Introducing....

Hannah Fischer

Last March, my friend Kenlyn posted a video of this sweet little girl on Facebook. I have many friends that have adopted and all of us frequently advocate for children that cross our path. I see pictures of orphans daily... and they all break my heart. But there was something about the little girl in the video that made me STOP and just stare at her. I watched the video over and over again. I felt so connected to her even though I had never met her. I looked up her special needs on Shepherd's Field website. It was not something our family had considered, but definitely something we could handle. I tucked her away in my heart for a little while. I talked to Rick about her and just prayed.

 

April rolled around and I decided to email my adoption coordinator to see if her file was on the shared list. She wrote me back immediately and attached her file. I was so excited!!!! That excitement was quickly overcome with anxiety as I opened up her file to the long list of medical needs. SFCV only listed 2 of her needs, but there were a few others on her medical file. I immediately thought it would be too much. I had SO MANY questions that I decided to email Dr. Moody, someone who lives in Ch*na and works closely with this little girl. I listed 10 questions that I had about the file. He wrote back immediately, answering each one of my questions completely. His responses gave me peace about the situation. We decided not to lock her file and to give it more time to think and pray. I would be traveling to Ch*na in June and I knew that a lot of things would become clear to me on this trip.

The second I walked into the clinic and saw this sweet little girl, I knew she was mine. I instantly fell in love with her. I was quickly reminded that she is not a list of special needs on a piece of paper, but a living and breathing child who has waited a long time for a family. Shame on me for being so selfish. 

When we adopted Emma, butterflies became an important symbol. Every time our family would talk about her, or make it to another important step in the adoption process, it seemed that God would send butterflies. I remember one time I had a butterfly land on my arm and sit there. It got to the point where we would see butterflies and the boys would yell, "Emma Grace!"

One day, my friend Kyle and I got to take Hannah and another child on a walk. While walking, Kyle said, "Look... she is staring at that butterfly!" A butterfly was flying around and Hannah was staring at it and following it with her eyes. I had to smile and I told Kyle about our butterfly girl at home. Shortly after this, our group of 4 was talking about adoption and Hannah... and out came another butterfly.

I got an email from an adoption friend while I was in Ch*na and she mentioned that Hannah's file had been pulled. My heart sank. I emailed our adoption coordinator from Ch*na and asked her to check on it. She wrote back the next day and confirmed that her file was still available and had it pulled to the agency list. She was safe until I could get home and start the paper work.

When I got home from Ch*na we started the paper work. Before she was officially "locked" we got an email from our agency saying that another family was interested, so we needed to lock or let her go. We locked immediately. Thankfully, we were able to have a wonderful converstation with our pediatrician who helped with our initial paper work just in time. We received pre approval on July 24, 2012.

We have finished our home study and we are waiting on our final copy so we can submit our I800A. All other dossier documents are complete and waiting for authentication. Our goal is to have our dossier complete and in Ch*na by mid October. That should put us on track for a summer travel.

We are excited and thankful to have the opportunity to be Hannah's parents. My next post will be about all the sweet things that have happened (God winking) to let us know that this is the right thing for our family. I will also briefly describe her special needs in my next post.

Hannah's birthday is September 10, 2009... she is younger than Emma but older than Timmy. We will have triplets :)



  

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

In June, my sweet Matthew turned 5! That means I have another school aged kiddo, and boy is he excited to start Kindergarten in just a few weeks. Isabel, Gavin, Olivia, Brandon, Evan (his cousins) came to party with us and celebrate our boy. We also had Julie, Travis, Colleen, Michael, G&G, Mamaw and Papaw and Gabe here. We played water games, grilled out, and played around the house. 

Here are things I want to remember about my 5 year old:

*he has a gentle heart

*he sacrifices daily so that his sister or brother can have something. Today we were playing a game (Zingo) and we included EG for the first time. He wanted her to win since she hasn't really played games before. Every time a card came up that both he and Emma had... he gave it to her. He always checked her card to make sure she wasn't missing anything.

*he has a sense of humor that catches me off guard. He is SO FUNNY! he comes up with the best one-liners!

*blue blankets are still a must when going to bed... it is so sweet!

*He loves super heroes and star wars. He thinks it is hilarious that I don't know the characters of star wars when he quizzes me

*the boy lives on ham, apple sauce, vanilla yogurt, chicken nuggets and fruit. 

*he loves to catch bugs

*unfortunately, he still wets the bed. big time.

*he loves to play outside and ride his bike.

