We have a new blog. braendel.blogspot.com.   just in time for my trip to bring home Hannah.

The Braendels will have a new blog address soon. We will be switching over to braendel.blogspot.com when our new blog is finished. I found an awesome blog designer Blogs by Danielle and she has been working on the new blog. I had to switch blog hosts because she does not work with wordpress. I am excited to have a new blog makeover. Hopefully it will be done before we leave for China.

Eric just called to tell me that we got our Travel Approval. It took two weeks longer than we expected. Now our agency is in the process of requesting a Consulate Appointment. AHH will send a fax over to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzho and ask for an appointment on Octover 13,14, or 15th. Hopefully, they will be able to squeeze our little family into the appointment book for one of those days! If we get the appointment we will fly to Beijing on October 4th.  Hannah Hope will be nine months old on October 4th!!! I am praying that these dates will work out. We have had many unexpected things happen with this process. Maybe this time things will work out perfectly! We will keep you posted. We are ONE STEP CLOSER to meeting our baby girl.

We don’t have our travel approval yet. We are hopeful it will come this week. We have no idea when we will travel. Our agency hasn’t been very clear about that. Pray for us as we wait. We want to GO!

We are waiting to receive our travel approval from the CCAA. We are hoping that it will come this week. Once that arrives our travel guy at AHH will request a consulate appointment. It isn’t easy waiting out these last couple of weeks. We are so close to finally closing this chapter in our lives and begin a new one with Hannah Hope as a part of our family! This has been a long wait. We are trying to stay busy and get prepared for travel. Emily and I have been through bins of girls clothing trying to find outfits that will fit Hannah Hope. It’s hard to pick clothes when you don’t know what size she is! At least our storage room is nice and organized now. We finished all of our pre-travel paperwork, shopped for the items we will need to bring with us, and got back our passports with our visas. I am thankful that FedEx has been so reliable. It was hard sending our passports off to the travel agency in Washington state. 

Hannah Hope will turn 8months old on September 4th. We are praying that will be the day we get our letter back. Pray with us! We will post more when we can. 

This is where we hope to lay her down to sleep very soon!

The kids recently got MarioKart and are loving playing against each other. There have been the occasional arguments over who has the “blue” remote because it controls the settings, but overall they are enjoying the Wii. Yesterday, they challenged Eric to a race and had a great time beating him. They have played more than he has and are able to navigate the race/buttons better than he can. I had a good time watching our 4,5, and 6 year olds messing with Eric’s game!

Luke went to have his third set of tubes put in a couple of weeks ago. The Braendel kids spend alot of time in the water during the summer and with that comes ear troubles for Luke. After getting a really horrible outer ear infection, the tube in Luke’s left ear came out. He had the tubes in his ears less than six months at that point. If Luke doesn’t have tubes in his ears fluid hangs out behind his ear drum and he can’t hear. He failed his hearing test for his kindergarten physical. So, after a visit to the ENT, Luke was fit into his schedule for surgery and off Luke and mommy went to the Fairfax Surgical Center.

For most kids, this would be an unpleasant experience, but for my little man Luke, this is actually a fun experience. He gets to go by himself with mommy to a place where they dress you in funny clothes, give you yummy purple medicine, a new stuffed animal, and as many popsicles as you desire when you wake up from surgery. What more could a little boy ask for? He can handle the anesthesia and wakes up very pleasant (anxiously awaiting the promised popsicles, crackers, and juice!). We have seen other children wake up from surgery very unhappy and fearful. We are thankful that Luke handles it well. He had a popsicle in his hand before I even made it back to recovery to see him!

Yummy grape Tylenol.

All dressed and ready to go.

An new bear to add to the collection.

What a handsome little behind!

Luke wanted to take a picture of mommy.

After a long three hours on the phone last monday with our travel guy at AHH we finally have travel dates to look forward to. Yet, once again, we are faced with the realization that we have NO CONTROL over this process and we will have to wait and see what happens!!! 

