Hannah Paulina

Happy Birthday Princess!

2009-03-04T18:26:00.001-08:00

Our little princess turned three on February 27th and we HAD to give her a Cinderella Birthday after she has become a huge fan of the movie. We watch it almost everyday!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

2009-01-02T19:36:00.000-08:00

So fun to have snow in the mountains so close to our home!

Beachin' It

2009-01-02T19:24:00.000-08:00

There's nothing like a chilly dip in the Pacific Ocean on New Years Eve!

Merry Christmas!

2009-01-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

Love our sweet Christmas morning! Happy Birthday Jesus!

2008-12-23T17:02:00.000-08:00

This Christmas has been especially fun for us as Hannah is aware of so much. She's been singing "Jingle Bells" around the house and after tasting her first candy cane cannot get enough of them. She was at first afraid of Santa but warmed up to him well enough to sit on his lap and smile for her picture. She has brought so much joy to our family life in every way.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-12-06T19:11:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving we enjoyed some very yummy fried turkey with dear friends and family on an absolutely beautiful cloudy day in So. Cal. We all worked together to prepare the food and atmosphere for a day to give thanks for so much!

We are especially looking forward to the holidays with Hannah at the age she is. Suddenly she is speaking up a storm! She said her first three sentences in November, "Daddy come home!", "Mommy turn", and "Mommy, where are you?" and now she is talking non stop. She also walks around the house singing all her favorite Barney tunes. Her voice is so precious!

Trick-or-Treat

2008-11-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

Our little Goldilocks had a great time trick-or-treating this Halloween! She kept saying, "Candy! Candy! Candy!"

Lovin' Fall

2008-10-19T18:37:00.000-07:00

Boy, life is flying by...school is in full swing, Joey's playing on a great flag football team (we are a sure thing to win the championship!), Hannah has started a little early-start preschool and Daniel has begun sparing in Tae Kwon Do. Although our favorite team is really hurting this year we are still enjoying college football. We can't wait for the holidays to come with the kids the ages that they are!

2008-10-01T22:19:00.000-07:00

Just feeling really thankful tonight to have my health and to have these amazing miracles in my life. I shared my cancer story with nursing students last night at APU and am once again reminded of all I've come through and all I have to be grateful for. My kids are tangible reminders of what life is all about!

Beach Baby

2008-08-29T19:22:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Hannah's Gotcha Day on August 4th with such gratitude! It's been one year since we brought this little gift home and boy how she has flourished!

Spending a couple of weeks down in Newport was the best way to commemorate our first year with her. We had gone down last year at this time and being there brought back so many memories of our first few weeks with her.

Auntie "Da" (my dear friend Wendy who traveled with me to get Hannah) came down for a visit. Hannah kept calling her Da in Kyrgyzstan and the name has since stuck.

More Summer Pictures!

2008-07-31T16:30:00.001-07:00

Here are a few more pictures of some of what we have been up to this summer!

We Love Summer!

2008-07-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

The Walshes are having such a fun family summer! Hannah is thriving and the boys are busy with camps and activities. Joey made the East Altadena Little League All Stars and has been in two different basketball camps. Daniel's days have been full with Dolphin Swim Team practice and meets, Camp Shi'ini down in the Arroyo and Tae Kwon Do (he just earned his purple belt). We've also had fun going to the beach, visiting the zoo, going to various museums and movies, bowling, swimming at the club and just hanging out. The boys have attempted a couple times to sleep up in our tree fort but chickened out once it got dark.

One highlight was attending Nightlight International Adoptions summer picnic where we got to see our friends Mike and Jenn and their son Joshua who we traveled with in Kyrgyzstan a year ago! In just a few days we will be celebrating our one year anniversary of arriving home with Hannah! What a difference a year makes!

Our Special Visitors

2008-06-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

Recently we had the great honor of a visit from two lovely ladies from the Kyrgyzstan Embassy in Washington D.C. My agency was hosting them and they brought them by for tea and a sweet visit. I had tears in my eyes as I realized what a gift this sweet country has blessed us with.

They were so interested in Hannah and how much she has grown. They had been the ones who had processed her paperwork and they recognized her!

Happy Birthday Hannah!

2008-05-11T22:13:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Hannah turned two on April 27th! We kept singing "Happy Birthday" to her all day and by the end she was singing along! What a doll!

Hannah Sports a New Do!

2008-04-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

Hannah has been sporting a molluck lately so we decided it was about time to take her out for an official first haircut! What a difference! What a cutie girl!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-29T16:15:00.001-07:00

We had unusually hot weather this Easter so we enjoyed a beautiful resurrection day at the club with a lovely brunch, egg hunt, petting zoo and swim!

