We Proudly Announce Our New Daughter

Hannah Robyn Halvorson

After 14 long days of waiting for our PA from China, we are so excited to share her with all of you! Isn't she just precious? She has stolen our hearts and is already a very loved daughter and sister. She has some pretty proud grandparents too! She is the blessing God promised us when we trusted him and began to walk down the path he set before us! We are so thankful for the goodness God has shown to our family.

Our sweet daughter was born on March 11, 2010 in Chengdu, China. She was given the name Shan Ni. She was listed on our agency's individual list as Hanni on May 7th. She name caught my eye and I wondered if Hanni was our Hannah. We had months prior decided we would name our new daughter Hannah Robyn. We even have a pillow that was monogrammed "Hannah." Indeed, Hanni was to be our Hannah! It is so amazing that her Chinese name was so close to the name we had picked for her. God really didn't want us to miss it, did he?

Hannah means God's grace or God's mercy. She is further proof of God's mercy and grace in our lives! Robyn is after Chris' dad and fulfils our tradition of giving our children a middle name after someone we dearly love. Her file refers to her a "Little Nini" so we assume this is what they are calling her now. What a wonderful nickname for our girl!

Here are a few things about her... She loves to listen to music. She is active and restless (will fit in just fine in our busy house). She laughs out loud and loves to be teased. She likes to go outside and enjoys the sun (we have plenty of sun in the great state of Texas). She has a ready smile and likes to play games. She is closest to her caregiver.

Here are a few more pictures of her...

This is the picture from her referral. This was the first picture we ever saw of her.

This picture, the one at the top of the post and the next 2 came in the update we got of her 2 hours after we decided we wanted to adopt her. The update also include the information that she had already had her much needed heart surgery. See her scar on her chest in the picture above?

It was so great to get updated pictures of our little girl. Check out those beautiful eyes!


Look at her sweet cheeks, nose and lips in this one! We are so in love with her!

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. Isaiah 43:5

She's The One!!!

We are thrilled to say that we have been matched with the most beautiful baby girl in all of China (I might be a little biased, but I think it’s true)!!! We are all so excited and totally smitten! She is 14 months old and living in Chengdu China - in the Sichuan providence. Here is how the story unfolded...

Most adoption agencies that do China adoptions maintain an individual list. This is a list of kids specifically assigned to an agency for placement. As long as you are working with our agency you are eligible to match with the children on their individual list. You can see each child’s picture, birth date and a brief description of their special need. I’ve looked at this list daily since we started the process because new children can be added at anytime.

Before we headed to bed Saturday night (technically already Sunday) I looked at the list and noticed that some new children had been added. One girl caught my eye so I emailed my coordinator and asked if she would send me her file. My AMAZING coordinator emailed me the file about 10 minutes later. I looked at her file briefly, and headed to bed. When I woke up Sunday morning, I looked at her file again. She was a few days shy of 14 months, was cute as a button, and had a precious personality and had a congenital heart defect. I had no idea how severe her heart issues were, and knew we would need the help of a doctor. We headed out for our Mother’s Day activities and I told Chris that I would really like for both of us to sit down and look at the file together when we got home. We had a great Mother’s Day lunch with my mom and Chris’ mom. As the hours clicked by I was getting increasingly more anxious to get home to look at her file.

We got home around 4, got Hailey settled down for a nap and the boys interested in a game. We pulled out our computers and started to look at her file together. Chris agreed that she was cute, had a sweet personality and a heart condition that we weren’t skilled enough to decipher. We were interested enough in her to forward her file to two doctor friends. Soon we were learning that she had a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) and Pulmonary Hypertension (PH). VSD is a congenital defect where there is a hole between the ventricles of the heart. Her VSD was 10mm. PH is basically your blood pressure in your lungs. Both doctors felt like the VSD could be repaired with open heart surgery and that most likely the PH was being caused by her VSD and should subside when her VSD was corrected. Both of our wonderful doctor friends said they would do their best to forward her file to cardiologists for their opinion. We were so thankful for their help!

