The Setliffe Family

What A Week!

Hey friends. It seems like I just did my bullet point update, but here goes another one. Too much happened this week to write everything out. So here is the fast version :)

• God blessed us in HUGE ways as far as our adoption finances go. We received $1450 in gifts just this week from several different families at church. Wow! So that means that we are finally able to send in our Home Study packet!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!! This is such a huge part of the adoption process....probably the most work of the entire journey. We are so excited to be moving forward. God is so good to us & He has shown us again that His is our Jehovah Jireh...the God who Provides. What a huge relief to have this portion done! We are hoping to FedEx it out on Thursday....hopefully we can get someone to take a picture for our daughter's baby book.


• Yes....I said daughter!! After tons and tons of prayer, seeking wisdom from other adoptive families, talking to our families and tons more prayer, we are feeling led to request a girl. This has been such a difficult decision for us to make, but we feel so much peace about the direction that God is leading us. For now, we've been calling her Bella, but who knows if that name will keep! Ava's name changed so many times while I was pregnant, so who knows what she will be officially called :)


• Thursday was one of the scariest days of my life. Emily called me crying around 7am and said that Mom was on her way to the hospital in an ambulance. After lots and lots of tests they determined that she had a seizure. She will be taking medicine now for epilepsy. What an emotional and draining weekend this weekend was for my sweet family. My Mom is so tired and worn out....please continue to pray for her. She had a chemo treatment yesterday & now has 3 weeks off to rest. Praise God for this!


• We bought a season-pass to the children's museum and took Ava again on Saturday. She is definitely in her happy place when we go down there. It is so fun to watch her go crazy & play with other kids. She loves to share her toys with the other kiddos. It's so sweet. I tried to take about 20 pictures, but all of them were fuzzy b/c she wouldn't stop moving. It was a lot of fun!


• Ava is following in my footsteps.....see picture below :)

Yes....that is diet dr. pepper :)

• We are running around like chickens with their heads cut off getting ready for camp. I have never seen Matt so stressed in the 9 years that I have known him. I'm going up early on Friday to get Ava settled in & then Matt is bringing the kids up on Saturday. We have high school & jr. high back-to-back, so we'll be there until the following Sunday. Our best friends....the Spur family are going to be there--yeah!! It's going to be a lot of fun. I've got to make my packing list today & start doing laundry. It's not so easy packing for 9 days of camp...I feel like I have to bring EVERYTHING!!! My niece Desi is coming for jr. high camp & then staying for a few days afterwards. It's going to be a lot of fun seeing her & catching up!
• Ava is still not walking. I've been praying like crazy that she would start walking before camp so I'm not having to carry her everywhere all week. We need a miracle people...only 2 more days to go!!
• Ava's new favorite words are "happy", "hi", "mama" and "babaw" (what she's been calling my Mom--Grandma)
• I had a moment of complete weakness at Target the other day. I went to get some basics...toilet paper, milk, etc....and decided to walk through the baby clothes section. I should know better than that by now. So I left with the basics--and 2 new shirts, a pair of shorts and a dress/bathing suit cover-up for Ava. What was I thinking???? Of course it was all on sale & all those things together cost $11, but still.....she does NOT need more clothes!! UGGGHHHH!! I get so angry with myself. So they are still in the bag with the receipt ready to take back. Most likely they will be thrown in the suitcase for camp & the guilt will be seen on Ava next week at camp :)
• We took a little family photo shoot. There is nothing better than self-portraits. So enjoy....

• I think that's it for now. You probably won't hear much from me for the next few weeks as we head to camp. I'll try to update while I'm there, but who knows if that will happen :) Love to you all!!