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!

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!!!!!

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.

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!)

Summer fun:

A visit from Brandon and Evan

Hatfield cousins

Happy 5th Birthday, Matthew

The Hatfield Family

4th of July

I went to China this summer and met my daughter. She will be coming home in 2013!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Emma Grace!

 2nd grade for Andrew and Kindergarten for Matthew: 1st day of school

Might be one of my favorite pictures of the princess:

Happy 3rd Birthday, Timothy!

Gotcha day!!! In our arms for 2 year! October 23, 2012

 Happy Halloween:

We had a very Merry Christmas! Santa brought this trampoline for our basement and a new Wii. The kids were so excited!

We had a great year! We are thankful to experience so many happy memories with our loved ones. We are looking forward to 2013!

Timmy's Birthday

My handsome little man is 3. I feel like I have aged in dog years since his birth.

 

 

When Timmy is happy, he is really happy, talkative, and so stinkin' cute you can hardly stand it. When Timmy is rotten, oh my goodness... it takes every ounce of patience to deal with the screaming temper tantrums. Thankfully, we have had a lot more happy days than grumpy days lately. He recently started preschool (with his sister) and this has been a great thing for him! He is coming out of his shell and his little personality is emerging. I see a perfect mix of Andrew and Matthew in Timothy. Timmy turned 3 in October. I can't believe my youngest child is now 3. For the last 7 years I have always had a 2 year old or younger. It has been exhausting! But now these days are disappearing. Our house is free of diapers, baby toys, bibs, sippee cups and all the other necessities that come with itty bitties. And I am one happy mama! I love the ages of my kids right now and feel that I can actually step foot in Walmart and not make a scene that will have people talking for weeks. My kids listen (mostly) and act right (mostly). It is a nice place to be!

 

Here are some things I don't want to forget about my Timmy boy at this age:

 

*He has a blanket that he carries EVERYWHERE. I don't even want to think about what would happen if it goes missing. And he does NOT like other children to touch it!

 

*He hates to sleep. It kills me. Every night, our bedtime routine consists of Timmy screaming his lungs out (pretty sure the neighbors can hear) and standing at the top of stairs for a solid hour. We have just recently started sleeping through the night, but before that it was not unusual to wake up to a screaming Timmy. We both work, so we have early mornings around here... you guessed it, we wake up to a screaming Timmy. (Now do you see why I feel like I have aged in dog years?)

 

*He loves all trucks... excavators, monster trucks, dump trucks. BUT, he will certainly have a tea party with his sister or feed "his baby" in the high chair. Timmy and Emma are so gender neutral, they will play anything!

 

*His best friend is Emma. They spend so much time together. They talk constantly to each other. Sometimes I can understand them, sometimes I can't. It is obvious that they understand each other. I really hope these 2 stay close forever. I often wonder how Hannah will effect that relationship.

 

*Timmy loves to cut the grass with his fake lawnmower. He will spend hours outside walking up and down the grass, all around our yard.

 

*He loves to ride his bike and his little car. He says he is going to Costco, or Walmart... and he will play in the garage by himself riding his bike all over the place.

 

*We have no easy transitions with Timmy. Trying to get him to wear underwear... nightmare. Trying to get him to wear pants when the weather got cold...nightmare. Winter coat... nightmare. You get the picture.

 

*He potty trained himself when he was 2 years 9 months old. I tried and tried when he was 2 and a half, but he wanted nothing to do with it. He would scream when he saw the toilet (see previous comment about transitions). I got back from China this summer and was dreading having to tackle potty issues again. He woke up one morning and asked to go to the potty. That.was.it. Potty trained from that moment on. I did NOTHING!!!

 

*At the moment, Timmy has a fear of the naughty list or a phone call to Santa. When he is happy he says "I not crying, I on the nice wist."

 

*he uses all of his pronouns incorrectly. I NEVER correct it because I think it is too adorable. "what him doin?" "Her took that from me!" oh my goodness, so cute.

 

*he loves peanut butter, chicken nuggets and junk food. He also likes most fruits, yogurt and applesauce. Mostly, we live on peanut butter sandwiches.

 

*He wore 2 truck shirts all summer. I had to do laundry constantly. We were finally able to distract him into other clothing. The dump truck shirts are now in his memory box!

 

*just recently, he started saying "that hurts my pee-wings (feelings)" when someone hurts him. So if you accidently bump into him, put his shoe on wrong, etc. you have hurt his feelings. He has no idea what that means, it is so funny!!

 

Happy Birthday, Timmy! We love you to the moon and back!

 

 

Give-a-way!!!!!!

As I mentioned in my last post, we have been blessed with a fundraising page from Reece's Rainbow. I am going to give you 3 GREAT REASONS why donating to our adoption is a WONDERFUL idea!

First....

You will be helping us to bring this precious little butterfly HOME! She has waited 3 years for a family and has gone through so much in that time.

Second...

All donations to Reece's Rainbow will be tax-deductible.

and finally, look at all of these awesome give-a-way items that have been donated!!! For every $10 that is donated, we will enter your name to win one of these awesome items donated by awesome friends. First name drawn gets first choice, second name gets second choice, etc. until we run out of items :)

Item #1: $100 Amazon gift card

Item #2: $100 La Bella Salon gift card (hair salon in Louisville, KY)

Item #3: $50 Mary Kay Gift card

Item #4: beautiful Thirty-One items!!! We have a black purse, flower and zippered pouch. This picture does not show how beautiful the purse is!!! The flower looks adorable on the purse (but it would also look adorable on a little girl's head!)

Item #5: 3 iron candle holders

Item #6: a handmade, wooden cutting board. It is beautiful, but I don't have a picture of it yet!

Item #7: a basket of hair bow accessories (headbands, flowers and bows) I will let the winner pick what colors and combinations they want because I have many to choose from.


Thank you to our friends and family that donated these items!!! We will draw names on December 10. Every $10 donated = one chance.

To donate please click HERE.
Donations can also be made by check. Please make checks payable to Reece's Rainbow and mail to:

Reece's Rainbow
PO BOX 4024
Gaithersburg, MD 20885

Please write "Isabella- Fischer Family- KY" in the memo line. (Her name here will be Hannah, but her English name in China is Isabella)

Thank you for helping us bring home our daughter!

Adoption update: Our dossier is at the Embassy of China getting final authentications. It should be in our hands at the end of this week. Once we get it, we will send it on to our adoption agency who will then send it to China! We will be given a log in date (the day our papers will be entered into China's system) At that point we wait for our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) and this will take 1-3 months. After LOA, we have another small round of paper work to complete and should be on our way to China 1-3 months after that (after Travel Approval is issued)!!!!