Is it Day or Night??

We have all been doing well. We are so happy to be back home with our new son Daniel! It has been a challenge trying to get over jetlag and getting Daniel's internal clock set to the right time. He has been very restless at night and wakes up every few hours. Josh told my sister that I don't sleep now that I'm a mom :) It's true I haven't been getting near the sleep but some how I feel just fine. Daniel has enjoyed meeting his extended family and some of our friends this week. At lunch today his grammy and two aunts were here doting on him. Daniel and our dog Betsy have been getting along very well. They seem to keep each other entertained, Daniel thinks she is hilarious and randomly laughs at her.

Thank you all for your love, prayers and support. We feel so blessed that God has chosen us to be Daniel's parents. We have realized the miracle that our journey has truly been. We had the chance to talk to different adoptive parents that we met along the way in Taiwan. Most of them had been waiting years and none of them had a child as young as ours. Several of them had tried to adopt through The Home of God's Love as well but had been turned away. We realized just how selective Ted and Bev are with the parents they choose. They even told us they have had people on their list waiting for years.

We give all the Praise, Honor & Glory to our Savior Jesus Christ who has made all of this possible. God's plan for our lives is a living testimony of His faithfulness. A verse that has meant a lot to me over the last several months is Proverbs 16:9 "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." We had a plan for our lives and it didn't go the way we wanted, but God had an even more awesome plan for us!

love,
Tanya

p.s. Daniel likes Betsy despite the picture, he was ready for a nap.

HOME!!

We made it home!! At 1:00am this morning we brought Daniel into his new home. The traveling went very well. The Sawatzkys made sure that everything was in order at the ticket counter and then we said our goodbyes. Thank you so much for your prayers. Despite our best efforts, the takeoff and landing led to times of crying and some ear piercing screaming :) This was something that we had expected as it is a common occurrence. Other than that he slept for most of the 15 hours on the plane. Although Tanya and I did not get much sleep to speak of, it led to some welcome rest. The more a baby sleeps on a plane, the better life is for everyone! We could not have asked for a better group of people to fly with. Even before boarding we had many people coming up to us wanting to see and hold Daniel. Tanya and I had prayed that we would have the other seat beside us empty to give us more room and even requested it upon check-in. Instead we were blessed to have a sweet lady from Indonesia that was going to visit her new granddaughter in PA and who was a one point a pediatric nurse. She told us not to worry about anything and even helped us change diapers and held Daniel when we needed to eat and he was awake. Across the aisle sat a man that recognized us from the airport the previous week and had witnessed us meeting Daniel for the first time. He loved to talk. We even met another couple from NY that had was going home with their adopted daughter. We had good conversation with them as we took stretch breaks in the galley area. The flight crew was the most helpful that I have ever experienced (there were 10 flight attendants!) The grandparents were anxiously awaiting at Newark as we officially brought Daniel into the US and collected all of our bags. They kept him entertained on the car ride home as I slept for most of it :)
So now we start things here at home as a new family. There will be a time of sleep adjustment for all of us (although I think Daniel will adjust sooner), and some time for Betsy (our dog) to get adjusted to not being the center of attention. We will keep this blog for a little so that friends and family that we will not get a chance to see for a while can track the progress here at home. Other than that, we will be seeing most of you around somewhere. Thank you so much for your support and especially your prayers as we took this journey. I promise you that they were felt everyday.

Going home!!

Today is the day that we leave for home. We are both ready to see everyone in the airport and finally arrive at our house to start a "routine." Yesterday was very enjoyable but VERY tiring. Our little excursion lasted about 7 hours. Here it is in a nutshell: Taxi, train, subway, diaper change in the station, walking, look around the CKS memorial park, walking, shopping, feeding Daniel at market, walking, subway, taxi, meet up with Sawatzky's son and his family at their house, walking, restaurant, walking, subway, Daniel getting hungry, switch to other subway, Daniel getting more hungry, trying to wait till train, run to catch train, feed Daniel on the train, taxi to the house, GO TO BED! As you can see in one of the pictures, I actually strapped that Snugli thing to me and carried Daniel around (something I had always told Tanya you would never see me wearing :) So anyway, we board our plane today (Monday) at 6:50pm for 14-15 hours of flying. We will be landing only 3 hours later around 9-9:30 in Newark. Pray for the trip home! See you soon.

On our own!

