends here in town all have heard me talking about my friend that also adopted a baby from Taiwan and has three boys. There is just no way to express how her love support and wise words of advice carried me through this whole journey. If it wasn't for her support, I may not have gone to Taiwan early to be with Sarah. Not everyone thought I should go.

The picture of me crying - I am witnessing Lora and Chris bond with Allie. It was amazing seeing someone elses' journey come to an end. You can't describe what it's like seeing that in person. We played with the babies on the floor and they had music and lots of food and it really did have the atmosphere of a wedding - an incredibly special day that can never be relived except through memories.

They let Wes and Chris go down to see the babies in the nursery. I am so glad they got to do this. You really can't understand what it's like unless you see it for yourself. They took some video of Lucy for Jackie and saw Allies and Sarah's cribs.

The picture of me holding the dress - this is a dress they gave me that day that Sarah's birthmother left for Sarah. So emotional. We have put it in a memory box for her.

We did get to see Lora and Chris again in Taipei. We all went out to dinner at Taipei 101 and hung out with the babies in our room. I so look forward to meeting them all again! It will so be interesting to see both girls grow up. They even had cribs next to each other at St. Lucy. Weird huh?!?

Wes meets Sarah on July 4th

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqGQIEjcZVQ

The next day I woke up excited that Wes was finally arriving! Sarah and I took another bath and when we got out my phone rang and he said he was on his way. I thought that meant that he was at the train station. I dressed Sarah and started to blow dry my hair to look pretty for him when there was a knock on the door! He had called from the lobby of the hotel!!! I opened the door and got to witness him meeting Sarah for the first time. We hugged for a long time with Sarah in my arms and then he stood back and looked at her and said hello. I said, "That's daddy!" Wes took her in his arms and I got some pictures. Then I grabbed the video camera and got on tape the amazing transformation on Sarah's face as she took in having a daddy. I posted this video again and you can see for yourself. It was really amazing.

You can also see the rest of the trip on the video. We spent the weekend touring Tainan and had dinner with the doctor that we knew and his wife and daughter and then went back to St. Lucy to get our final paperwork on Monday. We got to meet Lora and Chris and see them getting to know Allie. It felt like a wedding party, lots of love and laughter and food. I will post more on that tomorrow. That day we took the train back to Taipei. It was sad to say goodbye to Tainan - but I knew we would come back someday.

The days in Taipei dragged on - I was really missing the boys. We had our AIT appointment and finally left to go home. The plane ride went smoothly - it was at night so Sarah slept almost the whole time. We met a couple that had adopted a baby from Vietnam in the LA customs area. The woman said that the orphanage there was so bad that she felt she would never be the same having witnessed it.

Driving home from the airport was excruciating. I just couldn't wait one more moment to see the boys. I was crying from the pain of missing them. We finally drove up to the house to find an adorable stork waiting for us on the lawn - given by our dear friends. You can see the rest on the video. The boys fell in love with her right away. Seeing the video now - I can see she was overwhelmed by it all. I was too. It's been nonstop since that day here.

Yesterday we had friends over and had a bouncy house and sparklers. I took the photo of Wes holding Sarah. July 4th - forever daddy day and our all American girl! Happy 4th!