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!

Referral

We are so blessed to announce the referral of our baby, Hannah Elizabeth.
Chinese name: Xiu Fu Lan
DOB: May 20, 2006
Location: Xiushan Social Welfare Institute, Chongqing Municipality, Sichuan Province

Right now that is all the information that we have. Hopefully, we will have the English translations and a picture tomorrow. If not, then it will be Monday.

Wait...

Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. Isiah 40:31

Today we are waiting for word from our agency. I pray that God is glorified today in all that we do. To God be the glory, great things He has done!