HER FIRST SMILE!!

(for us anyway)

July updates are here! We did not expect them for a few more days, so imagine how excited we were to get them early. The pictures are not the greatest (just a bit blurry), but I'll take anything that lets me see my little girl. We were very excited to see the picture of her smiling in the walker, that is the first smile we have seen, usually Maya seems so serious! We also noticed her very skinny little legs...something I am not used to! All of my boys were very BIG, two of them were ten pounds at birth, and all of them wieghed in around 25 pounds by six months! We are talking lots of cute little baby fat rolls on thier legs, so this will be different!

So, we have our travel schedule-

Aug. 24th-Leave for Taiwan

Aug. 28th-Gotcha Day

Aug. 29th-AIT

Aug. 31-Head back home

We are leaving for Taiwan in about a month! I am so excited and nervous! We have lots to do to get ready, and I have four little men to get ready for school...Our oldest, Spencer, starts HIGHSCHOOL two days before we leave! Do not ask me how this happened--last time I looked at him I swear he was starting Kindergarten and telling me to "go home now" as I whimpered at the classroom door. At any rate, I suspect that this month will go really fast yet really slow at the same time.

She wants to meet us....

A couple days ago I got a call from Laura at FFC telling us that Maya's birth mother and father and maybe one set of grandparents want to meet us. I am very nervous about this meeting, but so happy that I will be able to look her birthparents in the face and thank them for the gift of their daughter. I hope that I can ask the right questions, and I hope I can give the answers that her birthparents need. How do I even begin to say thank you or help them to understand how grateful I am for them, and for the precious little girl I am blessed to call my own? I have a lot of thinking to do...

WE GOT THE CALL!!!!!!

It is official! Maya Xiao-Pin is our baby girl--we have our final decree!!!

We can pick her up on AUGUST 28th

We are thrilled and feel so blessed to have this little one to love.

Stay tuned for the juicy details!

JUNE UPDATES!

Okay people, I can't take it much longer...if we don't get travel news soon you can find me in Taiwan!!! Here are the latest pictures of our sweet little Maya, HOW CUTE IS SHE??? She has changed so much this month. When we saw these pictures our hearts swelled a little and broke a little at the same time. The waiting game has not been very pretty the past few days, even Dave who is usually my rock is having a hard time. The boys are doing fine, they ask all the time if we got any news yet and then move on to the next thing with out a care in the world...if only it were that easy for me!

SHE'S SIX MONTHS OLD

Yesterday Maya turned 6 months old. We are still waiting for travel news, surely it has got to be soon. I've been told that this call will change everything...I do know that a lot will change, for example, she will be here with us, I can watch her sleep at night, I can kiss her big fat cheeks and hear her sweet little baby sounds, I can look into those big dark eyes and I can finally show the world this sweet little girl instead of explaining one more time why she is not here yet (an answer I really do not know myself). But for me, everything changed the day we saw her picture for the first time, read all about her and her birth family, and knew beyond a shadow of doubt that this was our baby girl. That is the day everything changed...

SANTA CRUZ


Ok- So I am trying really hard not to just sit here and stare at the phone!
We are still waiting for our phone call to say that we can go to Taiwan and
pick little miss Maya up to bring her home, so needless to say I am going
nuts trying to keep myself busy! I decided to share some of our family
Vacation photos of Santa Cruz. It is our tradition to go camping at a great
place right next to the beach every Memorial Day Weekend. This year
was great, the boys played on the beach everyday, boogy boards, sand crabs,
football, the giant aquaball, and burying each other in the sand were the
favorites. We love it here.




Well, back to waiting...

Maya's May update!

KISSES IN THE WIND...
I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams
You are here each day with me, at least that is how it seems.
I know you wonder where we are.....What's taking us so long,
But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.
Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin.....
Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.
May God Hold you in his hand until I can be with you,
I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.
Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.
May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night.

