Blizzard 2009

I thought we should post our "blizzard" photos. School was actually canceled on Friday. I grew up here & can only think of one maybe two times that has happened. The snow was beautiful!

PJ & Stella (aka Fatty Four Legs) checking on the snow Friday night.
Ashlyn & her cute outfit. I crack up at her taste in fashion.

I love this picture! Philip is getting hit with snowballs from PJ!

Stella Girl being her crazy not bright self.

The family's awesome snowman.
Sadly, it was gone by Sunday afternoon.

A Little Update on Sydney

We received an update today on Sydney. Our FC emailed me this morning with two pictures & current measurements. The medical information & pictures from the referral were from last May (about 10 months old). When I requested updated information, I really did not think the orphanage would do it for some reason. Don't get me wrong--from what I have heard, Sydney is in a great orphanage. But they are very busy with children.
The new pictures are from March 16th & measurements from March 24th!(remember the China time difference) Sydney has gained some weight & grown taller. Yeah! But she still has the chubby cheeks! She is weighing 26 pounds & a little over 33 inches tall. Sydney & my niece Ava are almost exactly the same size (Miss Ava will be two in July and Miss Sydney will be three in October). I think they might get into trouble together! That will be so fun for them.
We realize Sydney is small compared to "the charts". But we are really thrilled that she has grown almost all over. Sydney also has 20 teeth! Do all 2.5 year olds have that many teeth? She was also wearing light blue crocs! Too cute!
(We still can not post photos--sorry!)

More Spring Break Pictures

I forgot to include these pictures in the last posting. Last week, I went to lunch with a group of girlfriends. Several from elementary & one from high school. I had so much fun catching up with them. We really need to do that more often girls!!

Spring Break Pictures

We kept Ava while her parents went out to dinner. It is really hard to get a good picture of all 3 of them. Aren't they cute?!
Kaitlyn & Meagan came down from Idaho this week. They kids has such a great time. I did not take as many pictures as I thought.

Ashlyn & Ava are going to be flower girls in two weeks. I finally got Ashlyn to try hers on before the big day. She was not really into the whole photo-op thing. But the pictures are not bad. I think she is so beautiful--inside & out!

Introducing...............

After several family discussions, we still could not agree on a name. The four of us narrowed it down to Mia, Sydney & Alexis. Philip really wanted Mia. Ashlyn decided to throw in Gertie at the last minute (Thank You Mrs Seymour :)!!!) but that was quickly vetoed. PJ & I decided on ...................Sydney Hope. I love it! I love that both of my girls have similar matching middle names--Grace & Hope. That was planned! This will show you how weird I am but my kids have only 6 letters in their first name. Weird--I know! Sydney will also have part of her Chinese name with Sydney Hope. Just not sure if it will be Sixin or Xin or Si--we have no idea. Honestly, PJ & I don't really know how to pronounce Sydney's Chinese name.

This week wrap-up:
Accepted referral of Li Sixin soon to be Sydney Hope
Received information that our dossier was logged in on 3/04/09
Our EA (electronic acceptance) was sent
Ashlyn had a clean bill of health today (who-hoo!)
Received a ton of support from family & friends--Thank you!

PJ & I are just amazed at this process. A dream from college & a Steven Curtis Chapman concert brought us to Li Sixin--soon to be Sydney Hope. Amazing how God works. We are truly blessed. Thank you for following us on this wonderful journey to our daughter.

Hours Before Our DTC.........

Hours before our dossier when to China, PJ & I were standing in line at Blue Sky waiting to order. PJ's cellphone goes off & it is AWAA. I automatically panic & start thinking our dossier is NOT going today. All PJ is saying is "Yes Ma'am". He hangs up & says the agency has a referral they want us to look at. State of shock sets in! What? We are hours from being DTC. PJ explains that the little girl has a special need that agency does not know anything about. They think gastro or blood disorder. We anxiously await the email to come to my phone.
PJ & I were totally not prepared for a referral at this point. We did not even know what to do next. And her special need was nowhere to be found. It was also a Friday which means our agency is closed til Monday. PJ & I researched the internet, called or emailed anyone we could think of to help and prayed & prayed. Still no idea what she had. We were able to figure out what her medical condition is and....
Well--10 days later.........The Vinyards are so happy to announce the referral of their daughter/sister. Si Xin is 2 years and 4 months old. She is beautiful. I can't even describe how precious her picture looks. Si Xin's caretakers describe her as active, having a ready smile, energetic & fairly extroverted. She is loved by caretakers. Si Xin just sounds adorable! She is super tiny. Once she gets on the "Merrill Diet", she will be fine!!! (pictures can not be posted til we receive our RA from China, 4-5 months) .
I put Si Xin's picture in envelopes for the kids to open at dinner. They were very happy, both had those huge, goofy smiles on their faces. Keeping the referral from the kids (& friends) was extremely hard. Philip put his in his room & Ashlyn is taking hers to school. It is a big deal for her to be a big sister. Philip is already a big brother!
Our journey to China will not happen for probably 6-7 months (according to our agency). We can not wait. Thank you so much for your prayers during our journey so far. We are beyond excited! Our referral was such a God thing. All along we knew that He already had Hope picked out for us. We just didn't expect it on Feb 27!! God is awesome.