Our hearts were so filled with gratitude as we celebrated all that Christ did for us on this special day!

Walking!

2008-02-26T14:46:00.000-08:00

Hannah is officially walking! She stunned us all on Valentines Day when she up and walked across her room from the door to her bed! And oh, she is so proud. She is toddling all over the place and we are on the chase!

It's so fun to have her pass this milestone. Since this has happened she is now out of the baby room at church and is enjoying many more activities with the other toddlers her age. I've also started taking her to My Gym and doing a "Wobbler" class with her. It's so funny to be doing this after teaching toddler classes at a mommy and me program for a number of years. What was even more fun was to find a few of my former students in the class with their second or third child!

Pretty in Pink

2008-01-24T12:33:00.000-08:00

Our sweet pink girl is growing! She's also on the verge of walking any day now. It's so exciting and she's so proud of herself. She is a great little communicator...with her baby signs. We still have only heard a few occasional words but she definitely can tell us what she wants with her signs. She signs "Dada", "cracker", "milk", "eat", "drink", "more", "dog", "cat", "bird", "signing time", "shoes", "coat", "hat", "book", "brush teeth", "orange", "banana", and more.

We love our little angel!

I've Been Tagged!

2007-12-30T14:09:00.000-08:00

Okay, I've been tagged! This in blogger world means that another fellow blogger (thanks Mala!) has identified you as the next one to share all your secrets! I have to list 8 things about myself that most people don't know about me and then tag another fellow blogger to do the same... I think...

So, here goes:

1. I'm a breast cancer survivor!

2. I love artichokes.

3. We are die hard college football fans, specifically Pac 10 football, specifically Washington State Cougar fans (where my husband played linebacker '81-'83).

4. Spanish is my second language.

5. Sugar or salt? Both, together even better!

6. I was 1996 Teacher of the Year of my school district.

7. I can tie shoelaces with my toes.

8. My goal in 2008 is to SIMPLIFY!

Okay, now I tag Ivy!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-29T11:14:00.000-08:00

What a sweet Christmas this was! It's so fun to have a girl! She got dollies, dollies and more dollies. Dollies in her stocking from her auntie Robin, dollies in her stocking from Santa, dollies from aunties Sally and Leslie and dollies...you guessed it...from me!

Her favorite part of Christmas was the wrapping paper and the boxes! Her least favorite part was Santa.

The boys got a trampoline (with a net!) so everybody was very happy. Most importantly Bob and I just felt so thankful, remembering many lonely childless Christmases. Now we are blessed beyond what we could imagine. If I had only known back then what was to come!

Got Milk?

2007-12-07T10:17:00.000-08:00

I had to post this picture! Hannah exudes health here!

I recently received an email from an American gal that we met at the orphanage that volunteered her time to love on the babies at the Baby House. She is our angel! When we left after our first trip she agreed to watch out for Hannah for us.

Anyway, we have been in touch and she requested some pictures of Hannah to take to the orphanage to show the workers who had been asking about her. They could not believe the transformation! She said they all wanted the pictures to take home with them! Oh that blessed me so much to know that they still think of her and loved her so much!

Family Memories

2007-11-30T20:17:00.000-08:00

Where has the time gone? Hannah has been home with us for four months now and look at the transformation! We are in awe every day at the amazing progress she is making and we love seeing her sweet little charming personality unfold.

With Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas we are enjoying making family memories with our sweet baby girl to enjoy them with along with the boys. I asked Daniel the other day if he could imagine life without Hannah. We both agreed that it would feel so strange and so empty not to have her here with us.

Life is good and we are so thankful!

2007-10-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

Hannah said her first word this week! Her favorite sound is "aaaaa" so the word "apple" was a natural word to come off her lips! Today she said "Mama" when she wanted me to pick her up! I was thrilled! I had thought she had said "Mama" before but it just turned out to be a long string of "mamamamama".

Now that we are finally over the hump of school starting and soccer and Fall baseball getting going we are feeling like we are finally settling into life with three kids. The boys continue to adore their baby sister and she loves them as well.

Our Happy Girl

2007-09-27T22:29:00.000-07:00

We have been so struck by how much Hannah has grown and flourished since we brought her home 7 weeks ago. She has gained 2 pounds and grown an inch and is really beginning to fill out and get some color in her cheeks.

She keeps amazing us with how she learns so quickly. She waves bye-bye, blows kisses, makes signs for "more", "all done" and "water" and just charms us all so much. She is a great little eater and will try new foods every day.

