LAST ONE!!!

Sweet Ashley, this is the VERY LAST month that will go by without your mama and daddy! By the end of December we will have you in our arms forever! Oh what a celebration that will be! We know that you are being taken very well care of where you are but you are about to be taken in like you could never imagine! We love you so much and look forward to spending your 18th month, and every month after...WITH YOU!!!!

She has our nose! And Avery's lips...

Earliest Picture

This is the earliest picture we have of Ashley...according to her documents, she was found in yellow/white clothing at the gate of the orphanage so we're thinking that this might actually have been taken the very day she was abandoned. We plan on taking this when we get her and asking the director if she remembers. She was not given up at birth, but at approximately a month old, and it's obvious she's not a newborn in this picture....that sad face breaks my heart!! I cannot imagine the pain of having your child for a month and then feeling like your only option was to abandon her to get her medical help. Her mother, I believe, must have loved her very much to put her baby's need for medical care above her love for her child. The Lord is sovereign and we know He had a plan for this child, even in her mother's womb. My feelings and love for her birth mother are for another post, but I wanted to share this pic....we're coming baby girl!!!!

A little info on our girl

Now that our little Hao Hao is "officially" ours...I can fill you in on some information!

Her given name is Lou Hao (pronounced low how) and she was born on July 1, 2007. She's currently in foster care in Loudi City, Hunan and a part of the SWI of Loudi. Her last measurements we have put her at just under 20 lbs (but probably weighed with all her clothes on...I'll believe this when we see her!), and 29 inches tall. She's been in foster care since September of 2007. She was born with a form of Spina bifida and had surgery at 1 month to repair the spot. All indications are that she is walking, praise the Lord! At her last update, at 13 months she could walk holding the nanny's hand and was cruising around furniture. We won't know for sure till we meet her but we are prepared to handle whatever needs she has!

So many of you have asked about travel. AWAA is saying late December. They send out groups on Thursdays so we are praying that we'll either leave December 11 ( this is a long shot but we can pray, right??) because that would put us home on Christmas Eve. OR we could leave on Christmas Day or the day after. If we leave on the 18th, we'll be in China the week before and after Christmas, which would be really hard to leave Ally and Annalyse (Avery is going with us), BUT we'll go whenever they say GO!!!! The little ones will be in good hands :0)

Now we wait for Travel Approval....usually takes about 2-3 weeks, so I'm guessing the week after Thanksgiving sometime. That will give us concrete dates.

In the mean time, my list making skills are in high gear! On top of this being the busiest time of year (hubby is a minister at a large church...December is so full!) for us, we're adding a trip to China!! Don't read that as complaining, just saying that we're taking things a day at a time from here on out! After we get home from Thanksgiving in MS, we'll kick it in high gear!

Please continue to pray for us!! We still have some financial needs as far as travel is concerned, and just the logistics of having half our family in China and half in the US for two weeks...it's going to take lots of organization and I can get overwhelmed in that area pretty quick.

Thanks so much....how about another picture!!????

It finally arrived!!

Well the man was 4.5 hours late but that's been pretty much the MO for this paperchase right?! At any rate, he came and we got to sign the beautiful LOA!! It basically said we agreed to adopt this child, and we signed it and sent it off!! yeah!!!!!!! I thought it would have her picture on it but it didn't. Here's Jay with our "stork" delivering the goods!

CHINA HERE WE COME!!! LLLLOOOOOAAAA!!!!

We are overwhelmed to announce that after 125 days of waiting....CHINA SAID YES!!!!!!!!!!!
Here she is.....is she precious or what!!!???????
We got the call at 12:20 this afternoon...i'll write more later, gotta make calls!!!!!!!
WE ARE GOING TO CHINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update and a Prayer Request

First off, please take a moment to pray for Naomi and Jeff....you can read their situation that is going on in China and they need prayer warriors on their behalf. They are an amazing example of Christ's strength through low times, and are giving God all the glory, despite their heartbreaking situation.



1. We heard from our agency this afternoon...the CCAA is still processing our LOA and there are no problems...it should arrive "soon." I'm very grateful that at least we know our dossier isn't sitting under someones coffee mug! How soon is "soon?" The Lord only knows!! We pray that it's VERY soon!!!

2. The golf tournament was a great success! Beautiful weather and lots of golfers! I'm not sure the exact total yet, but we did raise about 1,000!! Thanks so much to those that played and gave!!

3. I've been so busy this week, no new cell phone. yet. I know ya'll were all wondering :)

Thanks for the prayers!