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

We are truly blessed!

We have such an AMAZING church family! Kim Lingle from our church contacted us about fundraisers that she is organizing for the adoption. She and others from the church are putting together a yard sale during our town's yard sale. We were aware of this. But then she told us about a Benefit Concert on May 16. The Paisley family in our church is going to play and other local talent. We were totally unaware of the concert. Our church has supported us in every possible way. It is so amazing to see God at work. We keep saying, "Where He leads He will provide."

We got word last night that a woman who Tammy has gotten to know on the internet has accepted a Waiting Child. We all are with the same agency. We are praying that we may get to all travel together. This would be great.

Morgan had his band contest today. He received a 1st on his saxophone solo. We aren't a bit proud of him.

Meningocele

Here's a little info on Ava's diagnosis. There are many unknowns we face and are continually praying about, which can only be determined after she's home and evaluated.[edit]


Meningocele
The least common form of spina bifida is a posterior meningocele (or meningeal cyst).

In a posterior meningocele, the outer faces of some vertebrae are open (unfused) and the meninges are damaged and pushed out through the opening, appearing as a sac or cyst which contains cerebrospinal fluid. The spinal cord and nerves are not involved and their function is normal.

In an anterior meningocele, the inner faces of vertebrae are affected and the cyst protrudes into the retroperitoneum or the presacral space.

Apart from spina bifida, causes of meningocele include teratoma and other tumors of the sacrococcyx and of the presacral space, and Currarino syndrome. Usually a meningocele has no negative long-term effects, although there are reports of tethered cord.

Pre-Approval!!!!!

Today we received our Pre-Approval from China! This came only one week since God connected us with Ava. Now we are waiting for our SCL (Seeking Confirmation Letter) or also known as your Referral. We are guessing that we should travel by June. However, there is a possibility that we could travel in May.

We have asked our agency if we can now share Ava's picture on our blog. As soon as we get permission, we will post her picture.

Continue to pray for us and Ava.

Amazing Day!

Today was an amazing day of worship for us. God seems to be moving in a mighty way in our recent worship services. But today was an extra special day. We were able to share Ava's picture with her other family...her church family. Our church family has held our hands every step of the way. It was three years ago this past December that we shared our adoption plans and asked for prayers. Prayer has been the only thing that has gotten us through these past three years. As I (Chris)shared our praise, I naturally started crying. Anyone that knows me well enough knows that I am an emotional person. Poor Jackson has been "blessed" with this trait. The man sitting in front of us who has just recently started attending our church told us it was an amazing testimony. We pray that Ava's story will touch others lives.

We received another blessing yesterday. We were able to sell the week we had booked at Disney in June. This money will go toward the trip. We were also gifted today at church with a check from some dear friends.

Our plan for the week is to finish up what little paperwork we have left. AND to count down the days until we get to see Ava face to face.

We have so MANY stories that we want to share but are limiting what information we give out until we are approved by China.

LOI, LOI, LOI!!!!!

It's still all a little surreal but we finally have a daughter!!!! We can't stop smiliing and praising God!! It was a little different than I had ever imagined, though.
We learned last Friday that some new angels had been added to our agency's waiting child list. For some reason, I didn't check the website immediatly, but when I did, I was immediatly drawn to this precious baby girl. (We had the opportunity to view a file of another CHI angel baby about a year ago, little Claire, who had a very similar diagnosis.) I talked with Chris and submitted a request to view her file. To be honest, I never thought we stood a chance. I was sure there would be tons of others who submitted their request first. We never heard anything all week-end but on Sunday morning, Chris and I went forward and prayed together at church that this little beauty would find her forever family. Monday morning Chris and I headed to St.Louis to take my father-in-law to a Dr.'s appointment. On the ride up I checked my e-mail on my phone and learned that she had a family reviewing her!! We were excited but not suprised and after so many dissappointments, I had protected my heart from attaching to her. Later,(about 5 miles from CHI's office) I was trying to entertain Hud while everyone else was in with the doc, and I saw another e-mail from Tina from CHI with baby girl's info. HUHHHHH????? They were allowing several families to view her file at the same time. But the file was too large to open on my phone. Panic set in, then I remembered WE BROUGHT THE LAPTOP!! Quick as a flash, I called my sis and told her to get a hold of my bro-in-law who's a doctor and I forwarded all her info to him. My sis said he may not get the message til later that evening,UGH. Meanwhile, my in-laws know nothing about what's going on so Chris and I spend our lunch giivng each other these knowing looks,LOL. On our way home, we stop at Coldstone Creamery(yum) and I get a frantic call from my sis, saying bro-in-law says we should "go for it." Next, a frantic call to CHI and we wait to see if she's been locked. Chris' phone rings while we were paying, she's ours!!! Okay, now I've had visions of this moment for years....tears of joy, birds singing, clinging to my overjoyed husband. Instead I'm standing next to my mother-in-law who's blissfully unaware of the situation, munching away at her ice-cream and I'm trying to contain my tears and screams. I was literally shaking!!! We finally get in the van and make our announcement!! This is one for the baby book! We raced home, completed our Letter of Intent (LOI) and sent it to our agency. We got word from our agency that it has been submitted today to the CCAA, so now we just wait for our pre-approval (PA), which usually takes around 2 weeks.
We are thrilled beyond words but are still feeling so very sorry for the families who were also reviewing her file and thought they had also found their daughter. We've been there and remember the pain, vividly.
We are hoping to travel this summer to bring home our little Ava!!! Will post more soon!!!

Spring Cleaning of Sorts

Okay, Okay...Time to roll up our sleeves and clear off the dust and cobwebs off our long neglected blog. We've procrastinated long enough. It seemed for so long, all we were getting from our agency was more bad news and personally I was tired of reporting only negative stuff. Finally, in December, a glimmer of hope arrived when we learned that our agency had finally received approval from the COA for their Hague accreditation. Then we had a LONG 2 month wait for China to re-approve our agency for the waiting child program. They began receiving access to the special needs kiddos about 2 weeks ago, Praise the LORD!!
Anyway, we were near the top of the list for a special needs referral when our agency lost access last July, so we are back at the top. However, many more agencies also now have access so this list so there is much more competition among agencies to lock the children's files (ugh, hate the fact we are competing for a child). The lists are released usually monthly so now we just wait month by month until we receive "the call." It is our prayer that we will see our daughter's face by Christmas.
On the home front, the boys are all growing like weeds. Morgan and Jackson have both decided to not play baseball this summer and Hudson will start his first season. I love watching them play at this age. They are all so funny and by the end of every game, we are all in stitches.
We all attended our junior high science fair last night, and were stunned when Morgan was awarded "Best of Show" for his research project. Totally wasn't expecting that one. I, er I mean, "he" worked very hard on it all year and I am very proud of my, oops, his work. So anyone at church who saw me earnestly sculpting away at an attempt at a human stomach, it paid off! Seriously, Morgan has put a
lot of time and effort in this project for the past few months.
Hudson has been celebrating the Chinese New Year in his Pre-K class. They topped it off with a field trip to a local Chinese buffet last week. His attempts with the chopsticks actually were not too shabby.
We are all looking forward to warmer weather and some REALLY big news in the next few months. We are also continuing to pray with boldness and casting out the rumor sites which had become idols in my life. Not to mention the emotional turmoil it was causing me. Continuing to pray for peace, patience, and perseverance!