Christmas at Papa and Grandma's House

We celebrated Christmas with my parents this weekend. The kids got all kinds of new toys. They had a great time playing with their cousins. This was Ava's first Christmas celebration. She had fun with the paper and gift bags!

Trimming the Tree

We trimmed the kid's Christmas tree and they had such a good time. We have three trees in our house. The kid's tree has colored lights and all of the ornaments that they have picked out over the years. Ava enjoyed a bottle while everyone else did the work.

No Place Like Home

Well we made it home! We made it to Jackson Wednesday morning at 9:00. We had a great welcoming committee waiting for us at the airport. Ava did great on all of the flights. She slept almost the entire way home. She had one short meltdown on the long flight from Hong Kong to LA but other than that she was great. She is sleeping all night and most of the day. She saw the doctor Thursday and it turns out that she has eczema. We've started treating her and she already looks so much better. We are so thankful that we have her home with us now. I'll post pictures soon.

!!!! HOMEWARD BOUND !!!!

Well this will be my last post from Vietnam! The next post will be from good ol' Pearl, Mississippi! We have enjoyed being in Hanoi. Vietnam is a great country with wonderful people. We are so blessed to have been able to experience their culture for this short time. We are so thankful to our AWESOME Lord for clearing our way with this adoption and blessing us with our precious daughter, Ava Rose. We are also very thankful for those friends and family that continued to lift us up in prayer throughout this amazing (and sometimes bumpy) journey. The Lord heard your prayers and answered them in a mighty way.

We are grateful to have such unbelievable support from our families. We would not have been able to do this without them. They had the tough job of watching Olivia and Ethan. We will be so glad to see those two. we have missed the terribly. Next post.....HOME!!!

Halong Bay

We just returned from our overnight trip to Halong Bay. It was wonderful. Our guide, Hoi, was very nice and great with the kids. The boat was nice but the rooms were not that great. The view more than made up for them though. Halong Bay is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We sailed off on a chinese junk and stopped to kayak. Davis, Peyton, Erin, Jessica, and Hoi all went kayaking. They went through a cave and saw a monkey. They had a great time. Next we went to a small beach so they could swim. Today we went to a cave in the bay. It was huge. I climbed about a gazillion steps. We all had a wonderful time and are glad we went. The pictures do not do it justice. It was BEAUTIFUL!!

***** VISA *****

We received Ava's visa today!! We are free to bring her home. We ate lunch at Al Fresco's with the other three families in our group. After lunch we went to the quilt shop and ordered Ava's bedding for her big girl bed. It should arrive around the first of April. After dinner tonight we went to the silk shop to pick up Erin and Peyton's custom tailored ao dais. We just happened to find a crazy street market on the way back. They had blocked off the street and set up stalls for vendors. They went on forever. If we didn't have to get up so early we would have stayed longer. We are off to Halong Bay in the morning. We will return Sunday night. I'll post pictures as soon as we get back.

Thanksgiving In Vietnam

Well this was not our usual Thanksgiving this year. We started the day by going to the Museum of Ethnology. It is a museum showcasing all of the different ethnic groups of Vietnam. It was very interesting. Then we did MORE shopping. Finally, we had Thanksgiving dinner with all of the PLAN families that are here. The restaurant in the hotel served "imported American turkey". It was all really quite good. Not exactly like home but it was very nice. It was great seeing all of the families together with all of the babies. Ava loves mashed potatoes! We had a great Thanksgiving day.

We have so much to be thankful for. We are so blessed to have our precious Ava. We are so very thankful to be coming home next week. I have been thanking and praising God every day for all that He has blessed us with. Thank you just doesn't seem adequate. Our cup is truly overflowing! This may not have been our traditional Thanksgiving but it was one of the best ever.

2nd Visa Interview & Hoa Lo Prison

We had our 2nd (and final) visa interview today. Nothing to it at all. We just had to swear that everything on the application was true. We will get Ava's visa Friday at noon. After that we are free to come home. I changed our flights so we will be arriving home on Wednesday morning at 9am. That is three days earlier than planned! I am so ready to see Olivia and Ethan.

We went to the Hoa Lo prison today. It was built by the French during the time Vietnam was a French colony. During the Vietnam War it was used to house American POWs. John McCain was held here. The American GIs nicknamed it the "Hanoi Hilton". Our hotel sits on a large area that was once part of the prison. It was interesting but creepy. They have John McCain's flight suit that he was wearing when he was shot down on display.

