Beautiful Miaoli County, Taiwan

Although we are still several months from receiving our travel date, we are very excited for our trip to Taiwan -- both for the obvious reason of welcoming Ryan into our family, and also because we look forward to seeing the beautiful country he comes from. This website, http://tiscsvr.tbroc.gov.tw/en/, has hundreds of pictures of places in Taiwan, including pictures from individual cities and regions. Our little guy was born in Miaoli County, where his birth mother lives on a farm. Miaoli is in the northwest area of Taiwan, about 60 miles southwest of Taipei. The picture posted above is of a farm/pear orchard in Miaoli County. The pictures below are of a blossom festival in Miaoli County, and ruins of an ancient bridge there. Since we may not get to see Miaoli on our adoption trip and will not have any pictures of his birth mother's actual home, it is nice to have pictures like this that we will be able to show Ryan when he is older to help him imagine his birthplace.

5 months old already!

We received another update this week! We were particularly excited to receive it so soon (only 4 weeks after the last one) since we thought this month's update would be delayed due to the Lunar New Year holiday.

Ryan turned 5 months on March 1. This is one of his latest pictures -- we can't believe how big he's getting! He weighed 15 lbs. at his 4-month checkup, and we should be receiving his latest measurements any day now. (We usually receive photos and a video the first week of the month, and his monthly check-up records about a week later). We just can't wait to hold him and kiss his chubby cheeks!

It has been 1 month now since our dossier was sent to Taiwan. We are informed that the court process takes anywhere from 4 to 8 months, so we still have a lot of waiting ahead. In the meantime, our jobs and daily lives are keeping us busy, and at the end of every day we know that we are one day closer to what we are sure will be the most joyful event of our lives.