Happy Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year (also called Lunar New Year) falls on February 18 this year, and marks the beginning of the Year of the Pig (or Boar). (This past year, when our little guy was born, was the Year of the Dog.) Chinese New Year is celebrated by ethnic Chinese in many Asian countries and around the world. In Taiwan, the New Year is the most significant holiday of the year, and is observed on the first 5 days of the New Year, although celebrations continue for another week or two afterward.

We’ve found these websites discussing Lunar New Year traditions in Taiwan:
http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/culture/lunar-NY/
http://www.sinica.edu.tw/tit/festivals/0296_Lunar.html

We are planning to celebrate the Lunar New Year by making a Taiwanese recipe (sesame chicken soup) for dinner on February 18. Since we had no plans to spend our Sunday cleaning, we were happy to hear that it is considered unlucky to sweep the floor during the first 5 days of the New Year, “because one might accidentally sweep one's good luck and wealth out of the house.”

Next year, when we have Ryan with us, we will try to plan a family gathering for Lunar New Year, as it is traditional to spend the holiday visiting with relatives and friends. Other New Year traditions that we would like to incorporate in our family life include wearing new clothing (to begin the year with a “fresh start”); giving oranges and pineapples (because the words for these fruits sound like the Chinese words for “lucky” and “make a fortune”); a family reunion dinner usually featuring fish and chicken; and giving children red packets containing money (with the amount being an even number, because cash in odd numbers is given during funerals).

According to one website, this may be a particularly lucky year to be starting a family:
“The coming year is 4075 and is the Year of the Pig, although there are rumours that it will be the Year of the Golden Pig, an event which only arrives every 600 years. It is not known whether this year will be that of the golden pig but if it is, it means that it is a lucky time to have a baby - according to tradition.”
http://news.opodo.co.uk/articles/2007-02-06/18053681-Taiwans-Lunar.php

Whether or not this year actually turns out to be the year of the Golden Pig, we feel overwhelmingly lucky that Ryan is going to become our son this year!

Our Dossier is on its way to Taiwan!

Since the last update, we have spent time waiting for our I 171-H to arrive and to have our dossier documents authenticated by the Taiwanese consulate in New York City.

The authentication process went fairly smoothly. On the day that those documents were returned, we also received a mailing from the US-CIS (Citizenship & Immigration Services) office, which turned out to be an I 171-H form (the last piece of paperwork we needed to complete our dossier). What great timing, right?

After viewing the document, we quickly learned that the local office ignored the amended I 600-A we had sent them when we switched from our agency's Vietnam program to its Taiwan program. The government was pleased to inform us that we had advance approval to adopt a foreign-born infant and that our paperwork had been sent to Ho Chi Mihn City. A few phone calls, a few e-mails, and we had a corrected form 10 days later. The Amended I-171H form arrived this past Saturday, and our dossier documents were off to Taiwan on Monday!

On Monday, we also received a new update showing our little guy at about 4 months of age, including 5 pictures and another video, this one a little over a minute long. We'll post some pictures soon. He is growing and we are more and more anxious to see the adoption through.