Tessa says Mama today

Today was the first day we heard her say it and use it all day to get to me... Mama....

Even Bob was amazed to hear her say it a lot....

Tessa still continues to amaze us with how easily she has adjusted to our surroundings.

She had her first taste of kitty food today also. I had to fish it out. And she belines right back for it in a flash.... Must be good stuff!!!!!

We have had 2 nights of her sleeping through the night thus far and last night she was up every hour for 5 hrs. fussing. So in bed she went with us and that always works. I feel what ever she needs for a while is what we will do..... All of the children have adjusted very well to having a screaming baby in the house. They really do enjoy her. Tatumn is the first one up to come and squeeze on her in the morning. Travis rocked her for quite a while tonight. She loves Tyler because he was the first one with her and he plays rough with her and she loves to be tossed in the air. It is weird to say but it is like she has always been here. Bob has said also that she is as if she was always ours. She is such a beautiful little girl and they could not have picked a better one for our family.... She was certainly meant to be ours. I thank god everyday for such a gift.

We are so LUCKY!!!!! With school starting and soccer with Tatumn life is busy at our house. It always is..... Tessa will have her first Dr.'s appt. on the 7th, to give her every poking, proding test they possibly can. This is exactly the 2yr date since we were accepted with our adoption agency. My how time fly's just not while you are waiting to bring them home!!!!!!Here are a few new pics and I will try to update every couple weeks or so at the least. Enjoy

Two Weeks Home!

Enjoying my toys. Everything at home tastes better.
Why did my Mommy put this thing up?
Think if I shake it hard enough it will come down.
My Mommy pulled me off the gate and I proceeded to throw my fit and attempt to eat the wood floor....

This is me before I found out about the gate....... Precious aren't I.......

Bob and Tatumn enjoying Tessa
Gu Gu(big brother Tyler) playing on the storm door with Tessa
Tessa puzzled why she can't reach me through the glass door.
Love that hair......

Our Final Day in Taipei! Our Arrival Home!!!!!

First time in what was my big sissy's car seat home from the airport.

We got up this morning with nothing on our mind but find out where our fed-ex package was. It said it was in Taipei City. WOOOO HOOOOO! There was still hope to getting the heck outta here on the 6 pm flight.

I have lost so much of the past three days that I could have enjoyed freaking out over this stickin piece of paper that needed to have the signatures switched in order to get Tessa's visa and bring her home.

I got ready and had breakfast and then paced the floors, waiting for that package. I did go down stairs and ask the front desk to call fed-ex and check to see what time they expected the package and they said noon. UGH!!!!!!!! I would have to wait 3 more hrs. Come to find out Mr. Yeh has been in his van in the parking lot waiting for that package for us also. So many tears I have cried. This just made the flood gates open even more. He has been so good to us. Mr. Yeh is the bomb. He is there through the thick and thin right with us families. He will always hold a special place in our heart.....

I have all the luggage packed and vowed not to come back to this hotel today...... They are sitting at the door.

My Mom and my sis-in law have there bags ready also. I went back downstairs again and my Mom was strollering the baby and I told the girls at the check out desk I would be checking out but if there is another problem with my papers I would have to come back . They smiled and said extending your stay would be great. You have such a fun family and I laughed.... I told them I would love to stay but I would love to take my daughter home.... They said. They understand. Somehow I knew they would....

I went back up to the room and gathered a few more things to go and went out on the balcony and saw the fed-ex van going the opposite direction around 10:45 am. Freaked. Then I said he must be circling back. I went back downstairs and paid for our room. OUCH!!!!!! It was all worth it. And then paced some more. Lone behold I went back out on the balcony and saw the fed-ex van coming back this way. OH MY GOD!!!!!!!

then the hotel room phone rang. It was my mom saying the package was here. Mr. Yeh was putting the luggage in the van as we spoke. I got the package, grabbed the rest of my 10lbs of paper work and headed downstairs. Mr. Yeh told one of the bellman that AIT doesn't open again until 1 pm after lunch. I told him to tell them that the men at AIT said come as soon as you get them. And we did. The guards let us through against there wishes I am sure and I ran to the 3rd floor where no one was except Daniel Holtrip the american interviewer for Tessa's visa and I waved and sat down. Not 5 minutes later Mr. Joseph the man who takes care of all of the adoption paperwork walked in and I waved at him also. By now my Mom had Tessa asleep in her arms and 5 more minutes went by and Mr. Joseph called me to the window and I signed a few more papers and he sent me to Todd's window he said have a seat. I think that was the longest 10 minutes of my life. Then he called me up and told me all I had left to do was pay the fee.... Oh my Gosh !!!!! She is mine!!!!!! Her Daddy and brother and sister at home are dying to meet her...... So many more tears..... I just can't believe that a simple swithching of signatures through our government would mean the difference between leaving Taipei or not.....

