Friday, Oct 31

Our whole group

Lina, Hanna Jo and Hannah Hope

All 9 kids

At the Us consulate- going to take our oath of adoption

Hannah Hope

Happy Holloween! In 16 ours we leave to come home and after 28 hours of travel, we will arrive in Atlanta at 10:30 PM. We cannot wait to see you Noah and Caleb. The past few days have gone really fast. It has been wonderful being with the other families again. We are going to miss all of them. Hopefully we will be able to stay in touch and watch all the kids grow. They are all beautiful children.

Yesterday, we went to the US consulate and took our oath of adoption. This was very emotional for all the moms. Hannah is now ours forever and she can legally enter the US with us tomorrow on her 2nd birthday. Happy Birthday Hannah!! It is amazing how perfect she is for us. I never dreamed we would be bringing home a 2 year old, but God's plan was perfect for us. Jeremiah 29:11 " For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord. As I watch this crazy world of ours, I do know thatGod is always in control. He will reveal Himself at the perfect time, even if it doesn't feel like He is there at all during the journey. Again, I want to thank all of our family and friends for following our journey here in China. I cannot stress enough how much I have valued your emails and comments. From the start of this adoption in April 2006, you all have been a huge strength of support for us. We love you all. Noah and Caleb I cannot wait for you to meet her. Noah- she is like you in so many ways, the similarities are amazing. Yet, Caleb- she is a sweet snuggler like you. She is a perfect blend of our first two miracles.

Today, all of the families met for the tradional red couch photo. As you can see most families choose to dress their children in the traditional Chines dress. They all looked so cute.

Enjoy and we will see you very soon.

Brian, Tonya and Hannah

Tuesday, Oct 28

Tonight is our last night in Shanxi Province. One day closer to home!!!Today we visited the Shanxi museum. It was actually very interesting and the Chinese have invested alot of money into this building. It was beautiful and very informative.
Since we have blown 2 fuses in our electrical converter and are now relying on the motels to have an adapter, this may be our last post until we are home. Hopefully, the hotel tomorrow will be able to also loan us an adapter. I would love to be able to post pictures of all the kids together. I can't wait to meet them all. We have no pictures today ( the museum would not allow pictures) and now that we are back Sleeping Beauty is asleep.
Please pray for us tomorrow morning as we board our first plane with Hannah. I hope she does okay with it all and that mama and baba do too. Tomorrow's flight is only 2 1/2 hours, so it should be a good test for Saturday's flight. I think for our last adventure tonight, we are going to try to find the Walmart. We are not sure that it really exist here, but we are going to try.
All of our love
Brian, Tonya and Hannah

Monday, Oct 27

Riding the baby rollar coaster

Watching the pigeons at the park

Just being cute

One of the rollar coasters at the park

Driving the car

Only 5 more days!!!!

Today we visited a Chinese amusement park. They had many rides that would be similiar to rides we have at home. Noah and Claeb- it made us miss you all the more, because we knew you would have liked it. We didn't ride any rides( well one with Hannah), because each ride cost money and also because our quide Helen is always eager to hurry up and be done. She is very nice, but you can tell she has been to these places way to often. We get a kick out of her. Tomorrow we are headed to the Shanxi museum and then we leave on Wed morning. We are so excited that it is almost time to come home.

Without any one to help us with ordering food, Brian and I have had pizza or spaghetti every meal, except for our one meal at McDonalds. Even then, depending on how well our waitress understands English, it is always a surprise what we will get on our spaghetti and pizza. Tonight was a real surprise. Noah and Caleb- we are going to Longhorns when we get home.

Hannah is still doing really well. I do think she is tired of being stuck in this hotel room. We have heard that our next hotel has a big playroom, plus we will be with all the other families and their kids. That should make the last 3 does go by quicker.

Can't wait to see all of you!! All of our love, Brian, Tonya and Hannah

Sunday, Oct 26

Meeting Ronald for the first time

French fries are pretty good

Look at that load!

We just happened upon these Chinese dancers

I want to be like Mama!

Only six more days until we are home!!!! Today was a free day and we did make it to McDonalds. Hannah wasn't so sure of it at first, but quickly decided it was pretty good stuff. Other than McDonald's , it was a pretty quiet day. There is not a lot to do here in Shanxi Province. Unlike Beijing, we have not been able to find any open air markets to shop in with authentic Chinese gifts. The markets here tend to have more of a Western want to be theme. Tomorrow, our guide is taking us to a park. Hopefully, it will be a park where Hannah can actually get down and play. She has alot of energy to run off.

Mamma and Baba think our little girl is really smart. She tries to imitate everything we do and is beginning to understand several English words. She is even answers to Hannah, better than YiLin. So we are solely calling her Hannah. I am quessing that her foster family called her something else, because she did not respond to YiLin at all. I wish that we would have been able to talk to her foster family to ask them these questions. The nanny from the orphanage did not know much about her at all.

Noah and Caleb we miss you like crazy and can't wait to to give you hugs and kisses. Mom, dad, Tammy and Cindy thank you so much for taking care of our little boys ( ok our big boys). We love you all. And to all my girls at work---you guys are great!!!

Saturday, Oct 25

Playing with blocks

Trying to get dressed

Look how cute I am

Putting shoes on

Baba teaching me to play soccer

Coloring

Baba napping

Hannah napping, too

Double Pagoda Temple

With mama and Helen ( our guide)

This morning we visited the Double Pagoda Temple. We have seen so many temple's , I can no longet tell you the difference between them. They are all beautiful and very detailed. How they ever got them built 400 years ago will remain a mystery to me.

