Good news!

Hope's finding ad has arrived! I got the mail right away when I got home at about 3:30. But...you all should be so proud of me. I waited for Ron to get home and we opened it together. (Thanks for the inspiration Amy.) We were so excited to get this early photo of Hope. She's pretty darn cute!

Also - as of 7:45 tonight, we got the word that Hope is in fact in the care of Grace & Hope for Children. Please click on the link here and visit the website to learn more about the work they are doing in China. We feel so blessed! I'm going to sleep well tonight dreaming of our little daughter. We're on our way Hope. We're on our way.

RUMORS!

Rumors are flying about possible referrals in the mail for the next batch. Typically TA's arrive around the same time. Could this be the week?

Photos added...+ a little snippet of our day

I edited the entry below and added a couple of pix. Check it out if you're interested. Gotta get to bed..but the update for the evening is that the doctor looked over Hope's referral packet. He had a couple of questions, but in general he said that he saw nothing of concern. I was happy to hear that. He also took some time to talk with me about some medications that I may need during travel and wrote a few prescriptions to have filled just before we go. Progress is being made.

Busy Week

I don't know what it is, but I can't say I totally mind either...our schedule is swamped! We have been since our referral. While it is nice that we're occupied and not obsessed with China planning, I think we may be needing a bit of a breather soon. Here is our week:

Sunday, our band at church played for the services. Fun time, but early morning! We were at church at 7:15 to run through everything before the congregation started arriving. Then some of the Group 91 moms went for "beading take 2." We had 5 of the new moms together. We had a great time talking about the girls, travel plans, what to pack, etc. Most of us made bracelets for the girls and some made some other pieces of jewelry as well. I'm waiting for one of the letter beads to be back in stock and I think I'll make a bracelet for myself, but while I was there I made a little something for Hope. SO CUTE...and TINY! It is only 4 inches long (and still may be too big)! Below are a couple of shots so you can see how it turned out. With the black background you can really see the letters, but the light amethyst is more visible on the white. Finally...Ron called the jury line and found out that he had to be at the St. Croix County Courthouse at 8:15 on Monday morning. Did I mention that Ron was on the jury duty list this month? We needed something else to do right. :)

~ A little "bling" for one of God's newest Gifts from Guangxi ~


Monday...Ron started jury duty. He was picked to sit for a trial that could potentially last most of this week. Otherwise, we had a pretty low key day. We started filling out our Visa paperwork. It doesn't seem too awful. We're getting good at filling in all our personal information on forms.

Tuesday (today)...I worked a little bit late this afternoon and then we (Ron joined us after he was dismissed) met our dear friends in Woodbury. OK, imagine the two biggest plastic bins you can. Now imagine them FULL (to the point of overflowing) of clothes...plus a huge shopping bag full of more clothes to go with it! That is what Hope was given as hand-me-downs! I can't wait to spend some time going through everything! I love little girl clothes! We have such generous friends! Hand-me-downs are the best! But, I must admit, I have trouble leaving most stores now without buying at least one little thing for baby Hope. :)

Check it out!

Wednesday...After work, I'm going to go for my next Hep. shot and then meet with Hope's doctor to talk about some things we might expect during travel. He also has a Chinese daughter and has returned to China on several occasions for medical trips to orphanages. I'm a little nervous about going alone. Ron's jury duty conflicts with the appointment. This doctor is a great resource so hopefully I'll take good notes. I don't want to miss anything. Then for the evening, we'll have the usual church stuff.

Thursday...I'm working late.

Friday...SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS...we're driving to Black River Falls to meet Mark & Andria for dinner. We can finally give them Hope's photo. They've been able to see it, but we haven't seen them yet since our referral. It has been way too long since we've all been together. We'll get to meet their new puppy, too! Check out the blog entry called "I almost forgot" to see pictures of little Stella.

Saturday...working

Sunday...FINALLY a day for us! But, we'll have an evening dinner with the Ron's family to celebrate his parents' anniversary. That will be a nice way to end the weekend.

So, we're running! But, life is good. Bring on our TA! I'm ready to start saying "no" to some of this other stuff and start packing. ;) Anyone seeing this, please remind me when the time comes, that I really did say I'm ready to say "no." I might need a little strength booster.

