Time with cousins...

sisters

What a lot has happened since last updating the blog! Here are some photos from our time with my family last week. We were thrilled to finally meet my new niece, Pippa, for the first time. Ellie had such a great time with Tua -- we enjoyed seeing the girls have such fun together!

Shutterfly.com Features Ellie's Adoption Book

A few months ago I wrote a post about some of the unusual ways in which we have seen God provide the finances for Ellie's adoption, and now how we are seeing the same again for the second adoption we are embarking upon. At the time that post was written, we were aware of another possible provision in the works but nothing had been finalized yet to where we could share it with many people.

In December I received an e-mail out of the blue from the creative director of Shutterfly.com, an online photo company which I have used for sharing photos, ordering prints, and creating photobooks of images from our various trips or family get togethers. In his note, Robert told me that Shutterfly was going to launch a new baby microsite and wanted to feature our story. If selected, we would receive compensation for the use of our photographs. A few weeks ago, they contacted us again, this time to use an image from the book in print publicity (it's literally the size of a postage stamp) but they are going to pay us again! Wow!

Anyway, it's been hard not to share this until we knew for sure that it was going to happen. Today I got an e-mail that the site is live!

Click here to visit the site and read our story.

I've shared a link to the book on this blog before, but if you want to view the book, click on the box with link below our article titled "Explore Their PhotoBook". Below the book you can read viewer comments.

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

The weekend is here...

I know this won't surprise any of you reading this, but I can't get over how quickly Ellie is growing up. I just want to bottle up every minute and never forget what she was like at this stage (so I do things like taking pictures of her while she's sleeping soundly, well at least this one). There are some memories I would like to share, but I'm sure would mortify her later in life. Oh well. Why not? How about when she ran away from me after bathtime the other day (not an uncommon occurance), leaving me to chase her around the house with a diaper in my hand. By the time I caught she had her knees clamped together and she said, "Uh oh. Potty on da floor." Ah ha.

Yesterday she said the longest sentence she's ever spoken to me when buckling into her car seat after school. She said, "I don't wanna drive, I wanna walk!" Hmmm. Getting an opinion!

She's beginning to want to push her stroller instead of riding in it. When she does ride, she's either telling me to go faster, go this way or go that. Her right index finger has gotten really good at pointing the way. A little bossy streak developing!

Here's Ellie with her friend John. She smiled for me, but somehow couldn't tear her eyes away from the Wii game being played on the screen behind me. John's dad works in campus ministry and was hosting a fun night in our center tonight for some of the students he works with. It was fun to see little John and Ellie playing together (he's four months older than her).

Excerpt from Ellie's Communication Journal

Today Ellie's special ed teacher wrote:

"We made paper flowers in art and she liked coloring. I asked her to wait today and she said, "I don't like to wait." I just laughed to myself! ;-)

Yummy & Yucky

What do you want to hear first? The yummy or the yucky?

I'll start with the Yummy...

Sundays here can be kind of zany... between church in the morning and Global Cafe in the evening (and everything in between) we keep a full plate on a day 'of rest'!


After Global Cafe is over and the crowds have dispersed, we enjoy a more relaxed supper with our guest speakers, and, if what I've planned for the meal is easy and cheap enough to multiply, I'll invite our student cabinet to stick around for more intimate fellowship with our guests. This past Sunday night was such a night and I have to say, having a crowd around our table is a very satisfying feeling. Maybe because it's no frills, buffet style off the kitchen counter and the conversation is more important than perfectly matching tableware and serving pieces.


Sunday I tried a variation on Mom Waggoner's spaghetti pie (which I read several years ago and lost, so this may be a distant cousin of a neighbor of that recipe) and got some recipe requests so here goes: 1/2 pound spaghetti, cooked and drained. Toss with 2 beaten eggs, half a stick of butter, and about 1/4 grated parmesan cheese. Place coated noodles in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Spoon the contents of a small tub of Ricotta cheese over the noodles. Brown and drain 1 lb of italian sausage. Combine with one jar of spaghetti sauce. Pour over noodles and cheese. Add a layer of mozzarella cheese and cook at 375 for 30-40 minutes (or till contents are bubbling and cheese is beginning to brown).

