Four!!!

Can you believe that we leave in four days!?! We had a busy day running errands, picking up some last minute things from the grocery store and the department store. Certainly, we have bought enough stuff...

We all went bowling this afternoon. Keith bowls on a league. The boys, one of their friends, and I bowled on another lane. Keith is the only one good at bowling. But, at least the rest of us were pretty evenly matched - that is until Keith got done with his league bowling and came to help me. Suddenly, I was the winner!! Of course the boys weren't very happy about that..."No fair!" It was all in good fun, though. It was a great time together.

Tomorrow the person house sitting for us is coming over to check out his job. I hope we don't scare him off! No seriously, he is a great guy and we are so thankful that he is doing this for us.

Five!!!

Only five days until we leave for China! But even better is that there are only 10 more days until we get Hannah! Woohoo! I will have to start a whole new countdown!

Oh yeah, the kids were disappointed this morning when we woke up and it was 34 degrees, and no snow on the streets - so off to school they went! I bet a few of the teachers were a little disappointed as well...

Six!!!

Snow??!! It has not hardly snowed all winter - seriously, we shoveled once, and it was all melted by noon. Now, we have had snow almost constantly for 2 days. It is not sticking, but we are supposed to get 6-9 inches tonight. The ground is warm, so I doubt that the kids' school will be closed or even delayed, much to their dismay. Can you imagine living in a climate like Germany and going the entire school year without having taken a snow day? The poor boys received a snow sled for Christmas and have not gotten to use it once!

Praise be to God, we did get the van back today!

We are in a packing slump. We have the pre-packing done (everything that we don't use on a regular basis and clothes). We can't do much else until we are a little closer to leaving. Probably on Sunday we'll get the rest done...or most of the rest at least.

Seven!!!

I picked up our plane tickets today. We are so glad to have those in hand. Now we really have our flights confirmed! It is beginning to seem more real everyday. Now that we are only a week away, we have all been saying thigs like "This is the last time we will ____ before Hannah comes home." or "Only one more ____ before we get Hannah." I think the whole family is READY!

The van was not ready today, so we will be getting that back tomorrow. At this point, waiting another day is no big deal, although it would have been nice to have it back by now. Praise God that we will have it back in time to make the trip to the airport.

Finally, we have been talking to some adoption attorneys in Oklahoma to find someone to handle Hannah's readoption. Readoption is adopting Hannah again in an Oklahoma court. This gives her a US birth certificate and makes her adoption recognizable in all 50 states. States have a choice as to whether or not they recognize foreign adoptions. While Oklahoma does, our nomadic lifestyle is better suited to covering all the bases with all the states! I thought this part would be easy, but most attorneys will not touch it with a 10-foot pole. I guess we have cooties or something. Every time I called, the attorney referred me to someone else! No kidding! If anyone knows of an adoption attorney willing to handle a case for a military member stationed overseas, adopting internationally, residents of Oklahoma, but not living in Oklahoma, just leave a comment.

Or, leave a comment anyways, whichever works for you :o)~

Eight!!!

Today Hannah is 10 months old. By the time she turns 11 months, we will be at home where she has her own room, her own toys, her own bed, but most importantly, her own family.

We have received confirmation of all of our flights. The leg in China that was in question has been resolved. Thank you God!

We have filled out a ton of paperwork today. Keith has requested permissive TDY (special type of "vacation" days offered by the military) to go to China and we filled out a force protection plan (plan that describes how we (especially he) can be contacted in China and how all the "what if's" will be handled). Being overseas and being Americans means that we have to be extra careful in this day and age. We have filed our travel itinerary with the embassy and consulate in China.

My to-do lists are getting shorter. Of course, there is always the to-do list that has to wait until the last minute - that part is always the hardest! At least for me. If I could pack everything today, put the suitcases in the car, and fill it with gas, I would! Well, I guess I could do those things, but I would have to do them again next Wednesday! Oh well...

Nine!!!

We have our itinerary for our trip! We are so excited to know what we will be doing while we are in China, and we are especially excited to know that we will be getting Hannah on the 2nd of April. Until recently, the 2nd of April did not have any significance that I knew of. However, through my mom and my aunt, I was told that the 2nd of April is actually my grandmother's birthday, she would have been 77 this year. I never knew my grandmother as she passed away when mom's family were still kids, but I am so glad to know that we will be receiving Hannah on her birthday.

Here are some of the things we will be doing and places we will be going while in China:
Arrive in Beijing, visit the Forbidden City and Tian’an men Square, visit the Great Wall and the Summer Palace, transfer to Chongqing. April 2nd - Forever Family Day! Receive Hannah, go through adoption proceedings, visit the Zoo and see the treasure of China---PANDAS, visit the Three Gorges Museum, transfer to Guangzhou. Visit the Chan Clan Acedamy, complete medical examination for Hannah, Consulate appointment, oath-taking ceremony, German Consulate to apply for the Schengen Visa, and, finally, depart for home.