Monday her file was being sent to cardiologist and further forwarded to pediatric cardiothoracic surgeons who deal with heart conditions like hers on a weekly basis. Tuesday, Chris and I had lunch together and received an email from a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon confirming that her VSD should be able to be repaired and that most likely the PH would resolve itself after the hole in her heart was repaired. He did say that the sooner she received her heart surgery, the greater likelihood the PH would resolve. If she waited too long, the chances of permanent damage to the arteries in her lungs could mean that the PH would not resolve and become a lifelong medical issue for her. We were getting more and more excited about her and started to worry that someone else may discover this precious girl so we called out coordinator and asked to place her file on hold. The hold would allow us 72 hours to consider her exclusively. We were so thrilled to know that she wasn’t already on hold and overwhelmed at the huge decision that was now before us!

Her file was written when she was 7 months old and now she was a day away from being 14 months. What had been going on in the second half of her little life? Was she doing okay? Was she having any complications with her heart? What did she look like now? We had requested an update about her, but realistically knew that additional information may never come. If we could get an update, it very likely would come after our 72 hours window. We knew we couldn’t count on an update and that we needed to be prepared to make a decision with the information we had. At this point we were both very comfortable with her medical condition. All the doctors that had reviewed her file were confident that her VSD could be repaired. We just wanted to pray and pray that we were in God’s will on this one. Was she the one God had picked for us? We wanted to make sure we were following him, so we were in major prayer mode!

By Wednesday night the lack of a decision was really weighing on both of us! We each went for an evening (well more like 11 pm) run and both of us used this time alone to pray and beg God for his direction. I really wanted her to be the one, but fear of making the decision was my stumbling block. We had been so purposeful in following God through all of this that I certainly didn’t want to start charting my own path now. I prayed that God would see our total desire to follow him and give us the peace we needed to make a decision. By the end of my run, I was sold! I wanted her so badly and felt God had given me the peace I needed to move forward. I prayed Chris would come to the same decision. He went on his run after me and came home with a fantastic excitement about this sweet baby. He realized that all that he had prayed for was being answered with this child. We were both able to see how perfectly packaged this gift was and that it was straight from heaven!

Around midnight we decided that this sweet baby, who we first saw on Mother’s Day, would be our daughter! We would do want we could to get her home ASAP so that she could have her heart surgery and hopefully give her the best chance of recovering from her PH. We decided we would call our coordinator in the morning with the good news and to discuss how we could get her home as soon as possible.

This darling baby was now our daughter and I couldn’t wipe the giant smile off my face! We finally knew who she was! This sweet girl we had prayed so much for was becoming so real! We were both so excited that we couldn’t sleep. We laid in bed talking about her and how perfectly she would fit into our family. Then, at 2:29 am our eyes were getting heavy and we were beginning to dose off, my phone beeped indicating that I had an email. It was an email from our coordinator!!! I alerted Chris and we sat up and read the email together. Together we read these words “I am forwarding new pictures and ultra sound pictures (Before and After Surgery) to you.” We were in shock! Our sweet baby had already had her surgery to repair her heart! What an unexpected blessing! Then we saw 4 pictures of her that made us melt! She really is the most adorable thing in all of China!

The excitement was so high, that sleep was not an option! We were down-right giddy! 2 hours after we made our decision, God blessed us with the best update on her we could have received! If it had been in her file that she had already had surgery, I can guarantee that she would have been picked by a family long ago. God arranged every detail to reserve her just for us! How could we sleep at a time like this! We did finally dosed off around 5 am – about an hour before the alarm clocks would go off.

We told the boys before they left for school and shared the pictures with them! Happiness abounded! We were all so thrilled to see the face of the child we have all prayed for so much! Thursday was a fun day filled with sharing our exciting news with our families and close friends. Most had no idea that we had even been reviewing a file. Like us, they all expected that we wouldn’t get a match until our dossier was in China. It was a joyful day to say the least! Even with the lack of adequate sleep, the excitement of it all seemed to carry us through the day!

Thursday night and Friday morning we submitted all of our paperwork to file our LOI (letter of intent to adopt) for our girl. She is now officially matched with our family. Hopefully in a week or so China will issue our PA (Pre Approval) to adopt her. At that point we can share her picture on our blog and share more information about her! In a few weeks our dossier will be going to China. Once they receive it our coordinator estimates that we will travel to get her in about 4 to 5 months! So, we estimate that we should travel sometime in the fall.