Update on the Wait

It is hard to believe that it has been almost two weeks since we received Hope's referral. We can't get enough of her picture! I have one on my lanyard and Ron keeps one in his pocket everyday. BUT, we don't yet have one up in our house! We just haven't been anywhere to enlarge one yet. I'm feeling like a bad Mom already. Even Grandma and Grandpa have a framed photo up in their living room. Maybe that is the project for this week. :)

We have collected all of the info and payments for the agency that we need at this point. We can still do a little research and gathering of information for our Visa application which we'll have to send in after we receive our travel approval. Other than that, we just need to wait some more. I can't tell you what a difference it makes to have Hope's picture to look at everyday. I think the next 6 weeks or so will go by pretty quickly. It won't be long, and we'll have her home.

The exciting news for the past week is that we've been in contact with Brian Stuy at Research-China and he has located Hope's finding ad. How amazing it will be for us to have the earliest existing picture of Hope in our possession. With so little of her history available, this little tangible piece of her past will be priceless.

We've also learned that there is an orginization called Grace & Hope for Children that is active in supporting foster care in Guangxi Province. It is our hope that our Hope is placed in one of their homes. What a blessing it would be to know that she is being cared for and supported by such wonderful organization. Check out their website for more information.

Sippie Saver

I wanted to update and thank everyone who has supported us with our "sippie saver" fundraiser over the past months. We've received most of the sippie cups back and have found some amazing surprises inside. We asked for spare change and we are totally humbled by the results. After a few trips to the bank with full cups and the jar that we've poured them all into on the kitchen counter, we are overwhelmed! I have no words! Below are a couple pictures from our first trip to the bank for deposit into Hope's account. Can you believe the jar?!

"How 36 lbs. can change a life!" - We weighed the jar on the bathroom scale & then weighed it full. :)















These next few shots are from the very first "sippie" we were given from Auntie Andria and Uncle Mark. They were so generous with Hope's gift. I think with that bottle, their sippie contribution is intended for Hope to use a little later on. :) This was last July when we first started thinking about doing this fundraiser. Look at my short hair (and Ella's! - guess she'd just had a visit to the groomer)!


This was our most recent trip to the credit union last weekend. Again...amazing outpouring of gifts for Hope.

CCAA - It's Official

Here is the dialog box as it appears on the CCAA website that announces the processing progress of adoption files. We are in! (LID of 10/26/05)

The same box appeared last June (the month of Hope's birth) stating that our documents were "out of review." Good timing, I'd say.

Hope is famous!

Wow! Another busy day. We spent the day in Eau Claire today at an attachment workshop. I am VERY excited and also VERY overwhelmed with the wealth of information we went through, but it was great. I'll post more about that after I've had time to review my notes and organize my thoughs a little better.

For now, I thought it would be fun to let you all know that it's official...Hope has been recognized! ;) During the conference today, we had Hope's picture out on the desk and the family behind us recognized her. They had seen her photo on our blog and our referral announcement on our agency yahoo group. Too funny! So, I'd like to say "hello" to Nancy & Kyle (I hope I'm OK with the names) from CR Group 98. It was great to meet you! Best of luck with your plans and PLEASE let us know if you have any questions. We certainly don't have all the answers, but we'll share our experiences and what we know. HOPE IS FAMOUS! ;)

Also - the other exciting news of the weekend...Hope KeXuan Charlotte has received her first mail! On Friday afternoon we opened the mailbox to find a beautiful letter to Hope from her new cousin Laura. So, what do you expect from the expectant mother? TEARS! Yup, I had some. How cool! Our daughter got mail! I cut out the address from the envelope and put it in Hope's memory book with Laura's contribution of quilt fabric. What can I say, Laura? We love you! How fun is it that you sent our daughter mail?!

Then, today when we got our mail there was another envelope addressed to Hope from her new great-aunt Bev. I tell you...this little girl is getting some attention! Bev sent a very treasured piece of fabric to add to Hope's quilt, a very special contribution also on behalf of cousin Mike. We could never have expected something so special. Bev, if you're reading, we LOVE it, and love you. Thank you so much for such beautiful thoughtfulness. Also to cousin Brad, the poem you wrote is so precious. Thank you to all the Arizona Lewis family. Hope is one lucky girl to have so many people who already love her so much!

