3rd Birthday

We are so proud of our darling girl, not so much a baby any more! For weeks leading up to her birthday, Elle clearly communicated that she wanted a blue cake, blue plates, cups, napkins, silverware, blue everything for her birthday. At least a dozen times a day she reminded me that when she turned three she would eat blue cake. So that's just what we did - all things blue on Elle's big day! We even had blue balloons, streamers and everyone wore blue! :) Elle was very pleased!

When she woke that morning, Eric and I went to her room with a blue balloon, video camera and opened the door singing happy birthday -- she cried! It really was hysterical and if the video was on my camera I'd have it for you, but Eric has to do something to it first so I can upload it. I'll post it later for sure. So after we comforted her and wiped away lots of tears, she decided the blue balloon was pretty cool and things were smooth sailing for the rest of the day.

Besides the blue cake not really being blue, maybe periwinkle (Eric says lavender at best - oh well), she had a great day! She opened a gift from G&G W. on Skype and later Uncle K & AA arrived dressed in blue for a Sunday dinner and a few more present openings. It's seems hardly possible that she's three now! We're proud of who she is becoming. Things about Elle right now...

tremendous communicator even though the words aren't there yet
great memory
a tease
kind
impressively grateful
very thoughtful
helpful
funny
super sense of humor
talented at puzzles
loves music and rhythm
favorite song currently - Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
enjoys food, all kinds
greets us with pure joy
best cuddler ever!
into bling: necklaces, bracelets, watch, ponytails...
addicted to a Sesame Street special starring Stomp, called "Let's Make Music"
loves, loves, loves doing the schoolyard rhyme "Grandma, Grandma, Sick in Bed" routine with anyone who will do it with her (that's another must see video to post soon!)
listens to me read a chapter from Proverbs each morning at breakfast and reminds me if I forget ;)
loving
tender hearted
prayer warrior!

We can't imagine our lives without her. She is the truest blessing. We like her, we enjoy being with her, we love her so! There is nothing on earth I'd rather do than be Elle's Mama!

Here are some pics and a video below...

Check out the 'love you' sign at the end of the clip! She's so cool! (Can't stand my obnoxious video voice - sorry! Even Eric is looking at me like, 'What's your problem?')

A couple videos from our trip...

Oops, forgot to post a few videos from our northwest adventures. More about our trip and pictures below.



Loving Grandma




Van Gogh




"So do you want to get the dead chicken?" What?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Northwest Trip

Elle and I visited my parents and sister's family in the Seattle and Portland area this past week. It was our first visit to my parents new home and church. It was mostly cold and rainy while we were there, but the sun peaked through for some park play that the cousins enjoyed immensely.

Elle loved going up and down Papa and Gram's stairs which helped to improve her step skills and strengthen her hip which is still giving us trouble. She also slept in a big girl bed and did great. She went to sleep each night without delay and slept until she woke at 6:30 a.m. to crawl in bed with me for one more hour of sleep. Pretty impressive with the two hour time difference we were dealing with. It was definitely a girls week with my sister and her two girls there too. Papa handled all the drama very well and he was #1 when he set up a tent in the family room for the girls!

Cousin Averie will be five this year and little cousin Riley just turned two on the 1st. We had a birthday party for the girls with an apple cake made by Gram that Elle could eat because she wasn't allergic to it. Thank you Gram!

One of the highlights for Elle was seeing Clifford the Big Red Dog. Those people in big costumes like that freak me out. I don't want to pass on my neurosis, so I stood right next to that red thing holding Elle directly in front of it so she could stare and pet it over and over again. Ughhhhhh - I kept trying to look into the eye holes to see if I could see the person - looking for some relief or evidence to get the heck out of there. I finally told her we were done and walked out of the store, with her bawling and reaching for the red thing. The things we do for our children....

Also at the top of Elle's fun for the week was riding the monorail in downtown Seattle, sitting at the very front in the first seat with the Space Needle framed in the window. Very cool! Gram and Papa also treated us all to the Children's Museum where we had a blast in the pint-size grocery store, restaurant, bus, fire engine, craft room, etc.... It was hard to convince Elle that the next exhibit would be equally entertaining -- she caught on and loved the discovery of all the great stuff there.

