Meet baby Quinn

Hello friends,

It's been a few months and a lot has happened. When we first decided we wanted to try to have another baby, we hoped the timing would work out for us to have her in America this time (Eden was born in Thailand). With an August 5 due date, the timing seemed just right to come home for the summer and do just that. When Covid-19 hit, our plans were all out of whack. We waited and let go of our plans a little to see what would happen. In the end, we prayed and decided to come back to the USA anyway, at the beginning of June. What a strange time to travel internationally!

With about 8 weeks to my due, we arrived in San Francisco after about 36 hours of travel .

Eden did great on our 12 hour layover in South Korea, with a little help from the box of wonders. I had been having really bad sciatic pain and was worried about sitting on a plane for so long, but with so many empty seats, we ended up having three rows for ourselves to stretch out and sleep! Such an answer to prayer.

We spent much of June visiting with family in Oregon and California while I still felt comfortable traveling a little. We were definitely disappointed when instead of opening up more, the US seemed to be shutting back down. It has been sad not to connect with as many friends and family as usual during our summer visit, but we are grateful for the time we have had here still, and hope more opportunities will come to see people.

After waiting and waiting, the main event we came here for finally happened...Quinn Adeline Wallis was born on June 28, 6lbs 2 oz, about one week early. It was strange being Covid tested between contractions and wearing a mask during delivery...but we praise God for a healthy baby and no complications for either of us!

We are so in love with our new little daughter and it has been a blessing to be here in the US during her first weeks of life. We have had so much help from my family and lots of visitors to meet her (with more to come!)

Every birth story is different, and Adam and I were so happy to actually be together this time during my labor and delivery! (much less dramatic than when Adam was in surgery during almost all of my labor with Eden!)

Quinn is such an easy baby and we are smitten :)

We had a wonderful welcome back to my mom and step-dad Greg's house where we have been staying for much of the summer. Eden was so excited to meet her little sister and has done really well transitioning to being a big sister.

So what's next?

Well that's a tricky Covidy question. Currently, Thailand is not allowing back any foreigners with our type of visa. It looks like they might start doing so in September, but as of now there's a lot of strict rules in order to return, including a 14-day quarantine in Bangkok at an expensive hotel where food is brought to your room and you need special permission to exit your room at any point. With two small children that feels daunting. Additionally, there are so many delays for things in the USA that we need to do before we can leave. We have to wait about 4 weeks for Quinn's birth certificate before we can apply for her passport. All expedited services are currently down, which means we may be waiting another 4-6 weeks for her passport to arrive after that. Then we must apply for a visa for her from the Thai government and then permission to re-enter the country (a new covid thing). What already felt like a long trip to the USA has turned into an even longer one with no clear end date.

Prayer:

Even though there is so much uncertainty, we are trying to walk in peace and trust that God has a plan for us and our time here. Please be praying for us for expedited processes to return to Thailand (we are very anxious to return and continue our work!). Pray that we would have clear direction for our time here- what should we be doing? Working remotely on projects? Studying Thai? Learning new skills to help us long term? Find temporary work here? We had planned to go to Burma in early October to help kick off the beginning of our annual fall training for relief teams.This is always our favorite time of year as we get to spend lots of time "in the field" in a place we love with old and new friends.

Sending our love,

The Wallis family (Adam, Aimee, Eden, and Quinn!)

Baby registry:

I had so many kind people ask if I needed anything for our baby. My initial answer was no, but I ended up thinking of a few things we'd really love to have. The link is below for anyone who is interested :) Thanks for asking!

https://www.amazon.com/baby-reg/aimee-wallis-july-2020-gilroy/38AK3AFVYC0GK