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December 2009  |  April 2011

Monday, April 11, 2011 THE FINAL CHAPTER OF: "OUR GREAT ADVENTURE TO AVERY" (thankfully, our journey continues!) Initially, when we began this website, we planned on updating regularly but once we were home, life became very busy...good, but busy! We have decided that it would be best to share some reflections and email highlights of our past sixteen months with our Miss Avery. We feel that in doing so, we will be able to best describe Avery's development as well as some "happenings". What is most difficult to describe is our amazement that this beautiful child is in our family and the love that we all have for her. Our entire family, immediate and extended, is forever blessed because God had an incredible and wonderful plan. Hopefully our points of reflection and email highlights will be able to come close to showing the deep emotion that we feel when we think of our daughter. Thanksgiving Day - It has always been a day to be thankful for our many blessing, a day of be with family, and a day of yummy food. Now we get to add that Thanksgiving Day will always be the day that we flew to China to meet our little girl!! We are grateful beyond words to have Avery as our daughter! We constantly thank God for you, Avery, and love you so very much! November 30th - A day that in the past did not have any real significance to our family. In 2009, it became a day of huge significance as it became the day that we first held Avery in our arms! Loved by God, Loved in China, and Loved by Her Forever Family - Avery has now been with us, her forever family, the same amount of time that she was in China. We have learned more about her life in China and know without a doubt that she was much loved by a great number of people. We are incredibly grateful for the love and care that she was given. We are amazed at the ways that God was loving and watching over our little girl. These past sixteen months have gone by very fast. It has been much work but much more fun and joy watching Avery grow, learn, and fall in love with her family and us with her. We love her so very much and can't imagine our family without her. Emails and Updates - Since arriving home from China, we have been in regular email contact with Avery's foster family. Sometimes translation is a challenge but we do our best. The foster family loves their 英子 (Avery) very much and miss her so much. Receiving updates and pictures makes them very happy. We are very appreciative for all the love and care that they gave Avery and are grateful to be in contact with them. We have had regular email contact with Bill, our in China guide/translator/friend. We enjoy hearing from him and he has enjoyed watching little Miss Avery grow and change. Avery and Bill had a special little relationship while in China. Bill is another person that God has used to shine his love and blessings on us. We are so very blessed!! We hope the pictures and email excerpts give a glimpse of what life has been like with our Avery LynYing over the past sixteen months. We have truly been on a God inspired "Great Adventure" and Avery is absolutely "Worth It All"!! Avery, sweetie, we love you "THIS MUCH" (with our arms held out as wide as they can reach!!!!!! ) *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * The following are email excerpts from us to Avery's Foster Family (F.F.) and to Bill. (Please note that Avery is called 英子 by her foster family.) We understand that these emails are long and the typical person may not desire to read every excerpt. However, we wanted to include them because we feel that the details in these emails give a nice description for Avery to read someday about her activities and development during her first sixteen months home with her family. Dec. 30, 2009 (to F.F.) - We love 英子 very much and are very grateful for the care and love that you have given her. She is very happy and humorous! She makes us laugh a lot. She and her brothers enjoy making funny faces at each other. We hope you will enjoy the new photos we are sending. We are happy to be in contact with you! Jan. 7, 2010 (to F.F.) ) - We are very glad to receive your email! We want you to know that 英子 is doing very very well and is very happy. She is very happy because of how much love you have given her. We are so grateful! Jan. 8, 2010 (to F.F.) - Yes, we laugh a lot more in our house now so we can imagine how quiet the house seems. We understand why you are sad and miss her so much. 英子 is a very special little girl! We enjoy her so very much! We know that you love her and will always tell her how much she is loved by you. 英子 has four teeth on the bottom and one tooth on top. She is eating a lot and enjoys to eat. She likes to play a lot....very curious. She likes to dance to music. She waves hello and goodbye to people. She is very social! We hope you feel a little better after seeing the pictures We are taking very good care of her and loving her very much. Jan. 19, 2010 (to F.F.) - We have been to many doctor appointments. The doctors are very pleased with how healthy 英子 is and how her mouth looks. The doctor was pleased that she will not need another surgery right away. She will need another surgery in six months or more. We thank you very much for helping her during her surgery! 