Every day we feel like we are unwrapping the most amazing gift. She is truly our little miracle and we are so thankful for her sweet little spirit in our home.

Hannah's Previous Life

2007-09-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

How can such a big miracle come from such a small baby girl?

There have been moments these last few weeks where we are just doing life with Hannah...giving her a bottle, strapping her into her carseat, shopping at Target, etc. but then it hits us. Wow, this cutie has come a long way.

She came to the orphanage about one month old in May of 2006. She was found on the doorsteps of the hospital "in baby's loose jacket, warm swaddling clothes, cap and towel. There was a note with the child" according to the report we received with the very scattered medical information on her.

The moment we saw her we knew she was ours. God had hidden her for us. He had kept her in the secret place covered under the shadow of His wing.

The orphanage was surprisingly clean and cheery. There were eleven babies in her section being cared for by 2 workers during the day and 1 worker at night. We had the privelege of spending two days at the orphanage on our first trip and watched how they got the babies up, fed them rapidly, strapped them on a potty (this is common in Eastern European orpanages to potty train at one year), and placed them to lie by themselves in a large playpen. Unfortunately the babies receive very little stimulation and personal attention. I do have to say though, you could tell the ladies really cared about the babies. She was loved and it was a tearful goodbye when we took her away.

Adoption is such a miracle. What an amazing privelege and honor to be called to such a blessing.

Nightlight

2007-08-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

Nightlight Christian Adoptions is the agency we have gone through to adopt all our children, Joey and Daniel from Russia and now Hannah from Kyrgyzstan. They have been so wonderful to work with and we feel so thankful God led us to them in the first place.

It all started when I attended their adoption seminar back in the mid '90s. I didn't necessarily feel any strong feelings about adopting but I went anyway. During the break Ron Stoddart, the director, put a video on of children in orphanages in Russia. Suddenly I felt such a strong emotion and call from God to go in that direction. I was so blessed to feel like the Lord had a purpose and a plan for our lives to adopt.

So here we are ten years later with a sweet blessed family, more than we could have ever imagined would be possible. The Lord has been so very faithful and good to us. We are so thankful.

The pictures above are from Friday, August 17th when we went down to see all the folks at Nightlight, to have them meet Hannah and see the boys, to thank them in person and to have the kids put their handprints on their wall. Each child adopted through their agency has done this and we hadn't taken the kids to this new office yet to leave their mark.

Thank you Ron, Linda, Jody, Julia and Rhonda and everyone else who has worked so hard to help children find their forever families. You have been God's instruments in our lives and have rescued so many children! We love you!

Our Southern California Girl!

2007-08-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

We just got home from a week down at the beach with my mom. It was such a great bonding time for us all! Hannah's in love with her daddy! They got alot of time together and it really warmed my heart to see her so contented in his arms.

We went to Disneyland one evening and while watching a performance of the some of the songs from the new High School Musical Hannah almost jumped out of my arms to dance to the music. She is so funny how she rocks back and forth and sings! We've got a little performer!

It was so amazing to be down in Balboa, where we already have so many family memories taking long walks on the boardwalk, hanging out at the beach all day and making our nightly treck to the Fun Zone for Balboa Bars with our sweet baby girl. I just kept thinking of where she was three weeks ago and now look at her! From Bishkek to the sunny shores of Southern California! Wow!

Life is good!

We are so blessed!

2007-08-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

Well we've been home close to three weeks and all is well. It has definitely been an adjustment! I had forgotten how much work this is! It's so surreal to be back in the baby mode, with everything that comes with it. I get stopped in stores by old ladies, I have a smushed nutrigrain bar at the bottom of my purse, spilled juice on the seat in the van, crushed cheerios on the kitchen floor, the smell of baby lotion on my hands and I'm tired. But I am oh so happy.

Oh, and I had forgotten how hard making dinner can be with a baby on the hip! I am learning all over again how to do everything with one hand!

She is just so precious. Everyday I get a new glimspe of her personality that truly amazes me. And it's so fun to have a girl! I took her in with me to get my hair cut and she just sat on my lap as happy and content as can be. All the ladies ooohed and aahed over her. I could've never done that with my active boys.

She has been making tremendous gains and we are so delighted at every little thing she accomplishes. She can play peek-a-boo, blow kisses, wave bye-bye, and the other day she said "Mama". She hasn't said it since but I am so excited. The boys first babbles were "Da da da da" which naturally led them to say "Dada" before "Mama". Her babbles are "Ma ma ma ma" so I am so happy that one of my children will say my name first!

