temperature rising

With Ellie shedding all remnants of her cold, combined with a sharp upturn in temps, we indulged in a nice walk in the out of doors this afternoon. The occasional blasts of sharp wind elicited squeals of excitement from our little girl who seems to be in her element outside.

(FYI: a new photo was finally uploaded to accompany the post "I'm Proud to be an American." Scroll down to view...)

Monday, February 19

Beauty Rests
(She fell asleep on the couch late Saturday afternoon after resisting a nap for some time. I wasn't about to remove her glasses and wake her up.)

We make some incredible friends in this "job" at the student center! Here's Jonny, visiting friends in Wilmore for a long weekend from Michigan. He was our student cabinet president a couple of years ago. Girls, he's a natural with kids!

Project complete!

For the past several weeks I have been working on creating a memory book for Ellie of our time in Albania. There were so many details that I wanted to record while the experience was still relatively fresh in my mind. This isn't to be confused with a Life Book (those of you in adoption circles know about Life Books) -- I'm waiting for some photos that my parents are going to take for us in Albania before I embark on that project. But for now I thought I might share the virtual copy of the 12x12 memory book, Bringing Elisona Home, with those of you who might be interested. The cover photo was shot on the beach in Vlora, the city where Ellie had been living since she was 2 months old. I wrote her name on the sand one afternoon as my father and I were walking along the harbor after visiting her.

Let me also take the opportunity to put in a little plug for Shutterfly.com. I've made a variety of different books on their website and found the process to be incredibly easy and a lot of fun! Also, they have frequent discounts, so my other impetus for completing this project was to beat the expiration date on their 30% off special! For those of you who take lots of digital picts, but don't have the time to print your favorite photos and put them in an album or make a scrapbook, this is a great alternative to enjoy photos that would otherwise get lost on your computer's hard drive and make them into a story. When you come to visit, we'll be happy to show you the finished, printed product! Okay, I'm done! :-) Enjoy your sabbath day of rest!

I'm Proud to be an American!

Saturday's mail contained a couple of very special pieces of paper! Ellie's official certificate of US citizenship arrived, accompanied by a letter of congratulations from President Bush. Here is an excerpt from his text:

"I am pleased to congratulate you on becoming a US citizen...Our country has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by principles that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests, and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every citizen must uphold these principles. And every new citizen, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American... Americans are generous and strong and decent, not because we believe in ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves... Welcome to the joy, responsibility, and freedom of American citizenship. God bless you, and God bless America. Sincerely, George W. Bush"

Now that we have this, we can begin the steps for applying for a SSN and passport for Ellie! The paperwork never ends... ha ha ha.

Weekend Update

After her second day this week without a nap, Ellie crashed early this evening and is letting her mom and dad get some tasks caught up around the house, and by that I really mean, relaxing!

It's been a big week for her between her glasses fitting on Monday, her appointment with Dr. Taylor on Thursday, and play group today. At Thursday's check-up we learned that Ellie has gained a whole pound in the last month and grown about an inch taller. She also got four more bandaids between her two thighs (from 4 shots) and was not happy about it one bit! In April she will return for several more! At the same appointment, a peak in her right ear revealed the early onset of an ear infection so Mom made an unexpected stop at the pharmacy for some antibiotics, grateful it was caught now and that we didn't have to endure a painful weekend with Els until the doctor's office reopened on Monday!

Today Ellie got to meet some new little friends, many of whom are also adopted from outside of the US like her! Someday I hope I can get a photo. I realized this evening that they were all alive a year ago and living thousands of miles apart on three different continents but due to God's providential hand are now living with families that all happen to call Wilmore, Kentucky home! How amazing is that?

To our families and friends in the frozen North, it's also cold down here too, but believe it or not, we have no snow. Send us your photos!

I'm an Asbury girl!

This sweet little stocking hat came as a gift from a friend on campus and is her first official piece of Asbury-wear! Thank you!!!

Ellie has a new look

If you had accompanied Ellie on her two stints at the doctor's office yesterday, you would understand why these photos are nothing short of miraculous! But, just as the tech suggested, if we waited until this morning, she would notice the significant improvement in her vision and actually prefer to wear her glasses over not at all! So, they've been on for about 4 hours now, and she has only tried to take them off two or three times! We can already tell by the way she is investigating objects and looking at us that she is seeing many things for the first time!

The ear pieces wrap around her ears (no strap).