Author Unknown


What a cutie! We are amazed at how much she changes every month. This update made me really sad. Believe me, it is great to see her new pictures every month, but this one makes me realize the life she is living right now. We can't wait to kiss those big fat cheeks and finally see her smile. So far she has had the same cute look on her face in almost every picture we have of her. This is one serious little princess! The boys ask us everyday as they run through the door after school if we got travel news yet, today Jake and I had a fun conversation about what he can do to help when she comes, he sees his little throne shrinking more and more each day, but he is ready to have his little sister home so that he can feed her some milk or soda or what ever those babies drink--his words, not mine! We are busy preparing for Maya to come home. We are so excited that maybe if things continue going smoothly we will be posting from Taiwan at this time next month! Keep us in your prayers!

GREAT MOTHER"S DAY NEWS!

On May 13th around 5:00pm I received the best Mother's Day gift I could have this year. Laura from Families For Children called to let us know that we have had our court hearing in Taiwan and all went well. Both of Xiao-Ping's birth parents were in attendance, and everything went very smoothly . If things continue to go well, we can expect to travel by the end of June!!! We are thrilled, shocked, and panicked all at the same time. We have so much to do before we travel that I don't really even have time to breathe! The boys are so excited and were all jumping up and down and telling anyone in sight at church on Sunday that Maya is coming home soon. What a great experience this has been for them. We are so blessed to have these four young men in our lives. They are going to be awesome big brothers to our sweet baby girl. So Mother's Day this year is not one I am likely to forget anytime soon, I got our wonderful news about Maya and my four boys and hubby spoiled me rotten...can't ask for much more!

April updates are here! It was a relief for us to get these pictures of Xiao-Ping this month.
David and I have been a bit nervous after our little roller-coaster ride over Easter weekend, so seeing pictures of her this time was just a huge relief. We are more aware than ever of the heartache that is happening half way around the world, and we are both in awe of her birth parents and the decisions they have made so that she can have a better life. We know that Maya is truly a blessing given to our family, and not one to be taken lightly. This little girl has already changed our lives in so many ways and we have not even held her yet. This little one is very loved...by a family that is making heart wrenching decisions so that she will have a better life, and by a family who is so blessed to be able to help give her that life.

March updates!

Here are the latest pictures of little miss Maya! I am not sure that I like updates. I am happy to see how much she has grown, but sad at the same time. This waiting thing is going to get the best of me! Anyway, she is sitting on Sally's lap. Sally in our in country coordinator for Families For Children Taiwan Adoption program.

Good News from the adoption world...
Our paper work has made its way across the Pacific Ocean and
is in Taiwan! We are expecting to hear that we have been filed
into the courts with in the next couple of weeks. We also got word
that Sally our coordinator in Taiwan got to spend some time with
our sweet baby and we will be getting some pictures soon!
It's a great day!

Welcome to our family site. We hope to keep you all up to date with what keeps us busy, and with our house full of boys, we ARE busy!

Here's who keeps us busy:

Spencer-Age 13 (8th grade)
Tanner -Age 11 (6th grade)
Matthew-Age 9 (4th grade)
Jake-Age 6 (Kindergarten)

Needless to say homework alone about puts me over the egde, add baseball practice, piano lessons, scouts and the usual WWF wrestling matches in the family room and there you have our world right now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Our biggest news of 2006 is that our family of six will soon become a family of seven! We started adoption proceedings for a sweet baby girl living in Taiwan in November 2005. We received her referral in February and have done all the paperwork and signed all the contracts, so now we just wait...

-to hear that our paperwork made it to Taiwan
-to hear that we have entered tha local Taiwan Family courts
-to hear when we can travel to get her
-to hold her in our arms

We do not know when we'll get to go, but we are really hoping to travel this summer. I think we will learn a lot of patience in the coming months!

Introducing the newest member of our family...

Maya Xiao-Ping

Referral picure 1 month old


Maya at 2 months old