Updates of all kinds

It has been over a week since my last post. I have been running around like a lunatic since we got an email that the CIS in Ho Chi Minh City has our paperwork. They got it about 5 weeks before we thought they would! So things are moving along quickly for which we are thankful. The sooner we can get Ava home the better. But it sure kicked me into high gear. Since we found that out Thursday before last I have gotten her room all done except for the closet which I finished painting last night. We got the new shelves for the closet today after church so those will go up on Thursday. I would do it tomorrow but I have to run some paperwork up to Atlanta and get that mailed off. Then I will be done with the paperwork!!! Yahoo! That is, until she gets here and then we will have some more. But that's then, so let's think about that later. Anyhow, her room looks so cute if I do say so myself....and I do! Her curtains are adorable with little birds and flowers on the sheers. They are perfect since her name means "like a bird" and her given Vietnamese name means "flower". The color on the walls is PERFECT. I was a little worried about it when I was about half way finished with it but now I love it. It took 3 coats to cover the old green color. I was tired. But it was worth the work. I can't wait to post pictures to show everyone the finished room. I will do that this week I hope.

Now, on a sadder note... We will be losing one of the cuter members of the family...Grissom. But he is going to a wonderful home with sweet fun kids who we KNOW will take good care of him: Sarah and Silas! They are so excited to be getting him and we know that he will have so much fun playing with them. Bonus: we will get to see him over the years too! It's weird that I'm as sad as I am about it. I guess it's b/c I spent so much time with him here at home while Brian was working. Brian is sad too but he's thrilled to give such a great gift to the kids. We made this decision after Shiloh had an accident that required a visit to the animal ER on Easter night. We were there until 1:30 in the morning. And of course when we got home, Grissom need some attention as well. We realize that with 2 dogs and a baby, and Grissom requiring more attention than Shiloh, that it would be a good idea to let the kids have him. I don't know that we would have given him to anyone else but since this opportunity was there it really seemed to make the most sense to us at this time. I'm really going to miss that guy. But I know when Ava comes that my attention will be on her and so I won't miss him so much. And Shiloh requires very little attention at all except for about 20 minutes in the evening when she seems to plop herself into my lap for her nightly petting session... And the occasional visit to the vet, poor girl. She has a hard time. But she will be GREAT with the baby. I remember one time I took her over to visit with the twin boys I used to babysit and they loved her and wanted to pet and play with her. They would get right up in her face and yell at her (thinking they were playing with her!) and she would just sit there and not budge! She was so patient and she didn't feel threatened at all. What a sweetie. So, we will be sad to see him go. I know I will just sob when Brian takes him away!!


So this will be another full week. I am trying to enjoy the preparations instead of being overwhelmed by them. We still have so much to do and pack before we're ready. They said that at this point it could take up to 60 days to finish this part of the paperwork BUT nothing so far has taken as long as they've stated. SO....we may be going sooner than expected. Once they give us the all clear with this step then we will travel within a week. Isn't that crazy?!? So basically, we need to be packed and ready to go at a moment's notice. How exciting!! We're coming AVA!!!!

Brian and I had a good day today. We went to church and then headed to home depot to get the closet stuff. Then after naps we headed to the antique flea market to find Brian some kind of wardrobe for his room. That boy needs some more room to hang his clothes. He has the smallest closet. We found one for $80! Great price. Then we headed to Target to register. We found some great things but didn't finish before we got hungry so we'll finish up later. Brian found an animal bowling game that is so cute. He used to always do bowling with the kids in the nursury at church and they loved it so of course we have to get that! It was fun looking at all the baby stuff with him and seeing him get excited over it. Then we ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant up the street. They should know us by name at this point. Great day. Great evening. Hopefully it's followed up with a great week.