Hello America

Hello America
Originally uploaded by The is's.

More Photos at home. Laney is getting more and more used to her life in America and she is having fun doing it. She has more smiles for everyone everyday. Life is Good and it's better with her in our lives.

Welcome Home Pics

Welcome Home
Originally uploaded by The is's.

We finally got around to posting the photos of our return home. Enjoy!!!

On the home front

I have been scolded a bit for not adding more to our blog with pictures. So today will be a treat for some of you.

Let's see, I dont think we posted any pictures of our arrival. We got in very late and I was told by my Father-in- law how awful I looked. (gee, its not like I had a two day trip from China with a baby) So please look past my appearence. We were very happy to be home and you will see how happy Wesley and Austin were to have us home with their little sister.

It has now been just over a week since we got back and although its been a bit of an adjustment, we are settling in. Laney took about 5 days to get used to the time change, but had made her own sleep pattern that works well. She sleeps from 10 pm to around 6:30 am, naps from 10-12, then again from 4-5 or so. She was very weak at crawling, but in just this short time, has begun to go all over the house and wants to walk with me holding her fingers. She will only do this for me, and on rare occaisions, Kevin. She enjoys it more with shoes on (go figure). She loves her bath!!!!

I worked in a daycare on a military base, when Kevin and I were newly married. I remember how we had to stick to a schedule or things did not get done. We did have SOME time to play with the babies, but not alot, so I understand how an orphanage must get at times. I do not, nor can I get upset with the fact that most of the babies are a bit behind. The nannies are doing the best they can for these children, and I am forever greatful that Laney had them and our Heavenly Father to care for her. I must say that I am rather happy to be the one to see some of the "first times" or strides she is making. She is a joy and I am glad to be the one teaching her and sharing in her accomplishments.

She is warming up to Kevin. Laney will give him kisses and has been letting him spend time with her without crying. Today she actually let him put her in the carseat, take her out, and has been playing with him (happily I might add) while I have been on the computer. I am blessed at the changes EVERY day.

She experienced Church for the first time this last Sunday, and sang though the entire worship service. She loves to sing, and wants the music on at meals. We have a CD player next to the table and knows what it can do, so she will reach for it and sings, until we start the music. I am so glad, I love to sing and to listen to music, now I have someone else in the house to do this with, while Kevin is at work.

Speaking of work, Kevin starts back to work tomorrow, and I am finally turning in my resignation from full time, today. I can help out part time until they fill my position, but I know Laney needs me home. I hope to work part time in an office, we will see what God has in mind. This is a test of my Faith. I now have to lean more on the Lord to provide. I know I will be facing "colder winds" but the Lord is trustworthy and will see us through. By no means are we going to be in the poor house!!! But I will need to make adjustments, and weed out bills we dont need. Raising a family is worth it.

We will post more, but dont expect it to happen tomorrow. Ha Ha

We are Home!!!!!

Well we haven't posted in a couple days so, We thought we would catch every one up... First of all WE ARE HOME and very glad to be there. We had a great time and met some good people, but it is good to be home.

On March 2,2006 We got all the paperwork completed and loaded all the families, (about 50), into buses for a forty minute bus ride across Guangzhou to the new location of the U.S. Consulate adoption affairs office so we could swear an oath. We arrived went through a security point and then had someone verify that we still looked like our passport photos and then set around for another twenty minutes, and then the moment everyone was waiting for, actually about 15 seconds, we all raised our right hands and stated that we had told the truth.

Sorry no pictures, we wern't allowed to bing cameras. If you ask me, logistically speaking, I would pay for a limo for the one government employee to travel across town and meet fifty families and babies in a conference room and have them swear the oath rather than the way it is done now. Just seems easier and smarter, but the governement was involved so ....

After the ride home (hotel) we got busy packing and buying our last minute souveniers to get rid of our Chinese money. Good excuse anyway. We had dinner at a Cantonese Restaraunt with some friends one last time, this was where we had the group dinner and the assistant of our guides. It was a little different without them. After we politely declined the chinese tea three times they went ahead and served us the tea so we drank it.


