New Pictures!

We received some new pictures of Michael late last night. We also received his measurements. He is 32" tall and weighs almost 29 lbs. He looks very healthy! Plus, it looks like they did a very good job on his lip. We can't wait to get him home.

Paperwork and More Waiting

Yesterday, we received our updated I-171H from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This is the document that approves us to bring Michael into the U.S. Michael is considered special needs because of his cleft lip and palate, so we had to request that USCIS approve us for a special needs adoption. Fortunately, it only took us a couple of weeks and a few headaches to get this updated.

Now what? We are waiting for our letter of approval (LOA) from China. When we receive this, we will have to sign it to tell them that we definitely want Michael. After we receive the LOA, we will sit and wait again. We will wait for our travel information. We will more than likely leave 2 weeks to one month after we receive this information. Hopefully, we will receive it all very soon. We would love to have Michael home before his second birthday on July 2nd.

Sending a Package

We do not have much to report. We are just in sit and wait mode. We hope to hear something soon. For now, we are keeping busy working on the house and getting things ready for Michael.

Above is the care package we put together for Michael. It includes a letter, a photo album, a couple of outfits, two disposable cameras, a stuffed frog, a blanket, some candy, some snacks and a toy car. We hope to send it very soon. We are very appreciative to Peiling our Minister of Music at church. She translated the letter that we are going to include in our package. Thank you Peiling!

Where in the world is Michael?

Since we received our referral, a lot of people have asked us where Michael is from. Michael is in Jinzhong City in the Shanxi province of China. To learn more about Shanxi, go to this website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanxi.

Below is a map of Shanxi.

Below is a partial map of Shanxi. If you look on the map just southeast of Taiyuan, you will see Jinzhong.

We have a son!!!

When we are busy making plans, sometimes God throws a little bit of a curve ball. For two years, we have been planning to adopt a little girl from China. However, God has led us to our son. We are so exited and cannot wait to to travel to China to get him. Our agency tells us that we will more than likely travel in 3-5 months. We have so much to do!

Our son is waiting for us in the Shanxi province of China. His birth date is 7/1/2006. He will be 2 years old in July.

Without further ado, we would like to introduce you to
Michael William Anwei Hall.

New family addition

On January 12th, we added a new family member to our household. We adopted an 8 month old kitten. She always wants to sit in Bill's lap or follow him around everywhere he goes. Since she likes to be Bill's shadow, that is what we named her, Shadow. Here are a couple of pictures.

Christmas and the New Year

Belated Happy New Year! We hope that everyone had a very merry Christmas. We spent Christmas in Savannah, Georgia with my parents. We had a great time and hated to leave.

We went fishing on Christmas Eve at the pier on Tybee Island. I had the catch of the day. It was a whopping 4" long. While we were fishing, we saw Santa flying over the beach. Here are a few pictures from the beach trip.

Dad and Bill went golfing while we were there. We also took some time to do a few touristy things. We drove through Bonaventure Cemetery, walked along River Street, ate at some great restaurants, and took the trolley tour through the historic district. Here are a few of our pictures.

Fountain in Forsythe Park

The Mercer House made famous in the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (inside)

Christmas tree made of poinsettias inside the Cathedral

The following are pictures taken at Bonaventure Cemetery: