Walls Family

Pictures, again

2010-07-21T18:07:14Z

Home Again!

2010-07-05T02:04:47Z

We are home and have had a week to recover from traveling. Micah is doing great! I carry him around in my ERGO most of the time and he loves it. Elliana is very hands on in every way. She is starting to slow down and go do other things while I am feeding him. With the slow down, she wants more "mommy time". We have gone out a few time with just the two of us girls. Chris is going to take Elliana and Andy to see Toy Story 3 tomorrow. This will be the first movie going experience for the two of them and Chris' first BIG outing without any other adult help. Hoping for the best:)

I am sad to say, but with three kids I cannot keep up the picture of the day. I will try to post a weekly update with a few pictures on the weblog to keep you checking. Please no yelling at me! Maybe after a few YEARS I will try to do it again, but realistically it just is not going to happen right now. So enjoy these pictures!

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Travel Dates!

2010-06-10T04:20:42Z

We have received our travel dates! We will be headed to pick up Micah very soon!!! Elliana is very excited to get her baby brother and to stay with Grandparents while she waits! Andy still doesn't get much of what is going on, or at least he doesn't say much about it. He did say his first sentence on Sunday, which is a big deal for him.

Buzz Lightyear

2010-05-13T22:08:29Z

Elliana has begged for Buzz Lightyear pajamas for months. I took her to get a pair last week. She has worn them every where and every day. People see her coming and start laughing that she is still wearing them. I made her put on real clothes for our activies today. I had gotten out Andy's buzz lightyear outfit without thinking. Elliana could not believe that I would do such a thing like let Andy wear Buzz and not her. So the search will begin for Elliana to have real Buzz clothes too.

Playing

2010-04-18T01:43:19Z

Elliana's new favorite activity is playing in the car. She has learned how to open the door from the outside and inside. The weather was cool enough for her to enjoy this activity for several hours today. She buckled her babies in to their car seats repeatedly. She "drove" to several places and ran lots of errands.

Andy has been enjoying blowing bubbles outside. He asks me to blow him bubbles, then runs to do something with his trains, and then comes back for more bubbles.

Micah has been playing in a bouncy seat. We received a 13 second video and that was what he was in, the bouncy seat. Elliana is loving that he is able to play in a bouncy seat and will tell you all about it if you ask her. The social worker visited him lasted week. The next step is to write up the report and turn it into the judge.

Chris has been playing in the yard, putting down mulch, cutting grass, pulling weeds... I have been trying not to play outside too much as allergies have been especially bad this year.

Court Update

2010-03-24T18:08:10Z

Deana, our representative, went to court in the middle of the night. As a side note, it is only a twelve hour time change, I guess they do not have day light savings time. She said all went great. That is good news. The judge, who is new the the bench, did request an extra document, but it was able to be produce and turned into the judge right after the case.

The bad news: the social worker has not even started Micah's report. We are on hold until she does it. She first needs to set up a time to meet Micah, which she has not done either.

Since is the judge is new, we do not have past time lines to go by. Either way, I think I will have to adjust my travel thinking to June or July.

Also, We did not get any new pictures, but are hoping for some when the nannies finish writing updates on all the babies:)

Court Date Tomorrow

2010-03-23T14:20:06Z

Tomorrow is Micah's first court date. Please join me in praying for a miracle, that the social worker would have her report on Micah to the judge! The case is set to start at 2:45 p.m. Taiwan time, that is 1:45 a.m. for me. It can last as short as 15 minutes. I will not hear anything from my case manager until the afternoon on Wednesday because of all the different time zones we are working with. I, of course, will update right away.

Fast

2010-03-08T18:35:01Z

Okay, so I was able to download new pictures. No promises for the rest of the month!

No Pictures Again

2010-03-08T17:16:26Z

I am sorry to say that the picture of the day is down again. Our computer will not read the camera card and I can not find the cord thing so until it is better, I keep trying several times a day, it will not be posted.

On the Micah front, the Judge in Taiwan was given our paper work. He now will set a first court date. He can take as long as he wants to set it and set it for whenever he wants. Pray he is fast and kind to us.

Elliana and Andy are doing good. Andy is says new words, more clearly, every day. Elliana is putting her babies to bed every five minutes. Chris is going to start a new position at GE in a couple of weeks and I will be starting my seeds for the garden soon too. That is a short update on each of you.

