Waiting For A Graceful Morning

Mosaic Trisomy 18

2010-07-25T10:18:00.005-04:00

I want to share the story of my beautiful daughter, Ava, and her diagnosis of Mosaic Trisomy 18 so that someone else out there looking for information may stumble upon her story.

My first experience with Trisomy 18 happened when I found out that one of my brother in law's best friends was expecting a child with T18 several years ago. They were told that the likelihood of their child surviving to term was small, and that if she did survive, her lifespan would be very short - as in weeks. They put their faith in God and chose to continue their pregnancy, a decision I so respect and admire. Their daughter, Claire, was born and they kept everybody informed about her in the most beautiful blog. I remember reading it everyday and I was so moved by their little Claire and the love that they had for her. Fast forward approximately 4 years - April 2010, I get the news that my 6 year old has Mosaic Trisomy 18. The first thing I thought of was little Claire and her short, beautiful life. The difference was that Claire had full Trisomy 18 and Ava was diagnosed with mosaic Trisomy 18. I searched all over the internet for information, but Trisomy 18 is very rare and mosaic Trisomy 18 is even more rare. So, while there is no plethora of information about Trisomy 18 (T18), there is next to zero about mosaic T18. T18 (Also known as Edward's Syndrome) is a genetic disorder which results when a person has 3 #18 Chromosomes versus the normal 2 in every cell. In mosaic T18, there is an extra #18 chromosome in only some of the cells. Geneticists can get an idea of the percentage of cells affected by blood testing, but from what I understand, this doesn't necessarily correlate with severity of symptoms. The only way to know which cells are affected are to test all of the cells, which obviously, is impossible. Of course, symptoms can give them an idea of what body systems are affected. Basically, anything that is wrong, you blame on T18. Ava's blood work came back showing that 50% of her cells are T18.

We adopted Ava when she was 3 1/2 from China November 2007 (that story starts here). She was on the special need's list for adoption because she was born with ventricular septal defect (VSD - a whole in the wall between the ventricles of her heart), but that had been repaired in China when she was 18 months old. In her medical report they also mentioned some muscle tone problems and difficulty walking. When we were first introduced to Ava, she did seem to have some balance/walking issues. We had her evaluated pretty quickly after getting her home and found out that she was globally developmentally delayed and immediately started physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. At the time, we were still thinking a lot of her issues were environmentally related, which I'm sure was our wishful thinking that we could quickly catch her up to her peers. We took her from specialist to specialist, having her poked, prodded, scanned - you name it, to thoroughly check her out to make sure there were no medical issues causing any of her delays. We never really found any answers so we just kept up with her therapies. She was progressing, but it was much slower than expected. We finally found a developmental pediatrician, that another parent raved about, and she thoroughly examined Ava and listened to all of the issues, both cognitive and physical, that Ava had. She tested everything that came out of Ava's body - well, the blood had to be taken. We finally had a diagnosis! It wasn't necessarily what we wanted to hear, but we were glad to have answers. Now the main reason I'm writing this is not so much to share the journey, however, it has taught me to trust my instincts as a mother and to keep searching for the right doctor that will listen to me, but to share with you how mosaic T18 affects Ava's life. Mosaic T18, like I said before, is unpredictable in how it is expressed because it depends on what cells have the extra chromosome. This is how it has affected Ava's life, but another mosaic T18 child could be completely different.

Ava is 6 years old and is diagnosed with general dyspraxia (motor disorder), verbal apraxia (severe speech disorder), cognitive delay and malabsorption. She goes to a school for children with special needs, but if she went to public school, she would probably be in either a special need's kindergarten class or an inclusion class with assistance. She does not speak very well (mostly one word sentences), but she understands simple directions, knows her letters, colors, and some numbers. Most of her fine motor, gross motor and behavior are on about a 3 year old level. She is progressing on all of these areas, but it is slow. We still aren't sure what the future holds for her, but we want to give her every opportunity we can. As far as her malabsorption, she takes medication before meals as well as probiotics and supplements, but she eats a regular diet. Ava is a sweet, loving child. I can't imagine our lives without her.

Ava's Dance Recital

2009-06-20T21:15:00.006-04:00

Ava had her first dance recital tonight. Ava loved it! It was hilarious to watch her. She loves to dance and any time she hears music, she has to dance! At the end of the recital, they had everyone sitting down on the stage to acknowledge some of the dancers. They started playing music and Ava got up and started dancing. She was the only one on the stage dancing, but they couldn't get her to sit down. We also saw her trying to get on the stage during a couple of the other dances. I had several people come up to me after the show to comment on Ava's performance. Here is the link on you tube.

Here is the link to her at the end of the show. I didn't get video of her at the beginning because I didn't know she was going to get up and start dancing.

I am so behind on posting on here. I have a lot of pictues to post. I'll try and do that soon!

"I Love You"

2009-04-09T16:34:00.005-04:00

Ava goofing off with Grandma Nora's glasses

The sweetest three words I've ever heard. Yes, I heard them from Ava!!! Most children Ava's age (she will be 5 in May) have been saying these three words for several years. Ava has verbal apraxia and has not said more than one word at a time until this past week. She is so proud of herself and so are we. Ava, we love YOU!

Snow Day

2009-03-05T09:07:00.005-05:00

This past Saturday Peter and I were in the car together and he mentioned something about the radio saying there would be snow tomorrow. I told him that I didn't hear what was said, but they were probably talking about somewhere else...it was in the 60's on Saturday. Well obviously, he heard correctly...

Ava loving the snow

Mom going for the weak

Peter throwing a snowball at mom

Daddy and Ben building Bob

Ben, Bob, and Daddy

The next day the kids had the day off from school because of the snow. Ben was prepared for the arctic winds (It was in the 40's with the sun shining). Ava snuck out with him with no jacket, one of my gloves, and a pair of my socks with my crocks. She loves to be outside and she loves the snow. Peter was outside for maybe 10 minutes. One of Peter's quotes is that he likes winter because you don't have to go outside.

Fun with Josie

2009-02-18T11:52:00.007-05:00

Jessica and Josie came and spent the week with us last week. We had a lot of fun visiting. The kids really had a good time with Josie and were sad to see her go.

Ava and Josie were holding hands on the way to the American Girl store

Ava loved the American Girl store...she took out the doll that was in this stroller so she could push her doll around. I didn't think we were going to be able to make it out of there without the double stroller.

Ava feeding "Lilly" some noodles

Josie feeding "Itty Bitty" some celery

Atlanta Zoo

The girls checking out the flamingos

Peter posing with Josie

Pinewood Derby

2009-02-07T12:47:00.005-05:00

Ben with his 2nd place trophy

We had our cub scout Pinewood Derby today and as you can see Ben won second place. Ben and Derek worked hard the last couple of weeks cutting, sanding and coming up with an idea for his car. Ben's car was called the "death squad" . Peter, Ava and I did not go but I did text Derek when I thought they should be done and he said that Ben did ok. Ben didn't want Derek to tell me about his trophy. When he came in, he walked into the living room with the biggest grin on his face and the trophy in his hand. He was so excited that he won.

The Death Squad

Off to the race

Ben and his friend, Jason

GO!

Merry Christmas, Happy Chinese New year, and Happy Birthday!

2009-01-26T10:36:00.015-05:00

I wrote this about a week ago and was waiting to get my video to upload before I posted it. Well, that hasn't worked so here it is!

It has been a long time again since I have posted. But here are some photos of the past month. I have a few photos of Christmas. For some reason, we didn't really take a lot on Christmas morning, but we did do some video. We went to Derek's parent's house Christmas day and then we went to Gulf Shores to visit my family the day after Christmas. We were at the beach for about 10 days. As usual, I wanted to pack up everything and move to Gulf Shores after our visit! We are going to have to find a way to get Chapman Drugs down there!! The kids are at such a fun age to celebrate Christmas. It was a lot of fun this year.

Gross boy tidbit: Ben said today that he wished his nose was a cave and he could pick out the stalagtites and the stalagmites ! Are all boys this gross???

The kids ready to go downstairs to see what Santa brought

Ava admiring her new blowdryer

The boys sitting in their new chairs and showing off some new "stuff"

Ava enjoying grandmama's Christmas cinnamon rolls

The weather was great!

Ben loves to chase the birds

Peter didn't bother going where the water was shallow to get to the sand bar

I love his happy face in the picture

The boys love the beach

The start of our massage train

Is Ben going to join us?

Fun at the condo

Happy Chinese New Year

Jonathan and Susan came over with their girls so we could celebrate Chinese New Year. We made dumplings, decorated with paper lanterns and dressed the kids up. We had a lot of fun. We were not very successful in getting a group picture.

Ava checks out Eleanor

Ava checking on LilyKate

Oh well...not looking good

Happy Birthday Ted, Lee, Derek and Christa

The birthday group

Daddy and his little girl

Lee opening his exciting birthday presents

Ted with his Georgia shirt and black and red gift bag

Ava helping Christa with her presents

My boys

The wild party crew...I didn't get the one of them dancing on the tables.

Ted, Jaime (with baby Tripp) and Terry

Awards Day at St. Johns

Peter got the responsibility award this semester at school. We are so proud of him. Ben was upset that he didn't get an award also. I told him that next year he will be eligible for honor roll and Principle's list since it is the first year he will get "real" grades. They also get acknowledged on awards day. Maybe this will motivate him to keep doing well in school.

Peter receiving his award from Ms. Vogtner

Peter and the other kindergarten award winners

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

2008-12-25T10:50:00.003-05:00

Peter lost one if his front teeth a couple of weeks ago, the same night his magical elf came. He lost his other front tooth last night, so he had a visit from both Santa and the tooth fairy. He likes for his magical creatures to come in pairs. I will post more about Christmas later. The kids are having one of the best Christmases. They are having so much fun! Merry Christmas everyone!!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T08:42:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I know we are going to have a great Christmas. The kids are SO excited. Peter can hardly stand it. He woke up this morning and said that he wishes we were in China so we would be going to bed soon. Ben is also trying to figure out how to make the time go by quickly. We have to go get a ham for work and a few other errands and Derek will be home early today. I have everything that I need for Christmas! I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!

One Year, One Month, and One Day

2008-12-16T08:03:00.009-05:00

I'm a month and a day late to celebrate "gotcha day" but we have a lot to celebrate. We recently had a medical scare with Ava and we just found out that she is ok. She had an MRI of her brain in November because of her physical/developmental delays and they found a cyst on her cerebellum. The radiology report said that the cyst was having a mass effect and we were sent to see a neurosurgeon, but it took ~6 weeks before we were able to see him. That was a long, worry filled 6 weeks!! We finally saw the neurosurgeon last week and he said that it was a small cyst and that it was not affecting her and that we would get another MRI in a year to make sure it isn't getting bigger (he doesn't think that it will). He said that a lot of people are walking around with cysts like these and don't know it unless they happen to have an MRI for another reason. I am so thankful that she is not going to have BRAIN SURGERY!!! She has had enough surgery in her 4 years!! We are so thankful that we are lucky enough to be this sweet, loving little girl's parents. Thanks to everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers. This has been a difficult time for us and it was so nice to know that there were people out there thinking and praying for us. Keep her in your prayers. She has come a long way, but she also has a lot of catching up to do.

