7 months

April 18th was our 7 month anniversary of our dossier log in date. The past 7 months have actually flown by. The sad part is that in the past 7 months we have not gotten a step closer to Ava. A recent email from our agency confirmed a possible 24-30 month wait. Far from the original 10 month wait we we're told 1 year ago. We we're going to have our baby shower this summer but have decided to postpone it for awhile. Please keep your fingers crossed that things speed up soon!!

Vacation!!!!

We just got back from a much needed vacation to Florida. We went to 3 of the Disney parks, spent time with our families and just enjoyed not having to go to work!

Magic Kingdom

Our friend Lora had a trip planned to Florida at the same time as ours. We spent time at the parks together and had a lot of fun!

Downtown Disney

Animal Kingdom

We spent the day at Animal Kingdom with Lora and her clan. We got to be honorary bugs at A Bugs Life.

Nathan, Josh & Collin

We spent the weekend at Keith's house in Jacksonville while we we're in Florida. We had not seen the boys in 1 1/2 years. They have gotten so big!! We got to see Nathan's baseball game which was a lot of fun.

Matthew & Meagan

While we we're in Florida we got to spend alot of time with Matthew & Meagan. They are getting so big!

While we we're in China at Epcot we bought this umbrella for Ava's room. We had them write Ava's name in Chinese on it. When we got home we looked up her name and realized that they wrote it wrong. We love it but we now have no idea what it says.

Ladybugs!!

When we started our adoption we learned about a myth regarding Chinese adoptions and ladybugs. The belief is that if you see a ladybug your referral is coming soon. We have gotten tons of ladybugs and our referral is still nowhere in sight. I still love getting them though!! My Mom and Brian's Mom gave us the candle holders. Ari sent us the ladybug beanie and my Aunt Lorraine sent us the bell. My Mom's good friend Kim turned a brick into an adorable ladybug. We have him sitting on our front step. She also made us a really cute ladybug magnet.

Secret buddy gifts

We have the best Secret Buddy! In March we got the cute ladybug. It's an interactive toy and a book. Our buddy also sent us some chocolate. For April we got the priceless t-shirt. You would be surprised at how many people have already asked us "how much does she cost". You would think anyone with a brain would know how inappropriate that question is. We have been preparing ourselves for rude questions from strangers once we get her home. We had already planned to use "she's priceless" as a response, so we think the t-shirt is perfect!! We also got a pin with the map of China and a heart in the middle of it. It says wait, hope, dream, repeat.