Everyday she seems to be coming more and more out of her shell. She is definitely exerting her little will and we welcome that. She fights me when I change her diaper, one day she'll eat everything, the next almost nothing, she arched her back today when I put her in her car seat and she fusses when she wants something from me, usually my cell phone or my keys or a credit card! Uh Oh! Then she just smiles up at me and melts my heart. Yes, she is a typical toddler!

I had no idea I could fall in love so easily!

Sleep, glorious sleep!

2007-08-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

I have three friends who specifically have prayed for Hannah's sleep. Well, I am so happy to report that she has been a fabulous sleeper!!! This is huge! We are all doing so well on account of this. She and I have recovered really well from jet lag and are on a great consistant sleep schedule! I really consider this nothing short of a miracle. Thank you sweet friends for your powerful intercession!

Well, we have been home a week and it still all feels like a dream. We are doing WELL! Yeasterday we took one of our first excersions out to Target and on the way I played a Disney CD and we were blown away to hear her singing! With a very sweet soft voice she followed along to "Under the Sea" with a "yaaaaaaaah...yaaaaaaaah....yaaaaaaahhh..." It was so cute.

She is absolutely amazing, this little wonder. She snuggles up to me as though I have always been her mama. She throws things down on the ground and just laughs and laughs and waits for us to pick it up and give it back to her to only be thrown down again!

She loves her bumper jumper and we couldn't be more pleased at the way she is excercising her little legs. We are seeing so much progress with her motor development and with her eating. She is so happy and loves being with the family and is really disappointed when we have to remove her from all the fun to put her down for her nap. She fusses for a bit but then once she gets those fingers in her mouth she is good to go.

What a blessing to have a baby in the house again! This has truly been a dream come true!

Home at Last!

2007-08-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

Oh how sweet it is to be home! Thank you to everyone who prayed for us with these long flights. We sure felt covered. Hannah was so charming and I felt like the time holding her for so long really bonded us together in a special way. She was so cute and interactive with everyone on the flight to London and on the ten hour flight to LAX she slept for five hours!

We had such a wonderful homecoming with many dear friends and family waiting for us at the airport. I just cried when I saw everyone, especially my boys (all three of them!)

The highlight so far of being home have been seeing how sweet the boys are with her. They adore her and are hovering over her all day. We've spent the day feeding her, changing her, bathing her, putting her in her walker, jumper, highchair and swing and basically just watching her every move and finding delight in every detail of her little personality.

Bob and I spent some time this morning thanking the Lord for the many miracles from this whole experience. The list is so long of the many ways He provided. We also thanked Him for each of you, for your many prayers and support throughout all of this. We just feel so grateful.

Now, the real adventure begins!!!!

Victory!

2007-08-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

I write this at the end of a very long and exhausting stressful day and with tears in my eyes I can say all ended well! Our paperwork was processed and we are going home! I will give more details later but must get Hannah down and pack up and get to bed! We leave at 6:15 a.m. tomorrow for the long flight to London. Blessings to all of you who prayed! I so appreciated getting the comments from dear friends and new acqaintances rooting for us on the other side of the world!

The pictures above are of a beautiful Russian Orthodox church we visited today and also of us with another couple we have been traveling with on this adventure!

Blessings!
Sloan

Out and About

2007-08-01T05:17:00.000-07:00

Well we made it to Almaty, Kazakhstan! We left Bishkek this morning at 4:40 a.m. to cross the border in the early morning hours to miss the crowds. It felt so adventurous and thankfully we crossed without a hitch. These countries are so rich with ancient history you could just feel it as we drove through the countryside watching the sunrise and picturing the travelers along the Silk Road.

We arrived in Almaty and went straight to the SOS Medical Clinic for Hannah's exam. She suffered through alot of poking and prodding but it all went went very smoothly. After that we went to the US Embassy to take all of our official paperwork. It was proving to be a very long day.

The day got increasingly longer when we got a call from the embassy saying that there was a problem with the paperwork. I had to return there with the coordinator and we heard first hand about a pretty serious problem with it regarding needing Bob's signature to be in person. We pleaded with them for mercy, basically, and were told we will have to find out tomorrow if the consulate chooses to accept or not. I am choosing to be vague about the details but really need prayer! Please pray the consulate with choose to accept without making us have a huge delay in the process...

We are now resting at our new hotel in Almaty. The good news about today is that I fell so completely in love with this little baby doll I can't get over it! She is an absolute dream to love on! She was such a trooper with all the travel and she charmed us with her sweet smile and little laugh. Heaven!

Bonding Time

2007-07-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

We've been so fortunate to have alot of down time to just hang and bond with Hannah. Unlike our other adoptions where we were off traveling right after getting our babies, we have been able to spend some time getting to know one another!

