Video of Nate's Homecoming

Summers End

Here are some recent photos from a few of our summer adventures. We've traveled to the lakehouse in Michigan, took Sam to the Broookfield Zoo just before Nate arrived, visited the new waterpark in Yorkville, attended the Journeys National adoption reunion and taken many, many trips to the park! In these photos you will see Sam watching sea lions underwater, how much Sam and Nate look alike in their side by side shots, and one of the funniest most imaginative things we came across. When Peter mows the lawn he wears a hat and his iPod. Well Sam kept putting on a straw hat and a stethescope and pushing around this walker we have making a humming sound. One day it clicked. He was mowing the lawn just like dada. So adorable! If you ask him to get his iPod he goes running for the stethescope. Enjoy the transition to fall!

At Home

I'm finally taking the opportunity to add a few new photos. Nathaniel has been wonderful! He is sleeping 8-10 hours a night and eating well. He is totally laid back and happy. Sam on the other hand has been quite the handful. Very clingy and jealous. Not so happy that Nate is here to stay. He has his sweet moments where he helps with the bottle or throws out the dirty diaper, but he also steals toys and hits...

Above all, we are so blessed to have such wonderful, beautiful boys!

Homecoming

Everyone's home now! Thanks for following our adventures over the last few weeks. Here are some scenes from the airport:






















Thanks to everyone who was able to be there at the airport, especially Peter's Mom, who helped watch Sam while Annie and Sarah were in Taiwan. Thanks to everyone who prayed and sent emotional (& financial!) support over the last few months. We are awed and humbled by the generosity and love we've experienced this spring. We love you!

Counting Down

We are beginning to count down the hours until we fly home. As I write this we have 36 hours till our plane takes off from Taipei. We now have Nathaniels visa so we are all good to go! We will fly from here to Osaka Japan, then from Japan to Detroit. Word is that customs in Detroit is a breeze so that will be a nice change from LAX last year. From Detroit we take the last leg to Chicago, arriving home at 3:44pm on Friday. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us these past two weeks. Keep sending them up for our travels home. See you soon!

Sightseeing

We went to the Taipei Zoo with the Wood family on Monday and to Taipei 101 yesterday. Here are some photos of cool animals. At this zoo you can get REALLY close to them. The little girl is Hsin-Yi, the Wood's daughter. What a cutie! She and Nate played together yesterday afternoon and had a blast. The last photo is Nate, looking like Sam.

Yipee!!

I just got an email from AIT and a call from Fion. Our new AIT appointment is tomorrow morning, Tuesday, at 9am. This means we should have Nate's passport by Wed and we can come home on Friday!! I will post again once all that is complete with flight details. Yeah, the countdown is on!

Our Adventures

We've taken many adventures over the past few days. Including getting into a taxi accident-with no seat belts or car seat! We are all ok- Sarah and I are just stiff and Nate was completely unaffected. We've gotten to meet 3 other families here adopting; we are all at the same hotel. The Crawfords from San Antonio, the Woods from San Fran, and the Coles from Indiana. That has been really cool, meeting the families and babies. Here are a few more photos of the cutest chub! BTW...that could be Sam at the same age in the fire truck photo.

God Bless America

On this 4th of July we are feeling truly blessed to be Americans. What a wonderful, amazing country we have. We dressed Nate up in celebration. He was a HIT! Of course he is everywhere we go. People are constantly coming up and commenting on his fat cheeks! We learned that the Chinese phrase which sounds like "Hao cou ai" means cute baby. We were hearing that everywhere so we finally asked someone. Also, with the hot sun, we got him a bonnet for when we go out walking. You can see he is a huge fan...We miss you all and can't wait to be home. Happy Independence Day everyone!!

Taking it in stride

So as Peter posted, we are stuck here an extra week. A bummer just because we miss our families and the comforts of home! We are planning our days to catch a little excitement each day. Taipei 101 one day, the mall another, our version of "good food" when we find it. We are definitely American girls. We found some green onion pancakes we love, but outside of that have eaten little Chinese food [I realize that makes some of you wince; like you Peter!] I read in the China Post this morning an article about the historic # of flights to China because of the upcoming Olympics. I am guessing that has a lot to do with why we couldn't find a second flight home that easily. Check back- I have a great outfit for Nathaniel today and we will post photos tonight!

Big Delay

So we hit a pretty big delay...
Our paperwork didn't get to Taiwan in time for Nathaniel's visa to get done before the 4th of July holiday. They are hoping to get the visa on Monday the 7th, but Northwest doesn't have any space on flights out of Taiwan until the following Friday July 11th. Please keep praying...
-Peter

Small Miracles

Its 5am and Sarah and I are huddled in the bathroom eating Dunkin Donuts - the mochi rings are my favorite! Nate has slept 10 hours and we're not quite sure what to do. I got up and checked that he was still breathing. He's the best! Today we move hotels. From Landmark Inn to Golden China. It will be more centrally located so we will have better access to good food! Also GOOD news- NVC wired our paperwork to Taiwan so it should be here this morning. We are getting closer... stay tuned for more once we get settled again. Miss you all!!!

Baby Boy

Photos of us chillin with the baby boy! Still no word of when we can come home. Peter has been on the phone with our congressman who is interceding on our behalf. Looks like our file was sent on Wed 6/25 but has disappeared into space. They are trying to track it down. I am guessing it will all get sorte out in the next day or so, but with the holiday we won't be leaving till the 7th or 8th. We'll keep you posted...

Here at Last!

The moment has arrived! Nathaniel is a wonderful baby. HUGE and wonderful. He eats a lot and sleeps well; in fact we are just coming off a 6 hour stretch! Here he is. The woman in pink is his foster mother.

On the Home Front

So Annie and Sarah are in Taiwan living the high life of Champagne and caviar (ok, maybe M&Ms and Seaweed flavored Pringles). I'm at home with Sammy and my Mom (Sam calls her "Oma"). Can you blame us for not wanting to bring a feisty 18 month-old on that plane trip? We also couldn't leave Sam for a week without one of us home.

Things are going fine here at home (Don't worry, Annie!). We're playing with Sam's little toy guitar, putting on every baseball cap in the house, and dancing to John Mayer (See Photos). Sorry the pictures are blurry. Sam moves too fast for the camera on my phone!

We're also spending a good bit of time wrestling:

Or going on "walks":

(I think Opa taught Sam how to exercise!)


And we're keeping a picture of Annie and Sarah around Sam. Here he is giving it kisses:

When Sam goes to bed at night, he usually just grabs his blanket and a nook. Tonight, he wouldn't go to bed without his picture of Mommy and Sarah. When Oma brought his blanket and bottle to him, Sam ran over, took their picture off the fridge, and brought it along to bed.

What a blessing Sam is, and what a blessing Nathaniel is.

-Peter