Those Stinkin' Pigs!

Well we don't know what is going on right now with our TA (Travel Approval). This is the thing we need from China to travel to meet and bring Ava home. The swine flu has every country up in arms right now. We are unclear at this point if China is going to put a halt to TA's until the flu subsides somewhat. As Jennifer Wright reminded me tonight, God is bigger than this flu. As we are reminded in 1 Timothy, we are to pray first. The ONLY thing that has gotten us this far and the ONLY thing that will bring Ava home is God!!!!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you for all the prayers that has been given up for us. Please continue to pray with us as we anxiously and faithfully await Ava's Homecoming.

We were able to take our minds off the swine flu tonight as we enjoyed "An Evening of Jazz." Morgan is part of the jazz band at school. Sesser-Valier's and Murphysboro's jazz bands performed at the Opera House tonight. It was fantastic!

$755.80

You may be wondering about the title. This is the amount of money we received from our church's yard sale on Friday and Saturday. As I have said many times, we are truly blessed to have the church family that we do. They are still planning to have a benefit concert for us on May 16. We have requested that the night focus on Praise and Worship. We would love a night to just focus on what God has done for us along this journey and to give Him all the praise that He deserves.

Today was a great day at church. A worship band from West Frankfort Christian Church led our worship today. It was amazing! We then had a fellowship lunch at church. It is always nice to be able to sit around and just fellowship with your church family.

On Saturday, we received our fingerprint appt. We have to go to St Louis on May 6 to have our fingerprints taken again. I have had so many people ask how your fingerprints expire. No answer for that question. We continue to wait for Morgan's clearance from DCFS to complete our home study. Our social worker said that this usually only takes around 4 weeks and we have been waiting 5. God continues to impress upon me that He is still in control. We have to remain faithful to this fact.

Ava is going to be busy once she gets home. Besides all the many visits that she will have, she already has two appointments scheduled. She will see Dr. Leonard at St Louis Children's Hospital on June 25. He is a neurosurgeon that was recommended to us. She will then see her pediatrician on June 29.

Tammy has been busy on getting the nursery ready. Naturally, it is pink. She can finally use pink after three boys. We both are busy working a little extra to prepare for the trip. Baseball is keeping us a little busy. Only one of the boys is playing this year. We are still trying to figure out how we explain the bonding process to our family and friends. The information that we have read advises us not to pass Ava around to others for the first month or so until she is bonded with us. This is going to be hard for us because we know how much our family, church family, and friends love her and just want to show her affection. But we want what is best for Ava and her ability to bond with us.

Continue to keep us in your prayers. Especially begin praying for Ava and her ability to grieve and bond with us.

Tentative Travel Dates

We got word from our agency today that our travel group has been put together and we have tentative travel dates pending our TA(Travel Approval). Looks like we may be leaving June 4th and arrive home on June 18th. Just in time for Sesser's (our hometown) homecoming, Julie W. ; )

A few pics of our Spring Break Smoky Mountain Trip

The fireplace that we could never get to work
Our neice Emerie, lovin' the stairs
We had our own home theatre!! It was awesome!!!
Daddy and Hudson navigating the rocks by the river
Yikes!! I can already see where this is heading!
Yup. Soaked from head to toe after falling in face first!
On top of Old Smoky

My little sis, Jen and my neice Emerie, acting silly
A relaxing day snowed in the cabin
snowing in April!!! It was beautiful!

SCL,SCL,SCL!!!!!

Okay, I really have some catchin' up to do! Last week a stomach virus hit Hudson like a ton of bricks. We couldn't keep any fluids in the poor child for about 30 hours and were on the brink of having to admit him to the hospital for IV fluids. Finally, Wednesday evening, he began improving, praise the Lord! Just in time, too, cuz we were scheduled to leave for a little family getaway on Friday evening.
We had been going back and forth about going on this mini-vacation to the Smokey Mountains ever since our news of Ava, but since we had pre-paid a major chunk of the cost and it was non-refundable, we decided to go ahead with it. This would also be our last trip together as a family of 5.
Anyway, I was upstairs packing, and decided to jump in the shower. Afterwards, I checked my phone to make sure I hadn't missed a call from my darling husband. I had missed a call, but it was a number I didn't recognize. I checked my voicemail and it was the China Program Director from our agency, Tina. She said to call her immediately. My heart was in my throat. Surely it wasn't our SCL(seeking confirmation letter-AKA LOA) It wasn't supposed to arrive for weeks, maybe months. My shaking fingers somehow managed to dial her number. Our SCL had arrived that morning!!!! She said she couldn't believe it herself and when she saw it she got chills. Wow!! What a way to start our vacation!!!
Okay. Another image I've had in my mind for years. Our family anxiously waiting together for the brown stork (UPS guy) to deliver our referral info. then have several teary-eyed pictures taken with the said stork as he handed us our package containing our beloved daughter's info. Well, we were in the Smokies so the package went to my sister's house and sat on her dining room table until we returned last night. So far, this journey has been so different than all the images I've been dreaming about, but I wouldn't change one second of it!
Oh, we did have a fabulous time on our little getaway, even if that blasted stomach bug hit me right in the middle of it. I will post more a little bit later about our trip and a few pics, too. I'm heading to work a little later for my CPR re-cert.
Oh, and here's a little info on our angel:

Chinese name: Wu AoYao
Birthdate: 12/5/07- a little over 16 months old
Currently in foster care in Wu Wei City, Gansu Province, Peoples Republic of China
Weight as of 11/08- a little over 18lbs