The great news to report today is that she is taking her bottle! We called our coordinator last night after many failed attempts to get fluids into her, and she had someone go to the orphanage and get a bottle and nipple from them that she would be used to. We gave it to her this morning and she gobbled it down. I was so happy I thought I would cry!Thank you to all who were praying for this!

Secondly, after doing a few little exercises with her over the last few days she is sitting up on her own!!! She is so proud of herself and loves it! I am so grateful to see such progress in such a short amount of time! God is so good!

I brought a book called Blessing Your Spirit by Arthur Burk and have been reading and praying blessings over Hannah. This is the one I prayed over her today:

"I bless you, Hannah, because you are fearfully and wonderfully made. God invested an incredible amount of effort and concentration in designing you. You are unique, one of a kind. There is nobody else like you. God has thought extensively about you. Every detail of your body, every organ, and every cell is the result of God's thoughts. Every facet of your personality is the result of His kind intention. You are beautiful, and you are beloved. God has blessed you with His love. God smiled on the day He created you. He had been waiting for millennia for the particular point in time when you were conceived. He had great joy in His heart when His plans actually came together. He nurtures your spirit; He watches over you.

"Your world needs you. You bring something to your family that no other person has. They need the gifts you bring. Your family would not be complete without you. Others in your circle need the deposit that God has placed in your life.

"Hannah,your Father wrote your days in His book. Your life is not a random thing. He designed your spiritual heritage. Your generational blessings go back a thousand generations. There is a spiritual treasure chest of generational blessings with your name on it.

"God promises that because of His love, His power, and His blessing upon you, He will cause your pain and any negative thing in your life to be transformed into good things before the end of the story of your life. We don't know everything about who you are going to be or what you are going to do, but you are loved, you are a blessing to your family, and you are a life-giver in the world. You are special, and we celebrate God's miraculous design of who you are. I bless you in the name of Jesus..."

Gotcha Day!

2007-07-29T02:30:00.001-07:00

After years of prayer, months of decisions and paperwork, weeks of preparations, and days of anticipation and 24 hours of intense travel, I am very happy to report that I have my very own baby girl to call my own!

Wendy and I arrived yesterday morning exhausted but so excited for what lay ahead. We were very relieved to get to our hotel, take a shower and crawl into our beds to sleep for a couple of hours before we were to be picked up to go to the orphanage. We were met in the lobby by our agency rep, and taken first to exchange money and buy cakes for the workers at the orphanage.

I have been rehearsing this day for weeks in my mind and it felt like a dream. After arriving and after meeting our translator and another couple adopting a baby boy we were finally ushered in to find Hannah sitting in a stroller as though she was all ready and waiting for me to arrive and wisk her away to her new life. Upon seeing me I did not see any recognition in her eyes but she came right to me and felt very at home in my arms. I was so relieved to find the quilt there that I had left with her and the workers told us that she slept with it every night in her crib, clutching it and not allowing anyone to take it from her.

I was also told later by the coordinator that after we had left from the first visit she took on a different demeanor than before. She said it was almost as though she knew she had a mommy now and that she was less eager to go to just anybody. I don't know if that's true but I'd like to believe it!

After talking to the care givers about her schedule and likes and dislikes I was permitted to change her into the clothes I brought. I took off the layers of well worn orphanage clothes and so enjoyed dressing her in the pink and floral little onesie and sweat suit I had brought. We took many pictures and were on our way out when I was asked if there was anything else I needed. I then took the opportunity to ask if I might be able to take one of the paper doves hanging from the ceiling in the main room for her to have a momento from her first home. They were very pleased to let me have one and I was thrilled!

On the drive back to the hotel I sat in the back seat with her on my lap (they don't use carseats). She snuggled right up to me and lay her head on my chest and I just melted. She reminds me of a little dolly. She's so tiny too. All of the clothes I brought her are really big on her.

She went right down for her nap and bedtime beautifully but she refused taking anything from the bottle. We tried formula, milk, water, juice and even a vanilla shake. She'd have nothing to do with it. We also tried a sippy cup and just a cup. I finally got fluids into her by using a dopper from some medicine I had brought. She also refused most of what I tried to feed her but finally took some yogurt and applesause. She's so terribly thin I am anxious to fatten her up. I would so appreciate your prayers for this.

Wendy has been such a huge blessing and Hannah adores her. She lightens up when she sees her and babbles at her in the cutest way. I think she is really enjoying all the attention we are giving her!

