Sarah Stacks

So i put my head around the corner as Sarah's being really quite...normal isn't a good thing, in fact last week she'd draw all over the wall with a red crayon (it was water soluble so came off just fine). 

Anyway, this time i find she was stacking tins...i think maybe i should buy her some blocks to play with, as when these fall (which they did right after this photo) i think someone (Sarah or the cats) might get hurt. 

It is impressive how high she built it really, i mean she's not even 2 yet.

(oh and yes it's still hot here, hence the lack of T-shirt)

Tevas...time for a new pair?

So my Tevas are on their last legs...so to speak.

I have had them for 3 1/2 years and in the last 2 1/2 i've warn them almost everyday (since living in a hot country and not in the UK where you get to wear them about 6 weeks of a year if you are lucky!)

I've been reluctant to buy a new pair due to the cost, due to the lack of money....(ok one can say it's my own fault as i have choosen to adopt, chossen not to go back and get my phd, yet, ect....) 

But i think i will just have to fork out for a new pair.

I thank my  dear parents for helping me to pay to get Sarah's mother out of jail, and thus i don't have to worry about that expense. 

But shoes...everyone needs them, and when you live in Sandles you need new ones, and when you have doogie feet (like myself) you need good ones. not pretty ones no, just good ones that mean that you can walk and still carry that 9-10kgs of toddler when you need to.

So that me i'm splashing out on new shoes...now i just have to find a pair.

my beloved Tevas (which i am still wearing but i suspect they will fall off my feet soon)

21st Court date, what happened

So on the 21st October we went to court...

Scary stuff, i thought that Tom would go with me, but he had to play badminton for the Presidents cup..It's a big deal you know playing for the President of Taiwan ect...

So i thought i'd just go on my own, and then was told i really do need someone to go with me.

Tom really couldn't do it due to the fact that that evening (20th) he got really sick with some virus which both Sarah and i ended up getting later that same week..i can tell you it wasn't nice.

So my hunt was on for a translator...i had the morning to get someone. Thus panicked.

My friend Dayla (who has enough to deal with, 3 sons all under 3!) helped me out by brainstorming me who might be able to do it.

I emailed everyone but didn't want to bother Chad Hammond (Heather's Hubby) due to him being a "tad" busy... it was the week the franklin graham festival started, he's in charge, Heather was in Hong kong with the kids (had to leave for visa reason). So i was very suprised to Hear Heather on the end of the phone telling me that Chad might have someone to translate for me. 

What a BLESSING. 

the upshot was that the lovely girl, Katherine ( ..katrina..not sure oh dear thats a bit rubbish off me.) Called me and met me with mins to spare before we went in. I just managed to tell her the history before we went into the court...it was a close call. My thanks go out to her for dropping everything that she was doing to come and help me, someone that she doesn't know, and for free. 

In the court it was Mega serious, so i was very very pleased i had a translator! 

The judge was very formal and thus would not have spoken English even if he was fluent. 

The result was that the court was postponed as the judge wants to see Sarah's birthmother and not a representative...which we had.

Sarah's birth mother is currently in Jail, thus we have to pay (3800 nt) to get her out for the day.

We go back to court on the 19th November...i pray for Sarah's birth mother as it will be really really hard on her to face this. She wasn't able to face meeting Sarah just before she went back in prison this September, now she has to do that and face the judge...whom i am sure will not be kind to her.

http://www.goodtv.com.tw/program_main.php?pro_id=41&web_id=1#

this is a link to a lovely interveiw Chad and Heather Hammond did on Taiwanese TV. I think its a lovely interview about Adoption and their love of Jesus Christ. I don't think it will be up there for long, so it may not work.

Its all in chinese (not the interview but the website) you need to click on the blue button to watch the video. It's the one with "chad and Heather Hammond" written amongst the chinese characters.

Tabby

Tabby was found in a terrible state, she couldn't move anything but her little head...(a little kitten about 4 months old)

A week earlier she was a happy little kitten getting fed outside my friends house, and then i get a call from my mate telling me that she has found the cat and it's not really moving. 

So we took her too the vet, they aren't sure what happened but suspect a car or something hit her and damaged her back. on the x ray nothing could be seen but she couldn't move. She was treated for a  couple of weeks in hosptail and then i took her home to see how she would get on. She still couldn't really move her much, she could sit up and her front legs worked but would drag..if she moved her, back legs. Thus i thought to myself i will never be able to re-home her and was panicing as to what i will do with her.

