August 31, 2012 - And They're Off!

Our final paperwork came back from the TECO office in Chicago today!! That is awesome news because this is our last big strain of paperwork.  I rushed them to the FedEx store to "overnight" ship them to Taiwan!! We will hopefully know something within a month and get our first travel date to meet Grayson and start the court procedures :)

On a different note: We are getting quite emotionally involved at this point and I find myself day-dreaming about the day we will get the call to come to Taiwan.  I am dreaming about the day we will walk off the plane with our family to greet us holding OUR CHILD!  As my mind wonders at different moments throughout the day, I find tears rolling down my face in the pure joy we have right now.  Even though we have not met Grayson yet, we can feel him in our hearts.  Usually as soon as I come back to reality  - I have to turn my mind off of him or else I will not stop crying happy tears!

We have been overwhelmed at the support of our family and friends and the are over-flowing with joy every time a friend says, "we prayed for Grayson tonight" or "we are so happy for you guys".  Just those little words of encouragement and kindness have gotten us through some of the hardest days.  Don't get me wrong - God has been leading us, but that does not mean its been an easy road to get where we are.  So THANK YOU dear friends and family that have uplifted us and continue to pray for Grayson and our families.  We are very blessed.

It's funny how we see things in a different light now.  Little comments people make or ask if we have children --- its opened up a whole new world we have just never experienced before.  It's weird how things can change so much in just a month.  Our entire world really.  We have been just soaking it in and enjoying every little part of it as we know someday we will look back and be able to tell Grayson how we chose him, but he was "chosen" for us too :)

August 28, 2012 ROADTRIP!!!

Today was a very stressful day to say the least!  We are down to all of the technical parts of paperwork (ya know- the kind you cannot mess up or sign in the wrong place).  Our final paperwork needed to be sent to Chicago to the TECO office (Taipei Economic and Cultural Office).  Yes, we could have mailed it, but I was so worried it would get lost in the mail or not end up in the right place.  So we decided to take a roadtrip there.  We planned to take a Megabus from Indy to Chicago.  So we got the tickets online and were all set.  My mom Leslie and good friend Courtney would be accompanying me on the trip which I will forever be grateful for them doing so!  We woke up early (and everyone knows I am not a morning person, right?!)  We paid to park downtown for the day and were at the "bus stop" about 6:35am.  Huge thanks to Courtney for knowing where we were going because I would not have found it otherwise.  So we waited, and waited, it turns 6:55 and we are waiting.  We ended up waiting for almost 2 hours on the bus, which never arrived to pick us up.  We searched for the bus companies telephone number on Courtney's Iphone (which was a life-saver) and finallly got work from another gentlemen waiting that the bus broke down early this morning and would not arrive to pick us up until 10:45am..............if they got it working again.  I was furious to say the least!  So we decided to make the drive to Chicago.  Now, anyone who knows me well - knows I have a huge fear and HATE driving in the city and freak out a lot.  However, God must have taken the wheel today, because we made it there safely and I didn't have a panic attack along the way. :) and a big thank you to Courtney once again for being the best navigator!

After parking we went walking to try and find our building.  We actually found it pretty easily......which, by the way -- have you ever notice how buildings in the city are never well labeled?  But we made it :)  After attempting to get on the elevators we were stopped by a security guard (which they were everywhere) and told we needed to check in at the front desk "security desk" and get a name tag.  So we did that and got neon orange name tags that said, "VISITOR - LINDSEY MILLER - TECO OFFICE - 57 FLOOR".  Yes, the guy spelled my name wrong after seeing my drivers license?!!! Top notch security, right?!   I have to add the part where my mom said, "awww, man. This orange name tag doesn't match my outfit".  Bahahahaha!  I was trying to keep a straight face until I looked at the security guard and he was laughing :)  I hope he knew she was kidding? :)
So we get up to the 57th floor - which the view was amazing! I turn in all the adoption paperwork and it was very awkward.  I must have been giving off a bad vibe or something because the lady was very rude and short with me.  I tried to talk her into processing the paperwork that day so I could take the papers home with me, but she finally said no because she "has to scan them into the computer and that will take a while".  Keep in mind she had 5 hours to do that!  So I politely said thank you and we sped walked out of there - she must have been having a bad day.
We spent the next few hours sight-seeing downtown which was fun to just relax and not always be rushing to do something next.   We stopped back by the TEXO office because my mom and Courtney thought I should just check and see if the papers happen to be done - which the Taiwan lady informed me, "NO - THEY NOT DONE! - THEY DONE TOMORROW AND I MAIL THEM TO YOU - OK? OK! BY -BY".  Although I was scared of this little Taiwan lady at the time, it has made me laugh quite a few times since yesturday. :)  We drove safely home and I should expect the papers Thursday morning which I am planning to pick up at the post office early in the morning and take them to FEDEX to overnight them to Taiwan!!!  We should hear in about a month when our first travel date is!!! :)
Thank you God for keeping us safe today and leading us to the right place!

