4:23 in the a.m.

Hey all,

It's S and E... we're awake, and it's 4:23 in the morning. The parents are still sawing logs, since apparently they forced themselves to stay awake past 7:30... which we did not. We still cannot believe that we are sitting in darkness while you all are in the middle of your day!

Yesterday was wonderful, sad, exciting, scary, heartbreaking, joyful... basically everything we've been waiting for. I've been staring at these pictures of Miss Ava for a few months now, but I've never been able to see her as more than a "hopeful" dream. I suppose it's because I've seen my parents get so excited... and then so heartbroken over and over again. But yesterday, we opened the door to her foster mom's house... and there she was. She has lots of hair, and the fattest cheeks I've ever seen. She had milk dribbling down her chin, and a cute little polka dot outfit that covered her chubby belly. She is real.

So if you notice in the picture above, you may see two things: 1) She was not too excited to see four very LARGE and strange looking people (Mom's quote was, "I know she will love us once she doesn't think we're murderers" :) , and 2) She is obviously a member of the BLT ranch with her defiant attitude and obvious "sassiness". She will fit in well.

As I've heard this process goes with a baby who has been in foster care, Miss Ava is very attached to her foster mom and pretty scared of strangers. She let us touch her feet and her face, but threw her hands at us if we tried to touch her little fingers. We didn't feel too bad though, because the social worker got an "in yo' face" as well... so it's not just us. Her foster mom says she is a shy baby, but very loving, and she obviously has no problem telling you "what's up". As S says it, "she does what she wants".

It's so nice though watching her with her foster mom. It is very obvious that my baby sister has been LOVED, and that's really all we've been asking for. This woman has cared for the child that we will now raise, and we are so grateful to that. She even cried when she saw S and I (especially S, all the ladies here love him. He gets giggly girls in the grocery store following him around.), because she has kids our age, a boy and a girl. I think she's happy that we are going to be Ava's family. And so are we.