What's in a name?

Chris has started calling Shao-Chun Alexander. So I guess he has decided on a name. Alexander means defender of man kind. Shao means to join, connect and Chun means Goodman, a monarch. I think it is a mighty fine name for our little guy to live up to. We received word from Taiwan that they received all the documents and will begin the court process. From what I've seen on the yahoo groups, court time is only taking 3 or 4 months. That means we could be travelling as early as October.

May Update

Here are two of the photos sent with our update. We're glad to see him smiling. Every time we receive pictures (3rd time so far) there is at least one silly photo. His school teacher says he shows talent with painting. He is also enjoying puzzles, "mechanic" toys, and basketball. Our contracts and other required paperwork were sent from TECO to our agency last week. They were being shipped to Taiwan today. We are still waiting on one more form from US Immigration which allows us to bring him to the US. I hope this will not hold up the court process, but it probably will. It's always something...

TECO

Finally! Mission accomplished. The whole family took a trip to Chicago today. We took a scenic walk to the Secretary of State office and then to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. Our documents are delivered and now we wait for the 171H and the Taiwan courts. This was stressful for me as I checked and double checked that I had all the right docs, fees, directions, etc. I think I must be obsessive compulsive. I checked everything at least 5 times. This is one day you don't want to mess up!

Chris and I realized the kids have never been downtown. They thought the tall buildings and the lake were cool. Lake Michigan is not your typical lake. Nathan asked if it was the ocean. I guess we'll have to return when we can visit a museum or take them up to the Hancock observatory. We didn't get to go anywhere fun today, but they did get to see their Uncle Kurt and have a Coke slurpee. Not too shabby in their eyes!

That's all for now...I need a nap!

It's here! It's here!

The CANTS form has arrived and our revised home study can now be sent to USCIS. Yippee! We'll also receive a second copy for our dossier. Chris and I will have to deliver some documents to the IL Sec. of State and TECO next week. This is a busy time for Chris, so I'm not sure when we'll get to go to Chicago to do this. We are ONE step closer to Shao Chun.

Our Little Ham!

Here is one of the first pics we received with the referral paperwork. I'm not sure if he put these clips in on his own or if he let someone else do it. But I think it's adorable and shows a sense of humor and silliness. This trait will carry him far in our home!

April Update

The orphanage in Taiwan has sent us their April update. They will send us monthly updates with pictures until we travel to pick him up. I have to say, he is so cute and it seems he has a sense of humor. The report states he is adjusting to his home and friends at Cathwel. He seems to like his caregiver and misses her when she has time off. Even though he is only 4, he attends school during the day. I'm told he enjoys drawing and coloring.

As for our paperwork, we are still waiting on the CANTS from the state. My social worker said her last client's form took 5 weeks. So I guess that means another two weeks to go. However, I have many friends praying that it will be here today!

I did get a helpful piece of advice from a fellow Yahoo group friend that there is a Secretary of State office in Chicago. I thought I had to send my paperwork to the Springfield office. I didn't know there was an office in Chicago. This will shave a few days off my timeline once the CANTS and updated home study are completed. (Thanks Erin!)

We're still thinking through our names choices. Alexander and Benjamin are the top 2 choices. Samuel is also an option. Since Shao-chun is 4, he may be given the option to choose from 2 or 3 names. We haven't heard from Cathwel if that will be their approach in this instance.

Please continue to pray for our family. Thank you for checking in!

Referral Accepted

We received social and medical reports for a 4 year old boy named Shao-Chun. After prayer and consideration, we joyfully accepted our referral that first week in April. We quickly made the necessary phone call to our social worker and faxed in our referral contract to our placement agency. Thank goodness we had just sent in our I-600A to the US Immigration office in March. We received a letter from immigration allowing us to get our biometric fingerprints taken in Naperville. Would you believe they have Saturday hours even the day before Easter?! Next we received from Taiwan the official documents that needed to be notarized as part of our dossier. Chris' friend at work agreed to notarize our documents. Another item was quickly accomplished. We sent these papers to the IL Secretary of State to get "verified". We used Fed Ex so everything was expedited. Yeah! Now all we would have to do is drive to Chicago and hand deliver to the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO). But wait...that would be too easy. Adoption isn't supposed to be easy. Let's throw in the necessary glitches.

We received word from our social worker on April 23 that our I-600A was rejected due to an expired home study. Home studies have to be less than 6 months old. We were over that time frame by TWO weeks. My first instinct was anger, then frustration. As far as I could remember my agencies had not mentioned this requirement to me. I was told to hold off on filing because the 171-H (received after filing the I-600A) expires after 18 months and referrals out of Taiwan are taking that long or longer. After a few days God reminded me that He is in control and that His timing is always perfect. OK, He told me that right away but it took a few days to accept! :)

When we received our documents from the IL Sec. of State I realized there was an error on the verification of our home study. So even if the home study wasn't expired, I would have had to resubmit to the Sec. of State as well. Isn't life ironic?

So now I wait to be cleared (AGAIN) of child abuse/neglect so a new home study can be completed. Then I resubmit to the Sec. of State. And then, God willing, Chris and I will deliver to the TECO in Chicago.

Please pray that our home study would be completed within the next week so we can proceed with the other steps. Also, peace for me when the unexpected occurs. And of course, safety for Shao-Chun.