Preparations

So Hubby won the bet. He was saying we would travel in June. I thought, man, we haven't even heard of our first decree. Even after that it would be a month or two. Who knew things were moving along without us knowing. 

After the frenzy of letting everyone know about the news, or at least send it into the grapevine, we started setting things in motion and making travel plans right away. There's a small list of documents that I need to put together. I've learned to scan everything in so we have hard copies and digital files. Then extra hard copies and multiple locations for our digital files, etc, etc. We'd done this before, but it's all a blur. I'm sorry to say several small trees have been sacrificed in the adoption of these two kids. And our carbon footprint more than doubled since getting Evan. It is sure to go up even more.

It is now high travel season. Airfare is expensive and seats are limited. I spent a good part of a day nailing down the flights at the best price I could get. We ended up going with a Chinese travel agent we had used before. They're just a bit less expensive than the one our agency recommended. It's still pricey! It is getting pretty hot in Taiwan now, although I was told not as bad as in July or August. Let's keep our fingers crossed that we won't be too miserable in the humid heat! We're not going to stay quite as long as we did last time, only about 10 days or so. Just long enough to enjoy all the good food, go to some of our favorite places, get meimei, then come home! Ah-gong (my dad) has been "ordered" by Ah-ma (my mom) to come with us. I don't think we're trusted to shut down their place properly. I'm very happy Ah-gong is coming along. This way I won't have to worry about getting lost, exchanging money, getting lost, finding good places to eat, and getting lost. Did I mention getting lost? Ah-gong and Ah-ma had just come back from Taiwan a couple of weeks ago, barely over jet lag. Thank you, Ah-gong for going with us! Staying at their place will save us a bunch of money. 

In the midst of all the preparation, St. Lucy wants to Skype with us again next Monday. This would be our 4th Skype. I think meimei's thoughtful foster mom wants her to be as familiar with us as possible before we up and take her away. Letting her go is going to be so hard on the foster mom who has taken such excellent care of her since she was 6 months old. That day is going to be emotional and difficult. 

Hubby is looking into an Internet access point in Taiwan so we wouldn't have to go sit in front of 7-Eleven when we want to get online, which would be miserable considering the heat and mosquitos! His work might pick up the tab since they want him to be accessible in case of emergencies. I'm planning to keep everyone informed via the blog. I hardly get any comments. You guys are making me look bad. Feel free to comment, please. So I don't feel so unpopular.

Here are some more pictures. 

Angel's game. Evan's first ball game.

Our first tailgate picnic.

The game held his attention for about a minute. Then he played our iPhones for the next couple hours. He managed to stay awake for the fireworks! That was the best part, especially since the Angels lost. :o( Oh, Hubby said we might've been on TV when they showed kids dancing in the stands. Did anybody see us???

Evan's buddy at the Pet Vet, Zeke.

Rhys' 5th birthday at Bounce U.

Goof around again with Noah.