Expanding Our Family...

Just a recap...

July 7, 2008-- Received "the call" from Jessica stating Bethany Christian Service received our referral.

July 8, 2008--We went into Bethany's Lancaster office where they received our referral packet from the UPS truck.

The above pictures were taken by Jessica as we were seeing our daughter, Alissa's picture for the first time. Benjamin wanted to make sure we had the camera as he was certain Mommy was going to cry. And I did! The picture of Brent is signing our referral acceptance.

Some information we have since found out about our daughter:

She was born in Guilin- Province is Guangxi, China

She's been with a foster family (we don't know if she still is)

Favorite toy: doll

Favorite thing to do: play outside

She likes to: play ball/throw ball/play outside (Benjamin was excited to hear this!)

She eats: an egg and milk for breakfast/rice for lunch & supper/snacks/fruit

She sleeps: 9pm-7am/naps 1-3pm

What is next...

• We signed our referral acceptance. Once our entire group (we'll be traveling with 5 other families) submit their referral acceptances they will be sent to China. We'll be waiting for our Travel Approval. It looks like the Olympics will delay our travel a bit. Our agency has said they thought we might travel September or October. Benjamin's been praying for early Sept travel!
• Booster shots for all of us
• More paperwork
• Shopping! (We already did some last night as a family. So much fun!)
• Packing
• Lists, lists, lists!

Prayer Requests...

• Please pray for Alissa and her foster family
• Pray for good health for everyone
• Pray for attachment/adjustment when we travel to China and come home
• Pray for a September travel date! Alissa's birthday is September 7th! We would love to be with her on her b-day!

This is picture of beautiful Guilin. Alissa is from a very beautiful countryside! It is known for hiking and backpacking. It is also known for the Li River--they have tours on it. We will not be traveling to Guilin, but the capital of Guangxi--Nanning. Please check out the links to the right for Guilin. They are great resources to learn about our daughter's country!

Once again thank you for your many prayers, well wishes, and kind words! We feel so blessed!

We Are Excited To Introduce...

In God's Perfect Timing...

Our Daughter & Sister---

Alissa Quan Marie Kreider

DOB: 9-7-2005

Guangxi Province, China

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him." 1Samuel 1:27

"My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high." 1 Samuel 2:1

We are beyond excited! Words cannot express the excitement our family is feeling right now! We will post more info later on where she is from etc. We wanted to get her pictures posted for all of you that have been anxiously awaiting! We are rejoicing! God is good all the time. All the time, He is good!

The Kreiders,

Brent, Kristin, & Benjamin

for Alissa!

WE RECEIVED THE CALL!!!!

At 4:15 this afternoon we received the news of our daugther. The following is the only information that we have at this time:

Name: Zhu Zhen Quan

D.O.B.: 9-7-2005

Where She is From: Province- Guangxi, China

We are rejoicing at the news! Tommorrow at 10am we are going in to Bethany Christian Service's Lancaster office to meet "the truck". Our referral was overnighted from Grand Rapids and is expected to arrive at 10am. We'll meet with Jessica (our adoption caseworker) to go over everything. It will be about a 2 hour meeting. Once we figure out how to scan pics into our computer we'll post more info. Thanks to everyone for all your prayers, kinds words, and support during our wait!

Adoption Rumors...

So the rumors are flying! The rumors state that the cutoff date is January 25, 2006. Woohoo! Our LID is January 24, 2006. It's looking more and more like we've made it! There is no official word from our agency yet, but we are quite hopeful! Rumors you ask?--there is a rumor board on the Internet that has info on China's adoptions. I follow it a little to obsessively at times! Especially when the referrals are to come out. No, this does not mean that we have received our referral yet, but we are hopeful that they'll be sent out this week or next week. Can't wait to post again!