It is nice to have such great news during this time of year. Not only do we celebrate Christmas this time of year, but we also have three December birthdays in our family. Peter turned 6 on the 12th and he had a penguin, winter wonderland birthday. He picked out his cup cakes and he helped me decorate the dining room into Winter Wonderland...he was so excited! We started the celebration at The Varsity and had hot dogs and onion rings and then headed to our house for present opening and cake. He was so funny during his present opening...he didn't act excited about any present he opened, but he really loves all of them. His favorite present was Martian Matter (he has been making martians every day!), but he has played with everything he got. Peter is one of the happiest people I know!

Bring on the grease!

Welcome to Winter Wonderland

The Birthday Boys

Grandaddy celebrated his 75th birthday!!!

I'm also going to post some pictures of the Secret Santa Shop at the boy's school. Every year the kids get an opportunity to shop for their friends and family. Kids can come in with any amount of money and buy gifts. I helped one little boy buy 9 gifts for five dollars. It is such a fun experience for the kids and they feel so good about picking out presents for their family. It was also a fun experience for all of the helper elves that got to help the kids and wrap their presents. The mom who was in charge of this no longer has kids at the school so this was her last year and she has passed the Head Elf job to me. This is what will be keeping me busy shopping at the after Christmas sales coming up and wrapping presents throughout the year.

All of the gifts

The first group of shoppers

Elves Yasna and Karen

Elves turning the shop back in to the science lab

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T10:57:00.022-05:00

The kids have been keeping us busy lately. Here are some pictures of the last couple of weeks.

Parents were asked to read to Peter's kindergarten class one day. Peter was so excited that I came to read.

This is Ben after his hip hop performance at school. Here he is with two of his best friends, Blake and Leo.

Ava's pre-k class gave a performance for Thanksgiving.

The next four pictures are from our Cub Scout field trip to the police station...the boys LOVED it!

Here is Peter at Race for Education Day at school. This was during our week of sickness. Peter was just getting over his cold and Ava and Ben are sick at home.

I just added this because it is so cute.

Here is a video from Ben's hip hop performance to "Beat It" and a video of Ava's class Thanksgiving show. I couldn't get them to up load onto blogger so I here are links to the videos on You tube. Please keep Ava in your prayers. We see the neurosurgeon Dec. 8th.

Not sure if this counts

2008-11-03T09:00:00.002-05:00

Ava slept in her bed last night...yipee! But does it count if I slept in it too? Anyway, I may do this for a couple of days and then stop. I will have to stop soon though because my back was killing me this morning. The box spring and mattress are from the bed Derek and I slept in until we got a king size bed, which we didn't get until after Peter was born. I can't believe that we use to sleep in a double bed. Of course, that was before we had visitors in the night.

Look who's in a "big girl bed" now!

2008-11-02T15:39:00.004-05:00

Well, we will see how it works. Ava slept with her foster grandparents before we adopted her so to keep her from having so many changes at first we had her sleep with us. We were not going to have her in our bed too long but when we visited our social worker, she said not to push putting her into her own bed. She said it could take up to a year. Well, here we are a year later. We have had a toddler bed set up in her room and I think she has slept in it for about an hour this whole year. We lay down with her every night in our bed for a little while so we decided that to get her into her own room we needed a bigger bed. This bed was one of Ava's aunts when she was a little girl. She was so excited the whole time we were putting it all together. Now let's see if she sleeps in it!

Look who's in a

2008-11-02T15:39:00.001-05:00

St. Peter and Halloween

2008-11-01T19:58:00.007-04:00

Every year at the boy's school, the kids in the kindergarten class dress up as saints for All Saints Day. They all have to memorize a couple of lines about their saint. Peter decided to be St Peter. The video at the end of this post is Peter reciting his lines and his best friend, Luke.

Here are some trick or treating pix too. We go every year to Michael and Lisa's house to trick or treat. We missed last year though because we left for China on Oct. 31st. We always have a lot of fun with all of them and their family. This was Ava's first year trick or treating...she had a lot of fun. We missed y'all, Eleanor and LilyKate!

Dorothy and the Wicked Witch

Iron Man (Travis), Bumble Bee (Matthew), Scream (Ben), Sharpay (Morgan), Jango Fett (Peter), Dorothy (Ava), Wicked Witch (Elphaba), Dora (Jackie)

Peter and Morgan....Peter always has so much fun with Morgan

Everyone in action

One of the houses had this "vomit pumpkin" - it was a big hit with our crew

Checking out all of the goods

Worn out

Thanks, Magi!

2008-11-01T10:36:00.012-04:00

I am horrible at things like this but my super blogger sister, Magi, "tagged me" so I guess I will give it a try. I'm sure she will be surprised that I did it.

1. I am horrible at this because there is not much that I don't share with people. Unfortunately, I probably tell people too much about myself. But, I have this thing about putting things in writing...I can always deny I've said something, but it is hard to deny what is in black and white. In fact, I've given advice to people (mostly my younger sister) against writing personal letters to address issues.

2. Okay, here it goes, and yes, I'm counting the above comment as number one. On the first day of my physiology class in college (one of many...colleges not physiology classes), when filling out the obligatory informational index card, I wrote on mine that I use to be male. I always hated trying to come up with something interesting about myself. The professor never said anything to me about it, but he taught physiology not anatomy...maybe he wasn't sure.

3. I love to read! This is really no secret to anyone who knows me. I read almost every night before I go to sleep regardless of what time it is, how sick I am, or even how bad what I am reading is. I don't think of this as any great thing...I have wasted a lot of my life reading bad books. But, I hate it when people say that they don't read because they don't have time or really anything because they don't have time. It is not a time thing it is a choice thing. Maybe you just prefer to have a restful night sleep and that is ok.

4. I spent a considerable percentage of my life (it will take several more years of aging for it not to be considerable) in college. I went to FSU, UF, Gulf Coast Community College (actually graduated), beauty school (one in Panama City, but graduated from one in Hammond, LA...sorry don't remember the name of either), and finally Auburn University. I goofed off at FSU and UF, but I went back to school (Auburn) at 24, and after 7 years, I finally finished. I have my bachelors and doctorate from Auburn, so it was seven straight years...not seven goofing off years. After seven years at Auburn, I am definitely an Auburn fan. War Eagle!

5. I am in a group of women called the Pink Ladies. After graduating from Auburn, Derek and I both did residencies in Memphis, TN. I was at the VA hospital and was one of 7 female residents. We had the best time together. Six of us have kept in touch and have made a point of getting together every year. We are all great friends and email almost on a daily basis.

6. I met my husband in pharmacy school. We got married three days after we graduated with our B.S. After our honeymoon of camping our way up to Maine, I moved into his lovely trailor where we lived until we finished our graduate program. I should clarify that at Auburn, most of the trailor parks are filled with college students (It is Alabama!!). Anyway, it was a very economical way to live while in school. Derek and I sometimes joke about how much money we would have if we still lived there!

7. I have three sisters and none of us live near each other, not even in the same state. I would love for us to be able to live near each other and have our children grow up together.

Okay, done! Now I have to tag some people. Sorry!
1. Kati
2. Jessica
3. Pam
4. Kathleen
5. Susan
6. Susan
7. I don't even know 7 people to tag!

Tacky Day

2008-10-29T23:20:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was tacky day at school yesterday for the boys. They were so excited they actually got up right away to put their clothes on.

Yes, this house is available.

2008-10-28T08:25:00.002-04:00

But please give me several house warning before you come to look at it. I talked to two of my sisters on the phone yesterday and they were trying to compete with me over whose house was the worst so I told them I would send them a picture of just my living room. I would try to explain some of it, like why Ava has on feety pajamas (that aren't hers) at 3:00 in the afternoon, but it would take too long. So there, Magi and Jessica, beat that!

Happy Halloween

2008-10-27T08:19:00.010-04:00

Ben is Scream fourth from left, Peter is Jango Fett second from right next to his friend, Sponge Bob (Luke)

Rocker Girl

I am sitting in my living room surrounded by stuff...stuff is EVERYWHERE! My house is a complete disaster area and I am not exaggerating. There is not a room in the house that is not a wreck. From where I sit, I even see clothes creeping out of the laundry room. So, instead of cleaning all of it up, I am here blogging. I guess that is one way to get me to blog...make the house too unbearable to clean. We have had a whirlwind weekend which led to the disaster. It started on Friday with Ava's MRI. She had an MRI scheduled for Friday at 1:00. I called them the day before because they had left me a message asking about metal in her body. I told them that I was pretty sure that she didn't, she did have open heart surgery in China but she had an echo done after we got home. Anyway, when we got there they contacted the cardiologist to get the echo results, but then decided they still wanted to do an x-ray to make sure there was no metal. I was happy to do the x-ray...I really wanted to make sure she had no metal in her body before they put her into a giant magnet! During all of this waiting, Ava was not very cooperative with the nurse so we decided to have them give her some Versed before they tried to put in the IV, which turned out to be an excellent idea!!! It was very hard for them to find a vein for the IV and she was not happy, but she would have been hysterical if she had not had the Versed and she would also remember it (thank God for the amnesia effect!). While we were there I asked them if we could get the Chinese rate. Before we adopted Ava, she had a CT of her head done and we had to pay for it. It was all of $26!!! I think that we might have spent that much Friday in parking and coffee at the hospital!! We did not pick a good year for a high deductible insurance plan, our out of pocket medical expenses this year have reached my residency salary!! Oh well, it is just money, we'll catch up eventually and thank goodness we are able to do all that we can to help our sweet girl.

Well, when we got home Friday night, Derek watched our "drunk" daughter while I went to Mother/Son Game Night at the boy's school. It was a costume game night so we had to get dressed up. Peter was Jango Fett from Star Wars, Ben was Bloody Scream and I dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba)...unfortunately, no pix from that night. We had a lot of fun. Friday night was the beginning of the house disaster project.

Saturday was another dress up day!!! Peter's best friend, Luke, had a birthday party with a costume parade and then trunk or treating at their church. On our way to Luke's house we stopped by Derek's parent's house where Peter and Granddaddy Chapman have been growing a pumpkin for months. We had a great time at Luke's party and the kids also had fun trunk or treating. This was Ava's first Halloween experience and she clung to me for most of the evening. Near the end, she finally let some people put candy in her "pumpkin" (actually a hello kitty bucket). More mess made today...no cleaning.

