Hi Everyone! Robin asked that I post to their blog as they are having trouble posting to it while in China. They do have a Caring Bridge site set up and she asked that I provide the information to everyone so that you can follow along on their journey. The site is www.caringbridge.org and then type in "kristizihan" - I believe you leave out the quotation marks. If anyone has any troubles, you can email be privately at drothx2@msn.com and I'll try to walk you through the process or send a direct link.
Thanks!
Denise Roth
(Robin's Good Friend)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
WE'RE GOING TO CHINA!!!!!!!!!!
We got the news at 9:26 p.m. tonight from the US Consulate in Guangzhou telling us that we may travel to China. We leave this Friday the 8th for Guangzhou and will arrive on Saturday evening late. On Sunday we will fly to Nanjing and on Monday we will meet Kristi Zi Han! We are so thrilled and so thankful! God seems to delight in making our lives interesting and suspenseful and loves to surprise us. We are almost packed and our tickets are booked (I made the reservations today just in case). Keira is very excited and at bedtime tonight I was telling her how our trip will be quite the adventure and that when we first meet Kristi Zi Han she might not be too happy and might cry a lot and Keira said pretend you're sister and she took her finger and pointed at herself, then she drew a big heart in the air and then she pointed to me (sister). So sweet. We'll try to post as much as possible here and at www.caringbridge.org under "kristizihan" if we are not able to use blogspot.com. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and Kristi Zi Han as the only life she has known is about to change forever.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Faithful Traveler
Yes, the time is correct. It's very late but I am not sleepy so I decided to read and this is what the page opened to - "The Lord only builds a bridge of faith directly under the feet of the faithful traveler. He never builds the bridge a few steps ahead, for then it would not be one of faith." We Live By Faith Not By Sight 2 Cor. 5:7 from Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman
How comforting this is to me as we await word if we will be issued a consulate appointment and travel to China this week. This Friday, August 8, is the last day that we could possibly travel in order to complete our adoption prior to our travel authorization (TA) from China expiring on August 20th. The U.S. State Department is still trying to work out a solution for us transition families who were issued a TA from China but are processed under the new Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention protocol requiring an article 23 instead of a TA. We have contacted Senators, the US State Department and anyone who could possibly help us influence them to quickly resolve this issue or issue a special exception but as of tonight there is no resolution. If the issue is not resolved and no exception is granted we will then have to request a new TA from China prior to its expiration and hope that they will issue a new one in a timely manner. It has been a very trying and frustrating experience but at the same time we are so thankful and overwhelmed by all the support and help offered to us during this time. It has been amazing!
In the meantime, we have received the most wonderful gift to keep us focused and encouraged - firsthand news of Kristi Zi Han and new pictures and a video! We are forever greatful to you Scott and Shania and Hilary!
How comforting this is to me as we await word if we will be issued a consulate appointment and travel to China this week. This Friday, August 8, is the last day that we could possibly travel in order to complete our adoption prior to our travel authorization (TA) from China expiring on August 20th. The U.S. State Department is still trying to work out a solution for us transition families who were issued a TA from China but are processed under the new Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention protocol requiring an article 23 instead of a TA. We have contacted Senators, the US State Department and anyone who could possibly help us influence them to quickly resolve this issue or issue a special exception but as of tonight there is no resolution. If the issue is not resolved and no exception is granted we will then have to request a new TA from China prior to its expiration and hope that they will issue a new one in a timely manner. It has been a very trying and frustrating experience but at the same time we are so thankful and overwhelmed by all the support and help offered to us during this time. It has been amazing!
In the meantime, we have received the most wonderful gift to keep us focused and encouraged - firsthand news of Kristi Zi Han and new pictures and a video! We are forever greatful to you Scott and Shania and Hilary!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
That my faith may not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God
Hi friends, I hope I can explain this well but we are in the middle of a bureaucratic standoff between the US State Dept and US Consulate in China. The above scripture is getting me through and I am so thankful for that.
In a nutshell, we are approved by both the US governments and China of course to adopt our daughter. However, they are not able to legally finalize the adoptions until further guidance is given to the US Consulate from the US State Dept. on how to handle our paperwork. We are under the new Hague Convention protocol which was ratified by the US in April 2008 and are approved on counts. Our case is becoming quite urgent as our travel authorization from China (our permission to adopt Kristi Zi Han and travel to China to get her) expires on August 20. The US Consulate contacted us personally and has urged us to contact the US State Dept as well as our senators to urge them to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. I have contacted both Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar today. Please pray with us that this will be resolved quickly. I know God has it all under control and I am asking for his guidance daily on what part I need to play. Thanks so much.