Okay... now for the yucky.

Yesterday the mail came and contained a pink letter from the United States Department of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requesting further evidence of our legal status in America. Apparently our home study agency submitted with our home study to USCIS photocopies of IDs and birth certificates (as they had been doing for previous clients and this is what we did for Ellie's adoption in 2006) but now with the new Hague Requirements going into effect, USCIS's requirements are currently evolving and photocopies will no longer do now!

Thankfully we had some extra certified copies of Nathan's birth certificate (because they are relatively cheap thanks to the State of Indiana), but we had to reapply for another certified marriage record. This time I requested TWO because who knows when we may be asked to produce another! (at $14 each plus processing fees, one doesn't necessarily request more than you need, because the issue dates can also expire so if you don't produce them to someone sooner than 6 months, they can be worthless). For some reason, a photocopy of the bio page of my passport will suffice (I guess since Nathan is the primary requester and I am just 'the spouse').

So we have a slight delay in keeping our paperwork moving. It could be much worse, but delays are always discouraging. We're thankful we can rectify this rather easily and hopefully get them the evidence they are requesting by the end of the week.

Visitors...

Yesterday we got to see our friends, the Landerholms, again! Mark is one of Ellie's favorite buddies (do I say that lest I hurt anyone else's feelings? I'm sorry!). Mark's mom and dad were in town and we were so pleased they took time out of their schedule to see us Saturday, and by 'us' I mean Ellie. All three of Landerholm kids came through Asbury and have had involvement with us/WGM at one point in time or another. We love this family! Ellie warmed right up to our guests and in no time was learning a new game (thanks, Nancy, for teaching us "Creepy Creepy!"). Thanks for coming!

friends and fingerprints

Sorry for the silence on the blog front... if it's quiet, then you know we're especially preoccupied!

After a visit last week from Mom, Dad, and Arjan, we were excited to have a weekend visit from our friends, Matt & April, and their two kids Chloe and Sam. (Matt is a friend of Nathan's from pre-college days, and April and I lived on the same hall all through college -- we introduced them shortly after Nathan and I were engaged and a few months later Stephen surreptiously moved their place cards to be seated next to each other at our rehearsal dinner. The rest is history, as they say). Chloe is 14 months older than Ellie and Ellie is 16 months older than Sammy, to give you an idea of the ages of the kids.

Ellie and Sammy seemed to be doing and interested in the same things, which kind of goes along with our theory that Ellie's development is about at the place it would be if she were born to us at the time we adopted her. The kids seemed to have fun together, for the most part, and the parents had a lot of fun playing board games until way too late at night ... but that's how it goes when it's been two years between visits. Gotta make the most of the hours together! I'm afraid we were having too much fun to snag any photos of us together. ;-)

We had a great Global Cafe` Sunday night with guest speakers, John and Erica Rinehimer. John served on cabinet our first three years here. He went on to get married, attend seminary and take his new bride to Uganda for a few years! They returned from Uganda in November and are expecting their first baby in a few weeks! We enjoyed a nice dinner with them Sunday after the service and the chance to catch up with them about their time in Uganda and where the Lord may be leading them next. We really do get to work with some of the best that Asbury produces and count their friendships as some of our greatest treasures. (Again, no photos! I really need to get a point and shoot to carry in my purse).

Now, Thursday's here and I don't know where the week has gone. We got our fingerprinting done yesterday for immigration. I was a bit concerned because I burned my right index finger TWICE in the last two weeks and had a lovely blister on it, but the technician was able to get what he needed. What a relief. The four-hour round trip to Louisville with a 5:45AM departure is not fun when you rarely go to bed before midnight. ;-)

Because I know folks visit the blog primarily for Ellie pics, I'm including one taken last night after our cabinet meeting. Ellie saw the seniors making a pyramid and wanted on too. (Sorry Joel's not smiling -- he was in the others, but Ellie wasn't)