英子 is very quick to learn and already understands a lot of English. 英子 is very good at communicating! She still only says "mama" but we have taught her how to talk using sign language until she can say more words. She is able to use sign language to say words such as: eat, milk, more, book, baby, Mommy, Daddy, finished. She uses them a lot and knows what she wants or does not want! Feb. 3, 2010 (to Bill) - Avery is doing very well! She still makes her silly face and has many new signs. Last Wednesday she had little tubes put in her ears to help the fluid drain. Earlier this week she has started to try to say words. They don't sound exactly like they should she but she is at least trying. She tries to say: "bye, hi, no-no, more". She is still as funny as she was in China. But, she keeps us really busy as she likes to try to do things that she isn't supposed to do and she thinks that it is funny! (Like in the museum). Feb. 7, 2010 (to F.F.) - Thank you for your emails and answers to our questions. We are thankful for the pictures you emailed. We are planning on celebrating Chinese New Year at our house with the other families that came with us to China to adopt their children. We are looking forward to seeing all the children! 英子 is doing very well and is very happy. She is beginning to get a new tooth on the bottom right side. She is also beginning to say a few new words. Family and friends comment that 英子 is very smart and social. We love her and are enjoying her very much. Thank you so very much for helping her become the smart, funny, and confident little girl that she is! Feb. 17, 2010 (to F.F.) - 英子 is about the same size she was when she left you. She has only grown a little but eats a lot! The doctor said that she is very healthy. Her new tooth on the bottom has now come up a little. 英子 likes the computer. She often deletes what I am typing. Did she like the computer when she was with you? She likes to laugh and make other people laugh! She is enjoying her new brothers (Matthew-9 years, Ethan-5 years). We can tell that you boys played with her a lot!! March 8, 2010 (to F.F.) - We feel so happy to know how much your family loved 英子 and took such good care of her. She has such a wonderful personality! 英子 understands so much English and is even beginning to say words. As of right now she says, "more, hi, bye, mom, hot, hat". "Mom" sounds exactly like it should and the other words are close but not exact. She often makes the cutest little faces to go along with the words so that people can better understand her. She is very humorous and likes to make silly faces. We really wonder if she made the same faces with you. She is very funny with them!! We have showed 英子 the pictures that you sent us. We were nervous that she might become upset but we thought that it would be good for her to see you. She smiled with a big smile and waved "hi" at the pictures and pointed to your mother and said "Mama". April 5, 2010 (to F.F.) - Thank you for your email! 英子 is doing great and continues to be very happy and joyful! 英子 has gotten new teeth since we left China. She has one new back tooth on the bottom and two back teeth on the top are coming in. 英子 loves to dance and asks to dance many times during the day. She still enjoys the computer and likes to watch people sing songs with gestures to imitate. She laughs a lot and thinks that her brothers are very funny. Her laugh is so cute! 英子 is starting to talk more and more. She also uses many gestures and facial expressions to communicate what she wants to say. April 6, 2010 (to Bill) - Avery is still the same happy and silly little girl. She is talking more and more. The words "mom" and "on" sound exactly like they should. The other words that she says (off, up, down, more, backpack) are more difficult to understand. We are still waiting to see how her speech develops in order to know if her palate repair in October was successful for speech or if she will need a revision. The weather is getting nicer here! There have been a few days that we were able to go for some walks. Avery really enjoyed it and was eager to check everything out. We also learned that she does not like her shadow. She would back up to get away from it. Of course that would make the shadow bigger so she would sign "finished" and then look at us and say "off". So cute!! Her outside walking days may be over for a little bit though as Avery is all of a sudden very frightened by bugs (ants) that are on the sidewalk. She will just stop walking and get very stiff and cry like really loud as if she is scared. Until just recently, she has not been afraid of anything at all. Now she is suddenly afraid of bugs and shadows. Funny little