Happy Thanksgiving...

Avery's first Thanksgiving... wow another first. What an amazing miracle God has given us. We are truly thankful, not just at Thankgiving, but always.

We went to Phillip's aunt Virginia's for Thanksgiving and spent time with family. We had a great time. Later we went over to see the William's family and have some more good food and fellowship, you will see a sweet picture of Cole and Avery at the bottom. : )

Avery is now putting her toes in her mouth.

Aunt Virginia holding Kate and Avery.

Kyle holding Avery and Rachel watching. I am so glad Avery is getting to know her GA cousins and next she will meet all of her WV family and cousins.

Avery and Cole. Avery's bib reads... "Baby's First Thankgiving"... Thanks for the bib Darlene. : )

I had to add these two pictures... Avery had on Turkey pj's that Ms. Margaret and Ian gave her, on the feet they had "Little Turkey" ... Is she just not the cutest thing you have ever seen. : ) Thanks for the pj's Ms. Margaret and Ian.

Avery's Trip to the Fire Station...

Avery with Kenny (left) and Bill

Avery took her first trip to the Fire station... Our friend Kenny (friend from church) is a fireman for Gwinnett Co. Well... living in such a small world Kenny's lieutenant, Bill went to high school with Phillip. Kenny called and invited us to visit them at the station so Avery had her first trip to see the fire truck. She had a great time... The pictures are so good and we had the best visit.

Thanks Kenny and Bill!!!!!!!

Avery, Kenny, Phillip and Bill hanging out.

Avery and Kenny in front of the fire truck.

Kenny can always make Avery laugh.

Avery and her daddy in the fire truck.

Drum Roll...

Here are new pictures of Avery... God is so good.
We have BEFORE and AFTER pictures..

All the picture on the top are her BEFORE pictures and under those are the AFTER pictures, now you can see how well her nose and lip look. This is truly God's miracle.


Top picture is the day Avery was born 7-6-2008


Top picture taken August 2008


Top picture taken September 2008


Top picture is after her first surgery, with the appliance in her mouth.

Got Cereal?...

I fed Avery cereal for the first time on Monday night (11-17-08). The pictures are priceless to me, she was so funny. When I gave her the first bite she looked at me and smiled so big, almost like I'm not suppose to have this and then she started to laugh. She loved the cereal at first and then lost interest. I think after she gets the hang of it she will continue to like cereal.

Monday Memo...

It has been a while since I have put some new pictures on the blog, seems like life is so busy these days and I am loving every minute of it. Avery is doing so good since her surgery she is eating well and loving life, she has not touched her scab, which just amazes me. We have a follow up appointment with her surgeon tomorrow (11-18-08). I am so ready to see under this scab, seems like we have been waiting so long. Again I want to thank you all for your prayers, cards, gifts and for just being such wonderful friends and family to us. Without God, prayer and prayer warriors in our life we would be lost. We have such a great big wonderful God.

Avery and her daddy... what a wonderful thing to watch.

Avery on her first trip to Madison GA. Look at how beautiful she is. She hated this hat it kept falling in her eyes.

Avery sitting in her "Bumbo Seat" watching me wash dishes.


Blogger Friends...

I have a few blog links on the right hand side of this blog under "Blogger Friends". Please take the time to look at them if you can.

"The Dugans" This is my cousin and his wife who live in WV... their little boy was born with Spina Bifida. He is such a happy baby and I am enjoying watching him grow up.

"Deputation With The Holmes" The Holmes Family are members of our church and are on deputation... They will be missionaries to Venezuela.

"Emma'a Blog" Our friends Kevin and Denise who live in TX and traveled to Russia with us when we were trying to adopt from this country sent me the link to this blog. Emma and her family are dear friends to Kevin and Denise... Emma has a terminal illness, please take time to read her blog.

Please remember each of these families in your prayers.

Avery's 1st Trip to The Park...

