Immigration Appointment...Check!!

We had our Immigration appointment on March 6th for fingerprinting.  One more big piece of the dossier.  We are moving right along with gathering our paperwork for the dossier.  Just waiting on a few more pieces of required paperwork and then getting things notarized.  Like with Ava's adoption we are once again having Holt help us with the certification and authentication of our paperwork.  This is a big job and requires being able to monitor where every piece of paper is.  Most of the paperwork has to be hand delivered to either Chicago or Washington DC where the China Embassy is.  Holt helped this process go so smoothly last time that we decided it was definitely worth the money.  We don't want our baby having to wait any longer than necessary for them to join their forever family.  We are anxiously waiting and praying for our baby every day!!  Can't wait to be a family of 4 :) 

Fingerprinting Done!!

US Re-Finalization

On March 3, 2014 we officially finalized Ava's adoption in the US.  What an exciting day!!  It was a day filled with family and lots of love.  We had a fantastic lawyer who walked us through the entire process.  He had adopted 2 boys from Korea himself, so he really understood what this means to an adoptive family.  

Waiting for the judge to enter

The US re-finalization allows us to obtain paperwork equivalent to a birth certificate.  This paperwork allows easier access to school as well as allows us to obtain a US passport for Ava (we'll need that for our trip to China next year to meet Ava's little brother or sister!!).  It is all rather confusing since she was officially a US citizen as soon as we passed through US customs coming back from China.  The re-finalization is not something that we were required to do, but it was highly recommended to make things easier down the road.  We're so glad we did it as it was such a cool experience that a lot of our family was able to be a part of.

We had an 11am court time.  We arrived at the court house in plenty of time and it was a good thing we did...we had no idea where to go once inside!!  But we were quickly pointed in the correct direction.  The courthouse itself was a really cool old building with lots of paintings, marble, and woodwork.  Just after the Judge walked in, Ava started crying.  As I'm whispering to my mom to pass me some fruit snacks, our lawyer kindly asked if Ava could have permission to run around the court room.  The Judge replied that he learned a long time ago that he was not in control of these hearings and that Ava had permission to leave the table.  Thank you Judge!!  During the court hearing we were sworn in and then asked several questions by our lawyer and the Judge.  I don't know why, but I was rather nervous.  I've never been in a court room before and have definitely not been the one answering the questions!!  It was over quickly though and the judge came down to give us all big hugs, take pictures, and congratulate us.  It was definitely more of a celebration.  

After pictures, we all headed to Upstream were we had an awesome lunch followed by cake to finish off the celebration!!  

Our house is way to quiet now without this group filling it up

One Year Together

I cannot believe that we are at the year mark...an entire year since we first held Ava in our arms.  An entire year since we first saw those sweet lips and big eyes face to face.  An entire year since we first saw that beautiful smile.  My heart is so full of joy today as I think back over the last year with all the firsts we have been able to experience together, as a family.  

Ava, you have a beautiful soul.  

You give the best hugs and I always know that your hugs come from deep inside you because you wrap us up as tight as you can.

You are funny.  You make me laugh on a daily basis just with your silly ways.  I never know what you are going to do or say.  I love how once we start laughing then you do too like you have accomplished your goal.

You have the most beautiful smile that lights up an entire room.  You can make any situation better just with your smile.  Never forget that as you grow.

You are unbelievably smart.  Sometimes too smart for your Mama!!  You blow me away with the things you are able to learn on a daily basis.  

You have a contagious laugh that seems to start from within your belly and work it's way out.  I find myself laughing right along with you because of the joy you exude.  

You have a tender heart.  You never want to disappoint us and will break down and cry when you feel that you may have.  We are working hard to reassure you that you do not have to be perfect and we all make mistakes.  

You love to be around your cousins and friends your age.  When you get the chance to be around them you love every second and hang very close to them.  Goodbye always includes one of your best hugs.

You seem to understand the special times like weekends when we get to hang out in our PJs all day or trips to grandparents houses.  You are all about soaking up those times and loving on your family as much as possible in any moment given.

Simply put, I cannot imagine life without you.  

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord."  This has always been a verse that I rely on but I can't say I fully grasped the reality of what the verse was saying until recently.  I had my life going in a completely different direction. Adoption was not on my radar in the beginning.  Now that plan makes me cringe to think that if it had been about my plans and not His, I could have missed out on you and the years that God used to prepare my heart for you.  "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you." He knew exactly what I needed and even though I didn't always trust Him completely, He saw us through to the most perfect plan for our lives.    

11 Months at Home :)

11 months home. That means that a month from now I will be writing that we have been together for an entire year. In my mind that doesn't seem possible but when I look through pictures and see how much she has grown and changed I don't see how she could have grown up that much in just one year...it has to be more like 2 or 3 years, right???!!

