Here's Els this afternoon with one of her favorite toys: Dad's tape measure. It can entertain for hours!Today we experienced both sides of the well-known verse from Romans which comprises the title of this post. The morning began with attending the visitation for a dear lady from our church (hence Ellie's apparel above). Two of her granddaughters were also involved with us at WGM while they were in college so it was good to see Catherine and Jenny again as well as celebrate a life well-lived and know that Ms. Eliza is living now with Jesus.
Shortly after returning home we got a phone call from a friend who's been waiting nearly two years for the news she received this morning -- that she and her husband have a son waiting for them in Russia. Hearing her recount the phone calls she made to share the announcement with her family this morning brought to my mind a rush of memories from the day we learned about Ellie and did many of the same things. What a joy it was to hear this news!
Summer is going well (especially now that the cicadas are gone!). We are definitely enjoying a different pace. Ellie is showing that she is gaining strength and agility every day. Each time we go to the playground she demonstrates more independence on the equipment, but the fear isn't exactly gone completely yet. She also babbles or sings to herself which is a lot of fun to listen to. Most of it is unintelligible (except 'Old McDonald Had a Farm' -- that's pretty clear, mostly), but sometimes she "talks" like she's trying to put sentences together and every once in a while a word will pop out a clear as can be. It's pretty cute. By far her favorite thing to say is "Bye Bye ______". Today leaving the pet store it was, "Bye Bye Dorey!" (Dorey is a fish in the Finding Nemo movie -- she had just seen a fish inside that looked like Dorey). Or, if we walk by someone, she will call out "Bye, Bye!" and if they don't acknowledge her, she will say it again. Even louder.
She's also never been more interested in other kids. In that regard, I'm glad she will be starting preschool soon! We would go to the pool more frequently, however she still doesn't understand the need for the 15-minute safety break and 2 breaks is about all we can manage with her limited patience. Plus the $13 price of admission for the three of us is hard to justify for less than 2 hours of entertainment. So thankfully it hasn't been too hot yet and we've taken a lot of walks in the stroller to get out of the house.
Finally, we passed a milestone rather quietly less than 2 weeks ago. That was passing the point where Ellie had lived more days with us than in the orphanage.
2 comments:
It's really eat to think about that milestone and how much joy you've brought into her life.
Cydil,
At Brown County you are going to have to teach me your technique of shooting your subject in light while the rest of the picture is "dark." These pictures are just gorgeous!
Aunt Dianna
Post a Comment