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.