God let us know that adoption was the way he wanted us to add to our family, daughter(8), son(2 1/2).  Guided by Him we picked China, then he sent us to a seminar where we met Snow.  The connection was made, and we were on our life changing experience.

Six to eight weeks we were told.  China shut down, all broke down, including us.  It was an excrutiating 12 1/2 month wait, my faith was there, but my patience wasn't always with me.  I kept asking God, 'I know you've got Hannah picked for us, but I need your help, why so long?!'  We asked for a 4-6 year old, we received a 4 month old.  Again, God knew best.  We were thrilled, her picture came and I saw such serenity in her eyes.  She has not disappointed us!  The orphanage director brought her into the room, her eyes locked with mine, I knew God had let Hannah Min know I was to be her mother.  She should have been crying, but she wasn't.  In that moment we were connected, forever mother and daughter.  I've never known such calmness, such serenity, it
is indescribable.

The trip was an emotionally and physically draining trip, not one to be taken without your spouse or traveling companion.  My husband stayed home with our two and a half year old son, as I ventured to China with our eight year old daughter, Kristin, who proved to be indespensable!  (A little mother in the making)  I totally broke down one day and would not have made it without the support of my good friends Cindy and Rick Champnella with whom I was able to share our never to be forgotten adoption experience.  I will never be able to thank them enough.

Our homecoming was unforgettable.  Friends waiting with banners, balloons and gifts.  All waiting to get a glimpse of Hannah Min.  My husband, Mike, waiting nervously, flowers in hand, hugs and kisses just moments away.  I was never so happy to be home in his arms, our family circle complete.

From start to finish we waited 20 months for this moment.  Was it worth it?  Every second!  Our family now complete.  The bonding has begun.  We cannot think of life without our Hannah Min!  All the glory goes to God!

Sidenote:  We have now been home over 7 weeks and Hannah is now approximately 6 months old.  She is rolling over, pushing up, laughing, squealing, giggling, recognizes her name, holds and shakes objects and when placed in the sitting position will stay there for approximately 30 seconds before falling over; all of which she did NOT do when we received her.  It is amazing to witness the blossoming of one of God's children, as we have witnessed with our other two precious children.The gift of life is a gift to cherish.

First, we (Frank and Lisa Walsh and our 8-year-old son Benjamin) were part of a group of 6 sets of parents. While we all left for Beijing on Thursday, January 8, we and several others took different airlines, so we did not meet some of our companion parents until we arrived on Saturday. Great Wall China Adoption had a very affable and competent guide greet us at the airport. He had a car and driver waiting for us, drove us to our hotel, checked us in (even got us the cot we needed for Benjamin), and called Cynthia, who was to be our main guide for the remainder of the trip.  Cynthia and two other parents had been touring the Great Wall that morning and were en route back to Beijing. That gave us an hour to settle in (we were so excited we didn't even take a nap!). Cynthia picked us up in a mini-van at the door of our hotel. We were very excited to finally meet Danna Autrey, her nearly 8-year-old daughter Kristin, and Cindy and Rick Champnella. I had gotten to know them both via e-mail, and Jack, another incredibly wonderful guide hired by Great Wall, took us to the Chinese Office of Civil Affairs, where we completed the first part of our adoption process. We had the rest of the day to ourselves, which we used to take a cab to the White Swan Hotel and to shop and tour. We had gotten the idea to do this from some other adoptive parents we met in the hotel. Little did we know just how many other adoptive parents we would meet in the hotel--there were dozens! It was a delight to be able to easily introduce yourself to an obviously beaming parent as they held their beautiful Chinese child, carried them in a Snugli, or rolled them in a stroller. We felt an incredible connection with these parents as we learned where their children were from, where they were from, how their trip had gone, and when they would be leaving for home. We met a number of single women traveling with their own mothers. We thought that was especially touching and that it must have meant a lot for those adoptive mothers to share the emotion-packed trip with their own mothers In meeting so many adoptive parents, we felt part of something much bigger than ourselves. We saw dozens of children headed for loving homes, and we multiplied that by the weeks and months in a year. Suddenly, the 6,000 children predicted to be adopted in 1997 became very real to us

