What Now?

You might be surprised if I tell you that what happens next as far as traveling and bringing Avery Lan home is - MORE PAPERWORK!! Yup, I have quite a pile of paperwork to attack right now. This is for immigration so we can legally take her out of Ch*na and legally bring her in to the U.S.A. It's not like the 4 inch thick notebook I already have, it's much more manageable, but still . . .

We also received this spiral bound book from our agency with the words "Ch*na Travel Guide" on the front of it. It will prepare us for what to bring, expect, customs, $$ to bring, how it all works, etc. It just all brings it home to me how real this all is and how close we really are to holding this child!

Thank you to EVERYONE who sent us an email, posted a comment here, or posted a comment through Facebook congratulating us on Avery Lan! I even got a comment from my 5th grade Science teacher who's husband used to make her chalk for her! She is the SWEETEST! Not to mention the precious friends and family who have left comments. They all mean so much to us! We hope you all follow us along as we continue on this adventure.

OH! A good friend of mine, who now lives in the South, called me to tell me that their son is from the same part of Inner Mongol*a! There is a small chance that we could be there at the same time! I haven't seen her since they left Oklahoma, and to possibly be reconnecting in, of all places, Inner Mongol*a - what a hoot!

We will be able to send a care package to Avery Lan! She will be able to see pictures of us, receive a translated letter, some books, a blanket, and a disposable camera so her foster family can take pictures of what her life is like there! We are so excited to be able to reach out to her and love on her. Hopefully this will also prepare her for the transition, this little girl's world is fixin' to be rocked, bless her heart!

Another thing I wanted to share is a little more about Miss Avery and a couple of prayer requests that we have. Avery is considered a special needs (SN) child. She has a repaired VSD (ventricular septal defect) or hole in her heart. She got it repaired when she was about 6 months old in the hospital in Beijing (and she didn't have her mommy and daddy there to love her through it). Usually, children with VSDs once they are either surgically repaired or heal on their own there are no lifelong complications. Our prayer is that when we bring her home and the pediatric cardiologist checks her out they will see a completely healed heart.

Another of our requests is that we are able to meet her foster family when we travel. We are so grateful for these people to take this precious child into their home and provide her with a bed, food, and love until she gets a forever family. Then they have to say good-bye and hand her over to these foreigners (but we are nice foreigners). I can't imagine being in their shoes! I want to hug on this foster mother's neck! How do you say thank you? What can I possibly do to tell her how precious she is to us? We want to be able to say thank you (xie xie) in person. Wouldn't it be so cool if we were able to pray with them? We do pray for them now and will continue to, trying to let Avery know that she had a China mom (besides her tummy mommy) who was very special to her and us.

ALL PRAISES TO GOD!