Sounds like a whirlwind tour!!

Ten!!!

Ten days until we leave for China! Right now, we have started packing - one suitcase down, 3 to go. Four suitcases seems like a lot for us, but we are taking quite a few consumable goodies for ourselves and some German goodies for our travel buddies, and that takes up nearly a whole suitcase. Plus, we are packing a few things that will be carry-ons on the way back - like the diaper bag.

All of this leaves empty suitcases for any treasures that we purchase while we are in China. Treasures and clothes for Hannah that is. It is not quite like bringing home a baby from the hospital. We have to have enough clothing to get her through nearly 2 weeks, plus a long plane ride home. We do not have a good idea of what size clothes will fit her, so we are just taking a few outfits in a couple of sizes and will just have to get some more when we are there. Poor child...as you can see from the baby shower picture - she just has no clothes to wear! (kidding, yes) Of course that picture does not even begin to show what all is in her closet already. But, we do not want to fill up a suitcase with something that doesn't fit, and still have to buy clothes and then another suitcase to bring it all back in. I'll just have to suffer through the shopping...it's a sacrifice, but anything for Hannah.

We will, of course, be taking the cameras and computer so that we can share our experiences right here with you! We cannot wait to be writing much more exciting posts like "Here is Beijing!" and "Here's Hannah!", which will then be followed by numerous pictures and posts of Hannah and her new life. Yeah, I know that is what you all really come on here for. It's not me...it's all about her. Come on, you know it is true...

I had a really neat experience when I was booking the tickets for our flights. I was praying as I arrived at the travel agency that God would lead me to the right tickets and the right person to sell them to us. I went in and spoke to the travel agent and she found us some tickets that were cheaper than anything else I could find online or through the airlines. After the tickets were arranged and purchased, the travel agent begins to tell me the story of her adopted younger sister, and how much she loves her. She told me that they prayed and prayed for her when her birth mom came to try to take her back when she was 15 (it was an informal adoption in Fiji), and how the courts had decided in the adoptive family's favor even though their parents had passed away and the adopted girl was living with her older brothers. It was a very touching story and it really opened some doors to talking about how God led me to this very travel agent to sell us our tickets. I have promised to bring Hannah back to visit her after we get home and share how God has brought her into our lives. It is just a testimony as to how He knits our lives together.

We have our consulate appointment!

We leave for China March 28th. We will receive Hannah into our family on the 1st or 2nd of April. We can't wait!!

No News...

No consulate appointment today. Wow! This is taking a long time...

Who woulda thunk it?

The US Consulate always replys within 72 hours...or at least they used to, that is until it was our turn. :o)~ Yep, you guessed it - no consulate appointment today. While part of me would like to be upset, the smart part reminds me to wait on God.

Be still. Know that He is God. Trust in the Faithful One. Thank You, God, for making me wait until the timing is perfect. Thank You for reminding me that You are in charge.

Thank You for putting all the pieces of this puzzle together correctly, the first time, and not having to try each piece over and over in different configurations until You get it right. You KNOW what the picture is and how each piece fits into it.

I will wait on You, and when it gets hard, I will lay my impatience on Your altar, and wait some more.

Still no consulate appointment

Well, here we are, once again, still waiting. Wow, it is a good thing that I am patient...NOT! I feel as if I am on an emotional roller coaster - what a wild ride! Even though, I know there are only a few more weekends that we will have to wait until we leave, then a LONG weekend of waiting in Beijing, followed by Forever Family Day!!! That is the day that Hannah officially joins the Ross family. We are SO ready!!

We have TA!

We did receive our travel approval yesterday! Now the "new" wait...for the consulate appointment. Once we have our consulate appointment, the agency can tell us when we are leaving. Currently the plan is for us to leave Germany on the 29th of March, and return the 12th of April. I think that with that itinerary, that we would actually get Hannah on the 2nd of April. It is not as soon as we would have hoped, but we are trusting God in all the circumstances. We should know for sure by Monday afternoon.

Now just pray for some cheap plane tickets. For some reason leaving the 29th instead of the 22nd, the cost of the plane tickets increased by 50%-100%, yep, almost doubled! Our plans to take everyone back to the states when we go to get Hannah's citizenship are dwindling! We are all disappointed, but we realize that everyone going back home is what we WANT to do, but not what we HAVE to do. Only one parent and Hannah HAVE to go...

Why the wait?

Why are we still waiting? Good question. All I can say is thankfully God sees the big picture, cause if I could get my dirty little hands in the mix, we'd be in China RIGHT NOW!

