Fall Fun and First Family Night Out on the Town

With falling leaves and cooler temperatures, we've enjoyed a lot of downtime just playing and having fun at home, indoors and outdoors. Ava and Maia were instant buddies when we got home from China, and they just love each other! Ava entertains Maia a lot, and Maia will kick her legs and just grin and giggle. Maia is now on Ava's radar throughout the day, and Ava will check on her and ask, "Where's Maia?" if she's sleeping. Sometimes, Ava will try to feed her her food! Maia's not quite ready for chicken nuggets. :)









After being at home for weeks and just venturing to preschool and the grocery store, it was time for us to venture out as a family for an evening. With fall underway and festivals, we headed to Loudon to Stonewall's Barbeque with the Butterworth family for some fun! Jim and Shannon were performing, Jim on guitar and Shannon doing vocals, at this great barbeque place. They are wonderful together, and even little Grace, who they adopted from China, joined in with her little microphone. We had a ball, and it was SO GOOD to get out of the house! No major meltdowns, and Ava and Grace enjoyed each other, Maia was a trooper, and Ben and I LOVED the barbeque. It's quite famous in these parts. :) Here's to good barbeque and even better friends! Very talented friends, I might add. :) Love you guys.

A Wonderful Weekend Together

It was a beautiful weekend to build a screened in porch and enjoy the great outdoors. We enjoyed time just playing, relaxing and taking a walk together in the sunshine. Ava thought it would be fun to completely cover Granddaddy up with her stuffed animals. We've accumulated quite the collection!




























Thank you for a wonderful weekend, Grandma and Grandaddy! We love you.

Grandma and Granddaddy Visit!

During the weekend of October 21-24, Ben's folks drove down from Maryland to visit and meet Maia for the first time! We had a terrific weekend, and there are many pictures to post, so I'm going to split them into a few days. These first pics are of their arrival and spending time getting to know little Maia.

A Beautiful Day for a Boat Ride

Beautiful fall days greeted us when we arrived home with Maia, and our first venture out to eat and for some fun was with Mimi and Papa a few weeks after we were home. My Dad purchased a fun pontoon boat that we can cruise around in, and we took it out for a maiden voyage with both girls in tow. Ava had a blast, and Maia was a little trooper. After our boat ride, we headed to Pizza Venti in Vonore, one of our favorite places, to eat. It was uneventful, but Ben and I neither one remember eating our pizza or salad. Thanks, Mom and Dad for a wonderful evening! We look forward to more boat rides in the spring!

A Month in Pictures to Come!

As you all know, I'm so WAY behind on my posts and pictures. I'm so sorry.:( Having two little ones 20 months apart has kept me so incredibly busy while just trying to maintain a household, do more adoption paperwork and go to appointments and such! I was telling a friend just today that I am starting to have more of a predictable schedule with the girls now and am finding some quiet time for myself. I even read Mary Beth Chapman's book in the last two weeks and remembered what I had read! I'm no where near as exhausted as I have been and can stay up like I did in China to post! I'm so sorry I've left you with no pictures for awhile, but I promise I'll make up for it, as there are MANY to post!

I'm not going to fill up this post with a lot of words so I can get to the pictures. My plan is to do the "month in pictures" but it will take several posts to get them all in, and then, maybe, just maybe, I'll get caught up.

News on the post adoption front is that our first post placement report/interview was completed by dear Pam Frye, our social worker, last week. All went well, and we just have two more to do over the coming months. We've had a lot of commitments on top of just adjusting, and I'm starting to see the end of that list, only to be replaced by more, I'm sure!

I'll start with the dates of October 17-20 as we were settling in. On the 21st, Ben's folks came for a visit to meet Miss Maia, and I'll be posting those next. Then, it will be on to Halloween pictures of a ladybug and a monkey. I'm going to post post post in the next few days even if I have to stay awake with the coyotes in our valley!

Our love to all!


