Updates

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)

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.

New Picture of Kristi

Look at that face! We are coming, precious girl. We just don't know when.

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!

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.

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.

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.

New Pictures-Our Sweet Girl with a Great Big Smile!

This afternoon we received new pictures of Kristi Zi Han that were taken just this week. We had arranged a cake and an updated photo album with our pictures to be delivered to her this week through "Ladybugs N Love" a wonderful service that we found on the internet (created by an adoptive mother of 3 girls from China). Here is the most priceless photo of all - the first one with a great big smile on her beautiful face! It's not her birthday (that's September 23) - we just wanted to send her a treat!

Update

No news to report - We thought we were going to be in China on the 13th or maybe the 27th (still some hope there) but there's been some delays - the consulate appointments are booked through the month of June, our US clearance is sitting on the supervisor's desk :o and there's rumors going around no travel July 15 - September 20 due to the Olympics for adoption. :( I know God has a plan and it will be awesome but it's been alittle frustrating. We did find a service, Ladybugs N Love, that will arrange for a little cake and a new photo album with some pictures of us to be sent to Kristi which makes us feel so much better. I know she's 2 1/2 years old but someday she'll look back and see how we were thinking of her. Other than that, life is good and we can't complain, we have survived all the storms and rain well compared to all the poor folks in Iowa. It's just terrible. Keira is doing great and we are enjoying our time with her knowing her life will change quite a bit soon with a little sister on board. We've been doing lots of role plays and she really gets into it! She has written Kristi a few letters including one advising her to stop writing on the desk in Mommy's office. My favorite, however, is the one she did on her magnadoodle that says "Keira is waiting Mom too".

WE GOT OUR TRAVEL AUTHORIZATION TODAY!

At approximately 4:04 p.m. today my phone rang and it was Karin from Hand in Hand calling with our travel authorization! We are so excited but need to wait to get the US clearance before we can request a consulate appointment and book our travel. We hope that clearance will come soon! We'll keep you posted. I'm too excited to sleep!

New Picture of Kristi-May 2008

Here's the latest photo of our precious girl! We are getting closer to bringing you home, dear Kristi Zi Han. Update: We got re-fingerprinted last week and all our criminal checks in place for every state/country we have ever lived and all looks good. Just waiting for travel authorzation and consulate appointment now but no idea when it will come. It was so wonderful of one of the traveling families to take pictures for all of us still waiting.

Thank you and Continued Prayers for China

Thank you all for your inquiries regarding Kristi Zi Han and her safety. There are currently families from my Nanjing Kids Yahoo Group in Nanjing right now (they received their children on Sunday, Mother's Day-how perfect) and it appears that they are all safe. I will report more as I hear any updates. I imagine they felt it though. I am on a trip and I called Mom and she said the quake's center was about an inch and half :) from Nanjing on the globe and then Roger and he said about 12 hours away which was some relief but then I see all the devastation and it's so sad. The world becomes so much smaller and the people not so anonymous when someone you love is so close. Thanks so much for thinking of us.

Letter of Acceptance Delivered at Last!

We finally got the original on Monday evening-THANK YOU GOD! It's back to China and now we wait some more. We'll have to have a lot of things fall nicely into place in order to make it to China now before the Olympics (re-fingerprinting, new I-800 processing) but we're still hoping and praying - join us please! Thank you so much. After a few days of freaking out I was reminded so graciously from above with a little quote that I happened to read - "Don't miss the magic of the day by focusing on what's to come." (unknown) So we did just that - enjoying all the magic and wonder of living with a beautiful, lively, ever questioning ("why do plants grow?", "how do our bodies get to heaven?") precious 4 year old!

LOA - WHERE DID YOU GO?!

Our LOA is MIA! Just a temporary bump in the road but Mommy is starting to lose her mind! The original is somewhere between here and Arizona and we just want to sign it and bring our Kristi home!

We got our Letter of Acceptance!

Yeah-some exciting news to report! First of all, yesterday we received 6 new pictures of Kristi Zi Han and current weight (25 lbs) and height (32 1/2 inches) and then today we got our Letter of Acceptance! We are hoping to travel to China and meet our beautiful girl within the next 4-8 weeks. We'll keep you posted. I am new to blogging and still figuring it all out but it's a wonderful way to keep everyone posted. Thanks in the meantime for all your support, encouragement and prayers.