girl! April 10, 2010 (to F.F.) - We are writing to tell you that we recognize that it was one year ago today that 英子 came to live with you. We are very thankful that she came to live with your family. You took wonderful care of 英子 and love her so much! We will be forever grateful to your family! May 12, 2010 (to F.F.) - Thank you for your response and questions. We wanted to let you know that 英子 absolutely does still recognize you. She still smiles, points, and waves "hello!" when she sees your pictures. She also says "Mama" and points to your mother. Yes, 英子 does have an English name. Her full English name is Avery LynYing Carlson. We really like her name of 英子 and often still call her by that name. She answers to 英子 and also answers to "Avery". We sing 英子 songs all the time. She also likes to do little motions that go along with the songs. We will continue to foster her love for music. June 3, 2010 (to F.F.) - We thank you for emailing and recognizing that 英子 has been with us for six months now. It has gone very fast. We love her very much. She has changed a lot during this time but still is the same funny, active, social, and smart little girl that she was when we were in China. June 15, 2010 (to F.F.) - We are so happy to keep you in touch with 英子!! I was just thinking of your family today and was wishing that you could see 英子 in motion. She is very happy, silly, and really enjoys playing outside. She often says "out" to tell us that she wants to play outside. She loves her brothers and they love her very much! The three of them are very funny together. Our family thinks of your family often. June 22, 2010 (to Bill) - Avery is scheduled to have surgery this coming Monday, June 28. She is having bone taken from her rib to close up the front gap in her mouth. They will also be removing the extra cartilage on her neck.

January 28, 2010 - Avery's first ear tube surgery. She was a brave little girl during each of her three surgeries! (1st - Ear tubes, 2nd - bone graft & branchial cleft removal & ear tubes, & 3rd - ear tubes again.) February 2010 - First snow fun with Daddy! They took one trip down the hill but playing with the snow was more fun! February 2010 - First Chinese New Year fun for our three kiddos! March 2010 - Playing with her panda friend that her brothers made for her the day before we left for China. First Easter - Avery in her Easter best. She so enjoys dancing to the music at church. This is also a picture of Avery using her sign language to ask for her "Daddy". June 13, 2010 - Avery's dedication at church. We had been looking forward to this moment for a very long time. It was a very special and memorable day! Enjoying Avery's 2nd birthday and first birthday home. She loved having us sing to her! First Halloween Fun! Avery liked looking at all the Halloween decorations outside. Every time she saw a spider decoration, she would sing the"Itsy Bitsy Spider" song. Avery's second Christmas since coming home. She enjoyed every moment of Christmas  and present opening! Happy New Year! - January 2011 - JERSEYS, and PIG TAILS, and BEARS...oh my!! Spring Break March 2011 - Avery's first trip to Disney World! She LOVED it and says she wants to "go back again tomorrow!" Avery really enjoyed hugging her character friends from the TV show Mickey Mouse Club House. She was darling! Avery also really enjoyed "It's a Small World" and would sing right along. So cute! We all had a fabulous vacation!

We are really not looking forward to it but we know that it is what is best for her. Her birthday is on July 9th and she probably won't be able to eat normal food by them. Oh well...I guess she won't know if we celebrate her birthday a few weeks late, will she?! Actually maybe we should celebrate her turning 2 a little early...she's already started some "2" like behaviors. Her new words that she loves to say are "No" and "Mine" ! :-) July 10, 2010 (to F.F.) - We thought that we would send you a few pictures of our celebration of 英子's two year birthday! It was a special day filled with much happiness and laughter. Aug. 9, 2010 (to F.F.) - 英子 is doing wonderful! She is always excited to join in any fun that is going on around her. We have found out that 英子 LOVES to be in water and splashes a lot! Aug. 18, 2010 (to F.F.) - 英子 still has the same funny and social personality. She is talking more and more now. She is able to say some two word combinations. She is still very smart and learns very fast. She is now able to say both her brothers' names and is often asking for them if they are not right near her. We want you to know that 英子 had surgery on June 28th. She had a small piece of bone taken from her rib to put into her mouth to create bone that was not there (the space that was directly under her nose). It is call a primary bone graft and it will help her upper jaw to grow more normally as she continues to grow. During the surgery, the doctors also removed the mass that was on the left side of her neck. It was just extra cartilage and did not cause