We returned to the hotel in the late afternoon, arms loaded down with our shopping treasures--silk jacket and dress for the baby and silk pajamas for Benjamin and assorted other gifts for friends and family. We were disappointed when we didn't find Danna and Kristin and the Champnellas back yet. So, we waited in anticipation--and closer to dinner time they returned with their beautiful babies. Seeing Christiana Champnella and Hanna Min Autrey brought the reality of having a baby even closer, and we were filled with excitement and a little panic! Tomorrow was our day! This was finally going to happen. We weren't in Austin, Texas waiting for our referral anymore...  we were here, and tomorrow Kate would be ours. Needless to say, there was an air of unreality about it all, and I asked my husband to pinch me so I'd know this really was all real!

Tuesday morning we met Jack in the lobby hotel at 8am sharp. He had gotten a small red car and a driver to take us directly to Kate's orphanage in GaoMing City, just 50 minutes northwest of Guangzhou. We loaded the car with our gifts in bright-colored paper bags for the director, nanny, driver, notary, and a few extra gifts, plus the diaper bag, camera, video camera, and snacks and water for the drive.

We were also excited about seeing the countryside. Just outside of Guangzhou, we stopped at an Exxon gas station. While we were filling up, two motorcycles pulled up alongside us--each with large cages attached to the back. One was filled with chickens--the other with snakes! I felt silly as I asked the fellow driving the snakes if we could take a photo...  but he said yes...  and I surreptitiously took out my camera and took it quickly, I guess before he had a chance to think about it more and say no.
The countryside was mostly flat and agricultural. I wondered out loud what the orphanage would be like and most importantly what Kate would be like!

After 45 minutes on the road, we traveled over a bridge and saw a sign that said GaoMing City and my heart skipped a beat, I'm sure. We were here! I quickly took out the camera and started taking photos of Kate's hometown. We stopped in front of some apartments and the GaoMing Textile Factory to ask for directions. Ultimately, we had to call the orphanage, and someone who worked there met us in town so we could follow him. As we waited in the car for the worker to come meet us, I felt suspended in time I also felt like a stranger in this town...  that we were there for a mission, and then we would be quickly out again. I looked out the front windshield at this nicely planned town with a tree-lined boulevard. I looked at the shops and the people working in them and thought about how different Kate's life would be if she had grown up in it. But we were here to take her to another nice town very far away. I took a few more photos, then the driver arrived, and we were off. We passed some construction, and suddenly we were traveling on an unpaved road. We turned right, and there was the orphanage looming in front of us--a two or three story structure with very large letters across the top in bright red on a yellow background. We drove through a gated entry and parked, the only car there. At the entrance stood several adults; I know I got out of the care cautiously...I was nervous. Jack opened the trunk so we could get the diaper bag, and he suggested we leave the gifts there until later when it was the right time to give them
We walked down the path to the outdoor stairs, walked up a few steps to the next landing, and then were greeted by the orphanage director. She led us to a meeting room and, after some smile-filled greetings, offered us all some tea. We gratefully accepted, even our 8-year-old, who had never had hot tea in his life. It's difficult to be in such an emotional and complex situation and not be able to communicate directly--but Jack did a superb job of that--we felt entirely comfortable asking him to ask whatever we needed. Then we met the nanny who took care of Kate. She was a cheery woman who seemed to be in her early forties. Then the notary and scial worker joined us.

The director said they would bring Kate to us in a few minutes. I know we all paced the floor. Who could sit?--although there were at least 10 wooden chairs around the large rectangular table in the center of the room.