We did not get the travel clearance as expected today. The e-mail to our adoption agency from China now says "tomorrow". How many more tomorrows until we hold Hannah? Too many! Our agency will request a consulate appointment the first 2 weeks of April. If we are able to get in at that time, we will either leave around the 22nd or the 29th of March to go to Beijing. If we are not able to get in the first 2 weeks of April, it will be the 2nd week of May before we can go, due to some trade shows near the US consulate and a labor day holiday the first week of May. So, all of you prayer warriors can help me pray that our consulate appt will be sooner rather than later.

It is all starting to come together

Today, we received the healthcare coverage letter that we will need to process Hannah's visa to come back to Germany. That is one more thing checked off of my to-do list...

More importantly, today we also received an e-mail from our agency stating that they expect to have our travel clearance on Tuesday!! That is only 3 weeks, 4 days after our letters of intent to adopt were sent to China. usually it takes 3-5 weeks to get travel clearance, but we figured that it might be delayed a little because the China Center of Adoption affairs was closed last week for the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations. Depending one when we can get a consulate appointment, we could be in China in just a couple of weeks! Yeah!!!

Praise God for a day of good news!!

When are we going to China?

We picked up our Chinese visas today! All of our passports are stamped and ready to go. So, now the big question: When are we going to China, and when does Hannah physically join our family? Well, we don't know yet. Right now, we are waiting for travel approval from China. This greatly desired piece of paper gives us permission to travel to China. Once our agency gets that, they will request a US consulate appointment for us. Then they will count backwards from the consulate appointment to give us enough total days in China to travel to Beijing for a couple of days, go to Chongqing, get Hannah, officially adopt her, get her passport, then go to Guangzhou where she gets a medical exam and we file for her US and German visas. Once we have done all that, and have visas in hand, we get to come home! It is hard to imagine that this entire trip takes only 12 days...wow! Let's just say that we need to prepare for a whirlwind!

We expect to receive this travel approval either by the end of this week, or next. Waiting is just so hard!

Baby Shower!

What a blessing! A group of wonderful friends gave me a baby shower today. I am so touched by their thoughtfulness and generosity. I could not believe all the gifts and well wishes that Hannah received. God is SO GOOD to us!!

Just so you know, Hannah is definitely a princess...and she now has the clothes to prove it! Blessed baby girl, you and Mommy are going to have some major dress up times ahead!

Over and over God amazes me with His love and His way of providing for us. Thank you, God for blessing us with a wonderful church family here and back home to help us bring baby Hannah home!

Nine months old today

Hannah is nine months old today. While we hate to miss this milestone in her life, we are thankful that there are not many more milestones that we will miss. We received our I-171H on Saturday (permission from US immigration to bring an orphaned child back to the United States). We are so glad to have it! We still have to get our Chinese visas, which we will hopefully get to do tomorrow. Keith and I will get to take a road trip to the Chinese Consulate in Frankfurt! Next week, we will get to go pick up our visas, then the only thing we will have left to wait on is the invitation to travel from the People's Republic of China. After that, it is plane tickets and travel!

I have some lovely friends who are giving me a baby shower on Saturday. It will be a fun celebration of Hannah's impending arrival. I am so thankful for good friends and good times!

An update!

We received an update yesterday. Hannah has 2 teeth, weighs a whopping 10 kg (22 pounds), is 73 cm (28 3/4 inches) long, and has a 10 cm (4 inch) foot. She can sit alone, crawl foward and is beginning to pull herself up. We were hoping for updated pictures, too, but we are happy that we have received anything.

Just so you know, we have been warned to take these measurements with a grain of salt since they do not usually undress the babies for their exams and the babies are usually dressed in SEVERAL layers of clothes, so she may be a fair amount smaller than this.

I believe that by being sent this information, that China has received our letter of intent to adopt. That is great news for us. Maybe they can start processing our travel approval before the Chinese New Year celebrations start next week. We are ready to go to China and get our Hannah!!

Pictures!!!

Here is Hannah Elizabeth FuLan Ross.

Looking mighty cute, I might say!

Keith and I fell in LOVE the moment we saw her!

Looks like she may have a serious side, too!
We'll just have to hug all the seriousness right out of her!

We have signed and mailed our acceptance letter back to our adoption agancy. Now, can we go get her?Praise God for His abundant blessings. We are just so excited, He provides more for us than we could have ever imagine. What an absolutely beautiful daughter (and sister) that He has given to our family!

More...

Here's that map again, but now we know where Hannah is! Now we just wait to bring her home.

Referral day was exhausting! We didn't sleep much, and I would like to say that it is because we were up calling all of our friends and family, but our phone went out of order yesterday and it is still not fixed!

We found out the meaning of her name. Xiu, which is actually her last name and the name given to all the babies at the orphange means "grace". Fu is her first name, which is given to many of the babies at the same orphanage and means "fortunate". Lan is most likely the name that she goes by and means "orchid". We are most likely going to name her Hannah Elizabeth FuLan Ross. We are over the top with excitement!