Big Prayer Request, Big Praise, and a Little Catch-up!

Praise
Well we had intended to post this week leading up to Audrey’s surgery asking all who read this to prayer for our little girl. We’re still doing that, but we were surprised with some wonderful news a couple of nights ago. Our friends Jeff and Naomi Cuozzo, whom you may remember traveled with us and were heartbroken in China when they weren’t able to adopt, received a new referral this past week. We are so happy for them and so thankful to God for continuing to bless us all! You can read about their journey at lydiahope.blogspot.com.

One more thing I would note about the Cuozzo’s – this couple planted a church in England and started a Christian school; they’ve already incurred the expense of travel to China once and now have to raise the funds to do so again; they will also now have to work out how to leave the church, school and their three children. Please keep them in your prayers, and I will ask you to make a donation to their travel expenses (on their blog site). Julie and I will be doing so, and any amount you can give will be well spent, and I know greatly appreciated.

Congratulations Jeff & Naomi! We love you guys.

Prayer Request
Please do pray for Audrey. As you can imagine, this is a very hard thing as a parent to see your child go through. It is only one heart surgery, but they will be repairing two separate areas, and it is open-heart surgery, so the seriousness is there. As hard as it is for us as parents to watch, we know that Audrey is the one who has to endure this the most and our heart breaks for her. Please pray for her.

I would be lying if I told you that we have no fear. As confident as we are that God is and has always been in control, and that He will bring her through this safely, we still have moments of dread/fear/stress/you-name-it. God created all of these emotions and we know they are natural, but we are praying and are faithful in His mighty hand, so satan won’t gain a foothold by twisting these emotions into something that would remove our faith. Please pray for us to remain strong by relying on God’s strength.

We will be posting updates at least daily during her hospital stay. They may be short, but your prayers and love for us is important, so we’ll find a way to post even quick little updates.

Thank you all for your love, support and prayers. They mean the world to us.

Catching Up
For those of you who have come here looking for updates, we hope you understand that instead of blogging we’ve been enjoying our newly expanded family through the holidays and trying to establish a new routine. We’ve had Audrey for 10 weeks now and have developed a strong bond with her. She is so wonderful and so loved by us and by the rest of the family, and she loves us so much. We pretty much think she's awesome. Rather than try to go over all the many things that have happened, we thought we’d mostly share some pictures, which are below. But first here’s a list of words she says, new things she has been doing, and a few of her favorite things:

• "Mama"
  
• "Ah Da" or "Da Da"
  
• "Alah!" (Alex, the exclamation point is because she usually yells it)
  
• "Woof Woof"
  
• "Tsssss" (Shhhhhh - she puts her index finger over her lips)
  
• "Uh Oh"
• "Ow" (she's learning what this really means, but she currently thinks this is what a mole is called, because that's what mom says when Audrey tries to pull one of Mom's off. So, now Audrey points at moles and says, "Ow?"
• "Yeah, Yeah"
  
• Took her first steps (cruising now but still not walking on her own yet)
  
• Waves bye-bye
• Kisses and pats her stuffed animals
• Kisses and hugs mom and dad
  
• Blows kisses
• Plays peek-a-boo
• Whispers with us
• Mimics lots of things we do
  
• Loves music, Elmo, baths, the cats, playing with Alex, and snuggling with mom and dad