Hannah Maria Ziyuan Exsted

As many of you may know, Jen and I are expecting our third child! We are so excited to announce that we will be adopting our little princess from China. She is going to be turning 3 years old in September and it has been our prayer since the beginning that we will be able to bring her home around her birthday. She is 6 months older than Norah, who knew we would essentially be having twins?

Hannah's Chinese name is Su Ziyuan. The meaning of her name: Su means she is a child in the Social Welfare Institute of Suzhou City. Zi means she came into the institute in 2008. Yuan means the hope for her to remember in future that she lived in Suzhou City, because this is a landscape garden city.

Hannah lives in Suzhou, China which is about an hour train ride west of Shanghai. It is a beautiful city laden with elegant gardens, but has a rich history around the silk industry. It is located on the Yangtze river, which is the longest river in Asia and third largest river in the world. Suzhou is an ancient city thought to have originated 2500 years ago! It has been called the "Venice of the East."

We were told that Hannah lives in the Suzhou Social Welfare Institute (SWI), aka "the orphanage," but we have learned a lot about how China likes to tell everyone that their child is in the SWI when in reality they are staying in foster family homes. We feel fortunate that she is living with a family who can work one-on-one with her development. Hannah has been described to us as being fairly introverted and enjoying quiet. She does have a ready smile and gets along well with others. Her favorite toy is a plush toy and she likes to play outdoors.

Hannah was born with a congenital birth defect called amniotic band syndrome, which has caused her fingers to be shortened and underdeveloped. She also was born with a left clubfoot and a constrictive band around her left thigh. This has not stopped her development one bit. She began walking at 14 months (same as Norah), she is able to hold a pencil, but more importantly, she can hold a cell phone (we've got the pictures to prove it). We have discussed Hannah's medical needs with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Gillette Children's Hospital in St. Paul, and she has reassured us that Hannah will have great function with her hands as she has learned to use the hands that God gave her from the time she was born. Dr. Van Heest may use the hands that God gave her to help restore some more dexterity in Hannah's hands. We'll find out more when Hannah is home with us and if surgery is indicated or necessary.

The title of our blog has changed. We'll no longer be a family of four so Jen and I were trying to think of a new name. Something that rhymes with five. Alive...arrive...survive...skydive?...hive...drive...deprive (as in sleep)....but we couldn't do it. Nothing was coming to mind. A friend of ours came up with the title name, here is the story. We thought about the journey that led us to adoption in the first place. It was a book by Mary Beth Chapman called "Choosing to See." Yes she is the wife of Contemporary Christian singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman, or as I like to call him SCC. I didn't know if I could read a book written by a Chapman since I had an aversion to cheesy Christian rock. I set my pride aside and what I found was a moving story of a family who I could relate with. The questions about starting in on a "Real Adventure," not knowing how God will provide, questioning the rationale behind our decision, how could we afford international adoption, what would this mean for our family, the questions kept pouring on. I had real doubt if we could do this right now. My brain was telling me "No not now, you have to wait, but my heart was telling me it is time." I prayed that God would reveal to me something that I could hang my hat on. Then we read a chapter that was about a song, of all things, that SCC wrote about adoption called "When Love Takes You In." Hear are the lyrics,

I know you’ve heard the stories
But they all sound too good to be true
You’ve heard about a place called home
But there doesn’t seem to be one for you
So one more night you cry yourself to sleep
And drift off to a distant dream

Where love takes you in and everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
When love takes you in

And somewhere while you’re sleeping
Someone else is dreaming too
Counting down the days until
They hold you close and say I love you
And like the rain that falls into the sea
In a moment what has been is lost in what will be

When love takes you in everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart

And this love will never let you go
There is nothing that could ever
cause this love to lose its hold

When love takes you in everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
When love takes you in it takes you in for good

We can't wait to get to China and pick her up in our arms and bring her home to Minnesota to be with her forever family. We know the adventure is just beginning. We promise to keep you all posted on the paperwork progress leading up to our traveling to China and especially during our travels. We have already been immeasurably blessed to have followed God's prompting to adopt and we cannot wait for what is to come....Hannah!!