We then ordered from the menu what appeared to be the safest items. this was the same place with the Fear Factor Menu on dispay as you go through the door there are pidgeons and chickens hanging in the window and the worms and beetles etc. Today they had special live turtles in a box Yummmy It was hard to decide between that or the double boiled pig lung. Despite the language barrier we ended up with a good meal and good company to finish the trip. We then returned to the room to finish our packing. Laney wasn't to excited to be put in the crib while we packed and cried (screamed) the whole time but we got it all done.

On March 3,2006 we got up at 4:30 am and put our luggage out the door then went to our last breakfast buffet. I will miss my Chinese Dim Sum for breakfast everyday but we won't miss the store keepers harrassing us to buy something when were within ten feet of their store. Shopping is a pain at Shaiman Island. You cannot walk through a store and look at items in leisure, You will be followed everystep and told exactly what your looking at and that it comes in different colors and sizes too. Even Big sizes. For example we would glance at a pair of shoes in passing and be told "These are shoes" "They come in big sizes too." etccc. Also "You buy more here I make good deal for you"

Anyway I will appreciate going to Wal-mart and being ignored, not smiled and waved to and then paying ten times the amount for items made in China that I would have bought while I was in China if they hadn't bugged me so much to buy it in the first place. It was a great deterrant for Tina and other wives who love to shop.

Enough on that, We then boarded our final bus to the airport and saw the sunshine again for the four out of fifteen days it came out while we were there. Our guides helped us get checked in and then we and two other families bid them farewell and went to our gate to wait for the plane.

The trip went well even though it was still long and long and long. Laney did well on the trip despite how, did I mention that it was a LONG trip, She only fussed a few times and threw up on Tina, another excuse to get a new shirt as soon as we landed in Los Angeles. However, the shirt was cheaper than lunch in Hong Kong. I ordered some pork chops with steamed rice and Tina had a tuna sandwhich and a bag of chips that cost $161.00 Hong Kong Dollars, about $23.00 U.S.

We arrived in LA and had to wait for immigration to do their thing, then Laney was officially an American Citizen. Again no pictures allowed in immigration. Your Government does not want proof that they work leaked out.

This is Laney and Tina after we touched down in Los Angeles, too tired for much fanfare but happy to be in America again.

Today if we want to, we can drink tap water!!!








After another nine hours of planes and airports we made it home to our boys and friends. Tina could see the boys as we taxied up to the airport terminal and she started crying before the plane stopped. The boys were staring out the window waiting for us to get off the plane. It was a wonderful sight to see them again and we are truly glad to be home and extremely thankful and appreciative of our friends who took care of them and our house and dog while we were gone We owe you all so much.

Laney greeted her big bothers Wesley and Austin with a smile and figured that they are all right. She had a little tougher time greeting the new time zone and sleeping in her new home for the first night, but the second night is going well. We will post more soon.

Family Visa

Family Visa
Originally uploaded by The is's.

Hello to all,
First off I would really like to apologize for not posting everyday like we thought we would be, without a computer in our room we have to borrow one from another family or use the business center, and that means having good timing, with a new baby, that is not happening.

We have made great strides with Laney in just the short four days we have had her. At first Kevin could not get near her or she would scream. But she is smiling at him, letting him kiss her, and they even went to get me a coffee down the street, this morning while I was getting ready for the day. She is becoming a very happy baby.

She is eating more now too. Laney has a bowl of conjie (rice soup)for every meal along with some solid foods. She has done all the things a healthy baby does and has added some strong smells to them as well. It has been alog time since I had to change a nasty diaper, but I am soooo happy to do it.

We have gone on some tours, today we went to a buddest temple,(when you have seen one you have seen them all) a craft store, where we bought several pearl bracelets, and tea sets. then to a very old home. We took pictures of a painting done on a grain of rice!!

We are missing home badly and cant wait to eat a Taco Johns again!!! (boys you know what we mean, Wed. are just not the same right now)

As you can see, We are still doing the paperwork to bring Laney home, we got our Family Visa done and Laney's passport picture taken. We also hade her medical exam done, boy was she mad!!! There are three areas to the exam and by the time she got to the hearing and eye exam, she was screaming to bad the doctor did not think she could hear the squeaking ball to test for her hearing, and continuted to squeak it in her ear as we walked out the door. I would have been screaming too.