*He says "mommy?" 500 times a day. When I answer him, he says "I just want to know where you are." Oh my, it is so annoying, but definitely something I want to remember. 

*his feelings are hurt easily- he is sensitive

*he loves to play baseball

Happy Birthday to my sweet little guy! From the moment he was born, this kid has been a piece of cake! He is sweet, affectionate, loving, giving and warm-hearted. I am so excited to have Matthew at school with me next year!

The Many Faces of Emma Grace

and yes, I am well aware of the fact that she needs a bath!

Happy 4th of July

We went to the Fischer house to celebrate 4th of July with a parade and swimming. The kids always have fun! Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!

Here are all of the Fischer cousins. For the record, Eden (who is sideways) was very well behaved and Timmy was screaming his lungs out making this a very difficult picture. I just happened to get this shot with everyone's face showing and looking half way happy. 

Day 6: Making Bags

I am a little delayed in writing this post, but I want to document what we did! We were all very sad on our last day in the village. We wanted to spend the majority of our time with the kids. We spent time loving on the babies in the clinic (my favorite house!) but also made our rounds to House of Peace, House of Blessings, and Zachary House. After lunch we helped Dr. Ana put together "play bags". The staff has problems keeping toys in the house... they seem to disappear and the children are left with very little to play with. Dr. Ana had an idea... create tote bags of toys designed for toddlers and babies. A volunteer or intern can come check out a bag, then go around to the houses to play with the little ones. There is a checklist on the bag so the volunteer can know what goes back in the bag. When the volunteer is finished playing, the bag gets returned and checked by Dr. Ana. This way toys do not get lost. We thought it was a great idea! So, we made 7 toddler and 7 baby bags with labels. They were all developmentally appropriate.

We got to test out our work later in the afternoon. I took a toddler bag to Isabella. Jamie and Mitzi took a baby bag to entertain the babies. It was great! Isabella loved shaking the music instruments and I found that she loves puzzles. I imagine she had never seen a puzzle before. I showed her how to do it and she got the hang of it. She is a smart cookie!

Here is Isabella playing with the toys from her bag. When we were finished playing, the ayis let us take her on a walk. She had a busy and fun day!

This is sweet Melanie from Zachary House, born without arms or legs. She was amazing. She could crawl, turn the pages of a book, and grab toys. Sadly, we got news yesterday that she passed away suddenly. There is a chicken pox epidemic and they believe that her body could not handle the virus. Many people are grieving the loss of this special young lady, including her family in the US that was waiting to adopt her. 

The bags we created for Dr. Ana

Vincent and Isabella on a walk. 

Sweet Cindy from the clinic

Our last Chinese dinner 

We all shed some tears when we said good-bye to the children. What a sad day. I am thankful for a place like Shepherd's Field... it is one of the best places for an orphan to live. But at the end of the day, it is nothing compared to the love and care of a family. These kiddos need and deserve families just like millions of other kids around the world. It is eye-opening and heartbreaking to spend a week with orphans. I wish that everyone could experience this type of work and love.

Day 4 and 5

On our 4th day here we climbed the Great Wall. It was an amazing experience. We actually took a ski lift up the wall (oh my goodness, one of the scariest things I have done!) and then climbed the wall for 2 hours. When we got to the top of the tower, there was a sign that said "no admittance" but clearly no one had obeyed because there was a well worn path making a trail through the trees. We followed it and it led to an unrestored tower. It was SO COOL! The view was amazing, it felt like we were on top of the world. We hiked back down to the ski lift and then we took a tobaggon ride down the wall. It was AWESOME! We got to shop with vendors and had our first experience bartering with the locals. We had lunch at Subway and then headed into town to shop at the Pearl Market.

We had a blast shopping! Whatever price they tell you, you go for 1/4 of that. It was so fun trying to get things as cheap as possible. The other girls bought jewelry but I stuck to junk for my kids. We had dinner at McDonalds and then came back to SFCV. It was a fun, fun day. Althought we felt guilty for not seeing the kids, we had many meaningful conversations about adoption with the group we were touring with. I think a lot of hearts have been stirred on this trip!