Sunday was another crazy day. I didn't prepare too well for my sunday school lesson (I read it on the way to the party yesterday), so I got on the internet early and looked up some stuff. Teaching the high school class is a little more challenging than the 5 and under group I'm use to!! After church, we had a quick lunch because I had to get back up to church to help decorate for Family Fun Night (FFN). Before heading back to church, I had Derek taste test my chili for tonight's chili cook off to see if I needed to add anything. I also took a few pix of Derek and the kids carving the HUGE pumpkin. I found out while decorating that one of the comittees I am on at church was meeting at 5pm (FFN starts at 6), so I rush to get home at 4 to give Derek time to go get donuts (he is in charge of the donut eating contest) and quickly make my witch cookies. He gets home in time for me to go back up to the church (the kitchen is a disaster after chili making and witch cookie creating). My meeting was longer than expected so I didn't make it back home so thankfully Derek go everyone dressed and met me up there.

FFN was a lot of fun though. The boys both won the pumpkin carving contest. Ben won for scariest pumpkin and Peter won for largest pumpkin (they each carved a side on the huge pumpkin) and I took home the third place price for my chili - woohoo! Ava was a little clingy, but she had a lot of fun too! Anyway, I had to drag everyone out of bed this morning to get ready for school (including myself) and now I am sitting here in a total disaster area!

Peter doing what he does best - supervising!

Ben doing some detail work with his pocket knife

Peter posing with his alien pumpkin

Ben posing with his Screem pumpkin

Ava loves to put on this mask

The boys love their sister

The final product on display

The Costume Parade

Peter as Jango Fett

Ava the Rocker Girl (she wouldn't go alone)

Ben as a Sith Apprentice

Peggy and Marilynn (Susan) with the puppies (LilyKate and Eleanor)

Maddie Minnie Mouse and her dad, Billy

Here is a video of Ava rocking out to her adoring fans.

Two Days in a Row?!!!

2008-10-23T09:04:00.005-04:00

Yes, I am posting again. After I posted, I read Magi's post about our time together. My posts are few and far between and don't include much detail. I hate to write and it is not something I am very good at. I think clever thoughts all day long, I just don't post any of them (at least that is my story) Anyway, Magi did a much better job of posting about our time together. Not just a better job, but a job because she actually mentioned it and posted pictures about it and I did not.

Well, since I am already here I will post some cute pictures of Ava playing with her adorable Calico Critter's House (I included this link so you can see how cute this stuff is - I know nothing about this particular store...it was just the best picture I saw). She got this last year for Christmas from her Aunt's, Donna and Debbie, but at the time she really was not interested. I brought it out the other day and showed it to her and she got so excited; it was the cutest thing. The house has a family of rabbits, and yesterday before school she was holding one of them and actually said bunny (it was actually bummy, but anyone who knows Ava knows that that is HUGE!!!). We have spent the morning playing with the house including putting in WORKING lights...too cute. I have also been putting stickers on all of the little pieces (butter, milk, cheese, etc...) to stock the refrigerator. It is the most adorable toy.

Well, I better run...it is Ava's therapy day and I just noticed that Ben left his lunch on the dining room table.

Family Photos

2008-09-29T10:26:00.020-04:00

Ava's first Auburn Game

Well, I officially stink at blogging!!! I am going to try and do a better job. Everyone is doing well. Ben is enjoying 2nd grade. He is in the cub scouts and he is also taking hip hop at school. They are practicing a routine with Michael Jackson's Beat It...I can't wait to see it! Peter still loves Kindergarten and he is really into Pokemon cards. In fact, he plans on being a Pokemon Card artist when he grows up. Ava is enjoying pre-k and she is doing SO well. Her teachers and therapists really think that she is going to catch up with her peers. In the last month or so I have seen so much improvement in her receptive language. I think her adenoid/tonsil/nut removal surgery has made a world of difference.

I have uploaded several pix from the summer and this fall to try and catch up...here they are.

This past weekend we traveled to see our China travel group for our first year reunion. It was so good to see all of the families and their girls. Everyone has is doing great and the girls were all adorable. I can't believe it has been a year.October 2008

November 2007

Our Sweet Ava November 2007

Here are several beach pictures from this summer

Granddaddy helping the boys build their sand castle

Grandmamma and Ava

Josie

Ava piling sand on Granddaddy

Ava and Josie enjoying the tub

The "triplets"

Ben went to drama camp this summer. There performance was from Dr Seuss

The Set

peeking out at the audience

Ben beatboxing

More beach photos...Ben's first golf outing

Peter and Ava take their bath together...here are some of them the other night enjoying their bubbles:

These are some pictures from Callaway Gardens...Peter was not happy to be in the tree

Donna and Jim watch the kids during several football games in the fall. The boys

started having fall festivals a couple of years ago and it has really grown. This year there was a hay ride, a scavenger hunt, a pine cone relay, a maze and even a wood chopping competition.

Kim and Ava

Granddaddy and Grandmama (I forgot to add that there was a back drop for photo ops)

Peter at the craft store

Here we are chopping wood

Granddaddy shows us how it is done

This was the free transportation

Family Hayride

Happiest boy on earth

Here is a video of the pine cone relay.

First Day of School

2008-08-11T08:48:00.007-04:00

I have mixed feelings about school starting. Part of me is thrilled that I finally may be able to accomplish some things around the house, but I dread the whole morning routine of trying to get everyone out of the door! We were able to get everyone to bed pretty much on time last night, but that still didn't matter to Ben. Both Peter and Ava were already in our bed and got up pretty easily. Ava was up and ready to eat breakfast and Peter was up and ready to have some chocolate milk. I woke up a groggy Ben and carried him into our room...he was very upset that it was still dark outside. I put him in my bed, turned on the t.v. and brought him some chocolate milk to ease him into the day. For the last couple of years that has been our morning routine for school. The boys would get in our bed and drink CM while watching t.v. Ben pretty much just uses that time for more sleep....today was no different. Once they were up, everything went pretty smooth. They got dressed, we took our annual pictures and headed to Ava's school first.

For some reason, the flash didn't work when taking the boy's pictures.

Ben went to morning asembly without a problem. He has been going to this school since pre-k, so he knows the routine. He is not one to let you know if he is anxious, but he did finally admit yesterday that he was a little excited about going back to school so he could see his friends.

Peter has been excited about going back to school; he loves school and misses his friends...especially Abigail. I took him to his classroom and he put his book bag away, found his seat and got started on the puzzle on his desk. I was glad to see that he was seated next to Charlotte, the sister of one of Ben's best friends (Leo). Peter barely even noticed when I left.

Ava was all smiles here, but it didn't last. She got very upset when I dropped her off. It broke my heart to see her crying as the teacher's aide took her away. The boys got very upset too. Peter started to cry and asked me why I was making her go to school on the first day. They were both so sweet. I know that she will have fun and like school once she gets into her classroom, but a part of me worries about what she was thinking when I dropped her off. I wanted her to know that I was going to be coming back to get her. She has gone through so much in her life and we are the fourth place that she has lived (as far as we know) and I want her to understand that we will always be her family. I don't know if she really knows that.

Summer Fun with Virginia

2008-07-22T09:53:00.010-04:00

My sweet niece, Virginia, is here and the kids are having such a good time with her. When we are home, I actually hardly ever see them...they go down to the playroom and play for hours. Sunday we went to White Water and we all really had a good time. I didn't bring my camera, but if you've ever been to White Water, you know that some of the sites you don't want to remember (I just don't understand why every pregnant person now feels that they need to wear a bikini). Anyway, the kids were cute and they loved the rides.

Kati happened to pack two dresses of Virginia's that Ava has so I dressed them alike for church on Sunday...they looked so cute. What was even cuter though was Peter and Virginia holding hands walking into church.

We had a pretty busy day yesterday too. Ava has a door plaque on her door that I made that Virginia liked so after Ava's speech therapy, we went to the craft store to buy some stuff to make one for her. Virginia and Peter also bought some crafts to paint. On the way home, we stopped off at the drug store for some milk shakes and then off to Blockbuster for some video games and movies. So last night we did crafts for a while and then the big kids went downstairs to play and watch movies with Derek while I put Ava to bed. I forgot to mention that I also brought out the play-doh for Ava to play with. So right now, I think that every room in our house is a disaster area. You always hear people say that with each child, you become more and more relaxed about what they do. Well, she is definitely the first one that I have let play with play-doh in the living room. It dries up and actually comes out of carpet pretty easily. It is not like it is any worse than all of the danimal/gogurt spills that the living room rug has suffered. (please call 2 hours in advance before stopping by)

I just got up and went into the boys room to tell them something and they are now grouping all of the stuffed animals and putting them on Peter's bed. Peter has a lot of stuffed animals...he has quite a large Care Bear collection. They are having so much fun so who cares that they are making a mess and that I just saw Ava walk by with green play-d0h in her hands.(please call 3 hours in advance before stopping by)

Today we are going to take it easy and just hang out by the pool. Maybe I will clean up later.

Our Wall Art

Peter wanted his on here too

Look Who Has Glasses Now

2008-07-18T20:09:00.005-04:00

Isn't she the cutest thing?!

We took Ava to her follow up eye doctor appointment this week and she is now wearing glasses. The last time that we went, the doctor told us that she was far sighted, but just outside the normal limits for a child. He didn't think that she needed glasses at that time, but wanted to follow up in a couple of months to see how she was doing. It seems that she crosses her left eye when she tries to focus, this is called accomodative esotropia. Ben was given glasses (and patch) for amblyopia and anisometropia. Really big words which mean that his eyes were seeing unequally and the brain was starting to favor the better eye. I never knew that there were so many long words to describe eye conditions. I was hoping (for both of them) that their vision would be corrected easily and they wouldn't need glasses long term, but it looks like they both will be wearing them for years. They both look really cute in their glasses. I wanted to take a picture of them together, but was only able to get Ava to cooperate tonight. Ben has had a few things not go his way tonight so he is not in the greatest of moods. On top of that, he just got home from spending several days at one of his favorite places, Jim and Donna's, and he is exhausted!

New Found Cute Photos of the Boys

2008-07-06T17:14:00.029-04:00

Summer 2006
Ben is 5, Peter is 3

I love our bug man (Richard). I know that is odd, but he is a really nice guy. He is from our town, but, until recently, he lived about 30 min. away. He has moved back to the area and the last time he was spraying our house he asked if our church had a website. I knew that we did, but I had never even looked at it. We have a pretty small church and we are pretty active in it so I never really felt the need to look at the website to see what was going on. After finding the website, I found some of the cutest photos of the boys at VBS over the years. I remember the first year Ben went to VBS and how much fun he had, especially during the games. This was our first year at the church. Everyone there was wonderful and welcomed us with open arms. It is a very small church, most of the members have been going there all of their lives and almost everyone is related. They have never made us feel like outsiders, but have included us as if we were family. Moving to this area has been challenging for me at times. I don't know what I would've done if we would not have found this church.