All in all it has been a wonderful trip, If the boys could have been with us it would have been heaven on earth. Today I found myself crying as I watched my daughter sleeping in my arms, and one of our guides caught me. The CCAI reps are the tops, and I cannot express to you how wonderful they are!! They remembered Kevins Birthday on their own and got him a wonderful cake!! Let me tell you, we will forever sing the praises of our Father in heaven for our family and for directing us to CCAI!! We will be using them again for sure!

Well my time is up, I hope to post again soon, and thank you all for your prayers, Kevin has said he feels them, I must say, I feel tired!!
Love you all

Wesley I miss you sooo much!!! Keep up the great work on your school work and the paper route I think of your wonderful face everyday!!

Austin, My Little Austin boy, Oh how I want to kiss you, I do soooo want to see you and hear your voice, I can wait to see you with Laney!! You two will get along like peas and carrots!!
Love Mom

First Glimpse

First Glimpse
Originally uploaded by The is's.

This is the first sight of Laney coming through the door.

Click on the picture to view more photos.

Blessed Day +1

After we got to Guangzhou, we had to wait for a day and then we had to wait until two in the afternoon to drive over by bus to meet the babies. Tina was about a basket case when we got before we got there. As soon as we got there it was a matter of minutes before they started bringing the babies in the door. We had to wait until third to last because of the alphabetical order but it was so fast it was all a blur. We all took turns passing still and video cameras around the room and back as everyone got their babies. Laney did not cry at all. She was calm and looked at us both and then looked around the room. She was so calm and about fifteen minutes after she fell asleep in my arms for a half an hour or so while we met the director of the orphanage and the head nanny. Her main Nanny brought her in and scooted out without saying Hi or identifying herself. We were just amazed at how God had Blessed us on this day and everyone had a fairly smooth match. Later and today she has chosen Tina for her comfort more and will come to me when she is distracted and let me carry her for a few minutes. She was having a rougher day today and realizing that her Nanny isn't coming back but we have been able to make her smile some too today. Well I'll cut this short today and try and get some pictures uploaded. We're having trouble with it so far.

We are in GUANGZHOU!!!!!!!!!

Hi to all,We are finally in Guangzhou. We will not got the babies until tomorrow at 3pm. We were told the babies have to travel about 6 hours to get to us, and will be quite tired. We got to the hotel and found the crib all set up and waiting for our little Laney.

We just spent two days in Hong Kong and had a nice time, but we are still struggling to get used to the time change. We had several tours and saw the gate to Jackie Chan's house. His house number is 99. We were told that people have to pay for any numbers that they want here in China as there is such a signifigance to what they all mean. 99 means Long Long Life. The word is he paid over a million US dollars for his house number. We also got a picture of his "Star" on the Avenue of Stars. (same thing as the walk of fame in Hollywood)

The plane ride here was very short and smooth. Lots of culture shock!! I am having a hard time not wanting to close myself up from all the crowds and sales people. Well the big day is tomorrow!!! and we will have plenty of pictures for you on that day.

Riding the Balto express

WOW!! Well we are on our way, one day early, but we are on our way. We were not planned to leave until today, but the weather in Gillette kept deteriorating. God was watching our backs, and had my supervisor call us at home, as we were still packing and trying to clean house to keep the chaos down when we returned. Thank you Jeanette for letting us know about how bad it had gotten. She encouraged us to call the airport and see if we could get out a day early.

God was before us and we were successful at doing this with no extra fees. Our Boys were in a bit of shock from all the rushing around and Roxie(our dog) is probably still trying to make sense of what happened. We made it to Denver around 5pm, got to the hotel and had a bite to eat. Now we are trying to keep busy as we do not depart Denver until 7 tonight. I could probably tell you where just about every store and resturant is in the airport by the end of the day.

Hey this works, we have to go, see you in Hong Kong.