Yesterday (day 5) we stayed in the morning to play with the kids. We went straight to the clinic. Today Vincent was not settled and wanted me to hold him. As long as I was holding him and rocking or swaying, he was happy. I put him down to take a picture and he cried. So, the ayi picked him up and put him in his bed. It was so sad. Isabella was feeling much better today. I even got her to LAUGH. I heard a giggle and I saw her teeth. As soon as I reacted to her laugh, she was back to the poker face. She still had her baby (although it took us several minutes to find it). After she ate, she let Jamie hold he. This is a huge step!!!! I tried and tried to steal her from Jamie, but she would not let me. Today was definitely the happiest I have seen Isabella. Our biggest concern at this point is Leah. She looks like she is starving to death. The ayis keep her in the bed because she is so tiny and fragile. Even when she gets a bottle, she is left in the bed and they lean over to feed it to her. Kyle and I held her for 2 hours. She has no known medical condition, but clearly needs food and love. It is heartbreaking.

We were kicked out of the houses early since it is the weekend. Sara called us a taxi and we went to the Forbidden City to meet up with the group. We did finally find them (thanks to a cell phone- don't know if I want to see that bill!) It was pouring rain so our moods were a little sour. It did clear up as we made the 2 hour walk through the City. We were all exhausted by the end. We had the Moody sons with us, Matthew and Josh and they both speak fluent Chinese. They bartered with some street men to get us Rickshaw rides through old Beijing (Hutong Tour). It was one of the most fun things I have ever done! The men were hilarious, they tried to explain things to us in broken English and complained about how heavy we were. At the end, I let my driver sit down and I pedaled the bike. Hilarious. We had an expensive (but yummy) dinner in ho-hi (spelled wrong, but this is how you say it) and then headed back home. It was a long yet fun day. We said good-bye to the Indy group, I will miss them!

A little steep, don't you think?

On top of the world! A very memorable experience at an unrestored watch tower on the Great Wall.

On the Great Wall (we had a blast!)

Rickshaw ride through old Beijing (Hutong Tour)

The Forbidden City

Our group trying to cross the road...YIKES!

Mitzi and our rickshaw driver

We were sure to hold sweet Leah as much as possible

Today begins our last day and I am so sad. A part of my heart will always be here. I had a friend remind me that Emma Grace was one of those tiny little babies and now she is a strong and healthy little girl. There is hope, but it comes through US. Please watch the Eric Ludy video on my sidebar.

Day 3

**Sorry: no pictures today. It is nearly impossible to get them uploaded with this connection!

Today we helped the team from Indianapolis with their VBS celebration. The children got to sing/dance, get faces painted, play with water balloons, sidewalk chalk and bubbles. Our team of 4 bought the kids ice cream and handed out goodie bags. The kids LOVED the ice cream. It is not something they get often. We had several that tried (and succeeded) in taking 2 ice creams. In the goodie bags, the kids had candy, a bouncy ball and a ring. It was a big hit! At dinner tonight the kids were wearing the rings and today while we were in the houses, the kids were playing with their balls. They certainly appreciate the little things. It was a fun morning watching these sweet children jump around and sing about how special they are and about how much Jesus loves them. The joy was all over their faces!

We spent the afternoon in the houses playing with the children. I went to the last 2 houses, so I have now been in all the houses and met all the children. Today I had the honor of meeting Melanie, a young girl born without arms or legs. She is amazing and beautiful. She can move (by crawling on her arm and leg stumps) and get anywhere she needs to go. Although I enjoyed my time in the houses, my heart was pulling me back to the clinic to see Isabella and the other babies there. Isabella still had her baby from yesterday so I was excited! She is not feeling well. She has been fighting a fever all week, which is concerning since she just got finished with a major surgery. Please pray for her healing! She does not like people and has been sick most of her life, so she is not messed with often. Every time I see her, she is laying on a mat in the hallway. She started crying (in my opinion because she didn’t feel well and was dripping in sweat) and the nanny put her in bed. A few minutes later another volunteer pulled her out. Now I know the way to Isabella’s heart is to rescue her from the bed! I am so sad to see her always laying and not up and moving. I am sure she feels awful, but after seeing the joy in her face on our walk, I can’t help but to think about the missed opportunities in her life.

We had dinner with the kids tonight. A team from Ohio fired up the grill and the kids enjoyed hot dogs, potato chips and fruit for dinner. I know the kids left with very full bellies tonight! Several of the kids had multiple hot dogs! It was fun to watch.

Singing VBS songs

Sweet Phillip... he has a family coming SOON!

This is Joseph. He is 13 and will age out in 11 months. Most 13 years want video games or ipads...this kid only wants a family. 

JJ (also has a family coming!)

Some of the kids enjoying their ice cream treat

It was another great day. Everyone on our team has shed tears for the children here. So many kids who just need a chance at life.  SFCV does an amazing job caring for them and meeting their basic needs, but nothing can replace the love of a family.