Our Family...

Thursday, March 21, 2013

A Special Day

We are so happy to announce that we have our official Travel Approval! We have purchased our tickets and we are going to China!! I have prayed from the very beginning that we would get our TA by March 15. As time went by, that possibility became less and less likely. But, I kept holding on to that date! Our article 5 was picked up on time, but it was not delivered to the CCCWA until March 11. Our agency told us to expect TA the week of March 25, but we still thought the 15th could work out. Come to find out, our paper work was processed in 2 days! They signed off on her travel approval on March 13 and it was on an airplane to our agency on the 15th. I knew it was possible!!! My agency was quite surprised to see it arrive so quickly. We got the wonderful call on March 18 that we had received our travel approval.

The best part is that Hannah's foster village is able to tell the children they have a family once the TA arrives. Hannah found out on March 20 that she has a forever family. It was so sweet to see her eating the candy and holding the doll we sent her. Sara, the adoption liason at SFCV, showed her the book and told her who everyone was. I have looked at the pictures over and over again.

Here she is with Sara looking through the book. Hannah's ayi is looking at her family, too.

I love that smile! She is holding her goodies we sent. She had a tight grip on the candy in all the pictures.

I love this picture. Dr. Moody has been one of Hannah's greatest supporters. I have a video of him waiting for her to arrive at the village. He is talking about her needs and how he hopes that one day she can be adopted. I love that he was able to see that pray*r answered and experience this moment with her. This ayi was also there the day Hannah came to the village at 9 months of age. I love that Hannah is showing them her family!

SFCV does an Easter egg hunt every year. Here she is at the hunt. She looks so cute!!

We are making plans to travel. I have everything lined up at school. I have Hannah's clothes sorted. I am making arrangements for my kids at home. I really wanted to travel on my spring break, but now I am thankful that I have that time to get everything taken care of. We are so excited and feel so blessed to be going on this journey again. Hang on, Hannah. We are coming!!!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

I see the light...

You know that point in pregnancy when you still have so long to go, but your belly is big and huge and you think "DEAR LORD.... HOW MUCH LONGER????" And then you convince yourself that 37 weeks is full term and you will be THAT woman who delivers early... then you are a week late and totally miserable. But finally, the doctor gives you an induction date, an ending, and everything is right with the world again. Well, us paper pregnant women encounter similar emotions. The waiting is unbearable. You think things will fly through the system and be over quickly, but then a paper gets lost or the entire country of China shuts down for a week while they celebrate a New Year. But then an ending is in sight, and you know that this too will pass.

We received our NVC letter today via email. Let me back up a little bit. Once you get your LOA (this came Jan 14), you have to apply for an I800. Once you get that approval, you will get a NVC letter about 2 weeks later stating that your application has been cabled to the Consulate in Guangzhou. Once you have that letter, your I800 approval and an application called a DS-230 (has to do with her visa...) then everything can be dropped off at the Consulate. In exactly 10 days, what they call an Article 5 will be ready. Our agency will then pick up the papers and they are hand delivered to the CCCWA (Chinese Government) and you wait for travel approval, which takes 1-3 weeks. Then, you get on a plane and LEAVE! Our coordinator emailed me last week and told me to send her everything (except the NVC letter...) so she could go ahead and ship it to China. I obeyed because I will do anything to save time. So, our papers have been in China waiting for this silly NVC letter. It came via email this afternoon, I forwarded it to my contact, she forwarded it on to China and first thing Wednesday morning it will be delivered to the Consulate. Ahhh, I love technology.

So, our article 5 will be ready on March 6.

It will be delivered to CCCWA on March 8 or 11. (We are praying for the 8th, please join us in that prayer!)
Then, we wait for travel approval. It was 11 days with Emma. It can take up to 3 weeks. We are praying for a one week wait for Travel Approval.
Why? because I want to be on a plane the first week of April. That is my spring break, and it would be a HUGE blessing to have my kids at home and not racing around with crazy school and sports schedules. It would also be "free" days missed from school, which I really need.
It also gets her home. Which she desperately needs.
Our sweet coordinator says that the first week of April is a stretch. We get that it is a stretch, but we also have faith.