Happy Birthday Laney

What a great day!!! We had Laney's Birthday/shower yesterday after church, and it was a wonderful time. We are truly blessed to have such a great Church family! They have been our support and encouragement through the two years we have been working on this adoption, Words of "go for it!" and "Thats is wonderful!" and "Is there anything we can do to help?" With all their prayers and Love, we have taken each step fully trusting in our Lord for all to work out!

They are sooooooo excited we will have to issue a quarantine on our home once we return. I have Stephanie lined up for guard duty on the front porch, no one can stand up to her 95 lbs.

Laney did turn 1 yr yesterday, and we have a birthday cake waiting for her in the freezer once we get back home. The women who put on the shower did a wonderful job and I can't thank them enough!! I did show the National Geographic film "China's lost girls" and there was not a dry eye in the house. Including me, and I have seen it about 50 times. (I usually watch it after I repack her bag!!! Ha Ha)

The film really helped with alot of questions that many people have. If you don't have a copy I would recommend getting one.

We also got a print out of our flight plan today. We will secure them tomorrow and have several "appointments" through out the week between our travel agency and our adoption agency, before we leave on the 17th. It will be a busy time getting ready!!! We will be flying overnight and arrive on the 18th at 7:45 am. We will not be getting Laney until the 20th, but would love your prayers for peace and comfort for all involved.

We may not post until we reach Hong Kong so be patient, and God Bless!!!!

And the wheel turns round and round...

Jan 25th 2005

It seems like forever since we have posted, I'm sure some of you are thinking. It feels that way to me as I write. Once again we are in the waiting stage. We now must wait for a travel approval from China to go and get Laney. This can take up to 5 weeks, leaving some families only a weeks notice for travel. Not to worry for us, I am so ready to go!!! I really have packed and repacked Laney's bag about 5 times now. All thats left is to throw a few clothes in for us and we are out the door!!

Since our referral we have recieved a travel packet from our agency, informing us that we had 5-7 days to send in for our visa's. This was very sad for us, as we STILL had not gotten Wesley's passport, and Austin STILL had no Birth certificate. The expense for them to come was just too much for us even if we had these documents. We trust the Lord, and know his plans are perfect. So our boys are staying with some dear friends of ours from our Church Family.

We have also sent Laney a care package, with a few things that our agency suggested. We sent a coat, toys, a soft photo album with family pictures in it. (the nannies start right away showing it to the children and getting them used to our faces) a camera in hopes they will take pictures of her for us, and a big chocolate Kiss for the Nanny !! We were given some Chinese characters to put on each item, so they would understand what to do with it all.

We also recieved information on Laney's past, yesterday. This was a little emotional for me, as I picture everything in my head. Her orphanage sent the information that....
"On Feb 13, 2005 a babygirl was left at the gates of the Xinyi Socal Welfare Institute. The police were called and an investigation to find her parents was conducted with no results. She was left in a set of plaid clothes and weighed 7.5 lbs. She was 19.6 inches long." They estimated her birth to be February 5th 2005, as she had no note with her to inform of her birth.

The information stated how she has been fed over the last year and her monthly progress in muscle and mental development. It was said she loves to play with her feet as toys. (see last posts pictures) "She is a good girl, and cares about others, she is willing to share." She is extroverted and active, and is especially interested in things red in color. (maybe that is why they gave her a middle name meaning red??)

We also got a copy of her shot record, which is not much. No doubt we will have to start from scratch when we back from China.

Things are moving along, just not fast enough for me. I want to be with her NOW. We estimate travel in about another three weeks. We pray we can be with her on Kevin's Birthday. We hope to get a Travel approval before the Chinese New Year, Jan 29th - Feb 2nd, as everything comes to a stand still for about a week.

Our Church is giving Laney a birthday shower on her birthday, and I will post at that time with more pictures etc.. Until then...

Referral Day!!!

Jan 5th 2006,

Wow, what a crazy ride this has been the last few days!! We were informed on the 29th of Dec that our referral was sent from China and would more than likely be here on Jan 2nd. Our hopes were dashed when we found out that is did not arrive. Kevin and I had made reservations at a motel in Denver as we wanted to be at CCAI personally to get our referral. We had to call and change that reservation. On the next morning we were all sure that the referrals would be in, at around 9 am we were informed that the package with our referrals were stuck in customs in NY and our agency did not expect them in their office for another day or two.