We spent the last couple days near Portland at my sister's home and got a taste of the country life. Elle and I were wide-eyed while we 'helped' Aunt Kari and the cousins feed the sheep, lama, ram, chickens, dogs, cat, and horse. Elle even rode bareback! Thank you Aunt Kari for making sure we tucked our pants inside our boots. :)

A great trip; great to see the family, great to get away, but mostly great to be with Elle! She is such a joy! She's a darling traveler, goes with the flow, is happy, eats everything well and really strives to be obedient and helpful to me and her family. She's not perfect (She had a few melt-downs in the airport on the trip back, but hey, I felt like she looked!) and neither am I, but I really love and enjoy being with her!

One thing that stood out to me this trip was the appreciation Elle showed to me and others. Over and over she would thank me, Papa, Gram, and Aunt Kari when we would give her something, serve her, help her, show love or kindness to her. It was perfectly expressed at the right times - I really sense that she has an understanding of gratitude and because she felt the blessing of others, thankfulness poured out of her. My dear sweet girl - we love you, Elle!

BTW...Elle turned three yesterday and I do have some great pics and video of that to come. But first, pics from our trip....

Winter Vacation

We've had fun around the house with Eric home for two weeks. He's very creative and plans a lot of fun things for Elle, like fort and tunnel building. Mostly we are just enjoying being together! I'm afraid Elle will be turned upside down when Dada goes back to work next week and me too. Eric is a full-time Dada and that brings a lot of joy to Elle and me! I can't imagine doing this raising a child thing without him!

Sadly, we said goodbye to the Bledsoes, dear friends who were just here for a month and recently returned to their home in the Ivory Coast. They are missionaries in Africa where God is doing big things. We are so proud of them, humbled by their sacrifices, and grateful for their Kingdom service. Love to you, Bledsoes!



Our dear friends, the Bledsoes.

Elle is bonkers about the guitar! She participated in a children's acoustic guitar concert at church earlier this month and now she can't get the guitar off her brain! She has regular guitar time each day now. She is also playing more with her baby dolls. I was doing some basement cleaning and found a doll carrier that I had when I was a toddler. Elle was very excited about strapping on her baby to be just like Mama. I actually still use the baby carrier with her. She's just 23ish pounds and if we're out and it's around nap time or if she just wants to cuddle, which is often, she always enjoys riding in the carrier and being close to me.



Making frozen, chocolate banana treats - yum!

Elle loves her veggies! Bell pepper, anyone?

China Bound Cousins

Well the cousins, and Chris and Jocelyn too, arrived yesterday afternoon around 4:30 p.m. I know they were glad to have finished all the details and feeling a bit more at ease with just the journey before them. Jocelyn said that 'it' has been hitting her in waves - she'd be fine and then all of a sudden her stomach would feel funny and twisted up. :) Pretty exciting for sure!

We enjoyed some chili, cornbread and apple crisp and then just headed to bed. We were all tired and with a 3 a.m. wake-up call (except for Elle and myself), everyone needed some good rest. Sleeping arrangements are always a little tricky with the C&J's. We have a 3 bedroom home and a very unfinished basement and seriously, count them, there are 6 of them! ;) What I love is that they are always up for whatever and our nights together here are 'cozy' and very similar to a camp out! This time we put Elle's crib mattress on the floor in our room, Ami in a pack-n-play in the guest room with C&J and then the three other cousins on blow-up mattresses on the floor in Elle's room. The kiddos enjoyed cuddling together before bed time and I enjoyed seeing them together, but Elijah was missing and there's still plenty of room left for him! How blessed we are with our family!

Elle and I stayed in bed, but Eric drove them up to the airport so he could bring their minivan back. About 4:35 a.m. I woke to wind gusts that were incredible!!! Never have I felt winds this strong, even when we've had tornados come within a 1/2 mile! Then freezing rain started pelting the windows too - I was just a bit uneasy but Elle slept through it. I was relieved that they had probably already reached the airport but what would this weather do to their take-off??

I called Eric and he was already heading back, but just getting hit with the wind. Around 7:30 a.m. Jocelyn called to say they had been sitting in the plane for two hours due to the freezing rains. At 11:15 a.m. I called and she answered from Denver where they had just arrived and did catch their next flight into San Francisco. The Osaka flight is delayed due to all the connecting flight delays. Please pray that the Osaka flight waits and they'll be able to catch it today!