her any problems but they wanted to remove it while they were doing surgery anyway. The surgery was a success and she recovered very quickly! She only had to stay one night in the hospital (we were with her) and she was back to her normal happy and busy self the next day. She even really liked wearing the arm restraints that she had to wear for 10 days. We were surprised that she liked them so much. Aug. 18, 2010 (to Bill) - We miss you and we hope you are doing well!! We have been very busy but very good. Our boys have been off of school for the summer but start back to school next week. Avery is really going to miss them while they are gone at school during the day. Avery turned two on July 9th!! She really enjoyed us singing "Happy Birthday" to her and wanted us to do it over and over again. Avery is saying more and more everyday! Some things are difficult to understand but she is really trying hard. She just learned how to say her brothers' names and is always asking for them. She has also learned to say a few two word phrases. Sept. 22, 2010 (to F.F.) - Thank you very much for your well wishes for our family and for 英子. We hope that you had an enjoyable festival and wish your family much happiness. 英子 continues to be very healthy and happy. She enjoys making people laugh and often makes funny faces to get people to laugh. She is talking more and more. She likes to say "Hello" and "ByeBye" to people on the phone. Her brothers are in school now during the day and she says their names all day long. She gives them hugs and kisses when they return home from school at the end of the school day. We were surprised last week to see that she is getting a new tooth in the front of her mouth where her cleft was. She is consistently putting her fingers in her mouth right now. We do have one question that we have always wondered. Where was 英子 before she came to live with you? You have told us that 英子 came to live with you on April 10, 2009. Do you know where 英子 was living before she had her lip surgery? Oct. 26, 2010 (to F.F.) - We are sending you pictures that we took of our fun family time that we had this past weekend. We went to a local farm and the children had fun picking out and playing with pumpkins. It is an autumn tradition of ours. 英子 really enjoyed the pumpkins and would excitedly yell "pumpkins!!!". In September, 英子 started going to a school program one morning a week for three hours for children her age. She has lots of fun with the other children and enjoys doing art projects and singing songs. She continues to be very social and also enjoys playing with her grandparents, her brothers and her cousins. 英子 continues to be very smart and learns very quickly. She is now able to count from one to fifteen and is recognizing and saying names of shapes and many letters. (Added Note: Avery enjoyed school (at our church) so much that we decided to add another day. So starting in January, she began going to school two days a week and loves it!) Oct. 26, 2010 (to Bill) - Can you believe that it's coming up on our one year anniversary since we got Avery? We have such incredibly wonderful memories of our China trip and we know that a big part of that is because of how wonderful you were! Thank you!!!! To celebrate our one year anniversary, our travel group will be getting together on November 20th in downtown Chicago at a restaurant in China Town. We will miss having you order our food for us, you are so good at it! Avery is doing wonderful!!! She is still very busy, very social, very smart, and very funny!! (And, yes, she still does her "scary face"!) She is talking so much lately and is even saying some three word phrases. I've been working on her speech a lot and she catches on very quickly to how I want her to change her speech. She is also counting from one to fifteen with just a little help. Avery also names a lot of shapes and has begun to name some of the letters of the alphabet. She is very funny in a store because if she sees something she knows, she will yell it out very excitedly. So, there are lots of smiles and laughter at the store as she is yelling "TRIANGLE!!" or "LETTER A !!!". You'd enjoy her so much!!! She's still the same Avery that she was in China but is a little more funny now because of the things that she says and how she says it. Nov. 19, 2010 (to F.F.) - The pictures are of 英子 playing in the leaves by our house. She would say "run!" and then would run and jump into the piles of leaves. She had so much fun! Nov. 24, 2010 (to Bill) -  "Thank you!" for giving us the information for China Care Foundation. A few weeks ago, I called their main office and talked to someone who said she would check into it to see if she had any information on Zhou Qian Ying (Avery). The next day, we received an email with about 15 pictures of Avery!! The youngest one was when she was 12 days old (according to the date on the camera). Wow!!! We were so excited and grateful!! Nov. 30, 2010 (to F.F.) - 英子 has brought our family much happiness during this year. We love her very very much! 