The best part about this is just holding her and loving on her. She just soaks it all up and is such a snuggler. I have loved having her lay on my chest and listen to me sing to her and pray for her. Oh what a joy to love this little treasure!

Well, I am fading fast from jet lag so I am off to rest a bit before she gets up from her nap! Many thanks to all who are praying! We really feel covered and blessed and know we have many dear friends lifting us up in prayer!

Blessings,
Sloan

Off to Kyrgyzstan!!!!

2007-07-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

Well tomorrow's the big day! Wendy and I take off from LAX at 3:30 and will arrive on Saturday morning in Bishkek.

I am so blessed to have this dear wonderful friend travel with me to get Hannah. Wendy and I go back over 20 years when we were friends in college and then roomates post college and pre marriage. We have gone through many seasons of life together and she is truly a faithful cherished life long sister in the Lord. We are going to have such an amazing adventure together!

The tentative schedule will be:

Arrive at 4:10 a.m. in Bishkek on Saturday, July 28th.

Get to the hotel and sleep a bit before being picked up at 10:00 a.m. to go get gifts and cake for the orphanage.

Go to the orphanage and get our baby girl!!!!

Rest

Sunday, July 19th, hang out with Hannah and tour the city a bit.

Monday and Tuesday do paperwork with the embassy in Bishkek and get Hannah's passport.

Wednesday, August 1, travel to Almaty Kazakhstan in the wee hours of the morning (ie. 3:00 a.m.) For some reason the border between Kyrg and Kaz is only open at night between 10:00 p.m and 7:00 a.m.

On arrival we will go directly to a medical clinic where Hannah will have her medical exam. We will then take the results to the US Embassy and make an appointment for the following day.

Thursday, August 2, US Embassy

Friday, August 3, fly to London and spend the night. My longtime dear friend Sue is flying over form Fance to meet us and spend the night with us!!!! Sue and I were roomates in college and I lived with her family for a couple of years while I was getting my teaching credential. Her parents are so dear to my heart. Anyway, it means so much to me that she will be joining us.

Saturday, August 4, fly home! We will arrive at 1:10 at LAX!!! I cannot wait for this homecoming!

Bob is gearing up to play Mr. Mom for the next ten days. Thankfully I have a few friends who are helping ot watch the boys during the day so Bob can work. I also hear there are some dear folks making dinners for them while I am gone and some who will bring us meals upon my return! Thank you so much to all of you who are helping us! We are so blessed by such an amazing community!

So, I'm off to put the boys to bed and give them a bit of extra much needed attention! I ask you to please cover me in prayer on this trip. Please pray for sleep...for Hannah and for me and Wendy. Pray none of us get sick and that all goes according to plan.

The picture above is from last night celebrating Bob's 46th birthday. Our last bit of time as a family of four!

Our First Trip~Meeting Hannah!

2007-07-25T18:37:00.000-07:00

We traveled to Kyrgyzstan to meet Hannah and to accept the referral in person on June 7th. It was an amazing trip. It took 24 hours to get there and we spent two days with Hannah and flew home. Below is an excerpt from an email sent on June 11th:

"I cannot express how grateful Bob and I are for all your prayers. They were powerful. Everything went amazingly well except we did lose our luggage...which unfortunately had all of Hannah's formula, vitamins and supplements we were bringing to her and all our clothes and gifts. We had to wear the same clothes for five days!

"The highlights of the trip were: one, having that precious baby placed in my arms for the first time. Oh what a joy. She was very peaceful and came tome fine. She was fascinated by Bob. Watching his every move. We were so blessed that they allowed us to take her out, after they bundled her up in layers of clothers, and we strolled around the orphanage to find this little gazeebo/play area where we settled and got a chance to just be with her alone. Thank you to all of you who were praying for this first visit especially. We really felt them! The experience felt like a dream!

"The first morning spent with Hannah we got to pray over her in a very powerful way. She just soaked it all in and we felt like the Lord did a sweet work in and through that time. The second day we prayed over her again, laying her on a quilt I had made her with scripture written all over it, that I had many friends pray over before we left.

"Her little spitit is amazing. I flet such a connection to her and I know it is due to all the prayer. This little lamb has been through a lot but the Lord has hidden her in the secret place and I believe He has such a sweet plan for her little life."

Brothers

2007-07-24T05:23:00.000-07:00

Hannah will have two very special big brothers who are going to fall in love with her. They don't know this yet. Joey, who will be 9 in August is worried she will spit up on her and Daniel, 7, is concerned she will take all of my attention. Both may be true but they have no idea what a huge blessing having a little sister will be like. This is going to be quite an adjustment for them though and I am very aware that it may be a bit rocky at first. As my friend Alice, who has six children, has told me, I tell them, "There is always enough mommy love to go around." I sure hope that I get enough sleep so that will be the case!