We made it Taoyuan to with no problems. Daniel did great on the 2.5 hour train ride from Lou-dong. He had fun looking through the big windows and even slept for a time. The Sawatzkys were able to meet us right at the train as we got off and help us drag the luggage up the stairs and through the streets to a taxi. It is nice to be in a place with some air conditioning. The Sheldon and Marietta have been so kind to open their apartment for us to stay our last few days. Last night Daniel finally had one of the fits that they told us about at the orphanage :) That boy has a set of lungs when he gets upset!! By the end of last night Tanya and I were very tired. This morning we went to church with our hosts and enjoyed and great service. They were about 40 people there on the 7th floor of a commercial building, most of them young people!! He sat quietly through the entire service that lasted 1.5 hours. He always the music time :) Daniel drew a lot of attention at the end of the service. We are not completely sure what we will do for the rest of today but at some point we will get out for some sightseeing in Taipei. This will involve a bus and then more trains and possibly the subway. Daniel enjoys a change of scenery during the day. He has just loved riding around in the Snugli carrier that our friends loaned to us, although the same can not be said for Tanya's back :)
Please pray as we near the end of our time here in Taiwan. We feel so blessed to have this time here with Daniel. We are however, more than previous trips that we have taken, ready to get home. Our first week as new parents living out of a suitcase, moving from here to there, all within an unfamiliar culture is starting to take it's toll. We thank God for strength and security that he has provided for us during our time!

Leaving the orphanage.

Tomorrow we leave the Home Of God's Love along with Daniel. This place will always be special to all of us. There are many people here that have loved and cared for Daniel in his first 5 months of life. All the children here are being raised to love one another and serve the Lord every day.
We thank God today for answered prayer regarding the other family that is here with us. They had a difficult time at the interview today due to some things out their control. After much prayer everything was approved and they will be going home with their son just as we are.
Tomorrow we board a train and head toward the other side of the island to Taoyuan. There we will meet up with a missionary couple that our church has supported for many years. We will be spending the rest of our time there until we fly out on Monday. We will be on our own now with Daniel but feel confident now that we have had these past days to get adjusted.
We enjoyed our last evening interacting with the other children of various ages. It feels like they are opening up to us just in time for us to leave. I was trying to help a boy learn a song that he likes and was attempting to play it on the piano. I love music as it goes beyond the language barrier and helps us communicate :)
I do not know the internet situation and whether we will have as much time to keep things updated. However, before we know it we will be on the way home. We should be back in the US by 9:30 on Monday night. We look forward to seeing all of you soon. Thank you so much for your continued prayers.

Pics

Sightseeing

Today we had the chance to do some sightseeing. Taiwan has beautiful landscape. We rode a train for 1 hour through the mountains, by the pacific ocean and through several towns. We then rode in a van with Ted and the Krosher family to Toroka National Park. It is a beautiful gorge surrounded by mountains. We had the opportunity to walk several trails and stop at many lookout points. We also had the opportunity to try many local foods. It seemed like every hour Ted was stopping to pick up more food he had ordered for us to try. It was a great chance to see the countryside we enjoyed the day very much. The only down side was that Daniel did not come along. Ted said the day would be too much for him. I missed him soooo much. It was weird, I felt like I was missing part of myself. But we returned before dinner and got to spend some time with him.

Last night at dinner we gave the girls sitting with us a good laugh. Daniel had been constipated and we were hoping he would go. Josh was holding him and held his butt up to his nose smelling his dirty diaper and making a terrible face. I then looked to see that it was dirty and got so excited I was clapping and telling Daniel good job. Even thought the girls couldn't understand us, I guess our antics were clear enough. They thought it was so funny!

Daniel is now peacefully sleeping in the pac-n-play in our room. We hope it will be another good night sleep for all of us.

love, Tanya

Video

Not a good quality video but it shows you that he moves :)

More pictures

Trip to Taipei!