** PRAISE THE LORD - OUR PAPERWORK HAS CLEARED **

Our God is truly an AWESOME God!!! We received the call Tuesday morning that our paperwork has cleared. The group who arrived here a week before us just cleared on Monday. It only took 2 business days to clear us!! That has NEVER happened!! Prayer is a powerful thing. We just had faith that God would see this through to His glory. We will have our final interview with the embassy today at 1:30. We will pick up Ava's visa on Friday. After that we are free to go home!! I am trying to get flights out on Tuesday but if we can't we will just stay and leave on Friday as planned.

We Have Ava's Passport

Well I went and picked up Ava's passport this morning. We will have her visa medical tomorrow and then all we will be waiting for is our 2nd interview with the embassy. The group of families before us received word that all but one of their cases has cleared. The one that didn't clear was aware that there may be a delay. Please pray that everything is cleared up so that they can go home.

Erin & I went out with some of the other women (and baby Jake) to the quilt shop. It is a non- profit place that sells quilts that the women in a village north of Hanoi make. They are beautiful. I am going back with Davis and we are going to order a set for Ava to be made and shipped to us.

I don 't have any pictures from today so I just posted some random ones from this week. Enjoy!

Layin' Low

We didn't do too much yesterday. We just hung around the apartment all day. After breakfast we took Ava to the SOS International clinic. She has a rash that is just getting worse. We saw a Dutch doctor and he prescribed antibiotics, oral steroids, and a strong steriod cream. She already looks much better this morning.

I am going this morning to pick up Ava's passport. I am hoping that the 11/3 families hear today about their 2nd interview. I have such a peace about this whole process. I truly believe that God is at work and His hand has been in every aspect of this adoption. I KNOW He will see us through and bring us home on time.

Handicraft Bazaar

We just happened to luck up and find out about the Handicraft Bazaar that was being held today. Many ethnic groups from all over came to sell their handmade items. We had a great time looking through everything. Of course we made SEVERAL purchases. We also got business cards for many of the shops and are going to hit them next week.

Peyton. Ava, and I had a "date" for dinner tonight. Davis and Erin didn't want to eat where we wanted to so we went our separate ways. Peyton played pool while Ava and I watched. Next time Davis and Erin are taking Ava with them. She gets a little impatient at the table if it takes too long or she's not being fed.

The group before us (Nov 3) didn't hear from the emabassy this week like they were hoping. Pease pray that they hear Monday and that we hear soon after. I'm not hoping to come home early, just on time.

So Many White People !!!

Sometimes it's hard to believe that we are in Vietnam. There are so many white people here! There are Americans, Europeans, & Australian/New Zealanders EVERYWHERE!! Most of them are not adopting parents they are tourists or they live here. I never saw this many white folks in Beijing.

We had a great day today. Ava is back to sleeping all night. She hates to be put down though. She wants to be held standing up all the time. We met up with two other families today and went to lunch at KOTO. KOTO (Know One Teach One) was founded by two Australian chefs who teaches street kids how to cook so they will have a trade when they're older. It was very nice. We went to the Temple of Literature after lunch. It used to be THE temple for learning Confusionism in it's day.

The Other Shoe Has Dropped

Well we new it was too good to be true. Ava had us up every 3 hours last night from 8-6:30. We think it is her ears. We didn't leave the hotel today except to go to our big Embassy interview. It went fine. The lady asked a few simple questions and said we should hear something the week after Thanksgiving. Please continue to pray that everything clears with out a problem.

1st Embassy Appointment

We found out today that we will have our 1st Embassy appointment tomorrow (Thurs). We will meet in the lobby at 1:30. This is great news. I didn't expect to have it until Friday at the earliest. The second interview is the most important. When we get the call for the second interview that means that the paperwork has cleared.

We finally got out and walked around Hanoi today. We went to the Old Quarter. We didn't find much to buy. Peyton got a military toy set and I bought some Vietnam t-shirts for the kids. We found another restaurant that we really like-Kiti. Ava is still doing great. She slept 10 hours last night and only got up once. That's the first time we've had to get up during the night with her.

Ava is Amazing!!

This kid is unbelieveable! She never cries, she loves to play, she's a very good eater, and she SLEEPS!! The first night she slept 13 HOURS and last night she slept 11 HOURS!!! Yesterday I went and applied for her passport and we had the Giving and Recieving ceremony yesterday afternoon. It is a simple ceremony but I teared up. The official made a speech about how they want us to love are care for Ava as we would a biological child. She asks that we teach her about Vietnam and try to bring her back to visit when she is older. We were the first family to go and sign the book. After that was signed the official told us congratulations and that Nguyen Thi Ha was now our child. She's OURS!! Today we started the scaring process- applying for Ava's US Visa. Please pray that everything will go smoothly over the next few weeks.

Link to Pictures

Here is a link to all of the pictures that we've taken so far.


http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=769111194845447353/l=321456447/g=43589026/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

More Pictures from Yesterday