Between taking sips of tea and glimpses through through the open doorway, we smiled and "talked".  Jack Frank got out the video camera and prepared for her arrival...  and then there she was! They handed her to me, Benjamin was at my side, and Frank was videotaping. The moment seemed somehow familiar.  .  perhaps because we had thought of this moment so many times before. In some ways we had rehearsed it. But this was the real thing. I leaned Kate towards Benjamin to introduce her to her big brother, and Ben smiled at her. The director and nanny laughed and smiled, too. I studied Kate's face. She was calm, not a bit upset, but she was expressionless, too. We soon learned that Kate is a contemplative child, and, although she gives us many laughs and smiles now, she also has her thoughtful side.

Then came the paperwork. Frank put his arms out for Kate, and I sat at the table with Jack taking the lead. I had a list of the papers we needed to come away with and got that out. We started with the notary. Review and make sure the English translation is accurate, sign papers, pay the stated amount, and get the receipt. Jack made sure the English matched the Chinese version exactly. I felt caught between the bureaucracy of all the needed paperwork and wanting to look at and hold Kate. Logic vs emotion...it was a tug and pull. My mind was spinning.

The director and nanny sat down with Benjamin. They were really taken with his big blue eyes and his Spurs cap. Frank brought Kate over to him and the nanny put the cap on Kate's head. Everyone laughed. We finally finished the paperwork, and I had all the time I needed to ask the nanny my list of questions. What is her schedule? What formula is she drinking? What does she like and not like? The nanny was gracious and indulged my most detailed questions. Then we were ready to leave...  but not before we took a photo of all of us.  .  the director, the nanny, and our new family! We will be sending them a copy of that photo to include in a photo album they shared with us of the other children adopted from that orphanage and their new families. It was clear that they got great pleasure knowing the children were going to loving homes.

We left the meeting room, took a few photos of the outside of the building (they would not allow us into any other part of the orphanage), and then we said our good-byes. We videotaped the nanny and asked her what she might like to say to Kate; I assured her we would show Kate the video when she got older so she would know who cared for her. After hugs and more good-byes, we got into the car with a now-sleeping Kate and left the place where Kate began...a place we likely will never see again.

The car rocked up and down as we traveled back down the dirt road, past the bamboo scaffolding at the construction site and into town I held Kate in my arms, gazing at her peacefulness, and I knew our lives and hers would be forever changed. I felt sad as we emerged from town and onto the main highway en route to Guangzhou Kate Xin Walsh, or Yu Xiu Gao, as she was named by the orphanage, was leaving the place where she began and starting a new chapter in her young life. In her peaceful sleeping, I could also feel that she was, and is, a brave little girl. Her life already had been full of changes...and now here were more. But she has shown us each and every day her excitement with life, her unending curiosity, and her sweet disposition. We are grateful indeed that we are able to nurture that excitement and share with her our own joy in life and our love for family, of which she is now a part.
We returned to the hotel, anxious to show her off to the other parents. We changed her into clothes we had brought with us only to find that she had on seven shirts! She cried for the first time as we undressed her. But later, to our delight, she began to make beautiful cooing sounds.

Later in the day, the three other sets of parents arrived from Nanjing. The rest of the week was spent very much as a group as we got the children's photos taken and medical exams performed for their visas. We trudged though a heavy rainstorm together, ate a marvelous Chinese celebratory lunch together, shopped for the perfect gifts together, and shared stories of how the nights were going with the babies and what their personalities were like.

Between our official business and our two visits to the American Consulate at the end of the week (which Cynthia orchestrated beautifully), she and her assistant guide, Peter, took us to many interesting place in Guangzhou--a jade factory, family temple, open market, and more. We have dozens of amazing photos, a terrific video, and many treasures that we are sharing with friends and family and that in the years ahead will bring back fond memories of the incredible trip we made to add precious Kate to our family.

We look forward to staying in touch with our "China Group" of parents and meeting many more parents who have adopted children in China, as well as those who will adopt children in the future!