15 Mar 2023
|
Adoption
packing day
The day before an international trip with six people will inevitably be filled with planning, packing, and stressing. We had already lived out of our suitcases for over a week, so it didn’t take much to get back to travel-ready. We did, however, need an outing of some kind.
14 Mar 2023
|
Adoption
visa day
In order to adopt across countries, we needed to get an immigration visa in their Taiwanese passports to bring them through the US border. The appointment at AIT (the American Institute in Taiwan) determined the timeline for the rest of the trip, and we woke up that morning with four kids for the first time.
13 Mar 2023
|
Adoption
adoption day!
I slept restlessly in the musty hotel until 6, when I reasoned it was acceptable to get up. Becca shared my restlessness–in just a few hours, we were going to meet our adopted kids for the first time in person and then drive away with them. The anticipated moment was so close.
12 Mar 2023
|
Adoption
bullet train to Tainan day
We spent the morning packing and panicking. After church and lunch, we were going to take the bullet train from Taipei in Northern Taiwan to Tainan in the far South West corner. After a night in a hotel, we were going to meet and take custody of our adopted children!
11 Mar 2023
|
Adoption
I spent a lot of the trip dreaming of moving back to South East Asia in some capacity and trying to imagine ways to accomplish it. In reality, we probably wouldn’t return to Taiwan for at least a couple years, even for an extended visit. With that in mind, we wanted to have some souvenirs for our family and especially for the kids. We didn’t know what belongings they’d have to remember Taiwan by.