Ashlyn's Picture from Church

Ashlyn made this picture at church last Sunday. Ashlyn is posting the rest-It is of Jesus and me. The picture has flowers, sun & a sky. I love Jesus very much!

Adoption Questions or Comments

After PJ & I tell people that we received our referral for our beautiful little girl, so many people say "you guys have waited so long" or "are you glad it is almost finally over" or some variety of those. But in adoption reality (China), we did not even wait one day. Your "waiting period" in China does not actually start til your dossier goes to China. Our referral came in hours before our dossier went to China. PJ & I feel blessed beyond words that we were matched with no waiting period. And honestly--sometimes we feel guilty. But then we remember that this is totally a God thing. If you are waiting to be matched with your little one, remember that God already knows who they are.

Sydney will have the last name Vinyard. Not sure what her exact name will be but right now we are thinking it will be Sydney Hope Li Vinyard. But that could change tomorrow! But her last name will be Vinyard!

Even though we know Sydney is our daughter, we just can't book tickets to China & go pick her up. China has a lot of rules/regulations/stuff we have to do in order to adopt. Once you decide to adopt from China, you just accept those rules & try to finish them as quickly as possible!! We are awaiting on our RA (referral acceptance) now.

Why China? PJ & I researched several countries (including the United States) in the very beginning of our process (Feb '08). But we felt like China just fit our family--stable program, cost, we saw the greatest need in China. It was not the whole "girl thing". PJ & I did not even know if we wanted to adopt a boy or a girl. By the way, China does have A LOT of boys that need to be adopted.

Will Sydney speak English? No she will not. This is a question we hear a lot! And then people ask what will we do to communicate? I really don't know! But for some reason, I'm not stressing or worrying about it. (I know several of you are SHOCKED!) I think having two older children in the house will be a great help to Sydney.

My least favorite question--how much does "Sydney" cost? Ugh. I'll just leave my comment to Ugh. Our agency stated at the beginning of our process that the total process would be $20-$22K.

Will we meet Sydney's birth parents? No we will not. We have Sydney's finding ad & know that her mother kept her from Oct 22 to Oct 25. She then dropped her off at the Children's Hospital. Sydney's birth mom made the ultimate selfless act. She put Sydney's needs first. Sydney was born very premature & only weighing 4 pounds at birth. I'm assuming this is all we will ever know. But THANK YOU to Li Sixin's birth mom.

Are we finally "done"? Honestly, we can't answer that. We said "yes" after we had Philip. We said "yes" after we had Ashlyn. And then God placed adoption on our hearts. This journey to Sydney has been AWESOME. It has brought our family closer to each other & God. I'm not sure how it will work with 3 kids. But I know that we will figure it out! I'm sure I will need a lot of advice from the BTDT crowd.

Please comment directly on the blog! Just click on the "notes from a friend" to leave a comment. I'm going to burn the blog (not sure how?) for the kids after we get back from China & then yearly after that. Kinda like a baby or memory book for Sydney.

Spring Carnival

We attended the Spring Carnival at our church on Saturday (yes I'm a little behind on posting--sorry!). It was a blast! Everyone had a great time. Can't wait for next year.

Someday

I found the following poem in Philip's (our 9 year old) folder today. PJ & I both teared up when we read it. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Someday

Someday I will hear my neighbor's old voice again.

Someday I will be a Marine in combat.

Someday I will feel my great-grandpa's hand.

Someday I will hear the Harley's motor again.

Someday I will be a man.

Someday I will have a sister from China.

Someday I will have a perfect life.

Someday I will die.

Someday I will go to Heaven.

Someday I will see God.

Sydney's Present Home

We are still waiting on our RA (referral acceptance). So we still can not post pictures of our cutie! We are thinking our RA will arrive somewhere between June to August. Basically, the RA means that China officially approves us to adopt Li Si Xin (Sydney Hope). I think it is okay to post pictures of the orphanage & a map of where Sydney is in China. Sydney's city is known as the city of flowers. Not exactly Amarillo!! The city has a population of 8 million. Wow! Average temperature is 21.7 degrees Centigrade (71 degrees Fahrenheit).

I realize this post is BORING! Sorry!

Sydney is in Guangzhou City. It is the yellow in the middle of the picture.

Picture of Sydney's orphanage.

