March Update

Welcome to the ongoing story of Hsiu-Wen joining our family. She was born in Taipei on November 25, 2006. We recieved a referral for this darling girl at the end of December and are now waiting for her file to go through the Taiwanese court system so we can bring her home. Meanwhile we get occasional updates of photos, a video and health information.

After not having gotten any updates for over two months, the expected update emails arrived today! And isn't she a cutie. Look at that hair!

Hsiu-Wen is now 3 months old, a lanky 62 cm weighing in at 5.6 kg. She'll definitely be an armful when we bring her home this summer. She's in foster care now, hopefully getting lots of love and cuddles. We know the care package we sent last month arrived safely, since it is the cream fuzzy blanket in the photo. We have a photo album to send her, but might wait for C to bring it with him when he visits her next month.

If you are wondering how to pronounce Hsiu-Wen, the approximation I get from the videos is "shao-0ne" with the emphasis on the second syllable. We're going to keep Hsiu-Wen as her middle name, but still haven't decided on a first name. Hopefully we'll have something before we fly to Taiwan to pick her up!

As for when she'll come home, we are at the mercy of the Taiwanese courts. Our paperwork went into the courts at the end of January and we will have the first hearing on March 29th. Looking at other people's timelines for adopting from Taiwan, most travel 2-4 months after their first hearing. It could be as quick as 6 weeks. We're currently figuring we'll be in Taiwan sometime in June or July, when the weather is maximally hot and humid.

And C gets to meet our sweetie! He is travelling to Taiwan for work at the beginning of April and will have time to spend a day with her. He's both excited and apprehensive. This might be his first opportunity to change a diaper. He'll have a camera with him, so by this time next month we'll have lots more photos.