Our Daughter!!

I am pleased to announce our new daughter! Maelynn Geoppinger (middle name(s) yet to be determined). These pictures are dated 8/10/2005, just before she turned a year old. She is active and healthy. She doesn't look too happy in these pictures. Our pediatrician is reviewing her medical information to let us know if there is anything we should be concerned about. I don't think he'll find anything huge. Even if he does, it doesn't matter. This is our daughter! We will receive updated information and pictures on her in a couple of weeks. We will travel to China mid to late March and be there for 2 weeks. Logan is very excited!

Yesterday, Thursday, we drove to Evansville. We met up with Paul and Lora Blaylock and got a tour of their beautiful 1884 home. They drove us to FTIA. There, we went to a large conference room with several other families. They gave each of us our envelope. We absorbed as much information as we could. The FTIA China coordinators and director were available for us to ask questions. They were really great. There was a floor to ceiling map of the world on the wall. We showed Logan where we live and where Maelynn is now. Wow! That is going to be a long flight! It will all be worth it. I can't wait to feel her in my arms and get to know her and have her get to know us. Afterwards, we went to a great German restaurant in Evansville. The food was fantastic! It was a long drive home to Cincinnati.

Thank you everyone for your love and support,
Geoppinger, soon a family of 4.

THE Call

Today is Wednesday, January 25th. We received 'the call' today. Our daughter's birthday is 8/17/2004. That is one day before Erich's. She is officially 4 days older than her cousin Alex. They will be great playmates! She currently lives in the Guangdong Province at the Huazhou City Social Welfare Institute. The capital of this province is Guangzhou. This is where the American Consulate is in order for her to become a US citizen. All families from the US come to Guangzhou for the last step and then fly home. This means we have one less inter-country flight than other families. We will stay at the White Swan Hotel. Check out this place! http://www.whiteswanhotel.com/eng/Public/index.asp

Her Chinese name is Ji Miao Han. It is pronounced Gi Meow Han. Ji is her surname that all children from the orphanage receive. Her first name is Miao which means sprout. Her middle name is Han which means Chinese. So we have a Chinese sprout. This is very exciting!!

Erich, Logan, and I are taking the day off work/school tomorrow to drive to Evansville. This is where our agency, FTIA, is located. Right now, they are translating the rest of her package. Tomorrow, we will receive it and 2-3 pictures. I cannot wait!! We are hoping to have dinner with our friends, Paul and Lora Blaylock who live there.

To top off this day, we received a bid on the Milford house which we accepted! I can tell folks out there in cyber land are certainly praying for us. Thank you Lord!

Check back soon for pictures!
Robin

January

Where has the month gone??
New Year's Day Bowling was great. We go to King Pin Lanes on New Year's Day (not Eve), every year. 2006 will be an exciting year for us. Logan starts kindergarten, we've counted 2 weddings so far, my nephew graduates high school, some of our friends are having more children, and wait, there's ours on the way too!
Logan's 5th birthday is Sunday. He is having a bowling birthday party. It will be really great because a lot of the adults in his life will be able to come and participate as well as kids. Have you ever been to Chuck E Cheese? Talk about sensory overload! We took Logan there for dinner. Wow! I must be getting old. Hummm, too bad they had no good times to have a birthday party. Anyway, Logan loves bowling and did a great job on New Year's Day.

I've been working some crazy hours. The average is 60 hour weeks for about a month. It is January and I do work in payroll (year-end). Well, the income will certainly assist with 2 mortgages. The Milford house is still on the market. Erich is taking care of things at home and introducing Logan to video games. Mom Lynch has been coming back to work on painting the new house some more. The first 2 floors are almost done!

We tried something new last week that was a lot of fun. Dream Dinners. You order 6 or 12 meals in advance, schedule a night, and go make the meals. All the food is good quality and already cut and cleaned. You follow the recipes of the meals you chose and put it together. All the food is raw. The meals serve 6 each, but can be divided into 2 casseroles so you could get 2 meals for 3. Then you take the prepared meals home to your freezer. Each comes with cooking instructions and suggestions on side dishes. For Erich and I, it's great because we do not like to cook and are so busy.

OK, if you've read this far, I'll give you some news . . . we may get Maelynn's information at the end of this week. ACK!!! Stay tuned . . .