Home!

 I'm going to post a current update, then I will go back and finish our days in China where I was unable to connect to the internet.

First of all, we are doing great and we are so glad to be at home. Our trip to China was obviously LIFE CHANGING, but I mean that in more ways than just Ava. It was educational, eye opening, beautiful and dirty all at the same time. Happy and sad. So many differences between China and America. I know that my family and I will never be the same. 

We left China at 9:45am on 11-1, and got home at 8:30pm on 11-1 Atlanta time. (Which would have been 8:30am on 11-2 in China. So we traveled for 23 hours.) That was honestly the HARDEST part of the trip.

We had 10 family members meet us at the airport with signs and balloons! I think the entire airport stopped to watch our reunion, it was wonderful!!!

At the Atlanta airport! Smiles, even after such a long journey! Ava slept about 8 hours on our plane ride which was helpful. She screamed when she had to be buckled in, but not for too long! 

Ava, checking out her new room.

Toys!!!

She wanted her bear to ride her rocking horse. This was one of the only toys they had at Ava's orphanage. While I was in China, I asked Craig's sister and mom if they could find a rocking horse like that, so she could have something familiar when she arrived to her new home. (We used to have one like it for Laura and Christine when they were little, but gave it away years ago!) Well, they said there wasn't one to be found anywhere. So.......Jane, Craig's sister borrowed it for us from their church nursery!!! But it was so worth it to see Ava get on that horse and smile ear to ear, and know exactly what to do. If anyone sees a Little Tykes rocking horse, let me know, I owe their church nursery a rocking horse!!!

She was calling her bear "bow bow" which means baby.

We had not planned on doing this, but Christine had a soccer game Saturday morning at 9am and she decided to play! So we went! Ava decided that she was going to be Poppa's girl, and she sat on his lap the entire game! (We were teasing Poppa that he was going to need a bigger hat, because his head was going to get so "big!") Then when Ava did put out her hands to go to someone else, Poppa turned around and walked away so Ava would stay with him!!! Funny!

We bought Ava pretty silk dresses in every size up to size 14 while we were in China. ($3 for each one!) She honestly wouldn't stand still long enough for us to get a good picture. She was running around everywhere.

Ava really does not like the dogs. She's getting better each day, but the only reason she was close to Ruffles in this picture was because she was in her crate.

Ava loves her little giraffe. We wanted to get her something to ride where she could strengthen her leg muscles. 

We have been so blessed. Our adjustment so far has gone so smoothly. But we still have work to do! I know many children go through hard grieving periods, especially if they were close to their foster parents or a specific nanny. Ava cried on our Gotcha Day for about 15 minutes or so then immediately attached herself to Craig. And she's been happy ever since. She knows who her family is (including me!) but one thing I'm noticing is that she stretches her arms out to men (and even some women) she doesn't even know. Christine had a soccer game this afternoon (and it was just her and I that went to watch) and she was sitting on my lap when she turned to the guy next to me and put out her arms. I laughed and told him that she loved men, then I just took her for a little walk. So, I will be doing more research on how to handle this. But for now, I'm so proud of her. Ava has been so brave, and she is so smart. She has the funniest sense of humor and LOVES attention. She's NOT shy and she's starting to babble a lot. At the soccer game today people would yell, and she would yell too! It was hilarious. She sleeps great, and is eating a ton! God picked the perfect little girl to add to our family! I'm so glad we listened to His voice and followed His call. None of us can imagine life without her!