In a nutshell, we are approved by both the US governments and China of course to adopt our daughter. However, they are not able to legally finalize the adoptions until further guidance is given to the US Consulate from the US State Dept. on how to handle our paperwork. We are under the new Hague Convention protocol which was ratified by the US in April 2008 and are approved on counts. Our case is becoming quite urgent as our travel authorization from China (our permission to adopt Kristi Zi Han and travel to China to get her) expires on August 20. The US Consulate contacted us personally and has urged us to contact the US State Dept as well as our senators to urge them to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. I have contacted both Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar today. Please pray with us that this will be resolved quickly. I know God has it all under control and I am asking for his guidance daily on what part I need to play. Thanks so much.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Communicating with Kristi
Today I went to Jazzercise class and was so excited when I had the opportunity to try out the little bit of Mandarin I have learned with one of the students. I was thrilled that she could actually understand my pronunciation and after a brief one sided conversation of "Hello, my name is..., take my hand, come with me, I love you" - I was inspired to resume studying with the Mandarin for Adopting from China CD. Kristi may speak a dialect of Nanjing but just in case.
On Tuesday night I took a baby sign language class that was wonderful and will hopefully also be very helpful. We learned 60 signs in one night! I've been practicing with Keira and she is already picking up so many. It's really fun! Not to worry, we'll start out with one or two signs besides the minimal very broken Mandarin. Poor Kristi! It helps the time go by as we wait though:)
Another exciting thing-Hilary from Cooking Group's brother is going to China at the end of this month with his wife who is Chinese. The wife's brother lives in Nanjing and they are going there to visit and have agreed to bring a little photo album and tag blanket to the orphanage to give to Kristi. Isn't that incredible? God keeps encouraging us that we will see her soon and in the meantime to get ready for Kristi's arrival. It appears that travel during the Olympics (which runs August 8-24) will be possible. We will stay clear of Beijing just traveling to Guangzhou (in the south) and Nanjing. The travel authorization from China for Kristi expires August 20 but we are told that due to the Olympics they are extending them an additional 2 months (we have requested that in writing, English and Chinese of course) just in case.
It's a very exciting time and we doing lots of special family outings, Mommy-Keira days (we did yoga class on Wed. and went to our first play on Friday) and especially - Keira's favorite thing to do - "STAY HOME!" She is, however, very excited to go get her little sister. Today she must have overheard Roger and I talking about China and she ran upstairs and we heard all this commotion (chair moving, all kinds of rustling, chair moving back) and she came back down with her little China Fund jar and said she's "got her money and she's ready to go!" She is just so sweet and full of surprises. She will be a wonderful, wonderful big sister.
On Tuesday night I took a baby sign language class that was wonderful and will hopefully also be very helpful. We learned 60 signs in one night! I've been practicing with Keira and she is already picking up so many. It's really fun! Not to worry, we'll start out with one or two signs besides the minimal very broken Mandarin. Poor Kristi! It helps the time go by as we wait though:)
Another exciting thing-Hilary from Cooking Group's brother is going to China at the end of this month with his wife who is Chinese. The wife's brother lives in Nanjing and they are going there to visit and have agreed to bring a little photo album and tag blanket to the orphanage to give to Kristi. Isn't that incredible? God keeps encouraging us that we will see her soon and in the meantime to get ready for Kristi's arrival. It appears that travel during the Olympics (which runs August 8-24) will be possible. We will stay clear of Beijing just traveling to Guangzhou (in the south) and Nanjing. The travel authorization from China for Kristi expires August 20 but we are told that due to the Olympics they are extending them an additional 2 months (we have requested that in writing, English and Chinese of course) just in case.
It's a very exciting time and we doing lots of special family outings, Mommy-Keira days (we did yoga class on Wed. and went to our first play on Friday) and especially - Keira's favorite thing to do - "STAY HOME!" She is, however, very excited to go get her little sister. Today she must have overheard Roger and I talking about China and she ran upstairs and we heard all this commotion (chair moving, all kinds of rustling, chair moving back) and she came back down with her little China Fund jar and said she's "got her money and she's ready to go!" She is just so sweet and full of surprises. She will be a wonderful, wonderful big sister.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Getting Closer!
On Wednesday, July 2, we found out that we received the approval of our I800-A. Big Hurray! However, we then learned that now we needed to do the I800 (no A) before we can request our consulate appointment (CA). It's a whole you international adoption processing system for the US Customs and Immigration so we're all learning as we go. Fortunately, the turnaround time looks pretty good for the I800 which we hope to send off on Monday. We've requested an extension for Kristi's travel authorization which expires August 20 just in case. We are getting so close and we just can't wait to go to China and bring our beautiful girl home! P.S. It looks like they are allowing travel during the Olympics. We won't be in Beijing just Nanjing and Guangzhou.
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