The updated orphanage pictures that we received in March show bright green everywhere. The green almost hurts your eyes. The orphanage looks huge to me. Not quite what I expected??

Cardboard Testimonies

This is an awesome video from our church from May '08. I'm sure you have probably already seen it on youtube. It is worth watching again! Today's sermon was filled with new cardboard testimonies. Grab some tissues & pause my playlist at the bottom.

Easter Sunday

We had a fun-filled Easter. Started out with a super packed auditorium at church--awesome message. I'll post the link from last year's in the next posting. And then off to my parents house for a yummy lunch & egg-hunt. This time next year, Sydney will be home. How awesome!

Ashlyn being silly!

A-Team (Ava & Ash)

My cute kids!

Pre-Approval!!

We have our Pre-Approval (PA) to adopt Li Si Xin. Exciting news! PJ & I celebrated by having lunch at Blue Sky--the same restaurant we were in when the referral call came in. Cheesy. I know! I think we waited 27 days from EA to PA.

Our FC said that we can expect our Referral Acceptance (RA) within 3-5 months of our Electronic Acceptance (EA) which was March 12. Our dossier has not been reviewed by CCAA--which is why it might take 5 months. All in God's timing!

As you can tell--we have a lot of A's to accomplish. And yes--we know that PJ's name is wrong all over the document! I called our FC & she said it should not be a problem.

**I know that a lot of people reading our story might have questions about adoption, our journey, why adopt from China, etc. Ask them! You can either comment or email me. I'm pretty open about the entire process and love people to be interested in adoption. I'm by no means an expert on adoption. But we have some of the same questions asked all the time!

Dancing!

The reception was a lot of fun! Great food & dancing. Good times all around. Ashlyn danced almost the entire night. Philip well just scroll down.

Ashlyn & Ava being goofy!

PJ, Jen (me!), Melissa & Justin

Philip sleeping! This is why he is not in any of the pictures dancing. He went to sleep around 9:30pmish. He was very tired--poor guy! We stayed way past their bedtime.

Ashlyn dancing with her daddy. I love this picture!

Jen, Ashlyn & Melissa

Ashlyn dancing with Cool Aunt Melissa! I think they danced almost all night. Melissa is a wonderful aunt.

Ashlyn dancing with "the girls"! Too cute.

Ashlyn & Heather (obviously the bride!)

Wedding Ceremony

Ashlyn was a little nervous before walking down the aisle. Aunt Melissa mentioned that she was a little nervous also so Ash felt a little better after that. Ashlyn informed me that she was going to sit with the bridesmaids instead of ME while waiting! She was really into the wedding thing!

Ashlyn waiting for the big walk down the aisle!
Fulfilling her duty as a flower girl. She was beautiful!

Ashlyn & Ava started out walking down the aisle together. But when Ashlyn would throw out her petals, Ava would pick them up! It was so cute. I whispered to Ava to go catch up with Ashlyn & she ran down the aisle. They both did a great job!

I can't tell if she is glad it is over or still a little nervous??

Just hanging out waiting with the wedding party.

The girls had enough of the whole picture taking thing by now.

Ash & Papaw (my dad)--practicing their dance moves for the reception.

Sword Detail

Ashlyn Grace aka Flower Girl

Ashlyn has been waiting for "the wedding day" to come for weeks. It is the wedding of Todd & Heather. Todd is really good friends with my brother, Justin. Ashlyn & Todd are great buds. Ashlyn's cousin Ava (you guys know Ava the cutest little 20 month old) was also a flower girl.
We picked up the dress several weeks ago. On Thursday, Cool Aunt Melissa took her for a mani & pedi (and then out for ice cream!). Ashlyn was so excited! We read a book about being a flower girl, practiced being a flower girl and talked about being a flower girl! Ashlyn was really all about this wedding. It was a huge deal for her! Both of the girls are so beautiful! I was actually a little teary after Ashlyn put her dress on. She looked so grown-up!
PJ & I took so many pictures of this occasion that I have broken it down into 3 posts. This post has pictures before the actual ceremony.

Ashlyn getting her updo. Our hair stylist did an AWESOME job. And Ashlyn did an AWESOME job sitting there for an hour without any complaining or whining.



Miss Ava

Miss Ashlyn

Ashlyn & Todd (the groom)

Justin & Philip (they are so handsome!)

My cute kids--Philip & Ashlyn