Matching Grant

This road to adoption is full of many joys and challenges, the greatest joy being the inclusion of a child into our family and the greatest challenge being finances. The costs of adoption include the expense of a home study, adoption agency, lawyers, travel expenses, etc., with the total cost ending up somewhere around $32,000. Through fundraising and personal savings we have raised approximately $10,000 but we still have a long way to go.  Our estimated time to travel is 2-3 months from now. 

 

We were recently awarded a matching funds grant to help with the expenses of our adoption through Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. a non-profit private operating foundation. Hand in Hand will match any funds that are donated through our friends and family for the expenses of our adoption. All funds received through our friends and family will be matched dollar for dollar by Hand in Hand up to our awarded grant amount.  Our grant amount is $8,000, which means that Hand in Hand will match up to $4,000.  All donations are tax-deductible. If you feel led to do so, we are asking you to prayerfully consider giving financially to support us in this process.

You can find out more about Hand in Hand through their website at www.handinhandadopt.org.  You may also contact Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. with any questions you may have. They can be reached at 913-248-5015 or by e-mail at handinhandadopt@gmail.com.

All donations must be received by Hand in Hand or postmarked no later than October 3, 2013 in order for us to benefit from them.  Please send all donations made payable to "Hand in Hand Christian Adoption" postmarked by October 3, 2013 to: (for tax purposes please include our name on the outside of the envelope only…do not put our name on the check itself)

Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.
Robert and Jennifer Pannell
18318 Mimosa Court Gardner, KS 66030

Thank you for your prayerful consideration in helping a child find a "forever" family.

 

 

LOA!!!!!!!!!

This is huge!  Our social worker just called to say that we have received LOA (Letter of Acceptance) from China!  We were notified that we were in the review stage on 8/13 so we new it wouldn't be long.  The wait for LOA is usually one of the longest steps, however we had to wait about 3 1/2 months for a referral so our LOA arrived sooner than expected as our paperwork continued to move through the system while we were waiting on the referral. We have to go into the office today to sign the letter and then send off the next set of paperwork.  We are 2-3 months away from traveling to get Emma Kate!!!  I have butterflies in my stomach! 

She is in foster care!

About 2am today we received confirmation that Emma Kate is with a foster family as we suspected.  This is such a blessing as she will have a lot more one on one time.  Another mom who is in China now to adopt her child offered to ask about Emma Kate and try to get pictures of her.  She couldn't get any pictures since Emma Kate isn't at the orphanage, but the director did say that she remembered sending the pictures to us a couple of weeks ago and that she is doing well.  I pray that this couple is taking excellent care of our daughter and loving her as their own.  I hope that Emma Kate is loving them back and learning what a family is.  While the transition may be harder on her if she is attaching to this family, I think it will help her attach to us if she is learning attachment with consistent caregivers rather than different nannies passing her around.  Please pray for this family she is with.  We are very blessed to have this picture of her with her foster family.

Baby shower from Carter's Sunday School friends

Today was Carter's last week in his Sunday School class before promotion Sunday.  His teachers decided to have a baby shower for Emma Kate :).  We got some very nice gifts and a donation from the class for our adoption fund!  We are so blessed to have people in our lives who care about our daughter already.  Here is a picture of the gifts we received.  Thank you all for loving our daughter.  I love everything and I am so excited to see these pink bags!

Car Wash

We had a car wash today to fundraise.  Several friends and family came out to help, and some friends came just to get their car washed.  We had a great time and raised $485!  A thunderstorm happened in the middle of it but didn't last long and we were all ready for lunch so it was perfect timing.  After lunch we were able to wash a few more cars before everyone went home.  I got a few pictures, wish I had gotten more but it's hard to take pictures and wash cars.  Thank you to all who helped us in some way.

Update on Emma Kate

Tuesday we received an update on our daughter.  We got these two pictures...

 

 

We requested the medical discharge from her surgery since there was nothing in her file that indicated she had any surgery other than the picture of her with her lip repaired.  They sent the medical discharge in Chinese so we asked our Chinese friend to translate it and she was kind enough to do so free of charge. 

 

We asked for updated measurements and pictures but we only got the two pictures, no measurements.  I'm very appreciative for everything we were able to get.

 

We received answers to the following questions as well:

 

1.  Does she have a nick name or what do the nannies call her?  Xuan Xuan

2.  Can you please tell us some of her likes and dislikes?  She likes to watch TV and dance with           music.  She doesn't like to be with strangers.

3.  Will you please let her hair grow while she waits for us to come?  Sure

4.  Which language is spoken to her, Mandarin or Cantonese?  Cantonese

5.  What type of cup or bottle is she able to drink from?  She drinks from bottle.  She likes water with flavor

6.  Is she walking?  Yes, she walks pretty well

 

The reason we asked what type of cup or bottle is because children with cleft palate are unable to suck and they will sometimes only take a certain type of cup or bottle so we wanted to know which ones to take to China with us.  Oh well, I guess we will figure it out when we get her.

 

I was so happy to get an update but it also brought up more questions.  Her file states that she is in the SWI, not with a foster family, and the pictures we have of her appear to be at the orphanage so we didn't ask if she was with a foster family.  After getting these pictures, we are now wondering if those are her foster parents.  Usually the children are photographed with the nannies and not any men.  Also, the lady in the picture is carrying her purse and the nannies don't usually carry their purses around with them.  Maybe we are over thinking it but we feel like she may be with a foster family.  It is very strange to wonder where my daughter is living and what she is doing.  It is 11:45pm in China so she is in bed right now.  Throughout the day I often stop and think about the time in China and what she might be doing and then I pray for her.  I pray that someone is comforting her if she is hurt or having a bad dream or if she doesn't feel well, I pray that someone is making sure she is fed well and I pray that someone is loving her.  I haven't received a picture of her smiling, I pray someone is making her smile.  She will be 18 months old Saturday.  I can not wait to go get her.