Ashlyn Turns 6!

Our little girl turned 6 yesterday! Hard to believe. Ashlyn Grace is full of life!! I'm so proud of the little lady she has become. The boys went & picked out flowers for her & had them delivered. (I was really impressed. Philip even did his own card & everything!) Ashlyn invited 8 of her friends to a pool party at a local university. The kids had an awesome time. And the adults were all stressed out with that many kids & water. Ashlyn thinks her "baby sister" will be here next year to celebrate. Lets Hope so!

Ashlyn & her gorgeous flowers
Ashlyn & Ava (A-team) in their new swimsuits.

Ashlyn related but not birthday related-

Ashlyn has once again started getting sick or not feeling herself A LOT. She is on breathing treatments four times a day now. Ashlyn does not complain about the treatments or the endless medicine but her body is very tired. We need a long stretch of NO antibiotics so her immune system can build backup. Please pray for Ashlyn's health. We need our over-active & endless talker back ASAP!!

Dossier in China

Our dossier was delivered last night at 7:39pm our time (central time zone) in China. We tracked the dossier like the kids track Santa on Christmas Eve. But Fedex takes a totally different route than Santa!! It was Virginia, Memphis, TN, Anchorage, Alaska and then Beijing. Not what we expected at all. PJ & Philip kept guessing where they thought it would be next.
We also made "The List" this week. The Vinyards are #23 on the AWAA Waiting Child List. Big news in our family! It does not mean that we receive the 23rd referral. It just means that we are on the list & our family can accept a referral from America World & the shared list IF it matches the needs that PJ & I checked.
Here is our part of the list:
23.PJ & Jennifer Vinyard
DTC 2/27/09
LID
DOR
LOI
PA
RA
TA
Paperchasing for a girl age 0-4
Website: http://www.journeyt oadopthope. blogspot

Please continue to pray for us, Philip, Ashlyn & Hope. Receiving a referral will be an emotional time. By the way, Hope is going to need a first name. The last time I checked Alexis & Sydney were in the lead. Go vote on Hope's first name.

We are DTC!

It is official. We are DTC! The agency sent us the tracking number this afternoon. I checked it before posting & the package left Virginia at 8:25pm. Arrival date in China is March 2. How exciting! No more paperchasing! The last two weeks have been surreal. How often does a dream of yours actually happen? This experience has been awesome. We can wait for the next phase. Thank you again for all of your prayers.

Dossier Mailed to AWAA

Our UPS guy delivered our I-797C back from the Chinese Consulate today. So--we mailed our dossier to the agency TODAY! Who-hoo!! Hopefully, we will be DTC (dossier to China) next Friday. The UPS guy was so nice to let us take a picture of him. He even posed for us!!! We warned him about the upcoming picture a couple of weeks ago. I think he practiced on the pose. Great job UPS guy!

The dossier package included the original and a copy of everything in this list:

Application Letter

2 Birth Certificates

Marriage Certificate

2 Physical Forms

Financial Statement

2 Employment Verification Letters

Home Study

2 Police Reports

I-797C

Repentance Letter (just one & not mine!!)

Family Photo Pages

Passport Photos

Photocopy of our passports

Home Study Agency's license & nonprofit letter

Home Study Agreement & Post Placement Agreement

Hague Training Certificate

and a check--our 2nd agency fee, translation fee & post placement fee

Wow! That is a lot of paperchasing. At least nine documents on the list have been notarized, certified & authenticated in Austin & Houston. I can't believe this stage is practically over.

A year ago tomorrow our life (& our family's life) changed. God used that concert to bring Hope into our lives. Thank you to everyone that has prayed & continues to pray for our family during this wonderful journey.