Feb 28 Well it is offical!! As of yesterday Sierra is our daughter!! We adopted her on Feb 27, 2006!! She is doing wonderful. We have been so blessed!! All the prayers are working! Her transition is going well. She does prefer mommy over daddy now but that will change. She is walking around independently. Her gate is a little off but she is doing so well. Oh my all you OTs out there would be amazed of her fine motor. I know she will not need OT in that area!! She has been eatting everything we offer. This morning at breakfast she finally became full but then i think she got an upset stomach while shopping so we came back the motel. Finally bought her stroller and she has done well in it. Yep Father Terry you can guess it...it is pink!!! But we only are using it when we shop because want her walking as much as possible. Pts she can do the steps while holding someones hand. We are very pleased with that. Her sleep schedule is great! An afternoon nap(in which she is doing now) and she goes to be around 9 and wakes up around 7-8 in the morning. We got her giggling this morning!! She is a typcial Wanless who is very ticklish. We have some great news too about her palate. Her cleft is mainly on the gum line. Very little if any at all of the palate is involved!! Thank you Jesus!! Less pain for surgery(we are hoping) for her. She said her first English word yesterday...Wal..she loves to go for walks so when Mike need to run down stairs Mike asked her if she wanted to walk with him. Well, as I told you she is not too fond of Mike and she refused as soon as he left she looked up at me and said Wal.. so I said sure we can walk! So we went and found daddy and we walked. So please keep up your prayers because they are working!!!!! WE appreciate all the support. It is so great to read the comments. It helps us know you are all out there just as you have been through this entire process!!! We love you all and miss you all and are looking forward to seeing you soon. About the pictures, we are still having some issues so as soon as I can fix it they will be posted. Have a great day and cannot wait to hear from you all soon!! Love ya!

Feb. 26 It is Gotcha Day!!! Many emotions to talk about!! She is a beautiful little girl....our daughter. She even knows her name of Sierra!! We did get a couple smiles out of her this evening!! But please keep her and us in your prayers, she is having a hard time during her grieving process!! She has settled down alot and is responding and as you might guess she is a daddy's little girl. As I write this she and daddy are sleeping next to each other. What a picture moment!! I will try to put all the Gotcha Day pictures at our picture album!! Thank you for all your prayers!! We are truly blessed!!

Feb. 26 It is Gotcha Day!!! Many emotions to talk about!! She is a beautiful little girl....our daughter. She even knows her name of Sierra!! We did get a couple smiles out of her this evening!! But please keep her and us in your prayers, she is having a hard time during her grieving process!! She has settled down alot and is responding and as you might guess she is a daddy's little girl. As I write this she and daddy are sleeping next to each other. What a picture moment!! I will try to put all the Gotcha Day pictures at our picture album!! Thank you for all your prayers!! We are truly blessed!!

These are pictures at the Great Wall and at the Forbidden City!!! Brandon, Corey and Billy next time we are all going!! And that includes you Kate too!!! We miss you all and cannot wait to share everything with you in person!!
More pictures the ones we know you are all waiting for tomorrow!!!
Love ya all!!

Feb 25, 2006 We finally got to our blog!!!!!!!!!! The internet is down to our rooms so I am on the one in the hotel business center!! The sad part is I am not able to share pictures yet!! As soon as I can get it in our room I will down load some pictures here and in our photo album! We are having a great time but we are truly looking forward to holding Sierra in less then 20 HOURS!! We are concern with her reaction to us but we know our Lord is with her and us during her transition to her forever family!! You have all been such wonderful support and know that during this process that each of you are in our prayers!!

Feb 22 06 Tomorrow is the big day!! We will be flying out of Chicago and heading toward China to bring Sierra home. We have set up a picture book that we will be putting all our updated pictures on so you can have easy viewing. The web page address is fairly long but after you get there I can promise you that you will not regret it!! (12/21/06)I am sorry because of someone stealing our web page our photo album is no longer active. We will try to update the blog with pictures that we have.
Thanks again for all your support and love!!

February 6, 2006......We received our consulate appointment today which is on March 7th so that means we are leaving to bring our little precious home on February 23!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so excited to finally be able to hold her and to bring her home to her forever family!! We will be updating this while in China!!! Thank you for all those who have supported us with love, prayers and shoulders during this process!! Little Gorgeous is coming home!!!!!!!!

February 1, 2006.....We had a huge scare this morning!!!!!!!!!!! We thought our passports were lost in the mail!! The workers up in Joliet did find our package around 10:30am and it was delivered around 1:00pm. Thank the Lord!! Especially thanks to St. Anthony!! I was deeply talking to him while I travel between schools and between phone calls with Mike trying to figure out where it was!! We talked to our courier this afternoon and she had it in hand!! Glorious Day it turned out to be!!!

January 31, 2006 We found out today that the NSN group received their TAs. So our agency CHI put a request for our dates into the American Consulate. They are hoping it will be the 6th or the 7th of March which would mean we would be leaving the 23rd of Febuary!!!! That is only three weeks away!!!! We are so excited!! It is really happening!! Our little precious daugher will be home with her forever family so soon!!!!!!!! As soon as we find out confirmed dates we will post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!