Consulate Appointment Today!!!

Well, today we had the "Famous Red Couch" pictures. I am only posting the 1st one because we have not had the 2nd one yet. The 1st Red Couch picture is a picture of some of the kids from Hannah's Province-Yunnan, China. We got to know these families last week in Kunming. They were from all over. We met up with them again here in Guangzhou. The 2nd Red Couch picture will be of our Bethany group.
We also took Hannah to a really nice play room here in the hotel. It is designed specifically for the kids staying here in the hotel and most of the toys are English because the majority of them are used by American families who are adopting. Great hotel!!! Hannah is doing better today. Less coughing and she slept for 12 hours last night. Thanks again for the prayers for her! We are getting ready to leave to catch a bus with our group to head to the Consulate appointment which is the last thing we have to do that makes the adoption legal. We will be sworn in and asked a few questions and then we will be done. We will not have internet after 4pm today, which is your 4am, so the next time we post will be after we get home. Thanks again for following our blog of Hannah. Its been a long, hard journey, but we have made it and we have our girl~! Now, to just get home and be with the rest of our family~Wesley, it will be complete!
I hope to post more pictures once we get back.

She passed!!!! She got her shots today!!!

Yippee!!! Hannah was able to get her shots this afternoon. We are so happy because she got them and we can now come home as scheduled. We cannot wait to see you Wes!!
Mommy and Daddy's heart hurts to see you! We are very excited for all of you to meet Hannah. She is a sweetie pie and is shy at first, but once she is warmed up...she is very active! She still has a horrible cough, but she did not have a fever today so she could get her shots. She did well. Cried a bit, but not bad. It is such a relief! She seems to be feeling better, but we have not been going too many places so we can get her some rest. We all took naps today, so that was nice. We also got all our shopping done this afternoon. I had to buy another small suitcase to get everything home! Ha! Things are so cheap here. Lots of little girls outfits. We are headed to a good Chinese restaurant tonight and its supposed to be very good, not the weird stuff we ate last week. Tomorrow we meet our group at 2pm and get all the kids, red couch pictures...they off to the consulate at 3:30pm. We will leave our hotel 6am on Wednesday morning. Looking forward to getting home. Its been very nice to see China, but its been long enough for all of us.
Hannah is now watching Seasame Street in English and is LOVING it! She just smiles...its so cute!

Still sick!

Thanks for the prayers, but keep praying. Miss Hannah is still sick. She is still running a 100 degree fever tonight. I stayed back with her and Mike went to dinner with our group. He is going to bring us something back. I pretty much bawled my eyes out when I took her temperature tonight. She did good all day, but fever is back and coughing. We keep giving her medicine and she did take 2 naps today, so hopefully by tomorrow she will be ok. I am just feeling bad for her and also missing Wesley, soooooo bad~! I just cannot bare the thought of being away from Wesley many more days. If Hannah cannot get her shots tomorrow, then we will be here a few more days. Not sure how long, but I would think just a few days. She is just so congested. Poor thing! She has cried a lot today and I think its just she is fussy because she does not feel good. It has been nice because she has been a mommy's girl today. Earlier today, before her fever hit again, we did do some shopping. Loved it! Got some gifts for the family and 2 silk, beautiful blankets for Hannah and Wesley. They are so neat and they were very cheap. We will keep you posted on Hannah's sickness and about tomorrow. Love you all!

Medical & Visa: Pray hard for Miss Hannah

Please pray hard for little Miss Hannah. She has been sick. We arrived at our hotel last night in Guangzhou and put her to bed. She had been coughing some during the day. When she had been asleep for about 15 minutues and happen to look over and she threw up all over herself and her bed. I felt so bad for her. So, we had room service come and give us new bedding for her. This morning she ate well and we headed to the medical/Doctor appointment with our group. This was a good time for the Doctor to see her and all of us had to go anyways to get the child's VISA approved. We were there for about 3 hours and they said Hannah had a fever of over 100 and that she had a really sore throat. So, they said she could not have her shots because she is sick. Because she cannot have the shots, we could not get her VISA. At first, I freaked out a bit, but our guide, Shiyan, made us feel better. She said we can come back on Monday and get her shots if she is better and then still get the VISA and made our Consulate appointment. Worst case scenario, we would not get to leave China until she got better and was able to get her shots. But, we are hopeful that she will be better by Monday. She has a cold, with lots of coughing and congestion. We were able to get some antibiotic at the Doctor and also something for the fever. So, just pray for her to get well.
On a positive note, we love our hotel and its been great meeting up with our group. We are on an Island here and near water and boats. So neat! Lots of great shopping and our room is nice, just small. We will try to post more pics tomorrow fo Guangzhou. Just have not had time with a sick 2 year old. Thanks for all the prayers and please pray that she is better by Monday so we can get her VISA in order to leave China!

