Our 2006 Christmas letter

WALL FAMILY 2006


There have been a number of changes that our family has gone through in 2006. Early in the year we found ourselves in a new city. Although we love San Antonio the only home we have known is Kingwood. We left behind family and many dear friends but just like all change this experience has served to grow our faith in the Lord and bring us all closer together.

The boys have settled in to school and are making new friends. As was the case in Kingwood baseball is keeping us very busy with all 3 boys now playing. Grant finally got to put on a uniform and play a real game. He slept in his uniform the night before his first game. He had a great season thanks in no small part to the coaching of his 2 big brothers.

Rhonda and I have met a number of people and we are now part of a church family. Being a part of a church family has gone a long way in making San Antonio feel like home. The other change that occurred is that our family grew by one. On November 16th Rhonda and I kissed the boys goodbye and boarded a flight to Beijing, China. After seeing some of the world's true wonders (Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and The Great Wall) we found ourselves witnesses to the awesome power of God. On November 20th Ava Claire (Shao Hai Gao) was handed to Rhonda and she became part of our forever family.

Since December 4, 2004 Rhonda and I had been working on the adoption of our little girl. Finally the day had come to welcome Ava into our family. It was not the beginning we had imagined. Ava was neglected in the orphanage and the results were that she was very disengaged and failing to thrive. Her facial expressions revealed this to us right away. She was emotionless and not able to verbalize. She could not hold anything in her hands and did not make eye contact. Needless to say Rhonda and I were concerned and needed a lot of reassurance from God. We prayed that God would touch Ava with His hand and heal the hurt, rejection and pain in her little heart and to use us to show His love to her.

We took her back to the apartment we were staying in and for 2 days things did not improve much. We resigned ourselves to 2 important facts. The first one is that God is in control of all things. The second was that Ava belonged in our home and she was who God had chosen for us. We showered her with love and stimulated her every waking moment. On that 3rd day we were witnesses to God's power and the way love and affection changes lives. Ava began to come out of her shell. It was as though a light switch had been turned on. The world began to open up to her and she started crawling all over that apartment. Soon she was verbalizing (laughing and crying) as well as pulling up on everything. We spent 12 days with her in that apartment and the lessons we learned so far from home will stay with us for a lifetime.

Now that we are home and settling in for Christmas we want to share with each of you, our friends and family, what God has revealed to us. We are all adopted. God, in His love, sent Jesus Christ to earth to save us all and invite us into His forever family. Just as we saw the power of human touch and affection on the life of Ava Claire we pray this Christmas that you all will find that same peace through our Savior.

Merry Christmas and God bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you and your loved ones.
Jason, Rhonda, Tanner, Hunter, Grant and Ava Claire

Our Blessings!!

Ava's First Birthday!

Today we had a wonderful family day! It was Ava day! We celebrated her life and her first Birthday as a family! Family of 6 I might add, wow, I can't believe I'm a Mom of 4 now. Ava's Birthday is actually on Oct. 28th, 2005, so we wanted to celebrate it here in our home as a family. She is doing well, and we have gotten through 5 shots and blood being drawn last week. She ran high fevers for a few days afterwards, but today she is back to herself and more. We spent the week and weekend at home and will continue to do so for most of Dec. She is realizing that we aren't going anywhere. She is enjoying her brothers and now allows the dogs to be in the same room with her. She is so funny, she will even sneak over to touch them when they are asleep. She has found her voice and it is so nice to hear. Oh and, she can now climb all the way up the stairs. It looks like this week, I'm going to be a tired Mommy getting used to chasing a toddler around again. Oh, how nice it is though! We are so excited that she is so mobile and happy. Exploring everything. She's is quite the little monkey and loves to hang upside down as Daddy swings her. We are still working on trying to get her to put real food in her mouth, but she did feed her Daddy today. Which is big progress, because before, she wouldn't even touch food of any kind, unless it is her bottle. We take it day by day.

Ahhh, real food! Grammy's gumbo!

Traditional Chinese outfit

Ava's new toy

All eyes on Ava!

On her first night home, Ava started pulling up

We are home!

Okay, so we are finally home. After a 20 hour travel day and three planes we made it. Home never felt so good. We had a wonderful reunion and are treasuring every moment. Ava was a little shy with the boys but is now exploring her new home and wondering why she always three little faces following her every move. The boys crawl with her, tickle her and try their best to see if she will let them hold her. We are exhausted, not much sleep. We are all mixed up on our days and nights, so hopefully soon it will level out and we will sleep again.