GREAT NEWS!

Ron and I just got home from a pretty long day. We both had things going on after work and then we got to meet our good friends Chris and Cheryl for dinner. They are so fantastic and I think they just may be almost as excited about Hope's arrival as we are. :)

Anyway - good news is that we had e-mail from our Social Worker at CR and she said that all of the acceptances were sent back to the CCAA today! Referrals Monday afternoon and everything returned to China in 3 working days! We're very excited! Now, we wait for TA (travel approval). I say, "no problem." Of course we'd love to travel as SOON as possible, but I can't tell you what a difference having Hope's pictures has made for me. I can be patient for a couple more months. Time will fly by. We are pretty busy people with full evenings and weekends so I'm sure we'll have no problem filling the next few weeks with preparations.

Also - we have received the complete translations for Hope's referral reports. Ron and I are still thinking about how much of Hope's story we'll be sharing with people. We feel pretty strongly at this point, that her story is her story. We'd like Hope to know her history and allow her to make some of the decisions about what information is public and what is private. So, most of that is still in the discussion phase. Of course, everyone has advice for us, and we are thankful for all the opinions, but please understand that we're still working through this process and we're figuring out the whole parenting thing as we go. Everyone has been so compassionate with our experiences so far...Thank You.

What we do know, for the curious out there...is that in January (on Ron's birthday, in fact) Hope was about 14 lbs. At that time she was almost 7 months old. She'll be 10 months old tomorrow by the way. All we can do is guess about size. I'm thinking I may be packing 3 different sizes of clothes and then leaving there what doesn't fit as a donation. I'm not sure how that will all work. I still need to study some growth charts and things.

Here is a brief summary of some of Hope's stats:
Name: Lin (surname) Ke Xuan
Birthdate: June 13, 2006
Province: Guangxi (Southern China)
Orphanage: Yu Lin SWI (Eastern Guangxi)
Foster Care Placement: November 2006 (YES! She is living with a family!)

The final bit of important information from today was the translation of Hope's Chinese name.
Lin: family name, from the orphanage name, Yu Lin social welfare institute
Ke: lovely, lovable, cute
Xuan: dignified, imposing

I'd say that we have one darling little girl and judging by how adorable and intelligent she looks in her pictures, her name fits her to a "T."

Have a good night everyone - Beth

It's sinking in...

I'M A MOM!!! OK - so maybe it hasn't completely become real to me yet, but I'm loving this feeling now, whatever it is. Ron and I can't stop smiling and looking at Hope's picture. I'm after her toes all the time. I just wanna kiss 'em! ;) Thanks so much to everyone who has called, checked in with us, sent messages, surprised us with gifts and balloons, etc. We couldn't be more proud of our little girl. We just feel so blessed. With all of the emotions we've experienced over the course of this journey, it was so hard for me to imagine that some of the heartache would ever fade. BUT, believe me, when we saw Hope's picture for the first time, it all became clear. Hope is our daughter, our little girl. And, for her to join our family, we had to take every single step we took...baby steps and all. So, though I will never forget all of the facets of our journey thus far, I am so grateful for God's plan in our lives. I won't ever forget that it took 1 year, 5 months, and 2 weeks of waiting with our paperwork in China to see Hope's picture. I'll always know the memories of doctor appointments, negative pregnancy tests, the long paperchase to complete our dossier, the trips to the USCIS office for fingerprint appointments, the tears and heartache of the wait that just kept growing and growing...but (and now I can say BUT...), it all brought us to this point, when we can say we are the proud parents of a beautiful little girl.

I have a couple more things before I sign off and go back to bed (the cold I've had for a week, finally took over during the night).

1 ~ I'd like to request prayers for one family in our group who did not receive a referral on Monday. We started with 10 families in our group. One family found their little girl on a waiting child list and have already completed their adoption of little Ella. One other family made the decision a couple months ago to discontinue their adoption plans. So, on Monday, our agency should have received 8 referrals for the remaining families in our group. Instead, only 7 arrived. At this point, all I know is that Crossroads is checking into the situation and there are no answers as of yet. So please pray for the Cox family as this all gets sorted out.