Hannah has been coughing the past two days with lots of green gunck, so we decided to just hang out in our room. We went ahead and started her antibiotics to make sure it doesn't turn into anything more. She slept for about 2 1/2 hours after getting back to the room and then woke up ready to go. She can be a sweet snuggle girl but she is also a rough and tumble girl. Today, she kept wanting to do backwards summersaults off of the footstool. Julie- I don't know if dancing is in her future , I think acrobatics is going to be her forte. She is fearless. She does like to be girly too, though. She already is use to having bows in and if one falls out; she wants it right back in ( I think she just wants to make mama happy).

We didn't make it to McDonalds today, but tomorrow is a free day, again. So we will try again then . We plan on staying up late tonight so that we can call and see how Caleb did at his meet, then sleeping in late tomorrow morning. It is beginning to get lonely here without any other families. We keep reading their blogs and they are having lots of fun together. Just a few more days and we will be with them again. I am also ready to have my blow dryer and straightening iron work, again. The pony tail look is getting a little old. We miss you all and can't wait to be home. Hannah is going to have so much fun meeting all of you. She is a little social butterfly.

Love to you all!!

Friday, Oct 24

Hannah is a such a little blessing. She is doing so well, it is like she has always been ours. Yesterday afternoon, the orphanage director walked in handed Hannah to our guide and she turned and handed her to us. Hannah never cried once. She has snuggled and smiled from the very first minute. Last evening we came back to the hotel where she played and played and had a bath. At 7Pm she fell asleep( so we knew we would be up in the middle of the night). At midnight she did wake, ate a banana and went back to sleep until 6 am. This morning we went to finish the paperwork to get her passport and to make her a Coil. Once we were done, it was time for a nap (for all of us). At 130, the maid came and wanted to clean our room. We woke Hannah up and this is one thing that does not make her happy. We won't do that again. However, a little temptation with food and she was happy again. This kid loves to eat!. We then went for a walk around town and found a little park. We were the center of attraction, so we didn't stay too long. No one is ever mean, it just gets tiresome having everyone watching you. We feel like we should be performing at times. We did find a McDonalds, so I think after our tour tomorrow morning, we might have some Micky D for lunch. Again tonight, Hannah has played and played. She is silly and a little wild. She will love playing with you Noah and Caleb. She has taken to both mommy and daddy. She likes to be silly with daddy, but wants mommy to hold and carry her; perfect don't you think? We also found out that her cleft palate has also been through the first stage of repair. She shouldn't need any more surgeries for some time. They did a really good job, as far as I can tell.

This journey to Hannah sure has been a journey with God. There were so many times that I just wanted to give up and wondered why God wasn't answering our request for a daughter sooner, but now here she is. She is such a sweet gift and worth the wait. He has taken care of all the details. You don't know what a gift it is that she is adjusting so well. I know things may still change once we are home, but for right now; this happy child is making this trip much easier.

My prayer request tonight is for Noah and Caleb. Caleb made the state team for cross country and will be traveling Friday night to southern Ga with the team on the school bus. Noah is traveling with some friends of ours to go watch Caleb and their daughter Mallory. Please pray that their travels are safe. Caleb, we will be cheering you on. We love you! Noah, thank you for being a good big brother and supporting Caleb. We love you, too! We are praying for you everyday.

Thank you to all of you for following our journey everyday. I love reading your comments and emails. They keep me feeling close to home. Love to all of you!!

Gotcha Day!!!!

We arrived in Shanxi Province at about 10 am. At 2:30 we left to go me our baby girl. She is doing wonderful. No crying, just all smiles. We are off to finalize paperwork, so I will write more later. Just wanted to share a couple picture.

Tuesday, Oct 21

Only 2 more days until we meet Hannah!! 4 families left today to meet their children and tomorrow the other 3 will leave. Brian and I will be the all alone tomorrow. Our guide (Joy) will stay here with us, though. I am sad that we have to wait longer, however; as busy as they have kept us, it will be very nice to have a nice quiet day alone. That way, we can be well rested and ready to meet our daughter on Thursday afternoon. Then on the 29Th all of the families will meet up again. It will be so exciting to see all of the kids.

Today was probably my favorite site seeing day. We visited the Summer Palace and it was just a beautiful place. Pictures will never do it justice. It is hard to believe that all of these palaces were created for just 1 ruler. The Forbidden City was his main home, but he lived in the Summer Palace during the hot months of the year. The lake kept the area cooler. I definitely could have lived there. The first picture is us in front of the palace. There is also pictures of the phoenix and dragon, a shot from the palace looking down on the rest of the Summer Palace garden and a picture showing how the ceilings are painted. The detail on these buildings is amazing.

Since tomorrow is just a quiet day, I will not post tomorrow. The next time I write, we will have our daughter. Can you believe that this day has finally arrived? There were time I never thought that we would make it this far. I sure have learned to trust in God's timing for our lives during this journey. I know all the days ahead may not be easy, but I do know that God has blessed us. First with two beautiful boys, who are the light of our lives and now a daughter to complete our family. I cannot wait to introduce her to you.

All of our love,

Brian and Tonya

Monday, Oct 20

Congress Hall at Tiananmen Square

Entrance to the Forbidden City

Split pants

Only 3 more days to Hannah. At this point, we are really ready to meet her. It has been nice to see Beijing, but we are done site seeing. Today we visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and took a tour of Hutong (an old China city). All together we walked for 4 hours. Between not eating much and walking all day long, we have found a great weight lose system. I could give you a great history lesson on all that we saw today, but I won't. I will just just share a few photos with you.

We are finally sleeping a little better (we made it to 6am this morning), and once again are very ready for bed tonight. Four of our families are leaving tomarrow to go get their children, then 3 more leave on Wed. Since we have all day Wed by ourselves, we think we are going to treat ourselves to the spa. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We can't belive we still have 12 days to go home before coming home, we are already very home sick. We love you all!!