Well the appointment this morning (Wednesday) is behind us. As far as we have been told the paperwork is all done! Last night was the first night that they moved Daniel to our room. We prayed that this would go well as it was completely new for him. He slept the WHOLE night!! We are pretty much on our schedule now instead of the sleeping and eating regiment of the THOGL. This is allowing us to figure out what will work best (just so we can change it all around again after we arrive home). I have learned that when a baby wants to eat, they are persistent!! Tanya was in the back seat with Daniel on the ride this morning and witnessed his "adorable" screaming as she rushed to get the bottle ready. The "interview" was a piece of cake. It was basically a couple questions from behind a ticket window and a few signatures. Right now (1:30pm) he is sleeping and we are resting. Tomorrow Ted will be taking Tanya and I along with the other family that is here to some type of canyon or gorge that is said to be very beautiful. Daniel will stay here with his wonderful babysitters as they do not recommend that infants go on this hike :) The food has been wonderful (if you do not mind rice for lunch and dinner everyday); Peru team, I know you are jealous now :) We have great hosts and the country is very beautiful. We are enjoying our time here but also ready to get home and start our life with Daniel there. Thank you again for all your prayers!!

Blessings

Wow, what a trip it's been so far! Daniel is precious beyond words. Josh is a wonderful daddy. He is learning very quickly. Our firsts have been quite interesting. Changing Daniel's first diaper was done on the floor in the corner of a YMCA. Preparing his first bottle was done in the back of the van while driving. It was pretty humorous, Josh was a little too slow & Daniel was screaming till it was ready. His first car ride with us was in our arms (no carseat laws). My first time eating while holding him was done with chopsticks!! Our first time putting him down to bed was in a room with 10 other precious babies. Our first walk with him was around a lake in Lo-tung.

We feel so blessed to have this beautiful baby boy as our son! Please pray for Daniel as he is teething and is fussy. He has not been eating as well and just not quite his happy self (from what they told us). But we are taking it all in stride and learning as we go.

Please keep us in your prayers as we go tomorrow with Daniel to the American Embassy for our interview.

Thanks for all your love & prayers. We look forward to Daniel meeting you all. We have found that he is quite a social baby and very popular among the younger children at the orphanage.

love, Tanya

Learning!!

We are into our second day as parents!! Our first day was quite eventful. I mentioned some of it in the earlier posts. When we finally arrived at the orphanage, Daniel had been traveling for 6 hours that morning. He did very well!! The Home Of Gods Love is such a special place. Everyone here has such a big heart. Bev Skiles has this thing down to a science. She is very strict about schedules for the babies. This ensures that they at least get a little sleep at night! Last night we stayed at a very nice hostel across the street because the they had another couple in the guest room. This was very nice as we were able to get a good night sleep in comfortable air conditioning. We feel more refreshed this morning. Yesterday was tough and I felt like I spent most of it sleepwalking. Tonight through the rest of the week we will be in the guest room here at THOGL. They wait till the third night till they wake us up for the 5am feeding. They figure that this is the time it takes for the jet lag to wear off. I think that if we can get through this week here with Daniel, home should seem easy. We'll see! Daniel has already experienced one of my famously LONG walks (ask the Peru team). We also learned that holding Daniel and eating with chopsticks at the same time is VERY difficult.

Pictures

Surprise!!!

So Ted got to the airport around 6:30 and surprise, he has Daniel!!! What a beautiful boy!! He has already warmed up to us. We have fed him and cuddled him in the van. Right now we are sitting in a YMCA in Taipei (it is more like a nice hotel). We are waiting for Ted to return for us. We came her to meet up with another couple who is meeting their son today and now Ted left to go do something else. He said he will return in a half hour or so (3 hours or so if this were Peru) so we are just playing with Daniel and downloading pics and stuff. After this we will go to get some papers and then head to the orphanage.

WE HAVE ARRIVED!! We are sitting in the airport (with free wi-fi!!) waiting for Ted to come pick us up to take us to the orphanage. We think it is about a 2 hour ride to the orphanage. The flight was long but very nice. I would recommend EVA Airlines any day (for those of you planning a trip to Asia :) ) We both got a decent amount of sleep and were well fed. Thank you for your prayers about our travel. Soon we meet Daniel!!!!

Here we go!

The day is finally here. We are leaving for Taiwan!! It is hard to explain how we feel. Excitement, anxiety, some fear maybe. However, we know that with all the prayer and support of our family and friends, that we are not doing this alone. We thank God for all his blessings so far and know that he is right there beside us all the way.

I decided to try this blogging thing but am not sure how much we will be able to update it. Check back occasionally. If it works out we will post pictures and updates, but no guarantees.

We leave at 11:10 tonight on an 18 hour flight. We will arrive in Taipei at 6:00 am their time. We will meet Daniel after our ride to the Home Of God's Love. This will be around 9:00 pm your time for those who like to know specifics :)