2 ~ Many have asked, "What happens now? When will you travel?" My best answer to the travel part is that we still don't know. I'm getting good at saying that. :) We are waiting for the translations to come through for all the referral documents (hopefully today). After the families in our group have all reviewed those translations, the agency needs to have our acceptance letters and they get sent back to China. YES! We all love our babies and they are just perfect for our families. :) Then, China sends us travel approval (TA). With that in hand, our liaison in China can schedule our consulate appointments (CA). Those appointments will determine when we have to be in China. So, my best guess right now is late May/early June (maybe by Hope's 1st birthday). I'll keep track of everything here as I learn more.

Thanks again to all of you, the special people in our lives, for your love and support. We're almost there!

Beth (who needs a new box of kleenex and her pillow)

Introducing...

It is with joy filled hearts that we introduce our daughter.

Name: Lin Ke Xuan
Soon to be: Hope KeXuan Charlotte Heutmaker
Birthdate: June 13, 2006

I'll save other info for another post. For now...HERE SHE IS!!!

NEWS!

I don't want to get too excited, because after doing so last week, I was pretty let down...BUT - Some west coast agencies received referrals today for their families. I'm going to speculate a little and hope I'm not setting myself up for another disappointment. Because our agency was closed today and will be through the weekend, Monday SHOULD be our day. Everybody pray hard and have a beautiful Easter.

P.S. Don't forget about helping us out with the quilt too. Thanks everyone. :)

Beth (who is having some serious labor pains!)

100 GWQ Progress

I thought I'd post a bit about what Mom and I worked on yesterday. I have discovered that there are some people/friends/family, that may not yet know about our "100 Good Wishes Quilt" project. I'd love to fill everyone in, and ask for contributions please. Here is what I've learned:

There is a tradition in northern China to welcome new babies with a Bai Jia Bei, or "100 Good Wishes Quilt." Those who are waiting for the new arrival submit fabric and sentiment to the new parents and then all of the material is brought together to create a beautiful quilt. The baby is then said to be wrapped with all the "good wishes" and love of the people who contributed.

My cousin Laura caught wind of this tradition and offered to create a quilt for our baby. We are so excited and have started to receive fabric already. We have everything from Sponge Bob to beautiful floral patterns. Please join our efforts. Here is what you can do:

1 - Send us a piece of cotton fabric (12"- 16" square). It can be fabric you go out and buy, or it can be cut from something you already have. You can send one from your whole family, or something special from each person. It is totally up to you.

2 - Write a "wish" for the baby on a seperate piece of paper. People suggest writing a letter to the baby, advice for parents, a Bible verse, poem, memory, prayer, etc. It can be anything.

We will then take a part of the fabric and place it with your wish in a special scrapbook for the baby. Laura will piece together and quilt the remaining fabric. As our little one grows, she can read the messages in her book, look at the fabric, and know just how many people were waiting to welcome her home.

Please let us know if you have any questions or need clarification. So far, we have received about half of the 100 wishes we'd like to complete the quilt. Please consider giving us a hand with this special project. We know there are many, many people out there waiting and praying with us. Thank you for everything.

Here are some photos from yesterday. Mom and I got a head start on sorting the fabric pieces and began the memory book.

Notice the adorable ladybugs (good luck in the adoption community) on the fabric from Grandma & Grandpa Perry.

I'm not exactly happy about these next photos since I didn't really plan in being in any pictures yesterday, but Grandpa insited. :) Here we are - working hard. (P.S. - any other 916'ers recognize the basket?)



