What a blessing this year has been……full of events and transitions and most importantly—-bringing our son home in late January.
This time last year we were waiting to travel and booking flights to Taiwan. Wishing and waiting to hold our son and bring him home. We are thankful to the Lord for blessing us with little ethan.

a snap of our Christmas card this year…..used this template from the Retro Christmas Collection….printed it on Pearl and loved how it turned out…..:)

took a couple pics of the kids on cmas eve……

blessings to you and yours,
Leah

Taipei 101–the world’s 2nd tallest building in the world—and shopping mall extravaganza…..

and the view of taiwan’s traffic from the 87th floor……

had to do one on the red couch at the hotel—-even though I had to use flash…..

another in our hotel lobby……love those dimples…..

asleep in the crib……

night. night.

but, sooo good to be home and gracen was so sweet meeting ethan the first time…we got home early at like 6:45am–so we went in her bedroom–and she woke up–rubbed her eyes–and said, “Ethan”–so lovingly and sweetly.  Such a blessing!

Things have been good—-she is going to be a great big sister!

so—-need to post some more pics from taiwan….on monday, we went up the coast on a little tour….

so beautiful.

and then later that night at the hotel….

more to journal–but wanted to update this blog since it has been awhile—

love those dimples!  so cute!!!  day 2 was good–jet lag definitely hit us though–more laid back day and tried to sleep some….

In the morning, we had our AIT appt for ethan’s passport and we did go to taipei 101 to the top of the observatory towards evening…

as we got out of the taxi–we were met by a group of guys who wanted to know if we would do an interview for them for their English class….it was pretty funny.  Of course, Jason said, ’sure…’ so we headed into taipei 101 and the guys took turns interviewing jason….

some of their questions were: 

*What was our first impression of Taiwan?

*Have we tried Stinky Tofu?

*Do we know any Taiwanese singers?

*What do we think of the traffic in Taiwan?

etc.  Then, they took a group picture…hope they get a good grade….:)

We then headed up to the 98th floor observatory…

cannot wait to process some of these in ps, but you get the idea…….pretty amazing! 

ethan is just such a snuggle bug–he definitely likes to be held!  he likes to be rocked to sleep and held until he falls asleep……his toes are ticklish and it has been such a blessing to see him already bond to us.  He is already crying for me….(when I leave the room)—awww….  he’s precious!

his dimples are simply adorable! 

Jet lag is a funny thing…we’ll feel good for about 3-4 hours and then just crash…and then wake up again–so tuesday night-we went to bed exhausted at about 8pm and then woke up at 11:30pm and decided to turn on the tv and watch some of this…..

ethan was doing this….

  sweet baby…… 

Thank you so much for your prayers, comments and emails….we are SO APPRECIATIVE!  Thank you also for praying for Ethan’s cold….he is getting better–but starting to cough some today–so keep that in your prayers……

Will try to blog day 3 soon–(it’s actually the dawn of day 4 now….)

and here’s a little video we took after coming back to the hotel with him on the first day…..–(okay–you tube is still processing it…so I’ll add it later…..)  ETA: here you go…

We arrived and were met by our social worker…..went upstairs and anxiously waited for a glimpse of ethan’s face. We were a little bit early…so we waited a few minutes while they got him ready—my heart was pounding as I anticipated holding my precious son for the first time. What an amazing moment when they opened the nursery doors and let jason and I go in—-sweet ethan. There he was before us—a gift from God.  An answer to so many heartfilled and faith filled prayers.  Praise the Lord.  Rejoicing at the Lord’s gift to us.  Our son!!!!! 

just like gracen–he reached for my face and studied it…..oooh sweet precious baby……how I have waited for this moment…..and then to daddy……

there is no one else I’d want to walk this journey this….love jason and he’s such a wonderful father…so exciting to see him hold his son for the first time…..

 I got to feed ethan some breakfast…..

  back to the hotel…….he is a lot stronger than we anticipated–already sitting up by himself and almost crawling!  he’s going to be chasing gracen for sure…..:)  Very curious and watchful to everything going on around him—so happy too!  love him to pieces!

     the best part of the day!  ethan snuggled right up and slept for 2 hours……he is just sooooo easy going and quite the snuggle bug. 

took a little tour after naptime……rainy, but beautiful to see the coast…….enjoyed a beef and noodles dinner at a local restaurant.  Our guide is wonderful!  He’s been great in showing us some different things from our trip last time. 

Today–we have some appt’s with AIT….then we’ll see what the day holds….

I am up b/c I couldn’t sleep—got up at 3am here—am amazed that Ethan has been sleeping soundly for the past 10 hours!  What a blessing!  I know family members are waiting for us to skype—-we are planning on it!  We are hoping to sometime today…….Jet lag hit us last night—and we went to bed early….

Thank you so much for all your prayers and emails……we are blessed and so incredibly thankful.  Such an amazing blessing!  Children are an inheritance from the Lord and my heart is filled with joy and thankfulness. 

sweet gracen–we love you so very much and can hardly wait to introduce you to your little brother.  You are going to be such a wonderful big sister……love you bunches and bunches…..

Will try to update more this week……(sorry for the small pictures–no PS on this computer….)—

we leave in a day and a half.

After 2 1/2 years of waiting….we will soon have our sweet son in our arms.  Praise the Lord for His goodness and lovingkindness.  We are so thankful.

finishing packing our suitcase tonight–and carry-ons tomorrow…..

can hardly wait to hold him in my arms……

soon sweet ethan. very, very soon.

big sister g is waiting too……

first, HUGE thanks for all the sweet comments and excitement for us! We are sooooo thrilled that we finally got the call!!!

It’s been a flurry of activity for sure……trying to get our travel plans situated and flights booked….
YEAH!!!!!!
The crib is up….and oh so cute…..the colors are chocolate and green—love it!

baby toys are unpacked from the basement……can hardly wait!!!!

sweet ethan……..we are coming soon……

So completely overjoyed and estactic!!!!!!!!!

we are coming little one…..

What a blessed way to begin the New Year!!!!

Oh to have a gift like this! I would LOVE to be able to take a pencil and create something like this. She’s amazing! If you are looking for some commissioned art—-contact her! Also–take a peek at her blog—her and her husband JUST got home from Ethiopia with their new baby girl, Ruthie—so beautiful…so precious….and a gift from the Lord. You can contact her through her blog here:
Jana’s blog
And her etsy store here: Jana’s ETSY

thanks sweet friend. it’s already matted, framed and hung! I adore it and it’s a treasure I’ll cherish always.

thank you………….

I wish I could hug and take pictures of sweet little ruthie…..

Our documents our officially in Taiwan. It’s been 2 months since our referral–and it already feels like forever. We will have 2 court hearings before we receive our travel news. We are still hopefully praying for December. Optimistic for sure…but praying in faith nonetheless.

Oh how I long to bring him home. I forgot just how painful this part of the process is. It’s so hard knowing he’s there and not being able to bring him home now.

Knowing we are a family of four–but not quite yet.
Seeing him get bigger with each update–and not wanting to miss out on a single moment.
Celebrating that he is reaching different milestones–and yet so desperately wishing I was there to experience it.

My sweet precious son…
do you know how you consume my thoughts each day?
do you know that we are waiting for you?
do you know that we love you so deeply even now…

praying you’ll get to come home soon…

 what a blessing to see e surrounded by our gifts of love in his most recent update….  can’t wait to hold you and hug you and have you home little one…