Golden Temple

Well, today has been good. Except for the fact that Hannah got a bloody nose this afternoon. Its probably just because it is very dry here. But, I hope its nothing concerning since she is just 2. We had a nice morning at Golden Temple. It was very pretty and the weather has been so nice, 75-80. It made us feel good when a Chinese man came up to Hannah and he tried to pick her up and she clung to Mike. So, I think she is getting it that we are her parents. She was a total Daddy's girl today, which I love. Wesley is a big Mommy's boy so this is nice to have one of each! Tomorrow we fly out of Kunming at 5:45pm for a 2 hour flight to Guangzhou. We are ready to finish up the paperwork there and get home. Its been so hard to be away from Wesley. More than we thought! We both have had a few crying spells about missing him. But, he has been having fun. We appreciate all of our friends and family for taking care of him and making sure he is having a good time to make the time pass. We love you guys so much~!

Da Guan Garden

Well, today we went to Da Guan Garden and it was beautiful. It had lots of flowers, water, and seemed very peaceful. The pictures you see are from the Garden. We also went to a Jade factory and bought 2 jade necklaces for me and Hannah. Its real Jade from her Province. The cool thing is, its usually very expensive, but we got them for about $60. Sometimes, they can be thousands of dollars. In China, its very popular because it means good luck/fortune. We also ate at a great restaurant for lunch across from our hotel. It was a bit more expensive, but very good. We have not really had much good food the whole trip because its so different, but this was good. I had cheese pizza and Mike had Chicken Cordon Bleu. Hannah enjoyed some pork/noodle soup with veggies in it. She loves her noodles! Noodles are very popular in the Yunnan Province where she is from. So far, things are going very well. She is definitely becoming more active and is a normal 2 year old keeping us on our toes. We have had to redirect her more and are trying to teach her "no-no". I think she is getting it. She is quick and into everything. More pictures to come!

Things are going well.

Well, today was nice because we had a free day. We basically just got up, ate breakfast then relaxed in our room. Hannah played with another little girl in the little play area. This afternoon, we took a family trip to Walmart and did a little shopping. Great prices there. It was a 3-story Walmart so it took awhile to get through.
Hannah is still doing well. We actually weighed her and was shocked at her weight. We were told she was around 30 lbs. but she is actually only 22 lbs. So is tiny, but of normal height for a 2 year old. She does eat well though so we are not worried about her size. We found out that the orphanage people usually weigh them with their layers of clothing on so that is why she probably weighed heavier.
She has been a wild woman today with giggling and hopping around the room playing. She is amazing how she gets around on one leg. She has a leg deformity, in case some of you did not know that. She has no problem getting around. So I can only imagine how well she will do once she gets a prosthetic.
Sorry I could not post her "Gotcha Video" yet. I am having issues with downloading that one. Here are some more pics of her from today.
Thanks again for all the prayers and comments. We read all them. Marcella.....if you are reading this....we have so much to tell you guys and cannot wait to sit down tell you all about it. It wont be long before you guys will be over here...I can just feel it!

Videos

Day Number 2! Awesome!

Where do I even start with the days events! I can feel all of your prayers! God is helping us through each and every step of this process for sure! Hannah woke up and just stared at us. We let her sleep with us just in case she got scared. She did good and slept from 10pm to 6:30am. She has not cried once today! Amazing! We had to rush around and eat breakfast at our hotel and head to the Civil Affairs office. Hannah ate good and loved watermelon! She also shared some bacon with Mike and some cheerios. We then went to the Civil Affairs office and it was so crazy~! Lots of commotion and people speaking Chinese. We felt very rushed and did not understand a lot of what they were saying, but our guide helped us. We signed papers for the notary to get Hannah's passport and all of this took about and hour and a half. The good thing was there were many others families there, too doing the same thing. We did not know them though. While there, Hannah did so good. We were praying so hard that when Hannah saw her Orphanage workers that we would have to start over again with the crying. But, she was great. They came over, spoke Chinese to her and asked her who her Mama and Baba was and she pointed to both of us!!!! I broke down right then and there! That was a God thing for sure. We are also getting her to say mommy and daddy, too. She is bonding pretty equal to us, but seems to love her daddy! I think we may have a Daddy's girl on hand!!! So cute!!! We came back, ate some lunch and then played this afternoon. She loved to sit on Mike's stomach and slide down his side while he lays on the bed. She would just giggle. I will post her doing this in a video if I can get it to work. We just got back from a walk to the park. Beautiful park with water! We felt like celebrities!!! Lots of people staring and coming up to Hannah. Our guide said that most feel that Hannah is lucky to get adopted to America because we are rich!!! Its so weird!!! I just smiled and said, "Ne-How" (Hello). Hannah just fell asleep while we were walking back to the hotel. Tonight we plan to have dinner with another family and for their daughter and Hannah to play together. Overall, an amazing experience!!! Definitely a culture shock, but all of it is so worth it. I have been much more emotional today with everything because we are so happy and the reality is setting in. We could not have asked for a sweeter little girl.
If you can, pray for Hannah as she has had some diarrhea at times, possibly due to the stress of it all. She lets us know when she has to go potty! We just went to Walmart today and got a little potty that sits on the ground for her. Because of her leg deformity and her small size, we have to hold her on the regular potty. So, this little potty gives her much more independence. Its also small enough to fit into the suitcase when we travel. The best part is...I got it for 2 dollars at Walmart! Great prices here!
Well, take a look at these pictures. I promise I will post a video but it takes a long time to download, so I have not had much time. We have a free night and tomorrow is free so I will have more time to work on it.
Thanks for all the prayers!!! God is so good!!!

