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Ella is from my great-grandmother’s name Isabella and Grace is when you get something you don’t deserve…and we feel like we are.

We were patiently waiting for a regular referral from China, when we felt lead to place our family on the “waiting child list” in case our little girl had some sort of special need-we didn’t want to miss THE ONE. This is the e-mail I wrote to the Special Needs Coordinator at our agency specifying who we thought she might be…

Dear Allison,

As I have been thinking, pondering, praying and wondering, I feel the need to be more specific concerning who our daughter might be.

We will still consider cleft lip/cleft palate, but I believe in my heart that the way we will know she is ours will be if she has cleft palate, but not lip( I know you said that never happens, if it does, how sure will we be?!), or an ASD/VSD or webbing of her fingers. Also, I think tongue issues or some sort of ear trouble may be a red flag to us that she might be the one. All the other things I told you yes on, we will certainly consider, especially if coupled with one of these.

I am the kind of person who likes to know who what when where and why, and I fret over everything. This adoption has been the most peaceful event I have probably ever experienced, in my spirit. I have known that we were supposed to do this all along, no questions asked. I have been patient in every step, completely one day at a time, totally a God thing. I tell you this because I don’t want you to think I am some kind of kook that things she’s psychic or something! I am just trying to share what I feel like God has placed in my heart and I think it might make your job easier-mine, too. I am still completely open to the possibility that we might stick around and recieve a referral with our group in Sept. or Oct. as planned. I just felt the need to share these thoughts with you, who may influence the makeup of my family.

It is really awesome to see God work in this, in my family and in my own heart. Thanks for being a part.

Sincerely,
Robin Pass
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Fu Zhi Yuan’s Growth Report

Fu Zhi Yuan, female, was born on December 13, 2002. Her birth parents abandoned her when she was about two months old. On February 12, 2003 she was brought into our orphanage until now. At the initial physical exam, her height was 52cm, weight was 3.1kg, head measurement was 37cm and chest measurement was 33cm. Currently we gave her physical exam, her height is 78cm, weight is 8kg, head measurement is 44cm and chest measurement is 47. She has no contagious disease or chronic disease. She has received the immunization shots according to the requirement.

Fu Zhi Yuan is a quiet and adorable girl. She is easy content and does not cry often. She likes music, playing toys and games. She can walk freely and step up and down the stairs. She also can pick up a block from a cup and put it in. She can put the lid on. Her fingers work together. She tries to imitate in drawing a line or speaking some simple words. Fu Zhi Yuan understands the adults facial express and makes the proper response. She understands the meaning of your words. She cooperates when you help her to put on cloth. She can take off her cloth. She is happy when being adored by adults. She is easy to adjust to a new environment. She meets her age development level.

Fu Zhi Yuan has very good living pattern. She goes to bed on time and eats on time. She eats noodles and porridge, plus milk and rice formula. She has good appetite and eats four times a day. She loves fruit juice. She sleeps well.

August 19, 2004
Haikou City Social Welfare Institute

June 14, 2004-received packet from AWAA and decided to adopt a baby girl from China
August 9, 2004-made contact with Lifeline Children’s Services out of Birmingham to conduct our Home Study
August 25, 2004-fingerprinted for DHR, Alabama!
September 1, 2004-sent first application to AWAA
September 1, 2004-applied for certified copies of birth and marriages certificates
September 14, 2004-received preliminary approval to adopt through America World
September 15, 2004-mailed first USCIS I-600 application to begin naturalization for our future child
September 21, 2004-our I-600 application was logged in
September 21, 2004-sent first big payment to AWAA
October 12, 2004-Frank wrote Vital Records to obtain a copy of his “Certification of Birth Abroad”
October 14, 2004-applied for Passports
October 15, 2004-ABI clears Frank to adopt
October 21, 2004-ABI clears Robin to adopt (hum…they must have had more questions about me!)
October 30, 2004-fingerprinted for FBI for I-600
November 4, 2004-completed application letter (with a little help from my friend the grammar nazi-Amy Kelsey!)
November 9, 2004-Robin’s physical
November 22, 2004-Frank’s physical
November 24, 2004-Frank wrote Vital Records to request a copy of his birth cert. that said he is MALE – not female like the one we received
Throughout November-constant visits to the “God-Notary”-Sue Darouge
December 3, 2004-first Home Study visit at Lifeline Children’s Services in Birmingham with Jennifer Knierim
December 10, 2004-individual Home Study visits at Lifeline
December 16, 2004-Home visit for Lifeline
December 23, 2004-local police reports obtained for both of us
January 12, 2005-Home Study completed and notarized
January 19, 2005-LOTS of county and State certifications on many documents!!!
January 27, 2005-sent Frank’s birth certificate to Chinese Embassy for Authentication
March 2, 2005-Received long awaited I-171H-hooray!!
March 3, 2005-county and state cert. for I-171H and off it goes to the Chinese Consulate in Houston, TX-Happy Birthday to me!!
March 15, 2005-fedexed completed dossier to AWAA
March 18, 2005-AWAA sent our dossier to China
March 21, 2005-CCAA signed for receipt of our Dossier
March 30, 2005-wrote Allison Kraftson, special needs coordinator to add our family to the waiting child list, with very specific requests
April 11, 2005-dossier logged in to the China Center for Adoption Affairs- and the waiting begins!!
June 3, 2005-AWAA receives 22 special needs referrals, it will be next week before they are translated and we find out if our Ella Grace is one of them
June 8, 2005-Allison calls with a referral she thinks might be our little girl!!
June 9, 2005-we know for sure it IS our little girl
June 14, 2005-we fedexed Letter of Intent to adopt Fu Zhi Yuan a two year old baby girl with a 2nd degree cleft palate, because really she is Ella Grace and we have to go and get her
June 16, 2005-received notification that we had received a Shaohannah’s Hope adoption grant for over 20% of our adoption costs-an AMAZING display of God’s provision!
June 17, 2005-LOI sent to China from AWAA
July 19, 2005- sent care package to Ella Grace, she could recieve it in 3-5 days
August 1, 2005-Travel Approval arrived from the Chinese Government for us to adopt-in a record breaking 6 weeks!
August 2, 2005-mailed visa applications to Chinese consulate in Houston, TX-flight arrangements made August 3, 2005-2+ hour conference call with AWAA and all the other families who travel on August 18 about travel specifics-boy am I tired!
August 8, 2005-Received Chinese Visas
August 18, 2005-Left for China
August 22, 2005-GOTCHA Day!
September 2, 2005-Ella Grace lands in Chicago and the Department of Homeland Security stamps her Passport-she’s an American girl now! This is also the day she met her sisters for the first time, her grandparents, her Aunt Katie and Lori, too!

We have been planning to have a great big used book sale to build funds for the $3,000 orphanage donation required by us as part of our adoption. We have been blessed as friends and family have donated many books for us to sell, and a couple have just decided to donate money-which we didn’t request but gratefully accepted. Since we started this effort, much has changed! We were expecting to receive a referral in October for a 10-12 month old baby and travel sometime in late November or December. Since we accepted the referral of Fu Zhi Yuan, a 2 year old darling with a cleft palate in early June, things have been moving very rapidly! Our travel is now more than likely happening in September. We are so excited to be able to get her earlier than we thought! However, this and the fact that Clay Crosse is coming to do a benefit concert for us on August 19, has made it difficult to find a date for the book sale before we leave for China. SO…we are still planning our used book sale, but it has been tentatively pushed back to October 22-and Ella Grace will be there! Thank you for all your books, if you have others, please contact us and we’ll pick them up. We have a great collection of used books, it should be a great sale.