Two weeks later and she was off her medication and walking much better but still sliding and not running like a kitten should be.

Forward a month and now, well now she seems just fine. she had a week's stay with the Hammonds that loved on her greatly and now she seems to be almost a normal kitten. however she is one of the friendliest that i've looked after (excluding the ones i've looked after from very tiny, who end up thinking that they are human...Pickles is an example of that!).

So here are some photo of this sickly kitten...not looking so sickly now a days!

Home Study

4th may 2007 first day i Sarah came home...just last week october 2008 my has she changed!

So we had our home studied for Sarah's adoption...

14th October 2008 (which also happens to be Anna's Birthday and Heathers 13th wedding anniversary, so a pretty special day to say the least)

The Saturday before the 14th i Firstly cleaned the house as best one can with a 21 month old little girl at your ankles...she some times was trying to "help" but often just really fed up with me not doing anything with her (the result is a little girl screaming and rolling around on the floor...not a pretty sight!)

Then my good friends Anna and Heather came over to help me really give the house a good clean. Heather entertained the two little ones, and Anna and i did the easier job of cleaning the house. (this depends on your point of view i guess!)

Tom came too and we all managed to get the house in a decent shape for the home visit.

So Sarah and the cats had just three day to mess up the house...they did pretty good but the night before i mopped the floors and gave everything the once over and on Tuesday morning (she came at 9am)  the house was, well not quite but almost, shining!

She calls me and tells me she is outside...she wasn't she was in a different block..i think i gave her the wrong number..opps.

The she comes in and asked me is the interpreter coming later...i thought she was bring one and she thought that i was...opps again! So i call Tom to the rescue

In the mean time i get her and myself a glass of water...all the time Pickles (cat) is in her face / bag/shoes/ paper work ect.. Then Pickles does her normal trick of drinking from the cup...the socal workers cup...opps...again!

As for her english is was (nee is) in fact almost perfect so we don't really need Tom for that aspect, but i really need him to entertain Sarah as she wasn't so happy that i had to talk to this lady and didn't want to play with her...resulted in her crying and climbing over my shoulder and then lying on the floor crying...doesn't look so good when someone is in your house to decide if you should be allowed to keep this child!

Tom came and Sarah and Tom had a blast! running playing, Sarah was Sarah again and the woman got to see that, which was wonderful.

We go and sit at the living room table to talk about my family tree. 

I'd left a document which i'd just filled in (all about my income out going ect..) i left it in the dinning room, i go back to retrieve it and find that my dear cat Pickles has eaten it! yes my cat ate my home work!!

Big opps there!

 I bring it to her and ask do you have another form i could fill in as it would seems my cat ate it...she was surprised at the state of the form and said no sorry i don't have another one, i'll email you it. I apologised and she said "it's stuff like that that makes life more interesting"....welcome to my world! stuff like that always happens to me. From that point on i figured she can't be thinking that badly of me..at the same time i am talking to her Sarah is running screaming, mummy mummy, and wrapping herself around my legs due to the fact tom is chases her.  ( a happy type of screaming i might add!)

As the woman leaves we walk her down the stairs and Sarah says in a military fashion one two one two one two (but in Chinese)... honestly i don't run a boot camp! Sarah did kiss her good bye and waved her off, very sweet indeed. She really did get a glimpse into our lives!

Pickles...and the form...what is left of it after she ate it that is!

Fun in the sun

a few weeks ago...i'm not that on top of thing as you might know.

So we went to the zoo,..again. It was a blazing hot day and Tilly and Sarah were loving being out. We were a tad too hot and thus sat down for a bit while the kids played and ate on the sun lounger. 

We stopped and played with water, which was just a row of taps with one long sink. Sarah managed to do the funniest of rolls that had Anna and i in stitching, she was leaning over to get to the taps, her tummy on the edge of the sink and her feet in the air then she managed to rolled along the edge of the sink! You had to be there i guess. but boy was it strange and funny.

Sarah's learnt to jump and does so all the time, she loves to jump and is very proud of herself.

I will try to remember that strange tumble of Sarah's as i still can't work out how she managed to balance herself so perfectly with out even trying too!