Maia loves eating in the Bumbo!



Mimi and Papa come for a visit with the girls.



Mimi loves her granddaughters. :)



Papa holds Maia for the first time!



Maia learned to sit up all by herself within a few weeks of us being home! Now, we think she's close to crawling. She is the most active little monkey! Following in her big sisters footsteps we think...



Sweet sister time together. Ava still loves to pat Maia on the head.



Ava usually runs circles around her, and you can see her "on the move" in this picture.



Playing on her floor mat is a favorite activity for Maia.



Mimi gets full attention when she's here!



Daddy spends some outside time with his girls.

A Baby Changes Everything

The girls are sleeping peacefully, and I am sitting here at the computer trying to condense my five page testimony into a 2-3 minute talk for a church Christmas video. I wasn't sure I could do it, but this, at 10:10 p.m., is what I came up with while drinking apple cider and listening to the rain beat against the windows. My testimony is to appear at the end of the Christmas song, "A Baby Changes Everything." I wanted to share it on my blog in the hopes that it will encourage. This blog remains a place in cyberspace that's meant to bless and encourage others and point to the One who brought me out of the depths of my despair and redeemed my suffering and Who continues to do so as I long as I have breath here on Earth. Here's my 2-3 minute video talk from my heart.

After tomorrow, things should slow down a bit so I can post pictures!

When I was a little girl, I remember sitting in a tiny wooden chair wrapped in blue cloth, playing the role of Mary in a Christmas church play. My part was to hold baby Jesus, wrapped in swaddling clothes. I held him gently, and I remember there being innocence and the simple joy of that moment in my heart.

This same baby that I held onto as a little girl would grow up to become my Savior and King who I would desperately cling to as I journeyed through an eight year valley of suffering and pain with sorrow and the brokenness of the world in my heart.

To be followers of Christ is to be partakers in His suffering, and we each have different crosses to bear in our broken, earthly lives. The cross that Jesus carried ultimately reflected His glory, and our crosses we carry are meant to do that as well. My cross that the Lord allowed me to bear was infertility and a barren womb.

After eight long years of painful treatments, miscarriages and surgeries, I finally came to the end of myself and my plans. I was completely broken and surrendered my plans for a family to the Lord. In the difficult place of indefinite waiting, I was learning that God’s refining work was producing in me submission, humility and complete and utter dependence on His unseen hand.

I would later learn that the gift of faith was being established deep within me while I carried my heavy cross.

I allowed the Lord to replace my heart’s desires with His, and today, I am the joyful mother of two adopted daughters. Ava Faith was born in the state of Georgia in 2008, and we just returned from China with Maia Grace who was born earlier this year.
The baby who changed everything for me and in me is surely Jesus, my Prince of Peace, and the Redeemer of my suffering. A baby does change everything for those who choose to believe.

God's word says, “Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.”

AND

“Surely, I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

Praise be to God, who came to Earth as a tiny baby, to change the world, one human being and one story at a time.

Coming Up for Air

Hi, everyone,

We're still here and doing well! We've been knee-deep in many things these past few weeks, and as of last Wednesday, we've officially been home for one month. Part of us feels like we still have one foot in China and one foot in the US, wrapping up final details of Maia's adoption and preparing for post-placement reports and just trying to still adjust and get somewhat on top of things. We are simply overwhelmed and so incredibly grateful for all of the kindnesses that have been shown to us by family and friends. I want to say thank you SO much for everything, and I'm preparing to write special thank you notes this weekend. I've been spending just about every waking moment with Ava, Maia or both at the same time or taking them to medical appointments and such, and when that time is spent and bedtime arrives, Ben and I finally have time to eat and catch up! Then, there's the cat to let out, the dog to let in, and laundry and dishes to clean. I do feel like I'm finally "coming up for some air," and we're getting more and more settled and marking things off a pretty lengthy post-adoption list.