We got her!!!

It has been a day! There is too much to tell and we are worn out, but i just wanted everyone to know that we got her at 4:30pm today. It was horrible for about 2 hours. She cried for 2 hours and fell asleep on Mike for about 20 minutes, then woke up in a good mood and we could not believe how she was acting then. She was playing with us and talking, even repeating some American words after us. She then ate some snacks and seemed happy. Then she started to cry again. She does well for about 30 minutes, then starts tearing up again. Its so sad to see her mourn! It breaks our hearts, but she wants to be comforted equally by both of us, which is great.
Anyways, more adoption paperwork tomorrow but we are going to bed now. Hannah fell asleep at about 10pm and we are so exhausted and so is she. I hope tomorrow goes better. Pray that she is able to rest and that tomorrow goes well.
I will post more picutres tomorrow~ and hopefully a video.

Forbidden City

Well, today was very interesting! We saw Forbidden City which was really neat. It was so crowded there and we encountered some very pushy and agressive people, but it was very neat to see. It was a bit of culture shock today as a few of us women got shoved to the side in the women's bathroom in the crowd of people. People were pushing for a toilet! It is funny when you think about it! We also were stared at often because many of the people had never seen Americans before. The Forbidden City is a place that many people come and visit with tours and such all over the world, including China. I did not mind the stares because I do not think they were being mean, but we intriged them. They even wanted to take pictures of us! Ha!
We also took a Ric-shaw ride and toured some very poor areas in Beijing. Those poor guys that had to haul us around in those things. Two big Americans! Ha! But, they were very nice and actually spoke a bit of English. I have also included a lovely picture of the Squatty Potty that we used today! New to me! But, it really wasn't that bad. Tonight we saw an Acrobatic show and it was really neat! They were so talented and colorful. So, now the plan is to pack up again tonight and we Joy(our guide) will take us to the airport at
5:50 am to catch our 7:55am flight to Kumning. In the afternoon tomorrow, we are supposed to get Hannah! We are so excited, but getting a bit nervous, too. We will split off from our group tomorrow am and will meet our guide in Kumning at the airport. We are getting ready to have some Pizza Hut pizza with another family and then off to packing up and getting to bed for a early and big day tomorrow!!! We promise we will post pictures of us getting Hannah and hopefully a video. Next post will be after we get Hannah!!!!

Great Wall of China & Olympics 2008

Well, today was such a neat experience. Something I never thought I would ever see...The Great Wall of China! It was undescribable and so big. We have been touring with 3 other families through our adoption agency and this has really helped to have other people to relate to while going places. Our guide, Joy, who is Chinese has been so great at helping us know where to go what to do and such. So glad we have her. She is amazing how she speaks Chinese one minute and then also speaks English to us very well, too. We did have some Chinese food for a late lunch today. I normally love Chinese food, but this was very different than in the U.S. My stomach had a time with taking in all the new smells and tastes and did not like it very well. But, it was neat being able to taste some new things. We also visited where the Bejing 2008 Olympics was today. It was so cool to see that and how big it was. I am posting pictures of it as well as the Great Wall. Tomorrow we will go to the Forbidden City, Tiannemen Square, and a Acrobatic Show. So, it will be a full day. Then early the next day, we will fly out to Kunming where Hannah is and will get her in the afternoon. Starting to get nervous about that now, but excited! Thanks for all the comments and e-mails from everyone. We are reading all of them and appreciate hearing from you.

We are in Beijing!

Well, we made it to Beijing! Whew it was a long flight. We have been up about 30 hours now and are so tired. But, it already has been great. We had a 2 hour delay in Chicago, but everything else has been ok. 13 hours on the plane was really hard! But, our hotel is so nice and so are the people. We plan to put some pictures on the blog very soon. Stay tuned....We just have to get some rest!
Mom & Dad---we will Skyp you soon. If you see we are online....Skype us! We love you Wes!