1. Ava is the sweetest 30 month old I have ever met. When we are helping her do something like find a movie or pick out a book she leans next to us and gives us a back rub/pat. And as she's giving a back rub/pat she looks us right in the eyes with the sweetest “I love you” face. She doesn't hesitate to give hugs and gives great big bear hugs. Some of the sweetest words out of her mouth are “wo ai ni” (I love you in Mandarin)
2. Ava continues to do well at daycare and they are moving her to the “toddler 3” group next week. This is the next and final toddler group before moving on to the preschool group. Preschool sounds so scary to me but I really do think it will be good for her: help her to further develop her language and hopefully the biting will end for good. Ava continues to have very random rough days at daycare when she will bite. This last time she did I knew she wasn't feeling well but we ended up sending her to daycare so that we could go to work. Talk about a big regret now :( But in tune with my first point, after time out for biting her teacher showed Ava the mark she left on the kiddo and Ava was so sad that she then cried the entire rest of the day...she is a tender heart.
3. Ava celebrated her first Christmas during the last month. As previously noted, Ava was spoiled rotten but loved every second with family and friends. It's hard to get used to not having family together every weekend after so much time together. It was so fun to take in all the firsts of Christmas with her; the lights, the food, the Christmas tree, family together, presents, and lots of fun.
4. Ava went to her first 2 movies in the theatre this last month. The first one was at the dollar theatre to make sure she was ready for her first movie. We didn't want to spend $20 if she couldn't sit still for that long ;) We saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and Ava did great! Since she did so well with that movie we also went and saw Frozen last weekend. Both really cute movies. Ava loved going to the theatre. And it was a really fun family date.
5. Ava also celebrated her first New Years Eve. Another fun family night with movies, popcorn, pizza, and games. I plan to soak up as many New Years Eve nights like that as long as I can get them!!
6. Unfortunately we had 2 visits to the pediatrician this month. Once for an ear infection and then again for a cough and fever that required breathing treatments. She is still currently on breathing treatments but the fever is gone and her cough is steadily getting better. Praying for no more doctor visits in the coming month.
7. Ava continues to love movies. We have to limit how much time she is spending watching them. The good thing is that even when she does want to watch a movie she is still running around like a crazy girl playing!! Some of her favorites lately are: Monsters U, Planes, Epic, and Madagascar.
8. Ava loves to play and has some new favorites since Christmas. She loves her games: Hungry Hippos and Don't Break the Ice, Mrs. Potato Head, Basketball, windup cars, and her new baby doll.
9. Ava also loves her books. She has a couple of new Mickey Mouse books that she loves. We also like Salt and Soap, I Love You So, Home Sweet Home.
10. Ava has brought so much joy to our lives. I wish I could bottle up a little bit of her sweet laugh, the laugh that comes all the way from her belly and is uncontrollable...the best sound in the entire world.

Happy New Year 2014!!

What an amazing year 2013 was.  One of the best ever in my book.  2013 will forever be the year I became a mom for the first time, we became a family of 3, and I was finally able to meet my beautiful daughter and watch her encounter so many firsts.  Given how amazing 2013 was, I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in 2014.  We will be working hard on our dossier in hopes of getting home baby as soon as possible so that we can become a family of 4.  The New Year is bound to be full of challenges, more firsts, lessons to learn, laughter, family time, and joy.  I can't wait!!  Learning to love every minute.

   

Ava's First Christmas!

What a blessing Ava's first Christmas was for all of us. God has blessed our family beyond what I ever imagined over the past year. It's hard to think that just a year ago Ava was living in an orphanage, without an idea of what even Christmas is.

It was the simple things about Christmas that Ava loved...the lights, baking goodies for the neighbors, checking out all the pretties on the Christmas tree, having family around.  She didn't even know that presents were a part of Christmas until we started opening packages. And truthfully she didn't need the gifts to know Christmas is special...and magical.  It has been so fun watching the innocence of Christmas through my daughter's eyes. One of these days I'll have to tell her about all the life lessons she has taught me :)

We celebrated Christmas in 3 different parts. The weekend before Christmas my whole family came to our home to celebrate together. The weekend was spent laughing, playing games, baking, watching basketball, opening gifts, and just hanging out. Last year we started a new tradition of cooking a big Chinese dinner the night before Christmas. This year we made Mongolian beef, pork dumplings, fried rice and ordered in Kung pow chicken and steamed buns. So yummy!!  Ava got lots of cool toys. Some high lights were:  a new baby doll, large building blocks, mrs potato head, piggy bank, alphabet magnets, and bubbles.  Us adults had as much fun as she did playing with her new toys.  Ava spent tons of time with her family and loved every minute.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we were able to hang out with just our little family. Candle light service, Christmas movies, sleeping in late, junk food, new toys, and lots of playing together.  It was such a fun, laid back Christmas. Ava got a basketball goal from Santa so we spent a lot of time working on our game!  She also got 4 cars that we used to race circles around the house!!  So many great memories were made on this Christmas Day. I couldn't finish the day without looking back at some of our first pictures of Ava. Wow, how a year has changed all of us :)