Plan A- If all goes perfectly with a quick turnaround on our travel approval, consulate date, and reasonably priced tickets to Beijing, we will hop on a plane September 11th. We will arrive in Beijing late friday or early saturday? and tour the city for the first day. On sunday September 14th, we will fly to Hannah’s province and meet her that afternoon! That is called Gotcha Day for all those familiar with international adoption.  We will stay in the Jaingxi Province for about four days while the local police process her passport. During that time we will hide away in our hotel room. Just kidding! We will tour the province and possibly visit her orphanage.  Once we receive her passport, we will fly to the U.S. Embassy in Guangzho. We will stay there until we complete all of the necessary paperwork, medical exams, oath ceremony, and whatever else needs to be done.   We will fly home on September 23rd.

Plan B-If we are not granted expedited travel or the tickets to Beijing are priced too high we will have to wait until October 23rd to travel. We will have the exact same intinerary and will return home on November 5th. We are HOPING that we will be able to travel in September. Who would want to wait another six weeks to meet the little girl that we have already waited over two and a half years for?

We will not have any confirmation of our plans until early next week. We simply wait for a letter to arrive at our agency from the CCAA. Once they get that letter things will have to move quickly. If we need to purchase tickets to Beijing with only 48hrs notice the prices could be too high. We are praying that we will find the perfect ticket price to Beijing (under $2,000)!! In the meantime, we are completing more paperwork, packing our bags, and getting ready for school to start September 2nd!

I

I joined a yahoo group for families that have adopted children from the Yugan SWI. Yesterday, I posted an email requesting if any family that had been to the orphanage recently had any pictures of our little girl. This morning before I left for church I checked my email and had a response from a very kind woman named Carrie. She was blessed with the adoption of a little girl a couple months ago and had taken pictures of the babies when she visited the orphanage. She checked through her photos and we think she found little miss Hannah Hope. These pictures were taken in April2008, so she was around three months old. What a blessing to have been given a glimpse into her life! This is the little basket she spends alot of time in!

We have our first travel meeting conference call this monday at 9:30 a.m. Eric will be dialing in from San Diego. He’s out there for a meeting until tuesday. I guess the kids are going to have an early morning movie viewing in the basement. I’m thinking that’s the only way I can come close to guaranteeing quiet in this house for the 2 1/2 hours I will need to be on the phone (and remember what was said)!

 A letter was sent by AHH to China this week requesting that we be allowed to expedite our travel. ALOT has to fall into place for us to be able to make it over there in September. If that doesn’t happen we will have to wait until October. One scenario that Eric discussed with AHH is us being prepared to travel over to China with only 48hrs notice and with minimal hand holding by the AHH guides. This would only happen if we were granted early travel and the ticket prices are not outrageous! SOOOO, am I prepared to get on a plane with my mom and Emily with only 48hrs notice and travel to a country where I will have to navigate through the different appointments and cities with a new baby and little help from the AHH guides?  That my friends is what is floating around in my head this morning and quite possibly what we are prepared to do in order to bring home Hannah Hope.

I have seen pictures of the very room she is in right now.  The Yugan orphanage is in the Jaingxi Province. There are woven baskets lined up with little girls laying in them. The walls are white and the floors are brown. They have little wooden chairs that are made to allow the babies to sit up and play, but they are also used as potty chairs(trays in the bottom catch the pee and poo). I am reminded of how blessed we are with everything that we have. What will she think of her yellow and pink room made especially for her and her big sister Emily?

I am thankful that she is safe. I am thankful for the birthmother who chose life for her daughter and wanted her to be loved and cared for. I am thankful for the woman who found her when she was all alone and brought her to this orphanage. I am thankful that they have fed her. I am thankful that they have clothed her. I am thankful that she has been seen by a doctor and kept healthy. I am thankful that China is allowing us to adopt her.  I am thankful for every person that has handled our paperwork and is making it possible for us to finally hold little Hannah Hope in our arms. I am thankful for family and friends that already love and pray for Hannah Hope.  I am thankful for the three precious children Emily, Luke, and Gunther that can’t wait to meet their little sister. I am thankful that God, in His grace, has brought our lives together.