Andy's Birthday

2010-02-17T00:51:05Z

Andy is TWO!!! He had his birthday on Sunday, the 14th. I was waiting to update until we had his two year doctor's appointment. Andy does not have an ear infection, that is super news. He was also taken off the asthma registry. He is 28.4 pounds, 60% and 33.75 inches, 35%. The doctor said they call that "tank". I thought he was thinning out.
As a two year old, Andy can kick and throw pretty good. He can stack plenty of blocks and follows direction, if he chooses. His speech is the only area of concern.
Andy plays great with Elliana and stops often for some sweet cuddles. He is loving and smart. One of his favorite activities is reading books with Chris for bedtime.

Sibling Fun

2010-02-02T01:57:12Z

Elliana and Andy have been playing together more and more. Andy will following Elliana around carrying a baby doll that was discarded by Ana. They will stop to feed their babies together, sharing the bottle and bowl of oatmeal (pretend). Later, they will play trains together. It has been fun to watch them grow and have fun together.

Elliana has really been into signing time, a dvd series that teaching American Sign Language. I am trying to get Andy to use more signs since he is difficult to understand. Elliana picks it up very quickly and is learning a lot. Andy can say: water, thank you, juice, more, cracker, please, baby, and apple. It has helped him get what he wants too. Andy came up to me wanting an apple. I thought he was saying ball and he was starting to get frustrated that I was not giving him an apple. So he tried to sign apple while saying it and he got an apple in return. Much better than screaming and complete meltdown:)

Micah

2010-01-18T19:20:06Z

We have a new baby waiting for us! We have named him Micah. It means, "who is like the Lord." He was born January 9, 2010. If you notice that is a different date than I told some of you, it is. He was born last Saturday in Taiwan. He is healthy and weighing 7 pounds 9 ounces. We received our call on Thursday evening and were overnighted our paper work on Friday. We do have pictures and hopefully with have a video soon. I will not be able to post any pictures until the adoption is final. That will not be for about 6 months.
Here is the process:
After accepting a referral here are your next steps:

Family's dossier paperwork is submitted to the court (we have ten days to complete this and get it back to our agency.)

Judge can take 1-3 month to schedule a court date

On the court date, Deana will present the family's case

The judge will review the case information, he can take anywhere from 2-12 weeks (8-10 on average) to issue his decree

After the first decree there is a 10 day wait period to allow for the birth family to come back. This 10 day period is the last chance for a birth parent to come back and reclaim the child

At the end of the 10 business days the judge will issue his final decree. Once we have this final decree we can begin to plan the family's travel

If you would like to see a picture, please send me an email and I will give you a peak!

Snow Days

2010-01-11T17:52:23Z

We have had a few snow days last week. Last year at this time Elliana disliked snow very much!! Well, a year older, she now loves it. She makes snow angels, rolls in the snow, helps shovel, and will stay out until dragged in. Andy is not so pleased with the cold. He seems to like the snow, but refuses to where snow attire and therefore can not go out and play. He cries that he is left behind and cries if he is out in the snow.

Today we went to Entertrainment Junction and the kids had a great time. We will be headed there regularly in the winter months. In January we can bring a friend free, so let me know if you want to join us.

Happy New Year

2010-01-07T02:20:55Z

Elliana and Andy slept through midnight and rang in the New Year just how we wanted them too! When we returned from visiting family for Christmas we took Andy back to the doctors. He has another ear infection. Of course tubes were mentioned at this point. We would like to avoid them and will keep pushing it off as long as possible. We do not feel that they helped Ana very much, but we know that Andy is a completely different kid too.

Andy received lots of trains and tracks for Christmas and spends as much time as possible playing with them. Ana plays with her new baby doll and changes her diaper every five minutes! We have been working on her letters, she can recognize almost all of them, but not yet write any. She is getting better each time we practice.

We are sure have more snow tomorrow and hopefully more fun outside. Elliana loved playing in the snow on Tuesday. Andy was so mad about wearing snow pants and a coat he could not calm down to play. He was still mad when he came in. Turns out he likes the snow, just not the clothes to play in the snow.

Picture of the Day

2009-12-22T15:51:09Z

I was able to download the pictures so I the "Picture of the Day" is back up and running.