Next post from China!!!

Well,we are packed and ready to go! We played outside with Wesley tonight and had some cuddle time with him one last time before we are gone for 2 weeks. He loves playing outside. It is so hard to leave him!!!
But, I know he will be fine with grandparents.
Thanks to all who are following and thanks again for the prayers. We really appreciate it! Pray also that we can communicate with family over Skype and through our blog. Hopefully, there are no computer problems.
Stay tuned for more pictures on the blog from China!!!!

The paperwork is done.........!

Well today I finished the last of the paperwork. We have to take several paperwork items with us to China. Several pages to take to Hannah's province, and several pages to take to Guangzhou to the Embassy. We also have to take our home study documents, copies of passports, copies of Travel approval, and many other forms that show our approvals in the United States. Now, I just hope I don't forget anything. We will for sure put these papers in our carry on bag, just in case our luggage would get lost. It feels so good to be done with paperwork. Now we just take it, get Hannah's passport in China, her Visa, and her medical report done, and it will all be over! Pray for us that all will go smoothly! And most importantly, pray for little Hannah and how she is going to handle all of this. Its going to be so scary for her to leave her familiar surroundings. We just hope that she adjusts quickly to having new parents and that we can comfort her. Can you imagine getting torn from all you know at almost 3 years old??? She will get through it and we will, too.

Our Itinerary is here!!!

We finally got our itinerary today! We now know we will get little miss Hannah on March 22nd. That will be the official "GOTCHA DAY"! I can't believe we'll have our daughter in our arms in just 13 days! I also got everything bought tonight for our trip. Snacks, medicines, contacts, gifts for the guides, the list seems endless...but, I feel like I've got on top of things. Now, just finish packing our suitcases and get our money around and we'll be off!
Here is the itinerary below if you want to keep up with what we are doing each day:

WE LEAVE: March 18 from Fort Wayne airport at 6:00am and arrive in Chicago aiport at 6:10am. We will have a layover until 12:30pm there and then we are off to Beijing! We'll fly all day and all night until we reach Beijing the next day.

March 19, 2009 Arrive in Beijing @ 3:25 p.m. Joy, (Shiyan’s assistant) will meet you at the airport. Stay at Days Hotel & Suites.

March 20, 2009 Visit the Great Wall and Cloisonne Factory.

March 21, 2009 Visit Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and Acrobatic Show.

March 22, 2009 Flight to Kunming and arrive at 11:25am. Stay at Grand Park Hotel. Receive your child in the afternoon. GOTCHA DAY!!!!!!!

March 23, 2009 Adoption registration and notarization.

March 24, 2009 Free

March 25, 2009 Visit Da Guan Garden.

March 26, 2009 Visit Golden Temple Park.

March 27, 2009 Receive all the documents. Flight to Guangzhou, arrive at 7:19pm; stay at the White Swan Hotel. White Swan Hotel airport pickup.

March 28, 2009 Visa pictures and medical exam for the child.

March 29, 2009 Meeting to prepare the consulate documents. YOU MUST RECONFIRM YOUR CHINA SOUTHERN FLIGHT TO SHANGHAI. THE CONCEIRGE WILL ASSIST YOU.

March 30, 2009 Visa appointment.

March 31, 2009 3:00 p.m. Go to the consulate to take the oath and pick up visa.

April 1, 2009 Flight out of Shanghai at 9:30am. Connecting flight to U.S.A.

2 weeks from today we leave!!!

Well, 2 weeks from today we will be waiting in the Chicago airport for our plane to Beijing! So exciting. Its been a bit of a stressful week. We have had some issues with the processing of our grant and also issues with our new insurance. Its been hard to not get down and worry about how things will all work out. But, God is in control and He WILL help us through it. His timing is never late. So, I have been working really hard at having faith in Him and giving EVERYTHING to him with our adoption. Its so hard sometimes! Mike has not been feeling well last night and today and may have a stomach bug, but is slowly feeling better.
We still have lots to do to prepare. Some gifts to buy for the orphanage workers and travel guides, snacks for our trip, and house cleaning to do. But, its all falling into place.
If you can, pray for us that we are able to get our grant money processes before our trip. Otherwise, we will have to put several thousand on a credit card and that is not what we want to do.
Also, pray for us that we can keep trusting in Him that all of this will work out.
Thanks to everyone for your support

Oh....one more good thing....we got an appointment with the International Adoption Clinic through Riley Hospital for Hannah. They will check her out very thoroughly when we get home to make sure she doesn't have any parasites or any other health issues. Also, we talked to Shriner's hospital and it looks like we will most likely have Hannah's orthopaedic surgery in Chicago. More details to come on that.....