We were crushed!! Our boys reluctantly went to school expecting us to pick them up early to head to Denver on Wed the 3rd, and now we needed to give them the bad news again. We put off the task as long as possible, calling the motel and changing the room date for the second time. The motel staff was wonderful about it and went out of their way to help. (Thank you Lord) I went off to lick my wounds and drive around for a while. As I am an Animal Control officer I was able to use patrolling as an excuse.

At 11:15 Kevin called rather jovial and asked why I was working when we needed to head to Denver. I could not believe my ears. He had just gotten word that the referrals did make it to our agency and we needed to get on the road, "Go pick up the boys, I'll pack the car" In a flash I informed my boss who wished me well and sent me on my way.

We got to Denver and had a nice dinner where we ended up being seated across from a family that had two little girls from China! Torture!!! I could not eat! Nor could we sleep. It was a very long night. We were told to expect a call around 10:30 the next morning, I was awake by 3:00 am. At 9:00 am we went for breakfast and at 9:30 we got a call from Emily at CCAI.

We really did not want any information over the phone. We wanted to be there looking at a picture and getting the info at the same time, but despite our best efforts, Emily could not understand that we had driven to Denver the night before. We did get alot of Laney's information, and when Emily stated that her package would arrive tomorrow, I cut in and again told her to not send it off as we were just down the street!! She was shocked and pleased.

Once at CCAI, Emily opened the file and showed us our daughter. She is sooo beautiful!! and that was all I could say for a while. Later that day I thought back on that moment and knew that my Heavenly Father was having the time of his life!!
"The Lord you God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior. He rejoices over you with joy... He will exult over you sith singing" Zephaniah 3:17. Laney was the most beautiful song I could have heard at that moment. I could feel my Lord smiling over our family.















She had three pictures and a good medical report from two months earlier. Another sweet sound was, that we had received her referral on her monthly birthday. She is 11 mo today!




































She is in Guangdong Province and we will get to stay in Guangzhou the entire trip!! That is the exit city, where all the adoptions are finalized, by the US Consulate. No extra travel for us, and great weather to boot!!! It has the same climate as Florida, and has been in the 70's.

Needless to say, we signed the acceptance of Laney without hesitation and now.......

We get to wait again of course!!!!!! But at least we have pictures this time to help us through(I think!). The agency estimated that the earliest we would travel would be February 19,2006 through the first week of March. That would be Great!!

It was great to see the boys reaction today. I think it finally hit them today that it is for real and they were excited for their sister. They will be some really good big brothers. Now they're just as eager to travel as we are.

Journey to Laney

December 29, 2005

This journey began many years ago. Tina had a heart to adopt from the time she was 12 years of age. Tina has known in her heart that adoption would be apart of her life, she just had no idea when. God was doing a work, preparing a home for Laney in America and be a part of the Theis home 24 years ago. She began to pray about it at that young of an age, and The God of heaven and earth heard her prayer.

Kevin has always wanted a little girl to spoil, and about three years ago the Lord began to set the wheels in motion. In Feb. of 2003 Kevin and Tina began the paperwork for the adoption from China. We chose China for many reasons but the deciding factor was that China was the nation God placed in our hearts.


We did not have the funding for an adoption, but trusted the Lord for his provision. We inquired of our bank and we were able to secure 1/2 of the funding, We knew God would provide for the rest. He has amazed us through this entire adoption on handing the funding to us when it was needed.

In March of 2004 our paperwork was sent to China and by April it was officially logged in to China with the CCAA. We have waited about 9 months and today received the information that our referral is in the mail from China!! We were told that by Wedensday the 4th of Jan. We should know who God has chosen for us. What a way to start 2006!!!

We plan to take our two boys, Wesley age 12, and Austin age 9 with us to China. We want to give them the chance to experience seeing another country, begin bonding with their new sister from the start, and to haul luggage together. Ha Ha

We are so happy to allow you to join us in our journey to Laney Faith!