Rainy Tuesday Office Day

I checked the blog and couldn't believe a week has nearly gone by without me blogging!  Here's a quick recap:

We have had wonderfully warm weather since Friday. That has found us working more on cleaning up our grounds. Now that the bulk of the limbs on the ground are removed, the broken limbs still hanging precariously in the trees are more visable. Nathan crawled up in one particular tree over the weekend and it was a struggle to figure out who needed my watchful eye more -- Nathan operating a chainsaw 15-20 feet up in the air or Ellie, terrorizing a stray cat who seemed amused at her using him as target practice for the pine cones and sticks she enjoyed hurling. So much for the tidy piles of sticks and debris I had swept off the patio.

Ellie returned to school on Thursday and seems to be enjoying getting back to her regular routine. Today she was especially cheerful and fun when getting home. One thing I thought I would share (please, friends from the south, do not take offense) is that I have detected the faintest trace of Ellie picking up a KY accent. YES! One of her imaginary role plays is to 'spill' pretend milk or juice or water on the floor and act shocked at the accident. What a dilemma! What are we to do? She will usually say, "Uh oh! Milk spilled on da floor!" Our dilemma though is that the one-syllable word "spill" comes out sounding like two, "spee-illed". Uh huh.

On Saturday we had a double dose of party fun -- and we didn't even have to leave the building! First up was Amy's shower for her twin girls who, Lord willing, will be coming home from Ethiopia soon!  They are about Ellie's age and we are SO excited for these new friends coming to Wilmore!  (If you are a pray-er for orphans, pray that the Kinnell's case can finally move on this Monday -- the judge has found little nit-picky reasons to keep holding them up.  Meanwhile the girls have already been moved from their village to the transition home, waiting for their mom and dad to come from America!).

Right after the shower we moved upstairs for Phoebe's 3rd birthday.  Phoebe's mom and dad are part of our adoptive parents group that meets monthly here at the center.  Phoebe requested a "pink" party and it was humorous to see how even some of the dads got into the spirit of 'pink'.  In Ellie's book, the party couldn't go wrong with the plethora of balloons Andy and Katie provided, especially one shiny mylar heart-shaped balloon that never left Ellie's hand. 

We had some wonderful guests with us these past couple of days, the Butlers, missionaries to Native Americans in Arizona.  "Grandpa Art" was a big hit with Ellie and "Aunt" Nancy was a sweet encourager to me in understanding having a child with delays.  We are so blessed with great folks who come through the doors of this facility.  I don't say that often enough.

This weekend we are looking forward to my parents coming for a visit on their way to a missions conference in Florida. They are bringing with them our friend from Albania, Arjan. We've been practicing saying his name with Ellie, but she really didn't need much practice. She pretty much nailed it on the first try. Now we're working on some 'mir dita's' and 'mir minjesi's'. It should be fun -- Arjan is an artist and recently has begun photographing weddings in and around Tirana so we are looking forward to talking camera shop with him (maybe he will get some family photos of us???). We haven't told Ellie much about their upcoming visit because the other day, Nathan happened to mention to her "Gigi and Gjyshe" and five seconds later the front door opened and she asked, "Gigi and Gjyshe?" expecting to see them (alas, it was someone else). I think she will be surprised and excited to see them when they do come.

Sorry I have no pics. We'll try to rectify that in the next few days, if we have time. Thanks for checking in!