英子 enjoys her brothers a lot. They like to play and be silly together. 英子 is happy every day and likes to have fun. She is very social and also laughs a lot. One of her favorite things right now is Minnie Mouse. She can say "Minnie Mouse" and also asks to wear her Minnie Mouse pajamas at night time. She was so happy when we found a Minnie Mouse costume for her to wear for fun. Also, everyone who meets her is amazed at her confidence, cheerfulness, and beauty. Nov. 30, 2010 (to Bill) - Today is Avery's "Gotcha Day"! We still can't believe that it has been a year already! Thank you so much for everything that you did and continue to do to help our little Miss Avery and our family!! Dec. 23, 2010 (to F.F.) - As you can see from the pictures, 英子 is very happy and healthy. She likes to have fun, especially with her brothers. She also loves her grandparents and her cousins. They all love her very much. She talks about each grandparent and each cousin and gets very excited when we visit with them. 英子 is talking a lot and has funny things to say. People are always surprised at how smart and social she is. Because 英子 is such a happy and friendly girl, she gets lots of attention from people. She readily smiles, says hi, and gives hugs. She is a very loved and happy little girl! Dec. 24, 2010 (to Bill) - Thank you for your message! We really appreciate you thinking of us, especially while you are traveling and busy. Our social worker came last week for our final visit. It is good but a little strange to have the adoption process over. It was a long but wonderful adoption journey to our Avery! Dec. 28, 2010 (to F.F.) - We are sending the recent height and weight measurements as you requested. 英子 is still small but is growing steadily. Her doctor says that she is very healthy. Her recent measurements are: Height... 83.8 cm Weight...10.9 kg. Here are a few new pictures from our Christmas time with our family. 英子 has been having much fun with her brothers and cousins. Jan. 30, 2011 (to F.F.) - 英子 talks almost every awake minute of the day now. She is very cute with the things that she says! Most of the time people can easily understand her. 英子 also likes to sing songs and knows almost all of the words of the songs. She also talks very politely. If she wants something when someone asks her she will say "yes please" and "thank you". If she does not want something she will say "no thank you." She still likes to laugh a lot and will do or say things to try to make herself and other people laugh. We hope that you are doing well and wish you a very Happy New Year that is soon to come. Feb. 3, 2011 (to Bill) - We are writing to wish you and your family a very happy new year!!! We hope you are able to spend a lot of time with your family during this special time of year. I would imagine that Sunny Ridge has told you that the Chicago land area was hit with a major snow storm yesterday. The streets were not drivable. So, all the kids were home from school and most businesses were closed or people worked from home. The kids really enjoyed playing in the snow, especially Avery. It was very hard to get her to come inside to warm up. She cried when I brought her in and kept saying "I want go outside!"  Oh a cute little bit about Avery...She has been has been having quite a hard time accepting the answer "no". When we say "no" to her wanting something, she then immediately says "Later On...". She is very sweet and cute about it but also a little bit annoying with it at the same time. :-) Feb. 27, 2011 (to F.F.) - We hope that you had happy new year celebrations. We hope that your new year has begun with much happiness and health. We celebrated the new year with other families who traveled with us to China. The kids enjoyed making a cake to bring to the party. 英子 was smiling the entire time that she was making the cake and was saying "We're helping Mommy." 英子 had her first hair cut since she has been part of our family. She was happy to get her hair cut but once the woman started cutting her hair, 英子 began crying because she did not like the water being sprayed on her hair. It surprised us that she cried because she is always so fearless. March 31, 2011 (to F.F.) - Last week we went on a week long vacation to Florida and went to Disney World. The weather was warm, sunny, and beautiful. We had a wonderful time as a family! 英子 enjoyed being busy, doing and seeing new things. She was very cute giving Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse and other characters big hugs. 英子 is the same funny, active, social, and happy little girl that she was when she lived with you. She loves to give hugs and be hugged and now likes to cuddle. 英子 is also very talkative and has a lot to say. She uses full sentences and asks a lot of questions. She also frequently asks "why?" or "why not?". She still has a personality where people take notice of her and enjoy her. We all love her so very much!!

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