Anyway, Joey will be going into the third grade this year and plans not to play flag football as usual but to play Fall baseball. Bob may coach again so we are looking at a busy start of the school year. Third grade really steps it up academically so I think we are facing a huge adjustment with that as well.

Joey is my social one who makes friends at the drop of a hat. His favorite things to do are to play sports, baseball, basketball and football, play Xbox and to hang out with his friends on the block.

We will be taking Hannah to alot of games this Fall as Daniel too will be busy with his own sport, soccer. I remember last year watching a gal who's son was on Daniel's team chase her toddler all over the place during the practices and games. I pittied the poor gal. Now that's going to be me!

Daniel is my sweet sensitive spirit who would like nothing better than to just be with me or Bob wherever we are or whatever we are busy doing in the house. He loves everything special we do for and with him and is a great cheerleader for all the new and creative things I try to have our family do (like playing little games at the dinner table, planning for holidays, etc.) He loves our dog Molly and gives her plenty of attention that I hope will now translate over to Hannah. He's going to love being a big brother!

As I plan to leave to go get Hannah this week I am mindful of how much the boys need alot of special attention right now. We've been trying to give alot of holding time and lovers. Oh please pray we all adjust to this big change smoothly!

Doves

2007-07-23T18:45:00.000-07:00

The Lord keeps sending us doves to remind us that He is with us throughout this whole process. This was the case with our prior adoptions as well. Before we adopted Joey back in 1999 we had a couple of white doves visit us at very key times. Both were when we were at our lowest and needed to hear from the Lord. The first one came to Bob when he was going out to his car and there was a white dove just sitting on his mirror looking at him. He went and got me and we just stood there and all looked at each other for quite some time. He just stared at us. It was dream-like. The other significant time came after we were praying as to whether we should adopt or not in our den and a white dove came and looked at us through our french doors. We felt the Lord saying, "Everything will be alright."

For the past few months a couple of doves have been cooing over our home daily and bringing such a comfort to my heart to hear their sweet peaceful sound. They are cooing in the morning when we wake up and they are cooing out front when we go to leave in our cars. They are out on our telephone wires on a regular basis. Bob had an amazing experience on the 101 freeway on the way to his office the day we received Hannah's medical information. We were due to have a conference call with the doctor to go over everything in the next ten minutes and Bob called to tell me he was running late because the traffic had just stopped. Suddenly he said, "Oh my gosh!" A white dove had just flown by his car window on the freeway! After that traffic suddenly opened up and he continued on to work.

When we went on our first trip to meet Hannah we encountered more doves. First of all there were billboards all over the city with the same advertisement on them. It seemed that everywhere we saw them. I think they were selling cell phones or something but it was a picture of a group of people letting go of doves into a blue sky. I wouldn't have thought anything about it but the ads were everywhere!

Secondly, and most unbelievable, is that the room in the orphanage where all the babies play and eat has these paper white doves someone made hanging from the ceiling! There were also paper doves taped all over the gazeebo where we spent the bulk of our time with Hannah! See pictures above.

Anyway, Bob and I are just in awe of the many miracles involved with this whole experience. It is so clear to us that God has hand chosen this precious child for us!

The Quilt

2007-07-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

Once we made the decision to adopt Hannah on May 21st, we got our travel date for the first trip. Kyrygyzstan requires that we take two trips to adopt, the first to see the baby and to accept the referral in person and the second, six weeks later, to get her. We were scheduled to travel on June 7th so everything began to happen so fast.

I really wanted something that I could take with me to bless her and to leave with her. I knew I had so many faithful friends praying for her and I thought it would be special if I could take a bit of the spirit of their prayers to her in some way.

I rushed to the fabric store and had the huge joy of picking out fabric, all pink!!!!! It was so exciting. Sewing her a quilt made everything seem so real all of a sudden. She was no longer just a dream!

Making a quilt is alot of cutting, ironing, measuring, sewing...alot of time to think and pray. It was the perfect way to prepare to go see her. I had a number of scriptures that I had been praying for her and got the idea to write them all over the quilt.

It turned out that we had a few gatherings that week with some dear friends, our life-group, my small group and my parent ed class, so I brought the quilt and asked them all to lay hands on it and pray the scriptures for Hannah. It was so meaningful.

I began to get a little nervous about my plan to leave this quilt with her in the orphanage. It was becoming so valuable after all this prayer! So I decided to make a mini quilt that I wrote Psalm 91 on and that one I left with her. I asked the orphanage workers to leave it in her crib with her.