We went out on our first date night last night to "A Night with the Chapmans" in Knoxville. It was an intimate performance and story-sharing night with Steven Curtis, Mary Beth, Caleb and Will Franklin. Mary Beth and Steven shared very openly and genuinely about their grief and hope about losing precious Maria in 2008. Mary Beth has written a book called, "Choosing to SEE," and it is honestly one of the best books I've ever read. Warning though, get your kleenex ready. She is so transparent in the book and reveals many of her lifelong struggles and how God changed the plot to her story so many times and how she's learned to trust Him, no matter what. They are choosing to SEE the Lord in the tragedy of losing Maria and cling to His promise that they will see her again someday in Heaven. I hope to share a more intimate story with you soon about something Steven told us last night.

The girls are doing really well, and Maia is a hoot! I'm looking forward to posting "the month" in pictures since we've been home. We've got some precious pics of Ava and Maia together.

Have a wonderful fall weekend, and I'll be back soon. Ava's napping AND Maia is napping (within 30 minutes of eachother just today), and it's time to bathe and do the dishes.

Love to all!

Emily

Ava Turns Two! August 21, 2010

In the midst of the China prep hustle-bustle to bring Maia home, something wonderful happened in late August. Miss Ava turned TWO! She can now proudly hold up two fingers and "catch" the others with her thumb after much practice. :) She is an adventurous, curious, loving, compassionate, energetic, brave little two year-old! Everyday is full of wonder with Ava. :)

She's had the nickname of "little monkey" for quite some time now, as she's curious about just about everything and loves to climb and swing. She's our on-the-go, non-stop busy toddler most of the time, and there's never a dull moment when she's around. She absolutely loves monkeys and all things Curious George, so I thought it would be fun to throw a Curious George party for her and all of her "monkey" friends. We celebrated August 21st and spent half the evening outside doing her favorite activity - playing in the water! We set up a Scooby Doo sprinker splash pad, two kiddie pools and Clownie from the 70s! He's just as much fun as I remember him! The hat still goes up, and her friend, Sam Arendale, loved jumping through the water stream and seeing if the water would catch the hat.

I decided to try my hat at making a Curious George cake for Ava, which, given my history of cakes falling and literally catching on fire, was quite a feat! I'm proud to say that it stayed together, tasted pretty good and actually looked like Curious George! Ava came downstairs and looked at it and said, "Curious George," and I knew my cake labor had not been in vain. :) I had a ball making it for you, sweet Ava.

She had her very own bowl of homemade vanilla ice cream with it and decided to forget the spoon and stick her face in it! She had a great time with family and her little buddies, Sam, Sera, Caden and Grace! Thank you all for celebrating her life with us!

Her birthday morning started with a new little play kitchen. She loves to help me cook, and we thought she could rustle up a few meals of her own. :)



Rinsing her fruit and veggies...



Yum, I like watermelon.



Opening Itsy bitsy spider card from Grandma and Granddaddy.



Sharing some fruit with buddy, Sera Arendale.



Amy and Caden Jones come to help us celebrate!



Ava playing in Clownie. My favorite backyard water activity when I was little.



Sam Arendale enjoyed Clownie, too.



Grace Butterworth checking out the Scooby splash pad.



Ava, Caden Jones and Sera had a ball in the pool together!



All smiles with Mimi celebrating with Ava in the backyard.



A wet swimsuited Ava climbs in Papa's lap for a birthday hug.



It's time to light the birthday candles, Ava!



The party scene in the kitchen. :)



Oh, boy, my very own bowl of homemade icecream...



No spoon for me!



The Butterworths, Uncle Lonnie, Papa, Daddy and family friend, Tony.



Aunt Syd, Aunt Jill and cousin Katie watch Ava open her presents.



Cousin Wes in the "kitchen" with Ava. :) Wes makes a mean hamburger.




This is sure to be an active and adventurous two-year old year!



Happy 2nd Birthday, Ava! We love you, sweet pea!

Mommy and Daddy