Adoption Info #2 - Including cultural elements

Chris and I definitely intend on including Taiwanese/Chinese cultural items and events in our lives in order to help our future daughter feel more comfortable with her birth culture. We already have a lot of Asian cultural things in our lives, in fact. I thought the following article is quite interesting, as it talks about how having too much "culture" forced down one's throat can be counter-productive.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/08/23/one_overseas_adoptee_explains_parents_embrace_of_the_home_culture_can_have_its_costs/?page=1

I do think that adoptive parents need to really think about what type of culture they want to share with their child. The article really made me think about what it will be like for our daughter to be Taiwanese American. She will never be truly Taiwanese, as she will be raised as an American. But she can be raised to be Taiwanese American, and to be proud of the many influences she has in her life. I don't expect that she will ever be 100% comfortable in Taiwan, but I would love to see her be comfortable being around 2nd or 3rd generation Taiwanese Americans--individuals who are proud of their heritage, but don't try to pretend they aren't American.

Final homestudy visit

Today we had our final homestudy visit with BCS - we actually drove to Topeka (about an hour away) to meet at the office, which was interesting. I think it went rather well, and now we just have to worry about the dossier-compilation looming on the horizon...
Fox was such a good boy! Didn't complain on the drive, nor during the visit--he was awake and cheerful the entire interview. We have such a happy, mellow baby :) Today was also my first day back at work after my maternity leave. It was super hard to leave Fox this morning. Even though I knew he'd be very well taken care of by his daddy (Chris now works from home), it was quite sad to walk out the door and drive away from my baby.

Fox's first trip!

This past week we went to DisneyWorld--Fox is such a great traveller! We went to Epcot (my favorite) and the Magic Kingdom. Here are some pictures from our trip: