Our Little Ella is 3!!

Ella's been having a very happy birthday so far. Thanks to all of you who sent gifts and cards! This morning Ella woke up to find balloons and streamers decorating our dining and living rooms. We continued the tradition of opening the presents first thing in the morning in our jammies. Ella wanted to stop and play with/color/read each gift before opening the next. Then we did her cake at lunchtime. It is the "Princess cake!" she quickly requested when I asked her what kind she wanted. Jeff, Amy and Jonathan stopped by to drop off a gift and were able to join us in song and celebration. Right now the little birthday princess is conked out. Tonight we are headed to Ella's favorite place, "The Birdie Restaurant" (Red Robin), for a fun dinner and serenade. Even with all the festivities, having Grandpa and Grandma here is what is making this birthday especially special.

Check out the slide show to the left for pictures of presents, cake and dinner. Double click on the little picture box to view them larger in Picasa.

Yosemite: "Yay God!"

No words needed. Enjoy the breathtaking sights of our glorious creator...

An Answer to Prayer!

A little over a week ago I shared about the possible new addition to our family through Kris and Eric's adoption. The update tonight is SO encouraging! Yesterday we learned that the birth mom did pick Kris and Eric's profile and requested a meeting with them (this will occur on Wednesday). That is very exciting news by itself, but tonight we learned more. The birth mom's social worker spoke with Kris and Eric and told them these awesome things:
*The birth mom LOVED Kris and Eric's profile and is so excited about them that she wants to share the baby's gender with them.
*The birth dad has already signed away all his rights.
*The birth mom is 19 and her 17 year old sister also just had a baby. The mom said this taught her she is "definitely not ready to have a baby."
*The birth mom is adopted herself, so she is understanding and supportive of the whole process.

So, it is hard for us to not think that this could be it! Your prayers for Kris, Eric, the birth mom and our possible niece or nephew are still coveted. We'll keep updating you, friends!

What We've Been Doing

We've been having such a great visit with Grandpa and Grandma. Our last big outing was to the ball game and our next big outing is to Yosemite tomorrow, but in the meantime we've been keeping plenty busy and enjoying each other's company.

On Tuesday we went to have Ella's 3 year old pictures taken. They came out beautifully and I can't wait to share them with you. Then we had Ron and Florene over for dinner. This is a nice couple from our church who connected with Mom and Dad on one of their first visits. Each time our parents visit they get together with their friends, Ron and Florene. We had a nice dinner together and a long visit to chat. We also made Stropewafels-- here's Mom's first taste!

Wednesday was pretty low-key. The highlight of the day was an aMAZing anniversary dinner at a little Italian restaurant called Strings. We were excited to share this celebration with Mom and Dad and they generously treated us to the fabulous meal. Ella was thrilled to have her favorite babysitter over (Delia was not so thrilled). The dinner may have been the most delicious thing I've ever eaten-- bread, salad, wine, chicken cannelloni, raspberry brownie lasagna and tiramisu (we split these sweets). Here Dave poses with our decadent dessert choices.

During the day we cleaned nursery toys, read, played games and took a happy little walk to the park.

Today the guys and gals split up. Dad and Dave went golfing and Mom and I went shopping. Stay tuned for the spendid scenery pictures of tomorrow's Yosemite trip...

The Gift of Marriage

As we celebrate 9 years of marriage, I reflect on the many homes and places we've been in on this exact day each year. I was going to steal my friend Andrea's idea and list all the places we've gone to celebrate our anniversary, but I honestly can't remember them all! Another thing Dave and I do to make our anniversary fun and thoughtful is follow the traditional gift guidelines. Since some creativity and consideration goes into this, I DO remember and will share that instead.

Year 1, Paper
For Dave: Two books about sermon writing for his library (so romantic, right?)
For Jen: Stationary and a gift card to Borders

Year 2, Cotton or Straw
For Dave: Boxer shorts and shoes he wanted/needed
For Jen: Straw summer shoes, a straw beach hat, twisty straws!

Year 3, Leather
For Dave: Accessories and tools for our new grill, including a leather hot mitt
For Jen: Comfy Birkenstock shoes for walking Disney World

Year 4, Fruit, Books or Appliances
For Dave: Fancy new coffee maker and fruity flavored coffees
For Jen: Fondue cookbook, fruit to use for making fondue and new Tupperware containers to store it

Year 5, Wood
For Dave: The game Settlers of Catan (Get it? There're "wood" cards in the game)
For Jen: Wine barrel planters

Year 6, Sweets or Iron
For Dave: Board books about daddies to read to our on-the-way baby (aw, sweet...) and a gift certificate to a golf range (something to use his "irons" on)
For Jen: Season of Survivor on DVD and fun candy to eat while watching it, iron supplements!

Year 7, Copper or Brass
For Dave: Tie holder with brass hooks, a new dress shirt and tie
For Jen: Batteries (Coppertops), sunscreen (Coppertone) and the green, tiered shelf for toy storage that I wanted

Year 8, Bronze, Rubber or Linen
For Dave: Rubber-soled shoes and a bronze picture frame for his office
For Jen: New Calphalon pan, rubber utensils like spatulas and spoons and 400 thread count sheets (yeah, this was a good year for me!)

Year 9, Ceramic or Willow

For Dave: A gift certificate to Color Me Mine-- Ella is really excited to go on a date with Dave to "paint a big plate for Daddy's grill."

For Jen: The Willow Tree "Promise" figurine, SO perfect since our first dance at our wedding was to Tracy Chapman's The Promise and the figurine is of a couple dancing! (Big points for Dave!)

So looking back, I see that we like to give each other shoes! While Dave is funny at picking out some wacky, yet practical (iron supplements, batteries?!) gift to meet the requirements, my method is to find a gift I wanted to give Dave anyway and work the requirement in as a little extra.

Of course, it goes without saying that each year my best gift remains my wonderful husband. He takes care of us, fathers actively and creatively, and shows me he loves me in many different ways each day!

Let's Go Nuts!

We did our Memorial Day by the book: a baseball game and BBQ. The ball game was our minor league Nuts (strange mascot, we know...keep in mind we are the #1 grower of almonds and walnuts). The day was perfect and we enjoyed a good game, all the entertaining extras minor league has to offer and finally some blue skies and sunshine! Tonight we'll grill chicken and have Pastor Bruce and Joyce over.

Nope, it wasn't still raining. The umbrella was to provide some much-needed shade. Delia may have had the most fun. She busted out her dance moves and clapping each time the music played (which was with each new batter!)

The joy of being spoiled by Grandma-- super special ice cream for Ella!

This is Al the Almond. Wally the Walnut was nearby, but busy. Delia was pretty into them! Ella was more timid this time.

Quote of the Day

From Mom (after a day of observing Ella's constant narration of the world around her and her "performances" and Delia's incessant activity...)

"Well it looks like you have yourselves a Karen and a David. If you keep going, maybe you'll get a Kristen and Kyle!"

Welcome to Warm, Sunny California!

Today we welcomed Grandpa and Grandma to our cold, overcast home. Say what you will about our intense weather, one thing it is is predictable. When it stops raining in February we brace ourselves for a dry season lasting until fall. Rain is so unusual it makes headline news. Well, apparently we are having some of that fluke rain now and it will last through our parents' visit. We had to grill our burgers under an umbrella and Dad is actually sleeping with heat on in the guest house! Two weeks ago it was 103!

Regardless of the rain, we certainly enjoyed Mom and Dad's company inside, and no one more so than Ella. In the few hours Grandma has been here, she has read 10 stories, heard a sermon, seen a puppet show, played Lion King and Cinderella, Mr. Potato Head and restaurant. Ella keeps saying, "Excuse me, guys. I want to show/tell you something!" She is in definite show-off mode. It's cute how excited she is to have Grandpa and Grandma here.

Check out these cool cookies Grandpa and Grandpa brought us!

It took Delia a little longer to warm up to people who weren't her Mommy and Daddy, but eventually she too showed off all her movement and tricks and ended her night with an adorable game of peek-a-boo and slobbery kisses with Grandpa.

A New Discovery

It's Wednesday Night and DADDY'S HOME!

I love this time of year, all Dave's youth groups are starting to end and his nights are starting to free up. Wednesday night is high school youth group night-- the ministry that definitely takes the most time. Last week he held his end of the year party, so tonight he was all ours! We celebrated by going out for dinner and then having some super fun family time at home. Enjoy the pics of our happy-to-have-Daddy-home girls...

(Ella took this one, isn't it hilarious?)

A New Do for a Big Girl!

Tonight was a major milestone for Ella: her first hair cut! She's been growing those long, curly locks of hers for 3 years now. Since it took her so long to even get hair, I never considered cutting it until recently. Every morning we battle tangles and force patience as Ella sits for braids, pig tails, pony tail, etc. Her long curls turned a bit straggly a while ago, so pulling it back is a must, even though my work usually falls out halfway through the day. With her impending 3rd birthday and enrollment in preschool, I decided to let go of my sentimentality about her hair and let her get a big girl style. We went to Becky, a super-nice lady who cuts my hair from her home. We've been describing every detail of this experience to Ella to prevent fear and for days she's been playing beauty salon on dolls and Daddy.

A hair cut for Daddy and a last time to wear braids for Ella.

Goodbye long hair!

Ella was great about sitting still in the chair, looking where she was supposed to and chatting with Becky like a real customer!

Just finished! Now it's time for Mommy (hey, as long as I was there, thought I'd get a quick trim too!). Ella, smarty pants that she is, jumped right in to hold my hand and tell me where to look and what to do.

Modeling the new hairdo and anticipating the ice cream we went to get as a family to celebrate!

Friends and Fountains

It has cooled down significantly, so today we enjoyed a breezy morning at the "mountain park" (yep, one year later and Ella still mispronounces "fountain"). We met Amy and Jonathan and had the place practically to ourselves. I even felt okay about letting Delia crawl around and explore the shooting spouts. I love this crinkle nose, smile/laugh of hers!

A great treat was that after running through the spray and climbing the "noodle" at the park, we had a little picnic lunch at Sonic Drive In. I've never been to one before and enjoyed the many thrills this brought Ella: pressing the button for service, feeding tator tots to the birds and drinking chocolate milk with her kid's meal. Friends, fun fountain parks, fantastic weather...while I was not so fond of it last week, a morning like today's has me lovin' my California home once again.

Mmmm...Mango!

New Niece or Nephew?

Many of you know that Dave's sister, Kristen, and her husband, Eric, are right in the middle of the adoption process. Through their experience, we're all learning quite a bit about home visits, personal profiles and the gazillion ridiculous hoops adoptive parents need to jump through (vaccination records for their dog, for example!). But, mostly we're learning about trusting God's plan.

Late last week a major development occurred. A birth mother was found who could be a perfect match for Kris and Eric. Specifically, she wants a young adoptive mother, and Kris is the only one their agency is currently working with in her 20s. After an encouraging call from their social worker they spent a frantic weekend getting some last things done in order to be considered by this mom. Today is a big day: the birth mother will view Kris and Eric's profile (along with a few others) and make her decision soon after. She is due in June, in just a few weeks!

Will you please pray with us? Obviously, God's will is sovereign and he has already hand picked the right baby for Kris and Eric, but will you pray that this particular situation may work out the way they want it to? And if that is the case, will you pray that everything falls into place properly? Maybe this is their baby! Maybe we will have a new niece or nephew in just a few weeks!

Date with Daddy

Tonight Dave took Ella out for a night of musical theatre. The play is Pirates of Penzance and it is being performed at school by our middle school students. I tried to prepare Ella for this night and the quiet she'd need to keep by explaining the concept of a play and reading her a story about someone in a play. She said, "After the kids, it will be our turn to go on stage?" and "I want to be the star!" Could I really expect anything less from my fearless little performer?

Shhh, don't tell, but Dave heard from multiple sources (including the students!) that the play is terrible. Ella is his early exit strategy! :)

4 and 103

I have not been updating the blog. If you're wondering where we've been, the answer is "INSIDE." This week has been gloriously and frustratingly low key. The main reason for this is in the title: $4 gas and 103 degree temps. Our home is the cheapest and coolest place to hang out right now. During Delia's nap, Ella and I were able to brave the heat for about an hour this morning (with the help of her little pool). We gave our garden some care and were happy to discover our first red strawberry! In just a short time we'll have all sorts of fruit and vegetable goodies to enjoy-- tomatoes, beans, zucchinis, cucumbers, strawberries, cantaloupe and basil-- almost all are thriving!

