Certificate of Citizenship

Earlier this week we received Anabelle's Certificate of Citizenship (CoC). She became a US citizen when we landed in NY, we now have the paperwork to prove it. It was supposed to arrive approx. 45 days after returning home but actually took 60+ days.
We next tried to apply for her US Birth Certificate but ran into a problem there. We have an "IH3" visa but Maryland currently only recognizes the IR3 visas. IH3s are newer and apply to Hague Convention compliant countries (which China is). IR3s apply to non-Hague countries. Previously there were only IR3s because the Hague Convention didn't exist a few years ago. However, Maryland law is catching up with the times and the law is being updated to include IH3 visas. The new law takes effect with the new fiscal year, 1 Oct 11. We could go through a re-adoption process now but then we'd incur attorney fees and court costs. Nope, we'll just wait for October, we have until she is 18 y/o. It can wait.
In the mean time, I was filling out her US Passport but it requires a social security number. Ok, moving on to the SSN paperwork. Easy stuff, a one page form and some documents we received in China. Went to SS today, ugh, 2 hour wait. Once I was seen it was only 5 minutes. We should get her card in 7-14 days. At that time I'll revisit the passport stuff. We don't plan on int'l travel, it's just that a passport proves citizenship and is not as big/valuable/fragile/important as the CoC. A passport can be replaced easily, doesn't cost as much, and transports well.
Does the paperwork ever end? I hope so.

This picture has nothing to do with citizenship, only family. April found us a beach on the Chesapeake Bay, down in Calvert Co.

China Zoo

The China Zoo was probably the best zoo I have been too. I, April, loved it! You could really see the animals up close. The elephants were really interactive. One of them looked like it was waving at us for the longest time. We also seen lots of school children who loved practicing their English by saying "Hello". They were really cute.

China Zoo Trip

Pictures while we were still in China

We will post more pictures from our trip soon!

The end of Day 4, Gotcha Day, Back at the Hotel

Finally got a smile!

The end of an exhausting Day. She had no trouble sleeping that night!

Day 4, Gotcha Day

Day 4, Gotcha Day in Guangzhou, China

Our baby girl, Anabelle! She was pretty sad for the first few minutes, which is normal. It's such an overwhelming experience for them.

One of the nannies helped me to calm her. I think they really liked her. They were all very sweet.

She warmed up to us a little after we got out the bubbles!

Day 3, The Great Wall, Beijing

The Great Wall was absolutely beautiful! It was a little windy that day, but decent weather. However, I, April, was already nursing a little bit of a cold. After being out in the breeze that day, I almost lost my voice completely! The next day was Gotcha Day, the day we would meet Anabelle, so we were saying lots of prayers that I would start feeling better...

Day 2 in Forbidden City, Beijing

Our trip to China!

Joseph getting our paperwork together.

Caedmon giving daddy big hugs!

Flying over the Polar Ice Caps! It was an amazing view! I kept thinking of the verse "I will bring your daughters from the ends of the world" in Isaiah, because it really felt like we were going to the ends of the world!

Our first guide, Sherry.

Going to China

See y'all in about 2 weeks. We're leaving this morning.

Birthday Pictures

On Feb. 20th, Anabelle turned 2. These are the pictures of her eating the cake we had sent to the orphanage. I am really encouraged by the nice colorful room they are sitting in. The last pictures we got, the children were all in a very plain white room with no color on the walls.

Only a few more weeks and we can go see her in person! We found out we leave on March 24th and our Gotcha day (the day we get Anabelle) is scheduled for March 28th!

Travel Approval!

Good news! Our travel coordinator called today and said that we received our travel approval! She also gave us a date. She said that we should be leaving with their March 24th travel group! Our long awaited journey to pickup our beautiful daughter, Anabelle, is almost here! With that being said, we ask that you please pray for several things.
First of all, please pray for my peace during the flights and for our safety there and back. One of my biggest fears over the past few years has been flying. Yes, my husband flys helicopters in the US Air force and I don't like to fly! Its funny too that the one place where I feel called to adopt, is almost the farthest place we could go... All I can say is I am trusting God with this. He gave us this dream and I believe He will complete it and He will carry me through this.
Another thing to pray for is Anabelle's peace. From what I understand, someone is going to meet us somewhere, hand her over, say a quick good-bye and they are out of there! She is not going to understand what is going on. Who are these people and where am I? Some children are very distraught at first. Its going to be interesting to say the least. Pray that we will be able to comfort her.
One last prayer request is to pray for Caedmon's comfort as well. He knows we are going to go get his sister, but I don't think he realizes that we will be gone for 2 weeks. The grandparents are going to take care of him. Joseph's mom and dad one week and mine the next. I know he will have a blast with them and will probably be a little spoiled when we get back! ;)
We are going to do our best to blog our trip and post pictures while we are there to keep everyone updated! We can't wait to hold our precious little girl and bring her home! Thank you for your prayers! Love to you all! ~April

Another Thank You!

We have been so blessed by the support and prayers of our friends and family! Both of our families have been extremely supportive and we just want to say thank you and we love you all! Also a thank you to Joseph's mom's church for taking up an offering for us as well! Truly appreciated and such a blessing!

More Blessings!

Wow, what a weekend! We are just overwhelmed with God's goodness! God has blessed us so much with such loving Christian brothers and sisters! We just want to take the time to thank all those who have supported us and helped us reach our financial adoption goal! Another blessing which happened this weekend was my church that I grew up in, First Free Will Baptist, in good ole NC, took up an offering for us. One of our loving sisters in Christ, had read our blog, saw our need, and took action! She made the beautiful posters you see in the pictures! Thank you so much Trish and First Free Will Family! Thank you for being used by God to be such a blessing to us! ~April