We are so happy! We are anxious to share her sweet face with you all and more info about her after we get our PA. We thank you all for your prayers for us during this amazing journey! Please continue to pray for us and our little angel. God has been so good and faithful to us! God, who can do immeasurably more than we can ever ask or imagine, is indeed at work in our family! His fingerprints were all over this past week and we look forward to sharing the evidence of Him with you very soon!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

Mother's Day

I’m so thankful for my 3 amazing kids! They are beautiful, funny, loving and totally wonderful children. I’m so blessed by each one of them and thankful beyond belief that I get to be their mom! We had a wonderful Mother’s Day today. I was treated to a yummy meal and precious handmade gifts from each of them. We had a fun day playing games, laughing and sharing lots of hugs!

Even though it was a great day, it was hard to not feel like someone was missing. You see, I have four kids, not three. Four precious kids occupy my heart. It was hard to not dream of our sweet China girl a little more than normal today. I can’t believe that next year there will be one more in the mix! One more Halvorson running around, making noise, making a mess, making my heart skip a beat and making our family complete.

On this Mother’s Day, I’m so thankful for the blessing of ALL my kids – the 3 under my wing and the one not yet home. I’m so excited to see what God has in store for our family!

3 Months - Update

3 months ago yesterday Chris and I mailed our application to begin the adoption process. It has been 3 months filled with paperwork. This part of the adoption process is referred to the paper chase and for good reason! I feel like I’m constantly following up on paperwork and planning on how to get it through the next stage of the process. To date this is what we have accomplished on the paperwork front:

1/3/11: Opened adoption bank account

1/7/11: Filed our application with our agency

1/15/11: Ordered birth certificates

1/18/11: Sent request for certified marriage certificate

1/20/11: Hired Social Worker

1/25/11: Requested our personal references submit their Reference Forms

1/26/11: Police Clearances for Chris and Amy

1/27/11: Physicals for the kids

1/29/11: Submitted 22 documents and forms to our Social Worker

1/29/11: First home visit with Social Worker

1/30/11: Second home visit Social Worker

2/1/11: Completed Hague required adoption education

2/2/11: Cinnamon’s (the cat) Physical

2/5/11: Texas Background Clearances received

2/7/11: Took Passport pictures for our Dossier

2/8/11: Got Chris’ Employment Verification Letter

2/16/11: Compiled family pictures for Dossier

2/17/11: Got Amy’s Income Verification Letter

2/18/11: Made copies of Passports for Dossier

2/25/11: South Carolina Background Clearances received

3/2/11: Chris and Amy’s Physicals

3/2/11: Home Study draft sent to agency (all Home Study docs are turned in)

3/11/11: Agency approves Home Study

3/26/11: Finally receive hard copy of Home Study

3/26/11: Mail off I800-A (Request of US Govt to adopt from China)

3/27/11: Write Letter to China requesting to adopt from their country

3/28/11: I800-A receipt date(should take about 45-55 days to be approved)

3/29/11: Got all of our Dossier documents notarized

3/30/11: Took Dossier docs to Austin to be state certified by the SOS office

3/31/11: Mailed Dossier docs to courier in Houston to be authenticated by the
Chinese Consulate

4/8/11: Authenticated Dossier docs to be picked up and mailed back to us.


Impressive, huh! Well we aren’t done yet. Next week my Dossier documents should be back from Houston. These very official documents (they have been notarized, certified by the Secretary of State in Austin, and authenticated by the Chinese Consulate in Houston) will be complete. Then 18 of the 19 documents that make up my Dossier will be mailed to my agency in California. They will review them and wait for the final document.

The last document is our approval from the US government to adopt an orphan from China. This approval takes about 45-55 days to get. We are currently at day 12 in the wait for it. Hopefully we will have that approval by mid to late May. If the government shuts down, the office that processes this request will also shut down. So, that wait time could grow if the government budget issues do not get resolved. Once we get the approval we will get it notarized, take it to Austin for the Secretary of State to certify it and then send it to Houston to be authenticated. Then that last piece of paper will be sent to my agency and my Dossier will be complete and on its way to China!!!! We anticipate that that will be in early to mid June (barring a government shutdown or other unforeseen delays).

We will have other paperwork to do at other stages of the process, but nothing like what we have been doing. It is nice to finally have the bulk of it done and be waiting on just ONE piece of paper. It won’t be too long now!!!!


Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Colossians 3:23-24

How Do You Choose Your Child?

How do you choose your child? I’d never considered this until we ventured down this adoption road. I didn’t have to pick my 3 precious kids. I didn’t stand in the nursery window and choose the cutest one. I didn’t read a medical file and select the one who had the cleanest bill of health. Nope, God just knit them nicely in my womb and they were wonderfully ours. But, with our adoption, it just isn’t that simple.