Thank you Richard for leading me to our website and old photos of the kids enjoying VBS. It helped me to value what I do have here in a time that I really need it. I have been feeling really down and home sick lately. We just got back from visiting some of my family at the beach and it really made me want to move near them. I still wish that I could have some of my family around and I would really love to live near them. It would be wonderful to be able to see my sister's and their kids on a regular basis, but right now that is really not something that we can do. I am just thankful for the wonderful friends that I have made at Mt Zion.

VBS 2004

Ben LOVING the freeze game

Ben loves that his dad helps with recreation

This is the only picure we have of Peter that year. He is sitting on Lisa's lap across from Morgan on Christine's lap.

VBS 2006

Ben loved digging for treasure

Our group of "Treasure Seekers"

Lexi and Ben wrapped in newspaper

Derek and Jonathan demonstrating the game
Lexi and Ben as partners
Peter making a silly face
The younger group gets to dig for treasure too. That is Morgan next toPeter...she is still one of his favorites at church.

Blowing Bubbles

Peter and Morgan

Unfortunately, no psychological testing is done on the leaders

VBS 2007

Peter joins Ben with the older group

Derek and Johnny

Doing the VBS "moves"

Patricia, Carol and Susan...I would love to know what they are looking at

I just thought this was a funny picture of Kim...I'm sure she will love to see this here!

The Twins

2008-06-22T20:27:00.002-04:00

I am so happy to post that Jonathan and Susan have their little girls. As you can see, they are adorable. Check out Susan's blog for more photos. Congratulations J and S....we can't wait until you all get home.

Ava Showing Off Her New Birthday Presents

2008-06-21T17:12:00.008-04:00

Ava got two birthday presents in the mail yesterday. She got the cutest little dress from Aunt Magi. Magi got the adorable hand made dress from Robin, a waiting mother who is sewing to make money so that she can go to China to get her daughter. When I showed it to Ava, she wanted to put it on immediately so we put it on over what she had on. I didn't get any pictures of that lovely combination, but we did put it on today and she posed for pictures outside. She loves to put on pretty clothes.

Granddaddy and Grandma Nora got her a new tricycle. We have a tricycle but she can't really do it herself so this one with the push bar is great (it saves mom and dad's backs). I didn't let her see the tricycle until today because I didn't want her to know it existed until we had it put together and we were ready to ride. We put it together while she napped this afternoon so we could surprise her with it when she woke up. She was very excited when she saw it and instead of riding it, she has been pushing it around. Right now she prefers to push it. She had a lot of fun with it today.

As you can see, I have no pix of the boys. They left yesterday to go to the beach with Derek's family. We are going to meet them there next Wednesday night, after the twins come home.

It Has Been Awhile

2008-06-20T07:24:00.018-04:00

I have been meaning to post forever. A lot has gone on since I last posted - the boy's field day at school, mother's day, Ava's 4th birthday, Ava's christening, etc... I keep meaning to post and then when I get behind, I feel to overwhelmed to even start it!

I did take Ava for her 6 month follow up at the adoption clinic. I did not have a very positive experience. The evaluation with the social worker went well. Ava is attaching very well and I think that we will continue to see progress in that area. She has come a long way. The OT visit didn't go as well. They think that she should be farther along developmentally then she is. I don't think they see much improvement over her initial visit. She thinks that her development doesn't match her history. Her history being that she was in her biological family for the first year (which we can only assume b/c she was not abandoned until she was a year old) and being in foster care for the majority of her life before us (she was in the orphanage for about 6 months, during that time she had heart surgery). I look at that short little life as having quite a few traumatic events...who knows how that affected her. I saw a different doctor this time and I wasn't crazy about her. I think she must be a new graduate (I looked this up...finished residency 2007). She almost acted like Ava wasn't even in the room except for the physical exam...even then, she didn't really interact with her. I didn't care that much because I knew this was a one time visit. What bothered me, was that she wanted to get an MRI and do genetic testing. They made me feel that Ava was mentally deficient and that I shouldn't expect much from her. I don't know if they meant to come across that way, but they did. I calmly left their office and when I got in my car I immediately called the director (she is also an OT) at the treatment center I take Ava to in Atlanta. She is also the person that did her initial evaluation and has treated her until recently. I tried to stay composed, but of course, that didn't happen. She was really surprised by what the adoption clinic had to say and said she really didn't agree with this. Neither she nor Ava's PT (who was next to her when I called) felt there was any urgency to get an MRI at this time. She also brought up the fact that Ava has had a nut shell in her nose for who knows how long and just had adenoid/tonsil surgery two weeks ago and how this could've been affecting her. I felt so much better after talking to her. I know that she is not going to tell me things to make me feel better. In fact, that is why I called her first...not Derek. I am not paying her to be my friend. I know that if she thought that Ava would not get "better" she would tell me...it is her job. It was a very long and emotional two hour drive home from the clinic. No matter what happens with Ava's development, which has come a long way, I love that little girl and I am so glad she is my daughter.

The day after our trip to the clinic, Ava had her regularly scheduled OT and speech. I asked them if they had heard about my phone call, but they hadn't. I told them about my experience and they were really surprised. I have been working with the same speech therapist for awhile and she really thinks Ava is doing well. In fact, last week I was feeling a little down and I said that I was worried that Ava would never talk and she reassured me that she would. She has told me every visit since her surgery how much better she is doing in therapy. She really thinks that her hearing has improved. Her new OT also thinks Ava is doing well. She said that they see a lot of kids and they usually know when kids are going to be ones that take off. They really feel positive about Ava. And again, I am not paying these people to be my friends!

Well, that was a lot longer than I expected and I should probably re-read it, but I don't feel like it. Just keep my sweet little Ava in your prayers.

On a completely different topic....many of you have probably already heard , seen on Oprah or Diane Sawyer of Randy Pausch and his Last Lecture. If you haven't, watch it on You tube or listen to it on your I-pod. He is very inspiring and entertaining. He also has a great time management lecture, which I know the title doesn't sound very enticing, but it is really good.

I also just read a great book, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, by child psychiatrist, Bruce Perry. He is an MD/PhD that specializes on brain development and children in crisis. It is a book explaining how trauma or stress affect a child's brain and how he has helped treat several children.

GULF SHORES

These pictures are from Spring Break - this is Ava with her cousin Sera and Uncle Jim (Sera was not crazy about Ava being on her daddy's lap.

Peter and Sera at the beach

My three kiddos

Ben is such a sweet big brother

Ben "helping" at the Gulf Shores Zoo

This beach thing is exhausting

Mom and her first born...both NOT morning people

FIELD DAY AT ST JOHNS

Peter at field day...Abigail, his good friend, is next to him

Ben and one of his best (and sweetest) friends, Leo

PARTY AT THE HORSE FARM

Daddy and Ava at a birthday party
Ava and Peter having fun in a hammock

ST JOHN'S AWARDS DAY

Peter got two second semester awards: The PE award and an award for having his artwork displayed at the annual catholic school art show
He got The Responsiblity Award for the first semester...I'm not sure if I posted that so I thought I would go ahead and put it here. He loves school and is such a good student.

MOTHER'S DAY

Ava having fun with some of the gifts

Happy mom with her family

Grandmama with most of her grandkids (Terry was celebrating his anniversary in the Bahamas)

The grandkids with there favorite aunt...Donna!

AVA'S CHRISTENING

Ben was happy to have a "job"

Ava with her grandmama

AVA'S BIRTHDAY

Beautiful girl turns 4

AVA BEFORE HER TONSILECTOMY/ADENOIDECTOMY

Before Valium

After Valium (you need to check out one of the videos below)

CENTENNIAL PARK

I just think she has the cutest bottom in this picture

fun with dad

HAPEVILLE

They put up butterflies all around Hapeville....they are beautiful.

VIDEOS

Video one is the soccer game that we played at the end of the season with the kids. It was parents against kids. I finally found my playing level...U8 (kids 6-8)

The next one is of Ava blowing out her birthday candle. Ben being shirtless can be explained here.

The last video is Ava on Valium before her surgery. The doctor said that she was giving everyone high fives in the operating room.

usin

Who Likes Popcorn???

2008-05-29T20:46:00.003-04:00

If you like popcorn and you want some for free, visit my sister's blog at the link below

LINK

Ben's Blog

2008-05-20T19:56:00.002-04:00

Ben has a new post on his blog that he wants everyone to check out. Hopefully, this isn't what his future holds....dancing on tables without his shirt!

Does Anyone Know What This Is???

2008-05-09T08:37:00.005-04:00

That is a dime in the picture...someone thought it was a quarter (that might have required surgery)!!!

Well, I don't either! But I know where it came from...AVA'S NOSE!!!! Her nose has been horrible ever since China. It has been really smelly and she keeps getting antibiotics, but the smell and cruddy junk keep coming back. We took her to the ENT two weeks ago and he asked if she had put anything up her nose because that is what usually causes a bad odor. I said not that I knew of but her nose has been like this for six months, the entire time she has been home. He looked to see if he saw anything, but didn't. He gave her two weeks worth of antibiotics and told us to give her nasal washes (I highly recommend that to the chronically congested...that really cleans your sinuses!!!). He was thinking that her adenoids were enlarged and causing chronic infections. As soon as we started the nasal washes we thought we saw something black trying to come out of her nose. We weren't sure what it was...it almost looked like dried blood or something. I took her back to the ENT for him to check and make sure that there wasn't a foreign body. He (well, really the PA...the Dr was in surgery) cleaned out her nose and saw what I was talking about, but said that it was a concretion (I think that is what he called it)...basically, dried hard snot (gross, I know). They said to keep doing the washes and that should soften it up and make it come out. Well, the last few days it really looked like it was going to come out, but it would slip back up her nose. This morning, while I was driving the kids to school, Ava sneezed. I turned around and she had snot coming out of her nose, so I pulled over to wipe it and when I did THAT came out of it!!! That has been in her nose for 6+ months. It looks like the shell to some type of nut. I can't imagine having something like that in my nose for that long. Maybe her adenoids are fine!!!

Pigtails!!

2008-05-07T17:22:00.005-04:00

I know the pigtails aren't the best, but look how much Ava's hair has grown since November! She looks fresh from the barber!

This is at Lucy's in Guangzhou

Enjoying a french fry cigarette

Trying to put bows on a few strands of hair

Congratulations Jonathan and Susan

2008-05-02T14:22:00.017-04:00

Our neighbors and great friends got their referral today. They waited almost 28 months, but now they are the proud parents of twin girls!!! I am so excited for them. I know Susan will post pictures on her blog soon! Congratulations Jonathan and Susan...we love y'all!