For such an incredible adventure I guess you gotta have good stories to go along with it all, aye?!

So far the rest of our day has been low-key with a little finger painting thrown in thanks to Papa and Gram. But our thoughts are never far from CJMBEJA and our prayers are constant for them all, especially the 7th Wolfe!

Merry Christmas!

We had a quiet day, just the three of us. We ate duck, cornbread stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans and cranberry sauce. It was all delicious!

Last night AA (Aunt Alicia) & Uncle Kevin came over after the Christmas Eve service for a light dinner and some gift giving. Elle adores them and always looks forward to our time together.

Elle had a great time opening gifts this year. We caught a 'whoa!' on camera - too cute! After our big meal, we had a superb nap and then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening playing on the floor.

Tomorrow the cousins arrive before their big trip. We have been praying and anticipating their China journey to bring our sweet nephew, Elijah, home!

It was a beautiful day - celebrating Jesus and the hope we have in Him! Merry Christmas dear friends and family! Elijah, we are praying for you and longing to have you home!

It's a finger painting smock. :)

The Next Best Thing

I know, I'm skipping Thanksgiving (which was really great) and a host of other cute Elle stuff that's gone on in the last month plus, but we must get to this.... The next best thing to being in China to finally hold your baby is having a friend in China finally holding their baby! Even BETTER THAN THAT is having TWO friends (and husbands too, so I guess that's FOUR) in China finally holding their babies!

At about 1:00 a.m. this morning, Scott and Laurie took Aaron in their arms and David and Amy held Elisabeth for the very first time. I met Laurie online a few years ago through our agency while we were waiting for Allison and Elle. We lived in the same city at the time and were an encouragement to each other through the process/waiting. David and Amy were in our travel group in our first trip to China and we had the privilege of being in the same room together when we received our daughters in our arms for the very first time. Laurie and Amy became online friends before this trip and now they have a lifelong bond. So neat how God crosses our paths and blesses us with dear, Christian friends.

Each family has an exciting, miraculous, God orchestrated journey that unfolded today. Now, they begin a new journey with peace that their children are safely in their arms and that He will continue to guide and protect.

Oh how today made me long for our return to China!

While Scott and Laurie were having fun with Aaron in China, Elle and I had the pleasure of a play date with their daughter, Allison, who is staying in town with her Grandma.

Allison is a smart little one! She's just three, but reading books and big words too, like 'ornaments'! Wow! She also was the sweetest guest and told me before she left that our play kitchen was better than Nana's and that she had 'a thrilling time!' (Actually, I can't remember now if 'thrilling' was the word she used, but it was something pretty close to that as it knocked me off my feet when she declared it with much passion!)

Elle was a sweetheart too. We had wrapped a 'HAPPY BIG SIS' gift for Allison and then placed it on the kitchen table, ready for Allison's arrival. Allison hadn't been in the house for more than a minute when Elle ran from the living room, climbed up on the table and came back to present it to Allison who still had her coat on! Elle was so excited about Allison becoming a BIG SIS. We got her a sock puppet kit which was a lot of fun! The girls picked out the sock colors, eyes, buttons, yarn, etc. And we glued too!

Later the girls played with the toy kitchen and had a picnic and tea party. They busied themselves with other toys too, like the slide and then they watched a Sesame Street Silly Song video that Elle is bonkers about. For lunch they had tacos and apple cake for dessert that Allison was bonkers about. Then we finished up the puppets and before we knew it, Nana arrived - bummer, the date was over!

What a great morning to celebrate Aaron and Elisabeth, finally 'home', and to feel a little bit closer to all that joy in having Allison (the BIG SIS) in our home. Oh, she told me that her Mommy and Daddy were getting her little brother in China to bring him home and she spelled Aaron's name. Oh yeah, she spelled Kate too!

Joy to you all, dear friends!

Enjoy some Elle and Allison pics from our very special morning! (Elle's going through a weird smile stage.)

Snack time!
They kept bringing me plate after plate of food. I ate as fast as I could!
Working on our sock puppets. Allison wanted a pink cape.

Allsion opening up her HAPPY BIG SIS gift.
Lunch was a great success!
Allison wanted to get closer to Elle during the video.
Elle wanted to get even closer. Allison said, 'She's hurting me.' :)
Before all the moving around! :)