A Family for Ellie-Kate: February 2011

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Happy 23 month anniversary, Ellie-Kate!!

Hi Everyone--

Today, we celebrate 23 months with our beautiful little girl!! I continue to marvel at how much that she fits so well into our family, how much that she has grown and developed, and how very, very easily that we have bonded. Two years ago at this time, I was anxiously awaiting our travel plans, dealing with the delay due to a massive snow storm on the East Coast and hoping that everything would work out with timing for traveling to China and for my conference in St. Louis. I should never have worried-- God had everything under control-- and still does!!

Twenty-three months ago, we put everything on hold and focused on coaxing our 13 month old baby to smile, eat, sleep, and stand. Today, she's well integrated into the daily blur of our lives. She always wants to know where we're going, who we're going to see, and what we're going to do. As the little sister, she's most often along for the ride as we go to Emmy's basketball games, pick Chelsea up from track practice, or drop the older girls at dance or school. However, she's now the one that gets "dropped" at pre-school on two mornings per week. We're careful to let her know who will be retrieving her and when, and, although she enjoys the experience, she eagerly probes to make sure that Mommy or Daddy will come and get her at the end of the morning.

As Emmy attended a school dance (and sold concessions as a student council member) and Chelsea Meagan went to dance class, Roger and I took Ellie-Kate to dinner at the China buffet and then to the indoor playground in the mall. As she jumped off of objects in the playground, laughing and rolling on the ground, I recalled how hard that it was for her to even sit up after we held her for the first time. Because she was delayed physically, we got to watch as she stood for the first time, crawled for the first time, walked for the first time. Thinking about her effortless movement around the playground tonight, I praise God for allowing us to see all of those firsts AND, most importantly, for allowing her to catch up and to heal so quickly. The little girl with her hips out of place and a hole in her heart can now dribble a basketball better than others years older and dash across a room. If people didn't know, they would never realize that she had been labeled as a "special needs" baby with issues that sounded quite scary on paper.

Thank you, God, for the gift of Ellie-Kate! I think that the month between February 23 and March 23 will always be a time of special reflection for me as I celebrate the precious miracles that happened to allow our safe travel to China and as I praise the addition of this amazing girl into our family.

Hope all is well with everyone! Thanks for caring about our family :)

Christie

AWANA Grand Prix-- February 20, 2011

Emmy in front of the Grand Prix track-- 2/20/11

Daddy and Ellie-Kate

Emmy's car-- a cab design :)

Family Fun Day-- 2/20/11

Daddy and Ellie-Kate at the AWANA Grand Prix at Albany Baptist Church on Sunday, February 20, 2011.

Elena and Chelsea at the Lucky Fours 4-H Club bowling party on Sunday, February 20, 2011.

Ellie-Kate prepares to bowl her very first game EVER!! Welcome to bowling AND to 4-H, Ellie-Kate!!

Ellie-Kate, Daddy, and Emmy at the 4-H bowling party on 2/20/11.

Members of the Lucky Fours 4-H Club at the bowling alley on 2/20/11.

Future Scientists-- COSI exhibit in Athens-- 2/12/11

Fun in February :)

Ellie-Kate (above) and Emmy (below) attend a COSI exhibit at the mall in Athens on Saturday, February 12, 2011. (Yes, both of them are dressed for basketball b/c Emmy had a game right before the COSI event.)

On Thursday, February 10, 2011, Ellie-Kate dressed up in the fancy purple sweater vest that Grandma B. bought for her. She wore it to Wee Wigglers and received many compliments.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Ready to hit the slopes-- Sierra, Elena, and Chelsea

Smiling after a day of fun!! Elena, Sierra, and Chelsea

Chelsea, Sierra, and Elena

Sierra, Elena, and Chelsea

Chelsea, Sierra, and Elena are ready for a "good night's" sleep in the Mountain Lodge-- yup, air mattresses and mountain cold air make for a very cozy night-- NOT!!

*Our annual ski trip was marked by drama this year. On the way, the van started to shake, and I pulled over at the nearest stop-- over an hour from Athens. We had just bought new tires for the van that morning, and, come to find out, the mechanic failed to tighten the lug nuts on the left rear tire!! Praise God that He kept that tire from flying off as we drove down the highway!!!

During the tubing part of the trip, the girls connected with a few of the guys who were working the tubing area-- Aaron and Michael. They bought hot chocolate for one of them and then invited them into the lodge after they got off from work. On Sunday, the girls skiied over and visited with them again. Much fun with their new friends!! (Ah, teen-agers...)

We headed for home around 6 p.m., and I was almost ready to pull into a rest area when I spotted a huge tractor-trailor tire in our path. I veered into the next lane and bypassed it, but, again, praise God for allowing that lane to be clear so that we were once again safe from harm.

After an eventful but fun trip to Winterplace, we got back to Athens around 10 p.m. on Sunday night-- in time to watch the last minute of what sounded like an exciting Super Bowl on the radio. The girls dubbed this trip "the best ski trip EVER!"