The World According to Ava...

2008-04-29T08:46:00.002-04:00

The Miracle of Rainbows

2008-04-27T13:20:00.021-04:00

The first time we ever saw Ava's picture was a year ago from yesterday. I had just updated our special needs (SN) profile with our agency, adding heart disease as a special need and increasing the age of child we were willing to adopt. That afternoon our agency said they had a child that fit our profile so I told them to go ahead and email me her information. I was surprised that they had a child. The SN list had just been updated on our agency's website and I didn't see a child that matched. We were headed to the beach that day, so I printed everything they sent so that Derek and I could read it on the way. Of course, we both saw her picture and thought she was absolutely adorable! We read her report and talked a lot about it on the way to the beach that day. We decided to not talk about it with anyone until we knew our decision. It was SO hard not to tell anyone...especially Jonathan and Susan. We were at the beach that weekend together!! We knew that we needed to give it a lot of thought and research some of her medical issues before we made a decision. As we were driving, we saw a huge rainbow from one side of the sky all the way to the other; it was the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen. I really had a good feeling that we had found our daughter. I kept seeing little signs that we were making the right decision to adopt Ava throughout the whole process. Derek would make fun of me, but I think it really helped me. We have been home now for about 5 months and I KNOW that we made the right decision and that Ava was suppose to be our daughter. I couldn't ask for a greater gift in life. She is truly a gift from God.

Ava has been the sweetest, most loving child. She has some physical delays and speech delays, but I know that she will overcome all of these. I got a little overwhelmed after Ava's first visit with the occupational therapist when I realized how much therapy she truly needed. I was thinking about all of this in the car one day when I saw another huge rainbow in front of me. I'm really not usually someone that gives much thought to things like this, but it really gave me a feeling of peace. I truly think that it was God's way of telling me that everything is going to be fine and I know that it is. Thank you God for my wonderful daughter!

The first picture we saw of Ava

A year later...

Playing the Drums at Animal Kingdom

Riding the Teacups at Disney World

Just a few pix (Ben's b/d, Easter, Ava going to school)

2008-04-02T17:22:00.017-04:00

All the Grandchildren on the Chapman side

(Easter Morning)

I have been meaning to post for forever! I just keep putting it off for some reason. So, I will just post a few pictures to get my feet wet again!

Ben had a spend the night Captain Underpants birthday party and he had a great time. We made a cake that looked like a pair of boy's briefs and decorated the basement with underwear. Later that night we took the underwear down so the boys could paint them with fabric markers. We gave all of the boys red capes and they put the underwear on over their pants and ran around...they were hilarious. It was so fun to watch him with all of his friends. My sweet little boy is getting so old! I can't believe that he is already 7!!!

Ava just started preschool. She goes from 8:00-11:00 (she actually has two meals during that time). She seems to really like it and she gets PT, OT, and speech while she is there. We are doing private therapy as well, but I'm glad that she is able to get some for free!!! I visited the classroom before she started and she was really cute. She sat in circle time with all of the other kids and she also got up and danced when they played music. I really like her teacher and the aide...there are only about 6 kids in the class and they are a good group. I think that it is really helping her to be there. She is already popular...the teacher told me that she made a friend with one of the men that works there and now he comes in every morning to play ball with her a little bit before school starts. She missed school yesterday b/c she was congested and her teacher told me that several people asked about her. She has such a sweet, outgoing personality. She is always smiling.

Peter is doing great. He had fun at Ben's party too. He is my artist so he really enjoyed decorating the underwear. He stayed home from school yesterday also, but he was not really sick...he took a "personal day". He really just didn't want to go to school. I said that was fine, but he couldn't do that again and he can't do it when he is in Kindergarten. He stayed home and helped me pack for our trip to Disney. We are flying out tomorrow afternoon. The kids think that we are driving...they are going to be so excited when they find out that we are flying. I know that they are not really looking forward to a long drive...I can't blame them! I'm so excited to go. I know the boys are going to have so much fun, and I really think that Ava will like it too.

I just thought they all looked so cute...this is where they usually end up...our bed!

And a few minutes later...

Ben's Captain Underpant's Party (Friday)

The kids were invited to a birthday party for Andrew and Ameia. They our are good friends, Dana and Allison's kids. They had a GREAT time! (Saturday)

Everyone loved this slide...including Ava. That is Ben going head first.

The Birthday Kiddo's, Amelia and Andrew

Ava's first Easter Egg Hunt (Saturday continued)
Meeting the Easter Bunny (Savannah)
I think she likes it

Peter and the Easter Bunny

Ben being cool hunting eggs

Easter Morning...Ben got up at 6am excited about getting his basket. He was so cute about the Easter Bunny. We had opened some doors the night before b/c we were getting the house ready for everyone to come to our house after church. Ben saw the doors open and got all excited b/c he thought that the Easter Bunny had opened them. Ava woke up too and they both got their baskets and then they both fell asleep until it was time to get up for church. BTW, I was so excited that Ben wanted the Invisible Man. I have been waiting for them to get old enough to do a human model! I love stuff like this! (Sunday)

Every Easter we decorate the cross at church with flowers and attempt to take some photos. We actually took three pictures and THIS is the best one!!

Oh yeah, the sun was in our eyes

Also every year, is the young Easter Parade. The kids go to all of the Sunday School classes and sing some Easter Songs. It is really cute.

I don't know what Ava thinks of all of this!!
Celebrating Easter and Jaime, Ben and Del's Birthdays (Sunday continued)

Ben was very excited about the rock climbing equipment Donna and Jim got him (I think Cal is too)

On both Ben and Peter's first day of preschool, I took a picture of them walking out of the front door and turning to wave to me. I tried to get Ava to do this, but she kept turning completely around and then she would kind of squat...it was so cute. The boys thought it was really funny. So, this is Ava on her way out of the door to go to school. and here is her squat

and stand

and squat

And finally, I hope Ava likes Disney World more than she appears to like this carousel ride at the Zoo!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T17:22:00.004-05:00

Miscellaneous

2008-02-09T20:01:00.000-05:00

I have not posted in forever. We now have an external hard drive and we store all of our photos there, so I have to be in the dining room to post. I use to just sit on the couch in the living room with the lap top and take my time. It was a whole lot easier. It is hard to find time to escape. So, I will post a bunch of misc. photos that we have taken.

Right now the plague is going on at our house. Ben has been sick since Monday. I took him to the doctor on Wednesday b/c he still had a fever. He tested positive for the flu. He has been so sick and He is still sick today. He has really been pitiful. And then this morning, Ava woke up vomiting. She has been throwing up ALL day. The kids have never gotten the flu shot before but I am now going to make sure they get one every year. This is terrible. At least, Peter has resisted it all and is his usually happy self.

These first pictures are Christmas at our house with the Chapman's. We had to celebrate early with them b/c we were going to be at Callaway Gardens for Christmas with the Mandoki's.

Ava's First Christmas

They Boys are Professionals

Ben modeling his new "cool" bike/scooter helmet

Ava and Her Two Granddaddy's

Round two...Christmas with the Mandoki's. Everyone is sitting around listening to Grandaddy read "Twas The Night Before Christmas". We didn't have the actual story so he read it off of Kati's I-phone...how is that for a modern Christmas!!!

Ava with her new baby doll

Ava loved this musical table topper!!!

Waiting for the Fantasy in Lights train to start. (A man dressed up as Santa and proposed to his girlfriend while we were on the ride....is it romantic for a big, white haired man with a goofy red suit to propose to you??? It must be...she said yes!)

The Whole Clan

I just love this picture

I had to take this picture because it is the only time I've seen Ava in her own bed. I guess we will get her sleeping there one day!

This was an interesting weekend. I guess the snow did something to the boys. Ben has a book called Captain Underpants...the super hero in the book is a school principal that runs around in his underwear. The boys decided to play Captain Underpants that day. They wore their underwear and a hand towel safety pinned around their necks. After a while I told them to go put their clothes back on, but instead they decided to put every pair of underwear on they owned...it was quite a site. I don't have a picture of that. I guess this is embarrassing enough.

Later that same day, they decided to put on the exact same thing...."doo-rag" and all!

We also had snow that weekend. We had a lot of fun playing in the snow and building a snowman.

Did I mention how much I love these three kids!!!

At least the Snowman stayed still for the photo!

The first video Susan is helping me and the kids build a snowman. In the second, we are having a fun snowball fight. And yes, that is their loving mother throwing snowballs in the boy's faces.

Ben's Blog (UPDATE!!!)

2008-01-21T20:36:00.001-05:00

Ben has started a blog...check it out. I finally added his video. He made it the night we started the blog, but I was having problems uploading it. Derek fixed the problem so go check it out.

Cutest picture

2008-01-10T16:03:00.001-05:00

(Peter, Josie, Ben and Ava)

I have said before that Peter LOVES these pajamas and has been wearing them every Christmas of his life. I gave Jessica a pair of Peter's old pj's before Josie was even born. She brought them with her when they came to visit. Of course, I had to buy a pair for Ava as well. Ben could only go so far as wearing a Santa hat. I just love all of their goofy faces!

Pretty as a Princess

2008-01-10T15:46:00.000-05:00

Ava really likes to dress up. She had a good time looking at herself in the mirror as Tinker belle. It was a little large on her and the wings dragged a little bit, but she didn't mind one bit. She loves to pose for pictures.

We got her ears pierced last week. She did great and I think she looks so cute!

A Very Merry Christmas

2008-01-08T08:34:00.001-05:00

We had a great Christmas this year. I will post some pictures soon!

If You Take a Mouse to Peter's House...

2008-01-08T08:22:00.001-05:00

This mouse is taking turns at all of the homes in Peter's class. We had him right before the holidays. I think the mouse had a lot of fun at our house. We had a busy weekend when he was here.

Mouse went to children's choir practice

Mouse went to the bookstore

Mouse got to see a movie

Adoption Video

2007-12-13T10:28:00.000-05:00

This is a neat adotion video. I found it on the blog of the pediatrician we are going to see Monday at the International Adoption Clinic in Birmingham. Our doctor is the blond woman that adopted twin girls. Her adorable girls, Lily and Kate, are at the end of the video. I also added a link to her blog if anyone wants to read about her. I wish she were here in Atlanta! Thanks to Susan for letting me know about her and her clinic. You can see how she might have caught Susan's eye.

Miscellaneous Photos of the Kiddos!

2007-12-13T10:18:00.000-05:00

We have a picture of Ben at 21/2 holding Peter when he came home from the hospital in this rocker. The boys both wanted a picture of them with Ava in the chair. I still need to take one of all three of them in it.