The weekend after Christmas we made the drive to celebrate with Matt's side of the family.   The weekend was filled with cousins running around crazy, loud laughing and talking by all, baking, tractor rides, 4 wheeler rides, fun on the farm, presents, and lots of cuddle time with family.  I absolutely love watching Ava with her cousins.  Each time she gets more and more into playing with them.  I love to hear her belly laugh when she's having so much fun with family.  Her and her cousin Addie hung together this weekend...I think they know the girls have to stick together.   Some of Ava's favorite gifts were lots of cute clothes, games we can play together as a family, a race track with cars, and a Minnie Mouse bean chair.  She knows she is one loved little girl.

10 Months...Narrowing in on a Year Together

Every month I feel like Ava is growing and learning things faster and faster.  It amazes me how she can change on a daily basis.  Ava is a sweet, big hearted little girl.  I soak up every minute I can with her.  

10 Month List  

1. Ava is a chatter box.  Talking all the time and we are understanding more and more all the time.  Her list of words continues to grow but one of the most fun new things this month is that she walks around singing songs all the time.  Some of them we can tell what she's singing, some of them not.  She sings Old McDonald, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Elmo's Song, If You're Happy and You Know It.  And each time she finishes a song, she claps and cheers for herself!  Love it :)

2. Ava loves to help Mama and Baba around the house.  She helps with loading and unloading the dishwasher, closing all the doors in the house, taking things to the trash, picking up toys and other things around the house, and shopping for groceries.  She actually is a good little helper for the most part.  So we are always trying to find ways to be helpful around the house.

3.  Favorite Movies this Month:  Elmo's Favorite Songs, Madagascar (all 3), Planes, Baby Einstein.

4.  Overnights are still fairly rough.  We are up her anywhere from 3-8 times per night.  Sometimes she just needs to be comforted and reminded we're there and other times she wakes up screaming.  We are doing lots of research on sleep (or lack there of) this month and trying every different thing we can think of and is suggested.  We took Ava in to the doctor this last week because of a lingering cough and discovered she had an ear infection.  We had no idea, she gave us no signs...but we are really hoping that once the ear infection is gone, maybe she'll sleep again.  Knock on wood, we're on the right track.  We all need sleep in this house :)

5.  Ava celebrated her first Thanksgiving during the last month.  On Thanksgiving we went to Kansas City to be with my family and then went to Kansas again for the weekend to be with Matt's family.  Holidays mean so much more with a little one around.  Everything is so new and exciting!!  I love to watch the innocence in her eyes when she watches the turkey cooking for the first time and eating more food in one sitting than she could have ever imagined before.  Makes me so thankful for her and so sad for all those kiddos still waiting for their forever families.  The other part of holidays that I love now is having a house full of little kids.  Listening to them run, play, and laugh together.  One of the best sounds in the world!

6.  You still love daycare; your teachers and your friends.  The biting has been very minimal over the last couple of months.  You are learning all kinds of new things and making so many cute crafts that I don't even know what to do with them all.  I am now the mom that has a refrigerator covered in crafts and I wouldn't change it for anything.  When we get to the center in the mornings, you can't get out of your carseat fast enough but you are always happy to see us at the end of the day.  We learned this last week, that Ava gives hugs to the parents she knows as they come to pick up their kids.  I love that she's such a lover!!

7.  Books, books, and more books.  You love to read!  This month Ava is perfectly happy reading her books on her own if Mama and Baba are busy at the moment.  But reading books together is one of my favorite times of the day.

8.  Ava has been eating much better.  Sometimes it takes a little sneaky business from Mama and Baba but at least she is eating from all her food groups.  She loves her milk!  She will not drink juice or chocolate milk, but just good old 2% white milk.  We have started making her drink water with meals.  Mainly because we are really working on drinking out of a big girl cup and it often ends up all over the floor :)

9.   Ava getting more picky about her clothes already.  She loves to pick out her clothes for the day.  She actually does a pretty good job of matching things.  The only problem is that she tends to pick the same clothes over and over again.  So we have some clothes that are not getting worn very many times. This is called picking your battles.

10.  This month we've had Christmas decorations up in preparation for the Christmas season.  It has been so fun to experience the lights, Santa Clauses, Christmas Tree and ornaments, nativity scenes, touring around the city to look at Christmas lights with her.  I have a feeling this is going to be the best Christmas ever!  Living through the eyes of our beautiful daughter!