Day 5: AVA!!!!

It's really here...Gotcha Day!!  I was awake every few hours checking the clock.  Finally, I gave up on sleep around 3 am.  I blogged, cried, talked to my parents, straightened my hair, prayed, cried, and here I am blogging again at 5:15. It's almost time to wake up my little family to get dressed and try to eat before we leave at 8:40 to meet Ava. MEET AVA!!!!!

Reece and Lily slept well...I don't know how with all my moving around. The only bad thing about the trip is that we are in separate rooms, so Trent and Mash are next door. I'm sure Trent didn't sleep we'll either.  I missed waking up and whispering with him about what today will hold.

Everyone up and chanting, "Ava,Ava,Ava" by 6 am. We are going to terrify this baby!!!!  LOL
We'll go eat breakfast around 7:00 to be sure we're on time to meet our guide in the lobby.

8:15...the clock has stopped!!! We had breakfast and came back to our room to get Ava's things. My heart is running away in my chest and butterflies don't even begin to describe the feeling in my stomach. Think highest roller coaster you've ever been on and suspended at the highest point right before you know you're dropping. Triple it and it's  still not close to how I feel.

It's so hard to believe we are less than an hour away from our girl!!!  It's 8:23 and we are leaving for the lobby......

We were waiting in the Civil Affairs office by 9:00. We waited until after 10:00.  All 5 of us were so anxious to see our Mei Mei.

Watching for our girl

The official photographers

She's here!!

Ava saw me, shouted Mama and leapt into my arms

She shouted Baba and lunged for her Daddy!

Sweet Sisters

Reality hits hard, she was so scared

She watched her Daddy take Lily to the restroom and decided he needed to take her too. Love Trent's face as Nancy translates the message.  He danced her down the hall and handled it like the pro he is. This man can drive me crazy sometimes, but he is the best Daddy to our kids!

Three years ago, Lily glided quietly into our lives. Today, Ava barged right in :) Laughing and
smiling most of the time. Her initial tears dried when the iPad appeared. She waved goodbye to the Assistant Orphanage Director and her favorite teacher, wrapped her arms around me and kissed me on the cheek for the first time as we walked out of the building together...forever.

The grieving wasn't over and it wore us out physically and emotionally.  If you followed our blog with Lily's adoption, you know that we'll be honest about every step of this adoption, including the messy stuff. Not tonight though, Trent and I have two tiny girls in matching pink gowns sleeping between us. I'm going to lay here and marvel at what God has done.

Ice cream!!

Sweet Dreams