Peter has had pajamas like these every year for Christmas. He is growing out of his last pair, but he still loves to wear them. He wanted Ava to have a pair too. The other night she had them on and the hat was in the living room. At one point I looked up and she had put the hat on herself. I thought it was so cute! I need to get a picture of them together with their matching pj's. Ben wouldn't be caught dead in pj's like this! NOT cool!

My Little Boy Turns 5!

2007-12-13T09:16:00.000-05:00

Jada and Peter having fun on the stage

update - The Migo has been found!!! Peter put it in his back pack yesterday, and he found it today when he was at school. Yay!

I think we could all learn from Peter how to have fun at a party! He is such a fun, happy guy. He had such a good time at his birthday party at Chuckee Cheese's! He had about 6 friends from school come. He was very excited about seeing all of his friends.

I can't believe that he is 5 years old. What people say is so true. Time just flies watching your children grow. I love seeing them going through all of their ages and stages. I just don't want them to grow and not want to cuddle anymore. Peter is such a loving and cuddly guy, he may not ever grow out of it!

Happy Birthday Peter!! His birthday was actually yesterday, but we have had many celebrations!! He had his friend party on Saturday, family party on Sunday, and yesterday we also did some celebrating. The main thing he wanted to make sure we did yesterday was eat dinner at Burger King! He likes BK, but the real big draw is that i-dogs are the prize in the kid's meal! We also went to Target so he could spend his gift cards that he got at his party. We spent a long time going up and down the toy isles trying to decide what he wanted. He finally decided on an Migo pet (a hand held virtual Chihuahua). For some reason he has a thing for chihuahua's. In fact, he told me one day he wanted to go to Mexico and when I asked him why, it was because chihuahua's are from there. Unfortunately, he brought the Migo pet to the grocery store with us and I think he may have left it there. We can't find it anywhere. He is very upset about it. We are no longer bringin toys into the grocery store!!

Sydney (Peter's ex-girlfriend), Peter, and Noah in the background

Ben and Peter (with Ava's help) playing air hockey

Ava sticking close to mommy at the crazy Chuckee Cheese

Donna and Jim hosted both Peter and Granddaddy's birthday party. It was great for me. The only thing I did for the party was make Peter's cake. Thank you Donna!

Ava must think we really like to party...two in one weekend!

Present time!!!

Wherever Granddaddy is, Ava is!

Blowing out candles

Ava fed Granddaddy all of his cake and ice cream!

Getting Ready for Christmas!

2007-12-05T16:00:00.001-05:00

This weekend the boys went to Donna and Jim's house to make gingerbread houses. They were adorable as usual. Peter made an Auburn house, Ben made a LSU/Georgia house (he said that these were his number 4 and 5 teams) and they made an adorable pastel house for Ava. She isn't quite ready for the spending the night/gingerbread house weekend. The gingerbread houses are also judged every year. Grandmama and Granddaddy give out awards for different categories. Ben won the Best Architecture award, Peter for Most Creative, and Ava won Most Colorful.

We picked them up on Sunday and went to the tree farm to get our tree. The tree farm has a hay ride, a maze and a small playground. Of course, we had to do it all. Ava had her first ride down a slide (at least with us)...I'm not sure if she liked it or not. We then went home and decorated our artificial tree in the basement. It has colored lights and we make that our fun tree. We had hot chocolate and marsh mellows and listened to Christmas music while putting on the ornaments. The boys were really a lot of help this year and Ava seemed to think it was fun. I do think she was glad to have the boys back...the house was very quiet this weekend without them. We still haven't decorated the real tree. It may not be until this weekend if we can fit it in with Peter's b/d celebrations! We are going to Chuckee Cheeses this Saturday with his friends from school and we are having his family party on Sunday at Donna and Jim's. Donna was wonderful to offer to

Best Architecture (I think the balcony helped him)

Ben's number 4 team

Peter's Auburn House (most creative award)

Ava's pretty house (most colorful award)

Tree Farm Entrance

Hay Ride

That doesn't quite look like a happy slide face

Decorating the "fun" tree

Ava's first visit from a Pink Lady

2007-12-05T15:48:00.001-05:00

Our good friends Steve and Camille were in town for the SEC championship game this weekend so they stopped by Saturday morning to meet Ava. It was so great to see them.

Later on that day, we had the UMW annual brunch. Every year they recognize all new babies of the church and give a git for mission in their name. Ava and Gracie were the two new babies. Gracie is only 3 weeks old and she already has enough hair for a bow. She is adorable. Ava had a good time at the brunch. She was very social!!!

Miscellaneous Kid Photos

2007-12-05T15:39:00.001-05:00

Derek got Ben a BB gun...he is so happy!!

Let's play dress-up. Ava LOVES her sunglasses!

Three cuties in the tub

2007-12-05T14:48:00.000-05:00

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving was Grandparent's Day at the boy's school. They always have a mass in the morning. This year Peter was chosen to say one of the prayers during mass. They only chose about 5 students from the school and he was the only one from his pre-k class. Peter loves school and school work; he showed me his prayer as soon a he got home. He was very excited about it and wanted to make sure that we practiced his part. We were very proud of him and he did a great job as you can see from the video.

Tailgating 2007

2007-12-05T11:00:00.000-05:00

Here are some miscellaneous tailgating photos from this past football season.

The boys heading to roll Toomer's Corner

Being wrapped up like a mummy is just as important as rolling

Peter having fun

Hanging out at the tailgate

Granddaddy at the game
Ava's first tailgate experience
Another scooter rider!

Thanksgiving and Other Stuff (updated with photos)

2007-11-28T09:27:00.000-05:00

I love my Granddaddy

I have been meaning to post for a while, but was waiting until Derek downloaded the pictures on to the computer. Well, he still hasn't done it so I thought I would post before I forgot everything. I know that I should learn how to download the pictures myself...I will eventually!

Thanksgiving was great. We had Thanksgiving at Debbie's (Derek's sister) house. It was a full house!! Ava did great with all of the family present. She also ate very well....much better than Peter. I made him try turkey and he gagged when it touched his tongue!!! I made Ben try the dressing and the sweet potato casserole...he didn't like either. How can you NOT like sweet potato casserole???? Ava loved Grandaddy Chapman!!! Anywhere he went, she was there. She spent most of the day on his lap.

Ava is doing really well. She is still happy all of the time. She and Peter are still good buddies. He tells me all of the time that he loves her. Friday night we all hung out in the family room in the basement. We had a fire, and watched a movie. We were going to make s'mores, but we didn't have any regular marshmellows. We only had these awful fruit swirl marshmellows that the boys convinced me to buy one day. After the movie, Derek and the boys decided that they were all going to sleep downstairs. It was really late and I knew Ava had to be tired so I took her up to bed with me. We got into bed, I turned off all of the lights except my table lamp. She would not lay down so I pretended to be asleep...that usually works. I continued to lay there hoping she would go to sleep. After a little bit, she turned and looked at me and I noticed that her eyes looked teary. I sat up and saw tears coming down her face. She was not making a sound. It broke my heart. I have never seen a child this young cry quietly! I put my arms around her and she just started bawling. I let her cry for a bit and then she pointed to the door. She wanted to go back downstairs. I took her downstairs and we ALL slept downstairs! We had a family slumber party! It might be a while before I have her sleep in her room by herself. I don't want her to be alone crying quietly! I wonder how many nights she has already had sitting alone crying quietly...not anymore.

We took her to church again this Sunday...we usually leave when the children go to children's church...she is not very good at being quiet. If fact, whenever it quiets down, she usually lets out a yell. She waved to Susan up in the choir loft when we sat down. She is very social. She has fallen in love with Andy (our choir director). He held her last Sunday for a bit and today when he was holding her she didn't want to go back to us. We had to pry her from him to go home.

We go to the doctor tomorrow. I'm glad to finally get her seen.

Helping Grandmama open b/d presents

Peter with b/d ribbon in his hair

Wonderful Welcome Home!

2007-11-19T10:44:00.001-05:00

After our long flight , we get to the airport and had a wonderful welcome home!. Most of Derek's family, Ben and Peter were there to meet Ava. Jim made a beautiful banner and the boys made us some welcome home signs. It was SO nice to be home!!!

Welcome Home Banner

The boys with their signs

Ava finally in her own room

Coming Home!!!

2007-11-14T07:39:00.001-05:00

We went to the consulate today and finished up our paper work. As soon as we land in Atlanta and go through customs, Ava will be a US citizen! We have just finished packing. The bell boy is coming this evening to get our luggage and we leave at 5:30 tomorrow morning. We are SO ready. The only thing we are going to miss is the tropical weather in Guangzhou. See you all soon!!!!

Buddha Likes Orange Soda!

2007-11-14T01:07:00.000-05:00

Went yesterday to the Buddhist Temple. Didn't know he liked orange soda but apparently he drinks a lot of it. People left him many cans of it on his altar. Don't think they are of the diet variety given his belt line. Sorry we don't have a picture but trust me it was funny.

Pictures on the famous Red Couch today then off to the American Consulate for the swearing in.

Go/Geaux Tigers

2007-11-13T20:18:00.001-05:00

We brought an Auburn outfit to take a picture of Ava while in China. We hadn't gotten around to it and then yesterday we met an LSU couple at breakfast. They also brought their daughter, Emily, an outfit to wear. So, we decided to take a couple of pictures together yesterday afternoon at the red couch of the two of them together. They were really cute.

Moving Along

2007-11-12T18:36:00.000-05:00

Things are going great. Ava is always a happy girl. Everyone in our group talks about how happy she is. She is always smiling at everyone and making funny faces. She really likes to have fun and laugh.

We had her medical exam yesterday. The doctor listened to her heart and heard a murmur. She got the cardiologist to come listen to her as well. He confirmed this. Her medical report said that she had no murmur anymore. The doctor didn't seem to think it was anything to be concerned about. We were going to take her to a cardiologist anyway. Other than that, everything looks good.

We are off for some more shopping this morning and we have some sight seeing tours this afternoon. I don't even remember what they are.

Other Pictures!

2007-11-11T19:04:00.000-05:00

More Picutures (After All This Is All You Care About Anyway)

2007-11-11T01:54:00.001-05:00

Just Pictures

2007-11-10T07:58:00.001-05:00

We Are At The White Swan

2007-11-10T02:41:00.000-05:00

Sorry we haven't been posting. We haven't really done too much the last few days. Our time in Shanxi wasn't too good. I got sick Wednesday during our tour and I wasn't completely back to normal on Thursday so we stayed in again. We were going to go on another tour on Friday, but Ava was really congested and the weather there is pretty cold so we stayed in again. Everyone is better now. Today is the first day I've really eaten since Tuesday. When we checked into the hotel here in Guangzhou we were starving and ordered a pizza. It was the best Papa John's pizza I've ever had...not really, but I was really ready for anything other than rice or noodles. Ava loved the pizza. She almost ate 2 whole slices...and it was loaded with meat and veggies.