We are adopting through China’s Waiting Child (or special needs) Program and the matching process is quite different than many other international adoption programs. With many other adoptions, a family will receive “the call” from their agency that they have been matched with a child. Then they receive the child’s file with pictures and all the important details about the child. With the Waiting Child (WC) program, because the children have unique needs, the family reviews a child’s file first and then decides if they want to adopt the child or not.

When we started this process we talked with our coordinator about the types and severity of the special needs we are most comfortable with. Based on our input our coordinator will search for a child that may be perfect for our family. Many children are already available on China’s “shared list” – a list of kids available for adoption through any agency. Beautiful kids, boys and girls, of various ages with a variety of special needs. Some of the kids on the list don’t have any medical problems, but are older children and therefore more difficult to adopt out. While we are compiling our Dossier, we can be matched with a child from this list as long as they have been on the list for 30 days or more. More kids are added monthly and the younger kids and the ones with mild or correctable special needs are matched with waiting families very quickly. We have to have our Dossier in China (hopefully by mid June for us) to be matched with a new child.

So as we wait, it is an option for us to look at the more than 2000 children that are on the shared list that are currently waiting for a family to choose them. We can see a picture and read a brief description of their need(s). If we want to know more, we can request the child’s file and review a detailed account of the child – their birthday (often times estimated) circumstances of their abandonment, medical issues, personality, daily routine, and additional pictures. Then you choose - yes, we want to adopt you, or, no, you’re not the one, and they return to the list to continue to wait.

I can see why this is necessary. A family needs to make sure they can meet the needs of the child they bring into their family. But, I must tell you, this is one of the most unsettling things I’ve ever done. These files are real children that are waiting for someone to say “yes.” They have faces, names, personalities and in many ways they aren’t much different from the 3 kids we already have. So, it’s hard to say no – No, you’re not the one. No, your needs are too much for us. No, we won’t be your mommy and daddy.

We recently reviewed a file of an adorable angel that just turned one. To say she is beautiful would be an understatement! She is absolutely precious. I’ve poured over every word in her file so I could learn about what has happened in her first year of life. She was abandoned at a railway station when she was 2 weeks old. Her orphanage felt like her need was too severe and transferred her to a Christian hospice facility to die. The hospice facility realized a surgery would restore her and raised the funds to pay for her surgery. At 2 months of age she spent 2 weeks in the hospital for her surgery. No care taker was able to travel and stay at the hospital with her, so she was there alone. Wow - what a tough start in life! I read about her routine – like what she eats and when she sleeps. I love knowing that she likes music and she smiles and laughs when spoken to. She is wonderful, but sadly I don’t think she is ours. That is hard to type.

It isn’t her special need or anything about her that makes it so, it’s just that after praying and praying and praying about it, we think God has softly told us no. I’ve cried and cried over this sweet darling. I’ve prayed that God would lead the perfect family to her. I’ve prayed that if we’ve gotten this wrong, that he will make it undeniably clear that she is ours. But, for now, it’s no.

This part of the process isn’t talked about much. It’s a tough thing to go through and, in all honesty, it makes you feel awful and uncomfortable. I don’t want to do the choosing. I want to leave that one to God. I believe the choice has already been made and that it was long ago. He knows her and he knows how this story will unravel. Oh, how I want to glorify him through every twist and turn. I must believe that these heartaches along the way are for a purpose. They are to grow my faith, they are to remind me of the MANY children that need a forever family, and they are to prompt me to PRAY for these sweet children. God may not have picked me to be this baby’s mommy, but I KNOW he has picked me to pray for her. I may be the only one doing so right now. I may be filling in the gap until her forever mommy knows her and can pray for her. What a joy it is to do that!!

This process of saying no has left me a weepy mess the last few days. Poor Chris! It has left me with feelings I can’t explain and has re-broken my heart for the many kids that wait for a family. I don’t like the heartache I feel, but I’m thankful God is engaging my heart and aligning it more each day to be like His. One of my favorite lines in Matthew West’s song, My Own Little World, is “Father break my heart for what breaks yours.” I want to care about what God cares about even when it requires my heart to break a little. So, tonight I’m praying for all the orphans who need a family and I’m praying specifically for 2 – my daughter and the sweet angel I know so much about.

The LORD hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.
Psalm 34:17-19

Who Is My Daughter?

