Labor Pains

Hello everyone! By now you've probably figured out that we are here in Taiwan! The plane ride here I liken to labor pains. It was a long flight, and I got very little sleep (Chris, of course, slept fine). Once we landed in Taipei we started the drive THOGL--I consider this the pushing portion. As we turned down the driveway to the home, I felt the rush of adrenaline and excitement! We were about to meet our little girl, Ava, for the first time!!!!

We got out to the car, opened the door to the orphanage, the workers were all lined up on the couch with the babies and one baby in a walker, and the other on in a bumbo seat on the floor. I start working my way down the line and....no Ava! Where is Ava, where is she?! Almost in unison, they all said she's behind you! I turned around and there she was, sleeping, so precious. Oh how much I wanted to pick her up and love on her!!!! But being the good mommy, knowing sleep is important, I just stared at her--then, everyone said, go ahead pick her up! So I picked her up and she popped open those precious eyes and stared at me! Words cannot describe that feeling! I tear up all over again just thinking about it!!! What a wonderful, precious, unforgetable moment!

Then I handed her to Chris to hold....what a natural Daddy he is! He's great with her, and I love watching them snuggle! She's going to be a little Daddy's girl, I can already tell!

I will post more on our journey later, but for now, know we are loving every minute with precious Ava and she is a wonderful baby!

Leaving on a Jet Plane!!!

Well, I'm late posting this, but it seems it has been a whirlwind since we received the call. What call?! The call to travel to pick up Ava, of course!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday morning we received a call from Ted saying that our first court documents had arrived and he was going to call AIT to get an interview date set. Tuesday night we received an email that our AIT interview was set for Thursday October 27th! First thing Wednesday morning we contact our travel agent and started the all day long process to book flights to Taiwan!

We will leave for Taiwan on Saturday night the 23rd and arrive in Taiwan Monday morning the 25th (arrival is Taiwan time, it's Sunday night here in the States). We will be holding our baby girl, Ava, by mid morning Monday!!!! Oh the long awaited bliss of that morning!

Since then we have been packing, calling family, arranging for our dogs to be cared for, setting up someone to take us to the airport, finalizing work schedules, turning in FMLA papers, and a million other things! What a joy and a blessing it is to finally be doing all those activites! I must admit though, that now that it's sinking in that we will have our little one, I'm starting to freak out a little. In a good way of course. How in the world do you begin to prepare for parenthood and the rest of your life with this tiny little miracle?! I just can't wait! I've also been super emotional, I cry just listening to the radio. Man, I feel crazy!

Can't wait for our next post with Ava in our arms! Blessings and praises to the One and Only!

God is Faithful!!!

Well, I know that I'm a little late posting this, but our court date for Ava Mei went great! Both parents showed up and relinquished rights for Ava as well as waived the 10 day waiting period!!! So now, we patiently wait for a phone call from Ted to tell us to travel.

However, there are a couple of steps that have to take place before we can travel. The final court documents have to come in and then Ted has to take them to AIT (Americans in Taiwan, basically like the US embassy) to apply for Ava's visa interview. Once the visa interview date is set then we can travel. We have to be in country for the visa interview. Ava has to have a visa to come to the USA because she is not a US citizen until she touches US soil. In order to get her on US soil, she has to have a visa because she will obviously be staying longer than 30 days :)

We are very excited that we are so close to holding our precious little girl! We cannot begin to express the relief we feel knowing the court date went well. Our Lord is definitely faithful!! We will continue to praise Him for the blessings He has given us and ask that you join with us in thanking Him for Ava!

Hopefully we will travel in the next 3-4 weeks, so stay tuned for the travel announcement! In the meantime, we will slowly be packing our little one's things for the journey home!