Ava did wonderful on the plane. I was a little worried because of her congestion, but her ears didn't seem to bother her at all. When we got to the airport, we met up with the other group of travelers. It was so nice to see all of them with their babies. One of the couples have twins. All of the babies are about a year old. I think the oldest may be 14 months old. We meet up with them later this afternoon. It is nice to be traveling with the group again. One couple that we have met has 4 children at home and their two oldest were adopted at 4 and 3 domestically. It has been so great having them here. She (Rebecca) has given me a lot of insight into adopting an older child.

The weather in Guangzhou is much more my speed than in Taiyuan. When I saw palm trees through the window on the plane, I new I was in my kind of place.

Oh yeah, we had some computer problems over the past couple of days and have lost some pictures. We also weren't able to get on the internet much. We are right now uploading some pictures to an offsite storage. I will post some pictures later. Sorry...I know that is why you came. That is all I ever look at blogs for :)

It's Official-She's Ours!

2007-11-07T16:42:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay in posting but we were without internet yesterday.

T o catch up.

Tuesday: We returned to the Civil Affairs Building to finalize the paperwork. Many signatures and red thumbprints and Ava's red hand print. But she is officially ours. We returned to the hotel for a good nap then we took Ava to the indoor pool. She loved it but was a little timid. Unfortunately due to a computer problem we lost the photos and video this.

Wednesday: We had big outing planned to some sites about 2 hours away. Unfortunately due to the long car ride on bad roads and maybe a virus Marcia was in no shape to stay. We had a quick tour but returned early. Unfortunately Marcia was out the rest of the day but Ava and I spent time exploring the hotel and walking the halls. We ate dinner together at the hotel.

It's Thursday morning here. Ava is in my lap as I type this and is curious about the computer. No big plans today. We may venture out into the smog if Marcia is up to it to the zoo or local park.

-Derek

Meanwhile, Back the Ranch....

2007-11-07T14:14:00.000-05:00

A note from Donna...

Ben and Pete have talked about Ava a lot in the past week and have enjoyed reading about her and especially seeing her via the webcam. Pete has had the most to say, which is very typical while Ben does the "thinking" thing. Last night,while driving home from Cub Scouts, we passed a Chinese restaurant in Hapeville and I asked the boys if they ever eat there. They said no, but Ben went into a monologue about how much he likes the Chinese take-out that we occasionally eat when he and Peter stay at our house on AU football weekends. He was trying to convince Pete how good it is but Pete is perfectly happy with his PB&J thank-you-very-much. About a minute passed and Pete said, "I hope the Chinese restaurant has a drive-in window." When I asked why, he said "So we can drive through and get Ava something on our way to McDonald's." What a sweetie! Pete is also a little concerned that Ava does not like sweets, since that is his favorite food group.

I know the boys miss their mommy and daddy, but they are doing really well. Marcia has everything so organized and the boys know and follow the routine. Last night was the first time they've asked to sleep with me, so I let them. (Even though I'm acting the role of parent right now, I'm still just an old softy aunt who has a hard time saying no.)

We're counting the days until Derek and Marcia return with Ava. She's in for a real treat, because she'll have two precious boys to smother with kisses and hugs.

- Donna

We Have a Daughter

2007-11-06T07:28:00.001-05:00

It is official...she is ours! We got up this morning and drove over to the civil affairs office and signed all of the paper work.

We had a good night last night. We have two twin beds in our room so I started out with Ava and Derek slept in the other bed. She is a little squirmy and actually fell off of the bed at one point in the night. The beds are really low to the ground though and she made a little noise, I picked her up and she went right back to sleep. After that, I was worried she was going to fall out again so I kept my arm around her. Sometime in the night Derek and I switched so I could sleep. She likes to rub the sheet between her thumb and index finger while going to sleep. She woke up happy as can be!

After the civil affairs office, we celebrated with a trip to Walmart. Their walmart is huge! A lot more food then we have. Charlene, I saw a package of chicken feet right by the register. I guess that is one of their impulse shopping items! I can probably go back if you want me to pick some up for you!

When we got back, we ordered room service and again, she ate like I have never seen a child eat. She can put away a lot of food for a little person!!! The only thing she doesn't seem to like (other then toothpaste) are sweets. After lunch we all took a much needed nap! We then went to the swimming pool. I don't think she has ever had a bathing suit on. She couldn't seem to figure out the top. She kept trying to pull it down. She really had a good time in the water. We'll post some pictures in a little bit.

She is so funny. She gives everyone a smile and makes funny faces all of the time. She loves to give kisses and she loves to try and feed us or give us her sippy cup. There must have been some younger babies with her in foster care. She and Derek are in bed now...he could hardly get her to sleep b/c she kept wanting to give kisses. I think we have another good one!

We are having a great time getting to know our new daughter!

Our Prays Answered!

2007-11-05T15:02:00.000-05:00

We arrived at the office of Civil Affairs for Shanxi Province in Taiyuan City a little before our 2:30pm appointment. Up the elevator to the 5th floor down a cold, dark hallway to the room where we were to get Ava. The doorway was locked because the officials had not arrived yet. There was another mother there with her sister ready for her second adoption. Unfortunately, their flight had been delayed so they literally just arrived from the USA and had not even been to the hotel.

The room was sparsely furnished except for 2 desks and a large black leather couch. We were given some paperwork to look over and sign then without ceremony Ava was led into the room by two ladies. Marcia and I had both prayed (though not nearly enough) for Ava to have a peace at this time. She had more than peace and in fact shared in our joy of the moment.

As I was sitting on the couch closest to the door she immediately walked up to me smiling and raised her arms for me to pick her up. She was all smiles and we spend the next 15 minutes passing the happy child back and forth between us while trying to simultaneously capture the event on video and in photographs.

We would find out that she had received a care package we had sent months earlier. In that package was a photo album of our families labeled in Chinese with our names (mama, daddy, grandpa, brother, etc.) so she must have recognized us. She also had a well loved, very dirty pink stuffed bear which we had sent.

Back at the hotel we removed 5 layers of clothes to reveal she was wearing a pair of pink pajamas we had sent. They had been cut and sewn into "split pants". Soon after the undressing she signaled to us that she needed to go to the bathroom which she did both "numbers" without incident.

She happily took a bath (and believe me she needed one). The only thing she didn't like were some small plastic pig toys which she insisted we remove from the tub. We clipped her nails, brushed her hair, brushed her teeth (with some resistance) and ordered room service.

She immediately began to eat noodles, steamed bun, and even vegetables (a first for one of our children). After supper we dimmed the lights and she lay between us as she fell asleep.

We cannot describe the ease of the whole event and the peace and joy we all have at this moment. I had not cried until I wrote this but now God has blessed my family even while I'm on the other side of the world as he has at every step of this journey.

-Derek

Happy Girl is With Us!

2007-11-05T03:14:00.001-05:00

Here are some pictures. Will give details later.

Last Day in Beijing!

2007-11-04T07:43:00.000-05:00

Great day today. The rest of the group left for their province so we were on our own today. Marcia and I got up early today and after breakfast walked to the local market for a look around. Many interesting foods, dried herbs, etc.

We visited the Llama temple and then got a tour of a historic "traditional neighborhood" (can't remember the name right now). Climbed to the top of the drum tower.

We just arrived in Shanxi province and we get Ava tomorrow about 3PM our time.

Stairs, Stairs, Stairs

2007-11-03T05:33:00.000-04:00

Today's Events!
Great Wall, Friendship Store, Summer Palace, Olympic Stadium Drive-By.

We are tired tonight because we have walked a lot today, including climbing way up the Great Wall. I'll keep it brief and insert a few pictures.

Jet Lag

2007-11-02T15:43:00.000-04:00

Well, we discovered the best time to get on the internet....3:00am! And unfortunately, we have been up at that time both nights. We are having a good time thought. We are actually here with about 10 other couples so the site seeing tours have been fun. We met in the lobby yesterday morning with our group and headed to T Square and The Forbidden City. We were swarmed by vendors the the whole time we were there. If any of you wanted a General Mao watch, you should've told me...they had some great deals!

We got back to the hotel around 1:00 and went to a large department store next to the hotel. It was really nice, but really expensive. We didn't buy anything. One couple bought some Crocs...they were about the same price as in the US. We went with another couple to a Thai restaurant for lunch. We had communication problems there, but the menu was huge and had pictures of everything they served....which wasn't to their advantage. They serve roasted duck and chicken with the head on!!! They also had a dish called chicken gristle!!! Derek had some kind of chicken that I didn't try and I had shrimp fried rice. Mine was very bland, but I felt safe eating it. The only thing we knew to say in chinese to our waiter was that we wanted our drinks with no ice. BTW, chinese coke tastes different.

We were suppose to meet back with the group at 4:30 to go to an acrobatic show, but something happened with the tickets and we couldn't go. They arrange for us to go to a Kung Fu show instead at around 7:30. I SO did not want to go...I was tired and just ready to go to bed. Derek guilted me into going. He thought it would be lame to stay in the hotel room while in China. I personally didn't care about Kung Fu and thought there would be a much better show on the back of my eyelids!!! When we finally met again to go to the show, they told us that we were going to get to go the acrobat show. It was just going to be at a different location (it was actually at the public library theater). The show was not very good. We have seen the chinese acrobat show at Epcot and that is amazing. We decided those must be the best of the best. I also think we probably missed the good show. When we finally got back to the room, we were exhausted. We decided to take some Ambien to make sure we slept. We both took only half a pill and slept pretty well for awhile, but we both woke up at around 3:00. So, now Derek is reading his John Adams book (and if that can't put you to sleep....) and I'm here on the computer.

Today we go to the Great Wall...will talk later! I only have 5 hours until I have to meet everyone downstairs!

Oh yeah, our pictures from yesterday are all weird. So, unless we get them figured out, no pix!

We're Here

2007-11-01T19:17:00.000-04:00

We've made it but have had some trouble posting the the blog. It is 7:15am 11/2/07. We are getting ready to go downstairs for a free buffet breakfast at our hotel. Marcia has slept some but I have not but feel ok. We're to meet up with about 10 other couples for a trip to the Forbidden City this morning and then for an Acrobatic Show in the afternoon. The hotel (what we've seen of it) is nice with a great view of the Beijing Skyline. We will post as possible.

We received some more "personal information" on Ava yesterday. She is staying with a foster grandma and grandpa but is especially found of her foster grandpa. So Don and Pedro get ready. They said she can speak in short sentences (in Chinese, we cannot by the way) and eats well. She even eats vegetables unlike Ben and Pete. For Jim (who likes to nickname each of his nieces and nephews) we have learned she is often called Ting Ting.

Magi! having trouble with emailing but wanted to know the deal with fruit. Safe to eat?

It's Fly-Day!

2007-10-31T15:56:00.000-04:00

Hugs and kisses all around!

I Love You!

One more hug while I tell you a secret!

We're On Our Way!

2007-10-31T15:33:00.000-04:00

The day has finally arrived and we get to fly to China to get our little girl, Ava Li. Aunt Donna and Uncle Jim have charge of Ben and Pete at our house while we're away. The day started very early but very typicially when the boys made their way into our bedroom and into our bed to watch TV and drink chocolate milk while we ran around getting ready to leave. Donna and Jim spent the night, so Donna helped with the boys and Jim took us to the airport. Tonight, Ben and Pete will go Trick-or-Treating with Donna and Jim while we are someplace over the Pacific either sleeping or watching a movie at 40,000 feet. Keep checking back - we'll keep the blog updated all during our journey!

Peter's Note to Ava

2007-10-30T08:43:00.001-04:00

Peter gave this note to me the other day to give to Ava.

Ava's Room

2007-10-30T08:34:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures of Ava's room. We don't have much on the walls yet. We are hoping to find some prints in China to hang in our room. I have to thank Brighton for the flowers. I used one of their tins to paint the flowers on the white door. I sure hope Ava likes pink!

We used the beautiful fan that Jonathan and Susan gave us. I think it looks really pretty in the room

Family Fun Night

2007-10-30T08:23:00.000-04:00

We went to our Church's annual Fall Family Fun Night this past sunday night. We went as football fans. The boys had a lot of fun. Here are some pix.

Ben loved this costume!

The boys with Ms. Karen, Peter's Sunday School Teacher

The boys with Ms. Christine, Ben's Sunday School Teacher

Tacky Day

2007-10-30T08:09:00.000-04:00

The boys had tacky day at school the other day. They love any chance they have to not wear their school uniform.

Peter's Post

2007-10-24T20:32:00.001-04:00

I like doing math and I will show you some now.
5+5=10
4+4=8
3+3=6

My favorite thing to do is going to Disney World. Here is a picture of me and my brother at Disney World.

Peter and Ben (Disney World December 2004)

Ben's Surgery -UPDATED- has pre-op video

2007-10-24T09:07:00.000-04:00

Ben had surgery last Wednesday to remove a cyst above his left eye. He has had the cyst for about a year and it was hardly visible. On his last check up, his pediatrician sent us to an ophthalmologist to look his cyst because it is so close to his eye. Well, in that visit we found out that he needed glasses. It turns out that the vision in his left eye is much worse than the vision in his right eye. If we would have not found this out, he could have lost function in his left eye. Anyway, the ophthalmologist sent us to a pediatric plastic surgeon to look at the cyst. It was a dermoid cyst and needed to be removed. So, he needs glasses, has to wear a patch and have surgery above his eye. He has had a busy fall!!!

Ben was a little bit upset about having to have the surgery, but overall, he seemed ok. He had his adenoids removed last December and did great! Because he had done so well then, I really wasn't that worried about it. I also kept thinking it was such a small thing.

When Ben had his adenoid surgery, Donna (Ben's aunt) and I both forgot our cameras, but more importantly, forgot our video cameras. Once he put on his hospital gown, he became a character. He started dancing around the room, shooting baskets in the toy basket ball goal they had in the room...he just couldn't keep still. He was just a ball of nervous energy. The funniest thing was that he kept doing the River Dance. So this time, I brought the camera/video camera. He was still a little ham, but he has grown up in the past 10 months so the performance wasn't quite as manic. I will try and post some video with pictures.

He was in a pretty good mood waiting for the surgery. The surgery center is set up so well for children. He had a couple of moments when he acted nervous, but for the most part he kept busy. When he wasn't dancing around the room, he played video games.

They let me walk back with him into the operating room and stay with him while they put him under. He was really nervous then. They put the mask on his face and just gave him laughing gas at first. He said it was making him sleepy. They then said that they were going to add something that some people say smells like stinky feet...at that point, he got really upset and said he didn't want to do this (can you blame him?). He was really upset, but then he just kind of went to sleep. It was sad to see him so upset.

Donna and I were in the post op area for about 20 min when the doctor came in and said that they were done. He said everything went well...they went in through his eyebrow and scraped the cyst off of his bone. He said that Ben would have a gauze around his head. When they rolled Ben in, he had this huge white gauze bandage wrapped around his head and his face was all swollen. I was really surprised....I just didn't expect all of the swelling to remove a cyst. He was a little upset when he woke up from his anesthesia, but he was pretty good. He drank a lot of gatorade (he was really motivated to get the iv out) and had a couple of crackers.

On the way home, Donna sat in the back seat with him. He slept for the most part, but got sick near the end. Thank goodness they gave us the vomit bag. This is the first time ever that Ben has thrown up in the car that it has been in a bag!!!

He slept the rest of the afternoon, but was back to himself that evening. We all signed his bandages that night. His eye was swollen for several days and went through several different colors, but he looks and feels great now!

Playing Star Wars Video Games

Just Back From Surgery

On Our Way Home

Badge of Honor

Here is some of the video I took of Ben dancing around before surgery. I took this video with our new camera. Sorry about the bad camera work. Hopefully I will do better next time. Some of his funniest moves didn't make it for public viewing :)

"Before" Photos

2007-10-23T09:32:00.000-04:00

After I got home from the shower, I just threw all of the gifts from the shower into Ava's room. Here are some of the pictures. I have since cleaned it all up. I will post some "after" photos as soon as I take them, but here are the "before" photos.

"

Showered with Love

2007-10-23T08:48:00.001-04:00

We joined our church about 3 years ago. It is a relatively small church and most of the members have known each other all of their lives. In fact, most of them are related. They have made us feel like family members since the day we joined. They always throw baby showers for new baby's, but they usually only do it for first children. I really didn't expect them to throw us a shower since Ava is our 3rd child. Susan, my neighbor and great friend, said that she wanted to throw me a shower and I thought that she meant just a small shower at her house, but it ended up being a shower with all of the women at church. It was wonderful. Susan did a wonderful job decorating. Ava got some beautiful things. She is going to be a very loved little girl! We are so very lucky. Thank you so much to our Mt Zion Family! We love you all!

Welcome Ava!!!

Susan's beautiful centerpiece

All of the pink!!!!

Fun opening presents!

Me and Susan

Peter's Post

2007-10-02T20:12:00.000-04:00

I'm Peter and I am 4 years old. I am in pre-k and I love school. I also love my mommy and daddy. I really, really want to go to another Auburn football game. And I really want to go to the Nick Hotel. I also really want to go to the beach. And I really, really, really, really, really love Webkinz. I have 4 Webkinz...a pug, bulldog, panda, and cat.

Ben's Post

2007-10-02T19:55:00.000-04:00

I really want to go camping. You get to make your own fire. It is really cool to have your own pocket knife. What I like the best is the Swiss Army Knife. It has a lot of different sharp things....one is a saw. It is really cool to have your own lighter too. Remember how I was talking about making your own fire? Well, I love lighters because they make good fire. But I never use these things by myself. I have to always be with my dad. Everyone under age 6 cannot use one.

WE HAVE OUR TA (travel approval)!!!

2007-10-02T12:48:00.000-04:00

This is the final step in the approval process. Now we just have to wait for our agency to confirm an appointment for us to go to the US consulate. Once that is done, they can book our travel. They are giving us a tentative travel schedule of Nov 3 - Nov 16th. We are so excited about going to get Ava!!! We also have A LOT to get done!!!!

Ben's Post

2007-09-30T20:39:00.000-04:00

Ben wanted to start his own website, but I said that he could share this blog with me because it is the family blog. Ben has some things he wants to say:

Hi, I am Ben. I like scorpions and spiders. I play keyboard. I am 6 years old and in the first grade. I am very smart at school. I am very good at tests. I am mostly good at spelling tests. It was pretty fun to start a website. My mom helped me. My brother's name is Peter. My mom is a cubscout leader and I am a cubscout. I sleep with no shirt on. We are going to have a baby from China. One of my friends (Jack) moved to Texas, but I still have Lewis and Leo. I like Auburn.

Fun Filled Weekend

2007-09-28T08:25:00.000-04:00

We had a busy weekend! We have Auburn (War Eagle!) season football tickets so we take many mini road trips to Auburn in the fall. We have been tailgating with the same people for about 10 years. We all have kids now which has made game day a whole new experience. This past weekend we celebrated Bix's 5th birthday. Jobeth put together a great party and all of the kids had a great time!!! And to top it off, we won the game.

Tail catching in action

Bix enjoying his party!

Everybody wants to help with the presents

Okay, that was Saturday! Sunday we went to the Braves game with Ben's cub scout troup. We had a parade and got to march around on Turner Field. We met at the stadium and had to line up with all of the other cub/boy scouts (there were about 5000 scouts!!!). The wait was pretty long, but it was worth it. The boys had a great time...they were very excited to see themselves on the big screen 2 times!!!

Our handsome den waiting for the parade (see how cute Ben is in his glasses)

Ben and Lewis are getting bored with the wait!

Peter enjoying his icee

Peter bing silly in the stands

Two Boys Waiting for a Sister

2007-09-17T20:37:00.000-04:00

Every morning before school the boys get in our bed to drink milk and watch cartoons (or in Ben's case, sleep some more....he takes after his mother...he is not a morning person). We have a king size bed, so there will be plenty of room for Ava to join them. The bottom picture is the first day of school this year. Peter is in pre-k and Ben is in first grade. They are both SO excited about having a little sister.

New Photos

2007-09-17T10:46:00.000-04:00

When we received Ava's file we had some medical questions for them. When they sent us the information, they also sent us some updated photos. These were taken in May. They are probably keeping her hair short to keep her cool and because it is easier. We will definitely be growing her hair out. I have already bought SEVERAL bows!!!

Introducing Ava Li

2007-09-16T21:27:00.000-04:00

We sent our Letter of Intent to China to adopt a precious child on July 17th 2007. She is a 3 year old little girl, described as gentle and quiet. We got a report that says she likes to listen to music and play games (Peter will be SO happy). She loves to smile and always gives others a shy smile (see adorable top photo). We are so looking forward to adding this gentle, quiet little girl to our family. I have a feeling that with time, we will change some of those traits!

We got a call from our agency on Thursday, Sept. 13th, letting us know that our LOA (letter of acceptance) had arrived and they would overnight it to us. This is China's way of letting you know that everything is fine for you to adopt. We quickly signed the document and sent it back to our agency. Now, we are just waiting on travel approval. I really think that we will travel early November.