~Lindsay

August 25, 2012 - More paperwork :)

So can we just give a HUGE shout out to the adoption agency, "Families Through International Adoptions" (FTIA)!!  They did our home-study almost a year ago and have been AMAZING to work with.  They have always returned my calls and emails the same day and are so nice and positive!  They have truly been a God-send for our adoption and are genuinely excited for us and are willing to help in any way they can --- and they have!  I had to request another home-study copy. (which is a huge amount of paperwork that has to have approvals and lots of work goes into the home-study packet).  We have to take with us to Taiwan when we travel.  So I requested another copy and she had it mailed out the same day to us!!  We got it today and even the Notaries are all correct on it!
This is just one of many things they have done in a "rush" for us over the past year and we are so thankful for God leading us to their agency!

August 23, 2012 - Getting Final paperwork approved!

Today Lindsay and Leslie took the final set of paperwork to the Government building in Indianapolis to be authenticated by the Secretary of State.  While looking through our paperwork we had notorized the lady quickly realized ALL of our notarized items were done incorrectly.  I about fainted right there in the office........until she quickly informed me that it happens all the time and we could walk downstairs to a Notary they had in the building and get them redone.  I was so relieved!  So we got the paperwork all straightened out and waited while they sorted through it and stamped it with the final golden seal :)

At one point I had thought about mailing in the paperwork so I wouldn't have to take a trip downtown.  God must have been looking out for us on that day!!!  They would have looked at our paperwork, declined it, and mailed it back.  Thank you God!

Of course the workers were curious what business we had with Taiwan so I got to tell them all about Grayson :)

*The next step will be to deliver the paperwork to the TECO office (Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office) which is in Chicago, IL.  ROADTRIP!!! :) They will make sure all of the Chinese documents are correct and match the English documents.  Once the paperwork is approved from them we will send it to Taiwan and they will let us know our first travel date!!!!!!

One step closer to bringing our baby home!! Getting so excited to meet him and give him lots of hugs and kisses!

August 21, 2011 - Notarizing documents

We rushed to the bank today to get all of our paperwork notarized. We are praying we did everything right and things will go smooth through the next few weeks getting everything approved! 

We also got our physicals updated today which wasn't too exciting but it's another thing checked off the list!

We got to see Grayson's name and ours written in Chinese- which was pretty cool!

On a fun note- I ordered Grayson's baby bedding! It's adorable ;) I will post a pic when it arrives.

August 20, 2011- paperwork!

Today we went to the indianapolis FedEx location to pick up our packet of paperwork from Taiwan! We have never been that excited to get paperwork ;) We worked on it for about 3 hours until we had figured it out. Whew........
It was actually pretty neat to see all the documents written in Chinese though! We have no idea what they said, but it was still cool! We are hoping to get all the documents notarized tomorrow. MOVING FORWARD!  We know God will help us through this part and cannot wait to hold Grayson soon!

August 19, 2012- Grayson's Modeling Skills

We were so surprised to open our email tonight and find a picture of Grayson wearing one of the outfits we sent over!  The amazing nannies over there put all of his goodies in the picture too!

I think until tonight we have been pretty much in the "shock" phase and it's seemed so surreal that we have a beautiful son over there.  But tonight I cried when seeing that picture.  Feeling overjoyed tonight :)  God must have known we needed that today.

August 12, 2012 - Shipped and Received

Today, Grayson received our box of goodies that we sent him. It took 10 days to get there. Ted said that everyone liked playing with his toys and looking at this new clothes. This was the book we recorded and sent over as well. They use it so he can get used to hearing our voices. It was kind of weird reading to ourselves at the time of recording. We busted out laughing a couple of times. It's neat that he gets to hear us whenever he wants (with the help of others of course).

August 1, 2012 - Message from Grayson

Today, Grayson sent us a message telling us how he is doing. Ok. It was really Bev, but it was still awesome to get an update on how he is doing. Here is what he had to say....

Hey Mom and Dad! I'm tiny, but growing! I now weigh 8.4 lbs and am 20 1/2 inches long. I loveto sleep in a bathtub! Do you think that's funny? Mama Bev says she puts methere because my legs are so strong, and I try to jump out of all the babychairs! I also love to sleep on my side. Do you think I have a lazy eye? The people here think I have a smaller eye and a bigger eye. One of my eyelids has a crease and the other one doesn't! I like it, because it makes me unique! I have been sleeping well at night, even with the crazy wind andrain from the typhoon. I do have a runny nose though, and a little cough, soplease pray I feel better soon! I hope you all are great! Love, Grayson

Well, you heard it here first!! Our 6-week-old son can talk already. :) And I think he's going to be an X Games skateboard athlete with all the leg pushing. :) Please pray for Grayson's runny nose and cough as well as the typhoon weather in Taiwan right now.

August 2, 2012 - Care Package Away with some Savings

Today, we got to ship our care package to Grayson!!! We went to the Avon UPS store and it was going to cost $88 to ship a 3 lb box!! We said ok and the worker went to get the paperwork to ship the box.  She came back and said she didn’t have any more “international” shipping forms and she couldn’t ship the box for us that day.  So we headed to the Danville post office where we found out we could use a “flat-rate” box and ship it internationally for $28!!!!!!!!!!!!  I couldn’t believe it :) From now on we will be using the post office :)  I can’t wait for Grayson to get the box!!!

August 1, 2012 - 2 More Pics of Grayson

Had a great start to our day!! We woke up this morning and checked our emails to find 2 more pictures of Grayson!!  He is adorable and we cannot wait to meet him!!!  We are so blessed to have a son now and hope the Lord will continue to bless Grayson and the orphanage in Taiwan!