Our Adoption Journey

Eric & I made the decision to adopt in January 2007. Our LID (log-in-date) for China was May 26, 2007. We knew the wait would be long, at that time it was 18 months. During the next year, the wait time increased to 5 or more years. We came to a realization that we needed to decide if we wanted to stay in the China program or get out. We looked at other options and finally decided that Taiwan was the way to go.

In October 2008, our agency had an opening in their Taiwan program. I quickly filled out the application and we were approved immediately. Their estimate wait time was 6 months to 2 years. At first, we were told that our child would be around 2 years old. Our homestudy and tons of paperwork (taxes, employment information, financial info, references, doctor's exams and the list goes on) were finally completed and we were accepted in November by the Chung Yi Social Welfare Foundation in Taiwan.

Then, out of the blue, on Tuesday, April 14, we got the call. Well, Eric got the call since I was at school and didn't pick up my phone. I remembered looking at the missed calls and seeing the text "We have a baby girl." At first, I didn't understand what it meant but then it finally hit me that this was the call we had been waiting for.

Hsiao-Ying, born on 3/2/09

Eric told me to come home right away so that we could open my email to see Lexie's pictures. We needed to make a decision quickly whether we wanted to accept the referral. We wanted to say yes right away, but knew we needed to get everything checked out. Eric called Ryan to look at Lexie's medical records. We really appreciate how quickly he got back to us because we knew he was going on a trip the next day. Thank you also to Lorna for getting her cousin to look over the reports and making her recommendations. With the approval of 2 pediatricians and a pediatric cardiologist, we accepted the referral.

On April 21, we got approval from Chung Yi and the birth mom to adopt Lexie. We signed and notarized the power of attorney paperwork and contracts on April 27. Four sets of paperwork needed to be taken to the 1st circuit court to authenticate our notary. On May 13, we took the paperwork to TECO where it was authenticated by the Taiwan government and finally it was sent off to Taiwan on May 22.

Then, we waited.....in the meantime, I was able to send Lexie a care package. Thanks Lorraine for the baby clothes. I sent a few of the smaller sizes, along with a snuggly blanket, and some macadamia nut candies for our social worker.