The most memorable time about our visit with Hannah was when we got to wrap her up in the quilt and pray for her. It was a very powerful experience and we felt like all the intercession for her over the months prior opened the heavens above us and allowed for such a sweet healing presence to flood her. The bond with her was so tangible and we really know it was the work of the Spirit.

Our Referral

2007-07-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

Bob and I continue to be in such awe of this whole experience. An international adoption to happen so quickly and so smoothly is truly miraculous. We assumed that by changing to Kyrgyzstan from China that we would have another number of months to wait for a referral. As luck would have it, or I should say as providence would have it, when we met with our agency there happened to be a substantial waiting list but all of the people were requesting boys. We were automatically put on the top of the waiting list for girls.

The day we received our referral was like a dream. It's weird but I just knew it was going to happen. I boldly sent out an email saying that we would soon be adopting a baby girl from Kyrgyzstan...which I would've never done with our prior adoptions because the timing is always so uncertain...but I just knew.

It came on Monday, April 23rd. On Saturday the 21st I was praying and I felt the Lord speaking to me. He was giving me the impression of what a sweet little spirit she had and I felt her being birthed in my heart. I couldn't believe this amazing spiritual experience. I said, "Lord, are you speaking to me?" and suddenly a flash of light hit my eyes. I opened them to find that the sun was shining right on me through the leaves on our fig tree outside my window. I wept with such gratitude that God would be so kind to me and reveal Himself to me in such an amazing way.

On the 23rd I came home to an email from my agency. It read, "Hi Bob and Sloan, Well, the time has come. Here is some information on a little girl from Kyrygyzstan. We should have her medical soon, but need to be prepared to act quickly. Let us know your thoughts."

I looked at her picture and I knew she was my daughter. I just knew. I said, "You really did speak to me God! You really did!!!"

The rest is history. It took us about a month to get her complete medicals and the huge blessing was having a gal from my yahoo chat group who is adopting a baby boy from the same orphanage email me after visiting and meeting Hannah. She just told us what a little sweetheart she was and sent us some pictures and we were smitten.

Our Story

2007-07-20T17:39:00.000-07:00

This is the story of our dear precious Hannah Paulina and the miraculous adventure of her journey to our hearts and to our home.

Little did we know a year ago in the middle of fighting breast cancer that this dream would become a reality so quickly and so miraculously. After all we have gone through we are so incredibly grateful for this amazing blessing.

Having had such a wonderful experience adopting our two sons from Russia, Joey in 1999 and Daniel in 2001, we had dreampt about the possibility of going back for a third, this time a girl. In 2005 we began the lengthy paperwork and realized in the midst of it that it was looking more and more challenging to adopt from Russia again. After much prayer I sensed the Lord leading us to pursue an Asian country and settled on China. We quickly got all of our paperwork changed, approved and sent over when one week later, at a routine mammogram, a suspicious lump turned out to be cancer. We were in shock.

Throughout the surgery and treatments we began to question whether adopting again would even be an option for us. Throughout chemotherapy we really grieved the loss of a third child in our home and began to settle on enjoying the sweet family God had so blessed us with already.

But something kept us from completely closing that door and we continued to seek the Lord for His leading. In January, well after all treatments were over and fully recovering with an excellent prognosis, I attended a prayer conference where I received prayer on this topic. A pastor from the church who did not know me or my circumstances approached me and told me that the Lord had told her that we would have a child in three months.

Needless to say, we fervently began to seek the Lord in prayer and fasting for clear direction. In the midst of a three day fast in February we sensed that we were to change from China and pursue Russia again but were shortly deterred from that after hearing that Russia was soon to close down all adoptions for a period of time.

In the midst of searching for clear direction as to what to do, our social worker began to talk to us about Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian country formerly a part of the Soviet Union. In March we met with our agency and soon began changing all of our paperwork again. It felt so providential being a former Russian country but also an Asian Country. It lined up with all that we had felt the Lord speaking to us about.

Bob and I continue to be in such awe of God's glory in the midst of this experience. What happened next is almost unheard of in international adoptions today. One month later, exactly three months after the prophetic word, we received a referral of a precious baby girl in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. It happened so fast our heads were spinning.

God's miraculous hand had reached down and brought together this sweet little orphan girl with a family who longed for a daughter to love, a sister to take care of, a baby to hold and our hearts are overwhelmed with gratitude!

More of this story later...

The sweet baby girl Hannah Paulina

2007-07-17T13:15:00.000-07:00