We are hoping that our papers get to CCCWA on March 8.
We are hoping our TA will be issued on March 15.
We are hoping to be on a plane the first week of April.

The end is in sight... please pray for perfect timing in the final hours of this journey!

Monday, January 14, 2013

Adoption Update

I haven't posted too much about our adoption timeline, mostly because I am trying not to obsess about it! I have gone into this trusting God and His perfect timing and have TRIED not to worry about the timeline. BUT.... last night I felt (for the first time) an overwhelming sense of WHEN WILL SHE BE HERE!!!! After work today I got an email that made me jump for joy! We reached an important step in the process that deserves its very own post. At day 49, our LOA came!!!!!!!!!

Hmmm, so what does that mean exactly? The LOA is the Letter of Acceptance. It is the "official" approval from China. This is the big unknown in the adoption process. It can take one month... it can take 5 months... but the average is 50-70 days. It is pure torture waiting for the LOA. Once it comes, you know you are on a plane within 3 months.

I received an email this week that outline all of Hannah's surgeries and the outcome of those operations. It also listed her heart condition and all of the meds she is on for her heart. Not going to lie, it was a bit overwhelming. I think that is when it hit me that this little girl NEEDS to come home.

Here are the most recent pictures of Hannah. Doesn't she look GREAT? I am so thankful for her care to this point. I know her medical needs have been a challenge, but they never gave up on her. I am certain that if she stayed in a Government run orphanage, she would not have survived. I am also thankful for the staff that listened to our request to hold future surgeries until she is home. I can't get over how full and healthy her cheeks are... and that SMILE, oh I just love it!

I know that we have a long road ahead of us with this little one. Her needs are great. But when I look at this picture, it gives me HOPE!

A very cool thing happened a few weeks ago. I am friends with the adoption liaison at Hannah's foster village. I posted on her picture of Hannah and mentioned that I was adopting her. Well, guess what?!?! Someone saw that comment... and it happens to be a person that was at SFCV the day Hannah arrived by train from the government run orphanage. She has an interview with Dr. Moody moments before Hannah got there, and she has video of Hannah's first medical exam and going up to her room with her ayis. To say this is remarkable would be an understatement. It is an amazing piece of history and I can't believe we are lucky enough to have it!

Here is the first picture of Hannah when she arrived at 10 months. Hannah was abandoned at what they believe was 5 months. We are hoping and praying the orphanage will have pictures of her from 5-10 months. Emma's orphanage did not, so the earliest pictures we have of her start at 9 months of age when she was sent to SFCV.

We are so thrilled that Hannah will be home well before summer. We can get her surgeries lined up and get her care started with the HOPE that she will start school in August. Keep praying for our little girl. Hannah, we will be there soon!!!!!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken the end of November. Here are just a few. Hollie Colwick is an adoptive mom and member of our church. She does a fabulous job!!! Her website is www.holliecolwick.com. We would highly recommend her.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

2012 is now behind us! I can't believe how little I blogged in 2012... so you guessed it, a new year goal will be to post at least monthly. As a way to redeem myself, I pulled a few pictures from our year. I take hundreds of pictures each month, so this is a very small display of our lives... but it is better than nothing! We are looking forward to 2013 and the addition of our baby girl, Hannah Faith. Enjoy the pictures!

Timmy gets a big boy bed... and continues his obsession with electronics.

Emma turns into a "little mommy" and carries her babies everywhere she goes. She also gets lots of practice bossing her brother around.

A friendly little hug makes Timmy cry. This is the year of many tears from Timmy boy.

Sibling love...

Happy Easter 2012

Baseball season: Andrew and Matthew kept us very busy at the baseball field this year!

Warmer weather= more hikes outside!

Happy 7th Birthday, Andrew

Matthew graduates from preschool. My big boy is ready for Kindergarten.

May 21, 2012: the day I first saw my daughter's face (5-21-10)

Timmy hates to sleep and would often fall asleep after hours of screaming. We never knew where we would find him. I know you can't see the shirt, but it is his dump truck shirt. He had to wear it every.single.day or he would scream his lungs out. I will always remember this year as the one where I didn't sleep (because he didn't sleep) and the year where he only wore 3 shirts the whole summer. (the ones with trucks on them!)