Here is how some of the pages have turned out so far:

A Little Bit about Ron

1. What is your occupation? Master Electrician IBEW Local #110
2. What color are your socks right now? White with gray feet (made that way)
3. What are you listening to right now? left alone with my thoughts (pretty quiet)
4. What was the last thing that you ate? had Chinese food for dinner
5. Can you drive a stick shift? OH YEAH!!
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Blue
7. Who is the last person you spoke to on the phone? Brian Hooty
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes for sure
9. How old are you today? 34
10. Favorite drink? Brandy Slush
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? Geocaching
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? NO
13. Pets? Ella
14. Favorite food? Prime Rib w/shrooms
15. What was the last movie you watched? Big Bird Goes to China
16. What do you do to vent anger? Go to my man cave, then I yell when no one is around, then I go to my music therapist.
17. What was your favorite toy as a child? Lego's
18. Fall or Spring? FALL for sure
19. Hugs or Kisses? HUGS!!!
20. Cherries or Blueberries? Cherries (Rainier are the Best)
21. Do you want your friends to give this a try? It might be fun
22. Living arrangements? Home with Beth, Ella, & ready for Baby Hoot
23. When was the last time you cried? Monday morning on my way to work listening to Your My Little Girl by Go Fish.
24. What is on the floor of your closet? a shirt that fell off the hanger
25. What did you do last night? Found Our 200th Geo cache
26. Favorite smells? Beth, with her perfume on
27. What inspires you? The gift of Grace and knowing that nothing I can do will make God love me less.
28. What are you afraid of? Letting my family down.
29. Favorite dog breed? It's more about the personality than the breed.  I've seen a lot of mutts with hearts of gold.
30. Number or keys on your key ring? five
31. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
32. In how many states have you lived? 2
33. Favorite Holiday? Christmas
34. Ever driven a motorcycle or heavy machinery? Yes/Yes
35. Ever left the country? YES - Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Soviet Union, Planing on adding one more soon.
36. Favorite kind of music? Contemporary Christian

Fun from Laura

My cousin sent this to us this afternoon - light and happy way to pass some time. Please copy and send me an e-mail if you answer the questions, or to the bloggers out there, post a comment and LMK that I should check your blog to see some answers. Sometimes I think these are fun ways to learn a little trivia about each other.

1. What is your occupation? Sign Language Interpreter
2. What color are your socks right now? No socks today - home and barefoot
3. What are you listening to right now? Trading Spaces on TV
4. What was the last think that you ate? Salad, Cheese & Crackers for lunch
5. Can you drive a stick shift? No problem
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Same answer as the lovely Laura...yellow, of course
7. Who is the last person you spoke to on the phone? Ron
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I love her very much.
9. How old are you today? 32
10. Favorite drink? Amaretto Sour
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? Football all the way
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Just highlights
13. Pets? little Ella ;)
14. Favorite food? Lately - homemade pizzas
15. What was the last movie you watched? Wedding Date (It was OK.)
16. What do you do to vent anger? For a short while, steam can usually be seen coming from my ears, then I tend to cry.
17. What was your favorite toy as a child? not sure - I think I read a lot (Mom or Dad...maybe you can help with this one)
18. Fall or Spring? FALL for sure
19. Hugs or Kisses? HUGS!!!
20. Cherries or Blueberries? No thank you...what about strawberries?
21. Do you want your friends to give this a try? Sure
22. Living arrangements? Home with Ron, Ella, & ready for Baby Hoot
23. When was the last time you cried? Yesterday when rumors didn't pan out
24. What is on the floor of your closet? Shoes, and a hat apparently (I just checked)
25. What did you do last night? Went geocaching and found #200
26. Favorite smells? Babies after baths
27. What inspires you? Our family
28. What are you afraid of? Our adoption plans falling apart - I'm a fretter.
29. Favorite dog breed? It is hard to find a dog I don't love. ;)
30. Number or keys on your key ring? Just my car key
31. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
32. In how many states have you lived? 2
33. Favorite Holiday? Christmas
34. Ever driven a motorcycle or heavy machinery? Nothing too exciting
35. Ever left the country? YES - Canada, Mexico, and SOON to China
36. Favorite kind of music? Contemporary Christian

testing slide show

I almost forgot...

We do have a new family member today. Please welcome Stella home. This is Mark and Andria's new little cutie. They have a new home and are quickly filling all the rooms with pets, felines Marley and Wilson, and now canine little Stella (LMK if I spelled any names wrong guys). Here is the funny part...We have a family that started their adoption journey as part of our group and then found their daughter on a waiting child list. They have already traveled and are home with their new daughter, Ella (the name of our dog). And, we have some other friends who are also members of Group 91 and are planning on naming their new daughter Stella. How crazy! Well, I'd say that both Ella and Stella are wonderful names. :) Without further ado, here she is...