Who is my daughter? Where is she? I know she is in China, but where? Is it cold where she is? Is she cold? I really hope she is warm. I hate to be cold. Is she in an orphanage? Does she have loving people to care for her? Does she wonder where her mommy is? Does she even know what a mommy is? Is she in a foster home? Are her foster parents nice to her? Do they hug her and tell her she is special? Is she sick? If so, how sick? Does she have a heart that needs repaired? Does she get winded easily because of it? Does she have to fight to breathe? Does she have a cleft lip that needs to be repaired? Does she struggle to eat because of it? Is she hungry? Oh God, I pray she isn’t hungry. Is she in a hospital? Is she alone? Is she in pain? God, please comfort her if she is. How old is she? Is she walking yet? Did someone celebrate her first steps? Does she giggle with delight? Does it make someone’s heart sing when she does? What makes her giggle? Does she love music? Has she heard music before? Does she like to be outside? Does she get to go outside much? Does she know what love feels like? Does anyone stroke her face and tell her she is loved? I hope so. Does she have chubby baby cheeks? Does someone kiss them? Where is the mother that gave her life? Is she ok? Does she long for her baby girl? Is she awake at night thinking of her? Do we have that in common? Does she wonder about me, like I wonder about her? Can she feel the grace of God easing her pain like I’m praying it will? Comfort her, dear Lord. When will I see our baby girl’s face? Will it be tomorrow or months from now? Will seeing her face make the wait harder? When will I first hold her in my arms? Will she cry? Will she be terrified? Will a caregiver grieve her when she comes home with us? What will she think of her 2 big brothers and her sister? What will she think of Chris and I? How long will it take her to trust us? Will God give me peace from the unrelenting questions in my head? If not, it’s okay.

I have so many questions about my daughter and they can consume my thoughts. At night I lay in bed and the unending questions steal my sleep. I pray for peace from this, but I know it might not be God’s will to relieve me of these questions. I’m thankful for God’s word that offers the only peace from the questions. Thankfully, I do know a few things about my daughter. She is a child of God and he knew her before he formed her in her mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5). God cares about her pain and he knows every tear she cries (Psalm 56:8). God is with her and he is mighty to save! He delights in her and he sings over her (Zephaniah 3:17). God will not leave her as an orphan (John 14:18). He has prepared a family for her and we are blessed to be chosen (Psalm 68:6)!

“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

Thank You

We are currently trying to wrap up our Home Study. One of the last things we need is our child abuse clearances from South Carolina. We read (on a China adoption forum) about other families waiting 6 weeks or more to get the clearance form back from South Carolina. Waiting that long would hold up our Home Study for a month or more. Chris decided to call the office and see if he could find someone willing to track down our forms and process them. He found a wonderful lady that went very much out of her way to find our forms and process them. Chris sent her the following email and CCed me on it. I couldn't resist sharing it with you all. I think my husband is so great!

XXXXX,
I just wanted to follow up with you and thank you for helping us on our journey to get our little girl. Your pleasant and helpful attitude is refreshing. Your willingness to take the time to help a family you have never met and likely won’t this side of heaven has been a blessing to my wife, Amy, and I. Thank you for your promptness. I know you had to track it down, when it sounds like you have plenty of piles of documents to work on. May God grant you joy, efficiency, and perseverance with your workload. Your part may not seem glamorous, but for every day you are able to shorten the process, our little girl will spend one less day of her life in an orphanage. Thank you again for taking time out of your day to help us. Thank you even more for speeding the journey of a special needs orphan waiting somewhere in China for a forever family.

With Respect and a great deal of thanks,
Chris & Amy

Isn't that so great! I hope his email blessed her! This was such a great reminder to me to be thankful for all of the people that play a part in this process, big or small.

So many people have and will help us along the way. I hope to be able to personally thank as many of them as possible. Some people will (and already have) helped us in BIG ways. We have the joy of thanking them - even when words seem inadequate for the gratitude we feel. Sadly, many people will help us that we will never be able to personally thank. Someone right now in China is my baby's primary care giver. We most likely will never meet her to look in her eyes and express our gratitude for the love and care she provided to our daughter when we couldn't. I can only pray that God will bless the many people that we will never be able to thank. Our family appreciates all of the help and work and generosity that has already been poured out on us in this journey. As always, we covet your prayers. We sincerely and humbly thank you for praying for us and for your intercessions on our behalf.



I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. Ephesians 1:6