I had to wait another 45 mins. until the cashier opened on the 2nd floor to pay the visa fees and then go back up to Daniel with a reciept. This is where he handed me the most precious green book with the most adorable picture in it of our little girl Tessa Yi Ling Henke........

I got outside with my Mom and Mr. Yeh drove up and we said ..... We got it and he gave us 2 thumbs up and we had him take us straight to the airport. It was about 2:30 pm when we arrived. We paid Mr. Yeh and exchanged hugs and handshakes and tears. We left Taipei knowing there was a special Man Mr. Yeh who made the journey to our daughter complete. He will forever be in our thoughts..... Thanks Mr. Yeh......

We ate Burger King and boarded our flight for LAX. It was a long flight but Tessa did so good.

We made it through immigration and my mom and sis in-law headed to Tucson and we stayed over night.

I suffered vertigo really bad but didn't care I was on US soil with our girl. We got on the plane for home at 9 am and I slept sitting up most of the way to Charlotte. Tessa slept about 4 hrs of that flight.

When we got off the plane in New Bern I had 2 glasses over my ears and could not hear a thing. My ears were so clogged, but my family and friend were there to greet us. That meant so much to me..... Tessa was all grins and very happy to meet everyone. Her Daddy picked her up out of the stroller and she took instantly to him. My other 2 children Travis and Tatumn were so happy to see their little sister and their Mom home.

Words could never express what an exciting part of of lives were spent in Taipei bringing home our 4th child. We never thought this process would end but it did with the bringing home our Tessa Yi Ling Henke.

We Love You!!!! Thanks to all of you who have prayed and put up with our whining through this process.

We could have never done it without all of you. Thanks for being there for us.

We will forever be greatful to have been able to share this experience with so many.....

Performing Arts Acrobat show and Chinese Opera

Today is Thursday in Taipei and Mr. Yeh our fabulous driver showed up at 9:30 am to take us to the Show. When we walked in there were some girls showing us how to do this Chinese Yo-Yo and a juggler. They were showing all of us how to do these. Then we saw some of the performers of the opera putting on there make-up. It was so neat to see how they put on their make up.

Mr. Yeh watched the baby while we were participating in some of the activities. He is so good with our babies. He wants us all to be part of the culture while we are there. We will miss him a lot. We watched the acrobat show which was totally awesome and saw the Opera. This is another one of the sites I wanted to see the most. Loved every minute of it. Also anything to escape the outdoor heat..... After the show we continued on to see more sights. While I was still having a hard time concentrating on the sights because of the waiting of my papers to arrive via fed ex. I tried to make the best of it. My nerves were absolutely shot. I cried about every tear I possibly had left in me...... We headed out tonight for dinner at Chili's. Southwestern egg rolls tasted mighty fine. Something about the smell in Taipei was really getting to me. Made me pretty naseous most of the time. One more day and I should know our faith for coming home as scheduled.... I hope our papers come by noon.

Hopefully our last day in Taiwan!!!!!

Tessa Yi Lings Birth City (Jhubei City, Taiwan)

Downtown Jhubei City

Warehouse full of Tea
Our sweet girl......