Phillip and I took Avery to Turner Lake park for a walk last week (11-6-08)... It was a beautiful day and Avery had not been out of the house since her surgery, she loved it. We walked by the lake and down many of the paths and Avery just looked around and relaxed. Avery was tired after we left she slept all the way to Walmart and the entire time we were in Walmart... she NEVER does this, she is a very light sleeper and I think she may be just a little nosey like her mama. : )

I thank God for this beautiful little girl and all the many "firsts" I will have with Avery and Phillip. So many years we wondered why we did not have a child and now we see God's beautiful plan, "AVERY". We have the most amazing God and I just can not imagine my life if I did not have Him to call on every second of every day.

Avery's 1st Haircut...

I had to take Avery to get her bangs trimmed today... can you believe it???? It's crazy I know but her hair has gotten so long that I couldn't keep it out of her eyes. Ms. Rosalyn cut Avery's hair, thank you so much Rosalyn.

Sugery Pictures...

I know you have all been waiting on pictures, so here you go. She is healing each day and getting back to being herself. When they stitched her lip and nose they put stuff over it, kind of like crazy glue so we are not able to get it cleaned real good yet. This picture was taken yesterday 11-6-08... Make sure you look at Avery's 4 month pictures below this post, I posted last night late... the post below also gives you a little more about how Avery is doing. Thanks for all your prayers.

Avery on 11-6-08


Avery right after surgery... : (


Avery sleeping after surgery... I had to pull her bangs back with a bow, they are so long they were in her eyes. Look at her little hospital gown.




Avery sleeping in the hospital crib...


Taking her bottle in the hospital. Notice the white looking sleeves on her arms, they have to stay on until Saturday 11-8-08, they keep her elbows from bending because she can not put her hands in her mouth.

Resting on daddy's shoulder.

Avery playing at home, the best place for her.

Look at this sweet baby smiling. She looks so amazing.

4 Months Old...

I am sorry it has taken me so long to post pictures of Avery but It has been a crazy week. First I want to thank Aunt Jennifer for updating the blog for us... We love you Aunt Jennifer (little sister : )

Avery is doing so good she is taking her bottle pretty good, sometimes I think her lip starts to hurt after she has been sucking on her bottle for a while. She looks even more beautiful and Phillip and I just stare at her. : ) We usually put her down around 8-8:30 each night and she gets up around 11:30, 2:30 and 4:30 through the night sometimes she will miss the 2:30 feeding... we have been putting her down at the same time and she is now sleeping until 4:30 and this morning she slept until 5:45am. I kept checking to see if she was ok this morning, I was just lost because I am so used to getting up. God is so good!!!! She really seemed more like herself today, she is smiling and laughing again, like the Avery we know.

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Avery at 3 months old...

Avery is 4 Months Old Today...

Avery at 4 months old 11-6-08

Avery 4 Months Old

Avery's Surgery Update

This is Avery's Aunt Jennifer.My sister asked me to update everyone on Avery. She made it through surgery beautifully. The doctor removed the appliance from her mouth. (Mommy and Daddy won't have to tighten that screw anymore) It took 10 minutes to put the tubes in her ears and 85 minutes to fix her gums and her lip. I have seen 2 pictures of her and let me tell you she looks beautiful!!! She has stitches and they say they will dissolve. She is on morphine right now but as soon as that wears off they are going to give her Tylenol with codeine. The doctor wants her to drink from her bottle but she hasn't felt up to it so they had to hook her up to an IV. She is getting fluids and antibiotics. Please pray that she will take her bottle. If all goes well she will be going home tomorrow. Gina said when Avery wakes up she is talking up a storm. They have no idea what she is saying but one of the words sounded like MOMMY. Gina and Phillip wanted to thank you all for your prayers. Avery is here because of those prayers. God bless you all for your love and support.

Avery's First Halloween...

Avery had 2 costumes... Hot Chili Pepper and a Tootsie Roll. Pappy & MiMi gave her the chili pepper and Jess and Debra gave her the tootsie roll, so we put them both on for photos. : ) We had a fall festival at our church and we took Avery for a little while, next year she will be able to join in on all the fun stuff. I will let you enjoy the pictures they are just priceless to me. It is such a blessing to share these first moments with Avery. Enjoy!!!

This is the sweetest Tootsie Roll I have ever seen. : )