Yes, we are expecting a new Keough!

    TADA! We chose a little boy from our agency's waiting child list! (We did not technically get a referral).  It was a bit shocking to us that we found him so fast, but it felt right.  But life is what happens when you are making plans, right?  Yen Lin is 7 months old right now and waiting at St. Lucy's.  He will be just about a year old when we pick him up.  I hesitated posting about it until the paperwork came through but we do still have to finish our home study and we are the only ones that have shown any interest in adopting him, so I figure there is probably not much to worry about.  (But still, I worry something will go south.)
Our home study should be done by mid January.  Once HAI has our home study, our dossier can be sent to Taiwan and we will be well on our way to becoming Yen Lin's parents.  Of course we are hoping for a speedy court process, but estimate we will be traveling by the middle of the summer time if all goes according to plan.  We are very happy with our decision and can't wait to hold him in our arms.  A little background: Yen Lin has a minor heart condition, but doctors believe it will correct itself.  Obviously, we will be taking him to see a specialist right away.  Birth mother did not make good choices during pregnancy (smoking, drinking) but he had no FAS, a good birthweight and he seems very happy and engaged in the photos we have.  We do not expect that he will be completely without challenges, because what child isn't?  We know that we are more than capable and equipped to deal with many emotional and cognitive delays, should they appear.  All we hope for him is that he will grow up happy and well adjusted, knowing we wanted him and loved him no matter what.  
     We have been introducing the concept of  DiDi (little brother) to Sydney, but so far she is not too excited.  She does like to look at his pictures and kiss him, but that is because she loves babies I think.  Until she meets him, she probably isn't going to put two and two together.
     Today we are having Sydney's 2nd birthday party.  I actually put together a little party for her this year, nothing spectacular, just family and a classmate.  She is fighting a double ear infection right now and has been feeling miserable (and she isn't a complainer, so we knew it was bad by her behavior change), so I wanted her to have some fun and I think she will!  I will post pictures soon.