Our trip to Taichung started at 8 am and we all loaded into the van with Mr. Yeh.
We drove about 2 hrs. to Taichung where we pulled up in front of a small building that blended with the rest of the stores and read the top Taiwan Women and Childrens Association.
I walked in the door where I was greeted by several girls and was offered a drink and to sit down. They were taking updated photos of 2 babies. One boy 4-5 months and a little girl around 7 mos. I didn't recognize any of them as any of our babies in our group. I got to hold the chunky little boy while I waited on Yi Ching(Samantha). The office is where we see most of our babies photographed as they get older. Their were lots of packs of diapers and stacks of Snow formula lining the room. I would imagine that they provide these for the foster parents. The wood measurer placed on the table in front of me I obviously new this is how they get the length of our babies. It was so cool to see exactly what they did to get the those updates to us. The foster moms bring them to this office so they can do their pictures and videos, and there height and weights. After being there about 10 mins we loaded up into Mr. Yeh's van and drove about 2 blocks to a small house where we saw Ms. Lu and Yi Ling waiting outside for us. No tears yet.
We entered her house in our bare feet. And I stayed pretty far back at first to make eye contact and talk with Yi Ling. Shortly after that they put her down and I sat on the floor and started to blow bubbles with her. She just looked and looked at the bubbles. I asked a few ?'s but not tooo many. I mainly asked Yi Ching ?'s before we got there and after. I wanted to know what she liked to do. She said go outside and walk around and that she loved the stroller.
After watching her eat these marshmellow things it was time to go. We were there about 20mins. This is when the flood gates came. I was so sad for what she would feel when we left the only Mom she really new. A little guilty. I thanked Ms. Lu for giving her so much love and attention and told her I would send lots of pictures and we were off to the baby store.
I could have spent hours in here. I bought formula, diapers, wipes, 2 toys, stacking formula holder, 2 chinese/english picture books.,5 pairs of squeeky shoes, and a stroller. Yi Ching told me that our family bought the most of all families. I laughed. She said when we left TWCA that she would love to go shopping with me. I gave her a big hug and thanked her for my beautiful daughter and told her. All of of waiting parents appreciate the love that the fp's give our children and thanked them for allowing us to adopt with them. I gave her a great big hug and told her we would take very good care of Tessa Yi Ling and she said . I know you will. She is very lucky to have such a loving family. I did not meet with the birth Mom. It was going to be to hard for her Yi Ching said. But I left my gifts to send to her. She lives in Jhubei City. About an hour from TWCA. It was both a very happy and sad day all in one. But I just thank god she is in my arms now. I waited so long for this day to finally come and she is all ours now....... We love you Tessa Yi Ling!

Glitch in our Paperwork

Chan Kai Shek Memorial
Grand Hotel(Amazing)
Palace
Longshan Temple
Our busy little girl

Forgive me I have not written because we are having an issue with our paperwork for Tessa's visa. Our paperwork was not the way they wanted it, so I am currently waiting on a fed ex package to arrive hopefully by 9am tomorrow which is Fri. If we don't get it in the am I will not be flying home Fri night to LAX. I still have to go back to Amer. Institute Taiwan with the new signature from Bob. Pisses me off! They just make everything sooo hard.

Well I'll pack tonight just in case. The rest of the family went back to the night market tonight and Tessa is sleeping. I have to go to bed.... Not much more than 4- 5 hrs a night since I have been here. Tessa is doing soooo great. She has really been a giggle box. She is really easily amused. She definitely knows who momma is already. She crawls straight to me whimpering for me to pick her up. We went to the Performing arts show today where we saw a Chinese Opera and the acrobat show. This was one of my favorites. We also saw Chang-Kai Shek memorial

Palace Museum and The Grand Hotel. It was so hot today so we came back to the hotel at 2ish.

The humidity is awful. Plus the smog is sooooo bad. It is so hard to breathe.

The shopping is great close to the hotel if that is what you came for. You can find just about anything near by. I still have to say the traffic and the mass amount of people out at night all over the streets amaze me....

Our driver Mr. Yeh is definitely the rock to the whole process in Taiwan.

I don't know how anyone could do it with out him. He was pretty concerned about our ordeal with the visa. He has absolutely been at our beck and call when needed. We are so lucky to have been able to use him. We will forever be greatful to him for helping bring Ms. Tessa Yi Ling into our lives. We will sure miss him. He has formed quite the bond with my Tyler. Mr. Yeh was a police man for 29yrs and has 5 children. He knows Tyler is going to go to college for Criminal Justice and wants to start off as a policemen and work his way up.

Mr. Yeh had a adorable rubber Taiwanese policeman keychain on his keys and Ty asked where he got that and Yeh's son translated back, it is not for sale but I will try to find you one. The next morning he handed Ty 2 little bags, one had a scooter police man like a tassle for your cell phone and another key chain, but then we saw the policemen key chain and we noticed his was gone. Brought tears to my eyes to think Mr. Yeh thought that much of Tyler...We will never forget the time we had in Taiwan . He is the one that made our Journey to Yi Ling complete. Hopefully tomorrow I can catch the airplane as scheduled if not. I will have to purchase 2 one ways and a baby ticket. Eva air has no room until the 14th..... I don't think so.....