The new Mama & Papa



Stella and her new friend, Duke (I think)


The little darling in all her glory...We can't wait to meet her.

#200

I'm sure most of you can guess what long day I had. Thank you again to those who are taking care of us as we wait here on pins and needles for some good news.

Most of you also know what a wonderful husband Ron is. I am so blessed. Ron came home from work and took me out for a couple hours before he had to leave for bowling. He knows how emotional this time is for me and he is being so supportive. We decided that since we're having such a beautiful spring afternoon and we're so close to our 200th cache that this was the perfect time to head out and reach that milestone. We did it! We started geocaching last June with our friends Wendy, Larry, and Hannah, and have loved it ever since. YEA #200!!! Is it fair to set a goal for #250 in China?

This is #199 - CREATIVE HIDE! The hint was, "two's common, three's a cache." There were only two spikes on the other side of the bridge. Ron gets credit for this one.



Here it is - #200! Just for the record, I found this one first. ;)


So, you can see what a beautiful afternoon we had today. Perfect sweatshirt and jeans weather. What is this rumor I'm hearing now abou 3-5 inches of snow for tomorrow? I thought we were done with that.

Referral Update

I know that there are a lot of people out there praying for us and our strength as we near the end of the waiting portion of our journey. Thank you for all the encouraging messages and support. I just wanted to let everyone know that the rumors of last week, referrals in the air/on the ground in the U.S., etc., are now changing. It sounds like some families are receiving TA's (travel approvals) today and the package that was sent from China probably contained those and not referrals. Bummer for us, YEA for them. We will just have to keep our ears to the ground for more news and hope that our referral will arrive very soon. No matter what, we are close, and WE ARE NEXT. For now, I'll just try to have a productive spring break week and get some things accomplished around here. Thanks again everyone.

Beth

Geocaching Sunday Afternoon

No news on the adoption front this morning. Things are pretty quiet. Maybe today is not the day. We'll post as soon as we have news.

So, I thought I'd share some of the fun we had yesterday geocaching in the rain. In spite of the weather, we walked about 2 miles around River Falls, found 3 caches, and had a great time. We introduced our good friends Mark, Melody, and Hope to the sport and we had our other young friend Kaitlyn helping us out as well. Hope (1) was a trooper keeping up with us all and Kaitlyn (4) kept us all on track. She was in the "treasure hunting" mode. "Come on guys! We need to find another treasure!" :) We met at the Brue home in RF for lunch after church where Melody made us delicious BBQ beef sandwiches. Then we headed down by the river where we parked our cars for the walk. There were lots and lots of ducks and geese who thought we were there for them. I guess we should have brought some bread or something. They were definitely expecting it. We even saw a white goose with two different colored eyes. Anyway, it was a great day. We got home, warmed up, and settled in for the night. AND, yup it is true, I did finally go to bed. It was pretty quiet last night on-line. People are posting messages now, but mostly impatient notes about how nothing has come yet. Maybe tomorrow.

'til then - enjoy the pics.


Our guides for the day, Hope & Kaitlyn.











Hard Core Cachers!!!

Sleeping Beauty

Well, it took a little coaxing and explaining that upon getting a phone call I would not blog before going to see our referral. Beth decided it would be ok to put the computer down and get some sleep. It is about 5:30 so I would guess she will be looking at rumor sites in a couple of hours. No jury duty for me today so instead it’s off to prison. We have a small job to do at the Rush City prison today and maybe tomorrow. Have a good day all.

Ron

I'm Ready

OK - I'm camped out here and ready to watch a little TV and pay attention to what is hopefully going to be happening in Europe within a few hours. All signs are pointing to "good" that the referral packets will be delivered to agencies Monday morning and if it happens, families should start to hear about their babies and post pictures of their new little family members shortly thereafter. I've got my cell phone, home phone, computer, remote, and Ella nearby. I should have some time later to hopefully post about our day today geocaching in the rain. Stay tuned, and pray for the best Monday ever.