Our Article 5 was picked up and delivered to the CCCWA! Now we count down the days till we finally TRAVEL to meet Miss AVA!!!!

The long overdue update and more pictures!

Hi........we have been sooooooo busy here.  Since my last big post this is what we have been up to:

On March 1st, Collin had his legs surgically straightened.  This basically entailed breaking each leg in two places and then resetting them with pins.  It was incredibly painful for him.  The doctor had initially told us he'd keep Col in the hospital for 3 or 4 days.  We stayed 6 nights....and even by then, Collin's pain was still severe.  But, here we are just over 4 weeks post-op and I'm thrilled to report, he's doing GREAT!  He's walking with a walker, he's back in school after missing 3 weeks worth of work and he's nearly pain free.  The doctor said to expect the healing process to take between 3 and 4 months, so now the healing and waiting continue.

While Collin and I were the hospital, we got the news that Ava had been told that she was going to be adopted, that she had a new Mommy and Daddy waiting for her in America and that she was going to be living in a place that gets lots and lots of snow.  We were told that she got very excited about all of the above.

Then, on March 14th, we got our I-800 approval, this approved Ava to travel to the US, then on March 28th, we got the NVC letter, this comes from the National Visa Center, basically stating that they have received the paperwork they need on Ava.  Our next step was to get this to the US Consulate in China along with the rest of our Immigration paperwork.  That was done March 30th.  The Consulate with be finished with those on April 14th and will then issue our Article 5, which will then get delivered to CCCWA (the office in China that handles adoptions) in China, they look over our paperwork and then issue our TA or Travel Approval!!!  Once we have our TA, it's time to book our flights and FINALLY plan this trip!!!  It won't be too much longer now, probably 1 to 2 months at the most!  So we are really excited over here!  We still have to finish Collin's room downstairs.  All we need is the carpet, then we can move his stuff down their and start on Ava's room.

We also were able to send Ava a care package.  She got that on April 4th.  The picture I posted in the previous and here are of her opening her package and playing with the Minnie Mouse we sent her.  Ava is 30 lbs and 32" tall, we didn't realize it at the time, but Minnie is about half the size of her, so is the box we sent to her!

I'm behind in my posts, for now at least a new picture!

I-800 approval!!!!

We just got the email, we have been granted our provisional approval for our I-800!!!!  Wow!  Still can't believe it and it only took 14 days!!  We still have so much to do..... 

Here's one of the latest pictures we received of Ava, it was taken only a few weeks ago.  This is her in her "Kindy Room".  You can see posters in the background of simple words that kindergardener's learn, if you enlarge the picture, you can see the names of the "things" are in both English and Chinese!

We got our LOA!!!!!

We got our Letter of Acceptance on Thursday!!!!  That means, China has official approved us to adopt her.  We still need to file some paperwork with US Immigration that will approve Ava to immigrate to the US. But getting this LOA is a huge step.  We got the phone call as we were on our way to Minneapolis, we didn't get back until yesterday, so I couldn't post until now.  Hoping to travel by sometime in April, but only time will tell.  We are so excited about this, but now that it's coming down to the wire, we've got A LOT to do including....

Collin will be having leg straightening surgery on 3/1.  We knew he needed the surgery, but didn't quite plan on it happening so soon.  I called on 2/18 to schedule surgery.  They said they had just received a cancellation for 3/1 otherwise, we'd have to wait until 7/14.... So, for many reasons we decide to go for the 3/1 opening.  Please keep Collin in your thoughts and prayers, I will post about his progress here too.

We took the trip up to Minneapolis to talk to an Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Perra, about Brian's back.  He's had problems with spinal stenosis for the last several years.  We went expecting to hear that Brian needed surgery too, but thankfully, the doc thinks we can hold off for now, he suggests another epidural injection to help with the pain and numbness he is experiencing currently. Please keep Brian in your thoughts and prayers too.


There are 2 bedrooms to finish too.  We added a bedroom in the basement for Collin.  All that needs is carpeting and then Collin can move into his "man cave"... although, Collin will be healing from his surgery for the next 3 - 4 months, so getting downstairs may be a bit challenging.  Time will tell.  If Collin can't get downstairs, we've decided that Shannon will just take his room until he can get down there.  Plus, we have to do Ava's room (Collin's old room).  We have all that we need for her room, just need to paint it and set everything up.

And then there's all the prep for the trip to China too....................wow, good thing I thrive on busy-ness and chaos!  Ha-ha!

Here's another sweet picture of Ava! We've been told she's rather girly and loves pretty things. I can't wait to find the perfect 1st dress for her to wear once she becomes ours. I began the search for just such dress last week. No such luck yet. I'm sure I'll find it.

And FINALLY a Log In Date!!

I just got the call about an hour ago, China FINALLY let our agency know that our dossier Log In Date was January 17, 2011!!!! That came just in time, because over there, they are about to start celebrating Chinese New Year and when that happens, government offices shut down for several weeks. Now we just have to wait for our LOA/Letter of Acceptance!!! Once we have that, we will be officially approved to adopt Ava!!