Celebrating at Disneyland!

 Welcome to America Tori.... To start her off with a bang. My bff Sandra flew out to enjoy the celebration at Disneyland with Tori and Tatumn. Dumbo was first on the list...

 Tori having a whale painted on her face.. She loves ocean life and mermaids so much.

 Sandra and Tori behind us on a ride....

 Just had to take this picture of this group of young adults.... WOWSA!!!!
You know me I had to ask what all the plastic jewelry and trinkets wrapped up and down their arms and all over their body signified... New age Hippies they told me... Young adults still wanting to be kids and not wanting to grow up... I told them don't let Tatumn know all about this... they chuckled...They trade their jewelry with others and I even scored a bracelet they made from the group.... If you all could have seen this parading around Disneyland you would have died...

 Fantastmic Parade.

 My beautiful girls!In their ears of course!

 Lookout the girls are driving.....EEEk

I was trying so hard to get a good picture of Tori but she was giving me whiplash so bad while she was driving... We both laughed so hard during her driving...

 Both girls thoroughly enjoyed trading pins with the cast members of Disney. I let both girls buy a new pin everyday to enjoy...

 In the hotel pool.

Mickey in California Adventure Park. So hard to get a picture with any of them these days... Long lines...

 Ariel and Eric in the Little Mermaid Ride. Tori loved this ride...

We had the best time. Even though we were suffering a 12hr time change and some serious jet lagg... I really felt this would start Tori off right. Enjoying life in America. Both girls did great and loved it sooooo much. So happy I got to share these memorable days with my dear friend Sandra who flew out to LA to be with us.... She was a trooper too!

Yamingshan Ntl. Park and Our Flight to the US

Yamingshan Ntl. Park. It is so beautiful. We stopped here to see the gorgeous park on our way to the airport.

Mr. Yeh may be the fish god... But Tori is the squirrel god. She was able to hand feed the squirrels with peanuts. AMAZING!

Taoyuan Airport. Taipei Taiwan.

Tori was sooo excited to catch her first airplane to America.

Made it to our gate after having the paperwork frisk at the immigration counter in Taiwan. They stopped us and asked us why we had a Taiwanese girl. Then they kept asking me why Tori did not have a US passport... I kept saying we just adopted her in Taiwan and they did not seem to get it... Finally another man came over and pulled us to the side and wanted to see all our documents on her court process... Good thing they weren't in our real luggage... I handed them to him and after her read them in Mandarin he looked at my passport to compare parents I guess and said sorry.... and let us go... UGGHHH! Tori was sooo excited I could hardly settle her down once we were on the airplane.... she loved the t.v. and movies and the virtual compass.

America, here I come....

Our arrival at 4:00pm June, 9, 2011 at LAX. Piece of cake through immigration....

Tori is an official American Citizen on a IR-3. Since we saw her prior to her adoption being completed..... YIPEE!!!!

Video of Tori with the squirrels.

Bitter Sweet Last Day in Taipei!

It is hard to leave Taiwan once again, but ready for a new beginning for Tori. One in which she will be so overwhelmed by. Life in the US at 9 yrs.old!
While the time has been pretty close to perfect with Tori here thus far, we hope things will continue to be joyful for her. I can not imagine at 9 yrs, old leaving familiar faces, familiar language and leaving virtually everything she knows to go with us willingly. Tori is so beautiful , so funny and so bright. She just needs us... Our crazy fun family!Our wish for her is that she finds peace and so much LOVE in her new life with our family. We love her so much and are so very thankful for Taiwan and Cathwel Catholic Orphanage for allowing our large family to grow even bigger. It takes special families to adopt older children. Unconditional love, and patience is all you need. One in which we get....And are very willing to grow our family through adoption. Ann from Cathwel, and Lora her govt. social worker, her counselor and her teachers have shown and shared how much they love Tori and want the best for her in the US.

I feel so lucky to have received so much information about her personality, her home life, her school, her birth parents and much more. Cathwel really does a fabulous job seeing that these older children are prepared to go home with their new families. It was so hard saying goodbye to Ann and Lora, I wish I could have packed them in my suitcase,,,, ha ha. This would have made the language barrier much easier also. ha ha... Maybe we could suggest they  do a in  home service in the US with the kids.... I am sure they wouldn't mind that a bit. We look foward to returning to Taiwan in a few years with all 3 from Taiwan. May they always be proud of their Birth country and their culture. Beautiful Taiwan!

Got Tori's Visa!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Last night in the hotel... Finally gave Tori the Nintendo DS to play to keep her mind busy... She loves it!

                                                    
 Yep! Tori is a lefty just like Tessa, and Daddy!

Yesterday was our AIT appt. to get Tori's visa. Ann from Cathwell met us there and waited the 21/2 hr wait to see us through. Piece of cake. Just needed to sign a few things and tell me all is good to go and we chose to have the courier deliver her visa and immigration package to the hotel instead of going back. Her Visa arrived  this am to the hotel. YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.off to see Mickey Mouse in LA for 4 days... Can hardly wait...........