Love/Hate

Grandma reading to Ellie and Cooper.  Love this!

Ellie and I flew to Michigan early Saturday morning and flew home yesterday.  We went for my aunt's funeral.  It was all quite sudden.  The trip to MI was obviously for a very sad occasion, but the time there with my family was perfect. 

I love watching my mom love on her grandchildren.  I love seeing my nephew play with his cousin.  He calls her "my Ellie."  It's the sweetest thing ever.  I love seeing Ellie reach for my sister when she saw her.  I loved introducing Ellie to all of my family that hadn't met her before this trip.  I love that my BFF was able to watch my daughter while I attended the funeral, even if I didn't get to see her for more than 15 minutes during this trip.

I hated sitting and listening to someone sum up the life of my aunt if just a few words.  How can a person's life be summed up like that?  It can't.  I hate that her life was not longer.  I hate that this woman that I love and have so many memories with, will not get to make those same memories with my daughter.  I hate that Ellie will only know her through stories. 

I love that my aunt was able to meet Ellie in July and love on her.  I hate that I didn't get a picture of that moment.  I love that my memory will allow me to remember that day forever. 

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Fortune Cookie

I found this in the junk drawer this week.


I stuck it in there last summer after dinner one night. Oh how true it is! :)

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Finalization!

I realized today that I never blogged about our finalization!

Ellie's adoption was final July 27th.  It was a fabulous day.  If I'm being honest though, it wasn't nearly as wonderful as January 20th.  We weren't ever scared that it wouldn't be final.  We weren't ever worried that something would happen and we wouldn't be a family.  From the day she was placed in my arms, I knew she was ours. 

We stood before the judge and promised to love Ellie and care for her.  We've loved her from the moment we knew about her so that was an easy promise.  We answered all the questions the judge asked us and then he pronounced her our legal daughter.  We were officially a family of three.  It was definitely one of the best moments of our life.  Ellie was her normal charming self and smiled right on cue.  It was perfect. 

Here are a couple of pics of our special day.

Waiting to go in to the courtroom.

God's plan for our family was/is perfect.  This little person is more than I could have ever imagined.  Ellie is the best part of my day.  When I go into her room in the morning and she's standing in her crib waiting for me, just smiling, I immediately thank God for her.  When I lay her in that same crib at night and pray over her, I immediately get teary eyed.  God has blessed me more than I deserve.  She brings me more joy than I could have imagined.  I definitely don't take being her mommy lightly.  What I want most for her is for her to love God and do great things for His kingdom.  I pray for that daily.  I also pray that I am a role model for her and let my life be an example of the things I want most for her.

I am looking forward to all the years we have in front of us and to see where God will take us now. 

We Will Never Forget

 

Praying for all those who lost someone they loved that day. 

Bath Time!

Ellie absolutely loves bathtime! From the moment we start getting her ready for her bath, she starts getting excited. We've still been using her little pink tub in the kitchen sink because it's just easier for us than trying to hunch over the tub. Plus we can kind of keep her contained so she's not flopping around and hitting her head in the big tub.

For a while I thought most people probably have their babies in the big tub by now. But, ya know what I decided? I don't care what most people do. ha! This works for us and we are going to do what works good for us! The sink is probably coming to an end soon. She loves bath time so much and the pink tub is starting to get a bit snug. Until it is too small though, we are going to live it up!

Here are some pics from bath time last night while daddy was at his football game. Ellie and I had a great girls night!

Playing in the sprayer.  She loves this!

Look at that sweet little smile

Those eyes!  And the lashes! 

iPhone Pictures

Just a few recent pics I want to post of my sweet Ellie girl...

I love this baby girl!

She likes the basket more than the toys that it holds.

Celebrating Great Papa's birthday.

Fell asleep during her bottle and then mommy needed some snuggle time. 

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Quiet Time

Photo courtesy Pinterest

As a working mom, I find it very hard these days to find quiet time to be in the word. During my summer vacation, it was easy. I got up before Ellie, got my coffee and went out on the patio to read. Life has changed in the last three weeks.

When I get up in the mornings now (at 5:00 I might add), I jump in the shower, then head to the kitchen to let Sam out and get my coffee ready and pills and breakfast for Sam. Then I get myself ready, Ellie's bottle ready, her out of bed, fed and we are out the door.

I teach all day, pick Ellie up and by the time I get home it's about 4:30...and that's without any stops. I play with my sweet baby girl, feed her dinner and also try to make something for us. Then play some more. Ellie gets a bath, book and bottle and goes to bed about 7:30.

Which would seem like the perfect quiet time right? Sure, in a perfect world. But, that's when I clean up dinner dishes, throw in a load of laundry, load the dishwasher, and do a few things around the house so I don't spend all day Saturday cleaning. Before you ask what Barry does, he's great! He helps out a lot. Right now though, it's football season and he's gone quite a bit officiating HS football games. It will be that way until Christmas.

By the time all that's finished I'm exhausted and ready for BED! I know I've only been back three weeks now, but I honestly don't see things changing.

I promise I'm not complaining either! I wouldn't change this life of mine for anything! I just need sometime in the word. So I ask all you other mommies out there....How in the world do you do it?? How do you find a chunk of time each day?

Thankful Thursday

I haven't done a Thankful Thursday post in a while.  Not because there aren't any things I'm thankful for, just the opposite!  I have so many things to be thankful for, it's hard to narrow them down.  I'm going to do a better job each week of writing this post.

I'm thankful for our weekend getaway to visit Barry's brother and his family.  Ellie slept the entire way there and back...several hours!  We had a wonderful visit with them.  Wish we could see them more often!  Ellie got to spend time with her big cousins.  She always laughs and smiles the entire time she's with them.  They are just so sweet with her. 

Especially this guy!

That's not so say the rest of the cousins are amazing with Ellie too, but W has just has something special about him.  He has a real talent with children.  He gets right down on Ellie's level and plays with her.  He makes her smile SO big.  Most 13 yr old boys I know wouldn't have any interest in spending much time with their baby cousins, this guy was a sweetheart with Ellie.  W, we love you so much and are so proud of the young man you are becoming.  God has great things planned for you and we cannot wait to see what those are!

What are you thankful for this week?