Day 5 Family Time

On Monday we spent a few hours at AIT — essentially the American Embassy in Taiwan, but since Taiwan has a complicated political history they can’t call it an official embassy, so it’s just the American Institute in Taiwan (it looks like any other US immigration office we’ve ever seen). We got most of the paperwork done and need to go back Tuesday to finish it up. Many thanks to Ann for helping us there and a big hello to the Boyles who we met as they were adopting as well.

After AIT, we got to spend some family time together with nowhere in particular to go. It gave us some time to get on each other’s nerves and play together and whine and laugh and it was wonderful. We visited Taipei 101 (the tallest building in the world until the new tallest one opens in Dubai next year). We plan on going back later to go up to the top, but today we just went in to look around the mall and have some lunch.

After that, we went back to the hotel, took a nap and enjoyed a little more relaxed time. The boys read and napped – and after all of the changes of the last few days the down time was great. Later in the afternoon our video-game-head-boys got to play on the computer and watch TV. Apparently if it’s rectangular and has flashing pictures Jordan and Joshua love it. Personally it’s a little weird watching all the people on Disney channel speaking Chinese, but the boys can’t get enough of it and frequently have both TV’s going.

Sarah is having a little more difficulty, partly because now there is someone else to share Mommy and Daddy with and partly because she is just tired and cranky from the jet lag. She’s adjusting.

In the evening our driver and friend Nick took us down to one of the “night markets” in Taipei. This is a place where some stores stay open and some vendors move in and everyone goes out to eat and shop and crowd together. We got to try Dragonfruit juice and Fried Stinky Tofu (Joshua loves this stuff) as well as getting to experience something that everyone here takes for granted.

Finally to wrap up the evening we went to a nearby Buddhist temple. Joshua told us that we had to be quiet and respectful (it sounded like he had been told this about 1000 times before). It was very beautiful outside and inside, and many people were there performing the various rites. As we walked through, Mommy and Daddy had some discussions about faith and practice while the children started to fade rapidly toward sleep. We got back to the hotel and the three of them were snoring within 5 minutes of walking in the door. Tired, but a happy family!

Pictures

We have not had a chance to download and post some of the pictures, so here is a quick tour of what’s happened so far…

Saturday

Driving down to the orphanage…

with a quick stop at McDonalds……and then through the city to get our boy!

The family at the museum…and having a quick lunch…then outside…to play!

Day 4 Fun In Traslation

We spent Sunday in the Science Center (and then traveling back to Taipei to our next “home-away-from-home”). Joshua had a great time leading us to and through the museum and even when he had no idea where we should go, he confidently lead the way. The dinosaurs were a huge hit, since the museum had not only a bunch of bones, but also a few dinosaurs that were animated. They even had a parent and child T-Rex which took turns roaring. Of course an entire museum with only about 10 signs in English was a bit of a challenge for some of the family, but we managed.

It seems that in Taiwan there is a McDonalds on every street corner and even in every large store. Of course there was one in the Museum and so we stopped. We have eaten more McDonalds on this trip than we have had in the past year.

All of the children were excited that we were coming to Taipei – especially Joshua who kept asking how far we had to go on the ride back. Sarah slept a good part of the day, but the boys had a lot of fun in the car on the way here. It seemed like they had known each other for years.

Joshua speaks Mandarin with just a little bit of English, and up till today we always had someone around to translate which was very handy. Tonight we had our first taste of life without a translator which was a lot of fun. The whole family is learning another language and we had plenty of laughs as everyone mispronounced everything. This will be a great experience and we’re all going to learn a lot as this family comes together. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Day 1,2,3 Then… A New Boy In The Family

After a bit of negotiation, Joshua is finally with us!

On the way to the orphanage we had difficulty finding it (it’s in the middle of the city) and were told that our appointment was on Sunday, not Saturday.  We went anyway, of course.  When we got to the orphanage we were again told that our appointment was Sunday – but this time we had someone to talk to face to face and told them that we were supposed to pick him up on Saturday.  A few phone calls later, we were allowed to meet with Joshua but we could not take him with us.  A few more phone calls and we were permitted to take him out shopping with us but we HAD TO have him back for a party they had planned.  By the time we got back from shopping we were told that there were even more phone calls and that we were allowed to take him home with us.  It was a good thing that we just kept on going whether than listening to the first “no”.

The orphanage staff threw a “going away” party and gave Joshua gifts and sang him some songs.  Then they asked us to stand up and tell all the children a little bit about Joshua’s new home.  Once we were done, his favorite teacher packed his suitcase and we drove across the city.  We’re staying with our friend Kristin who is a missionary here until we head back to Taipei for a few days of completing paperwork.

God really blessed us with a beautiful boy – a great addition to a weird and wonderful family.  He also blessed us by putting the right people in the right places from the orphanage workers to the adoption folks to our new friends in Taiwan.  It’s been a real joy so far.

The plan for Sunday – a visit to the local science center and then a long drive back to Taipei.

Packing Up

As I write this we’re finishing packing and getting ready to leave in the morning. It’s a little hard to believe that in about 48 hours we’ll get to hug our little boy for the first time. Unfortunately we still have half a world to travel – and so it will be back to the suitcases after a brief coffee break.

For those who helped us with donations, loans, house sitting, moral support, kind words and prayers we say a heart-felt thank you. We know that we are Joshua’s dad and mom, but we also know that life is best lived in love and community and we know that our community of friends and neighbors is a very necessary part of our lives. We appreciate each of you and we don’t say thank you nearly often enough.

OK, shutting down now – and packing up. Tomorrow we fly across the world.