So, sorry for the short blog break. Unless you wanted to see pictures of every toy we own scattered all over the floors, or us in our jammies until lunch time or Delia's new ability to shelf climb (Yes, her feet were off the floor!) or us watching old home movies and videos, I thought I'd just let us live life (mundane as it is) instead of blogging it this week.

Pastor Ella

Yesterday Ella experienced a new first-- a Sunday morning not spent entirely in the nursery! When children at our church turn 3, they graduate from the nursery and start attending worship in the sanctuary. They stay for the first part, which is mostly singing, then leave for Children In Worship. Ella is not technically 3 for a few more weeks, but a friend who is the teacher offered to take her out of nursery and to Children In Worship. We knew she was ready to start actually learning and worshipping at church (instead of just playing) so we were not surprised that she loved it and did great. She'll continue to attend nursery and Children In Worship until summer break and in the fall we'll start bringing her into church with us when she'll start up again.

With this update on Ella's church life, I'd thought I'd also share something that's been hilarious to Dave and me lately. Ella's favorite game to play is "Pastor Ella." Here is what it entails: setting up a pulpit, positioning a sermon manuscript on it (usually a magazine, but for this picture she's actually using a children's Bible), delivering a sermon to us, praying, then leading us in a song. Here are some of the funny things she says, "Mommy, Daddy, sit down it's time for your sermon!" or "I am Pastor Bruce, wait I have to go get my moustache..." The "sermon" is typically some silly babble about a Bible story she knows mixed with narration of the magazine pictures she's flipping though. The prayer is usually something sweet and simple about thanking God for blessings. Her after-sermon songs of choice are "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and "This Little Light of Mine." We find it especially interesting that she has this routine down so well-- she really has nothing to base it on, as she's spent her entire church life in the nursery so far. Pastor instincts, I guess!

Considering the Contradiction of Motherhood

With the celebration of Mother's Day, I've been appreciating God as the Glorious Designer and Creator. How interestingly he devised motherhood! One the one side of this amazing relationship I am blessed to be a part of is extreme validation, self worth and power. It is my arms alone that can stop those tears. It is me the little ones come running/crawling to with the giant smile of excitement. My ultimate authority lies in the simple explanation to my willful toddler, "MOMMY gets to make the decisions, YOU need to do what I tell you." The point of getting out of bed to tackle each day is extremely clear-- take care of the girls. The feeling of purpose is obvious. I know without a doubt that I am loved and needed. On me their whole life is dependant.

Lest one get a giant ego or wander down a path of power, there is complete humility in motherhood also. Ultimately motherhood is not about boosting self worth or finding personal purpose, it is about being a servant. God humbles us with the responsibilities of being Mommy: feeding, bathing, playing with and actively teaching our children even when all we desperately want is to sleep, shower or have some "Me Time." When I am wiping booties and drippy noses, kissing ouchies or cleaning the mashed bananas and spit-up off of me, the realization that I am called to serve and minister to my children sets in. The denial of self is a regular part of mothering little ones.

What a neat combination of validation and humility motherhood is. They fit together perfectly so that the sacrifice is easy and the desire to say "It's about me" is immediately refuted.

This Mother's Day, once again, love and appreciation has been heaped upon me. Dave declared it "Mother's Week" and filled it with special treats, thoughtful gestures and "I love yous." While he watched our daughters and Julie's, I got a pedicure with my friend and AnnaJean (my CA mom). Dave, Ella and Delia also surprised me with an awesome gift-- the complete series of I Love Lucy on DVD, a gift that I will share with my daughters as my own mom did with me. All this on top of what is already my best gift in life-- my two beautiful girls!

Breaking Teeth and Switching Seats

More milestones for Delia! This week she cut her first tooth, leaving her drooly, crabby and sleepless (that combined with the cold she's battling). We also noticed that she was getting too big for her infant car seat, so today a new big-girl seat was purchased. She'll still ride backwards, but more safely and comfortably now. The infant car seat-- its base, bucket and stroller-- was a gift from Mom and Dad when Ella was born. What a great gift! As we pack it away, we appreciate how much use we got out of it for both girls. And sigh, my baby is growing up...

The big, empty car seat box is endless fun. Delia loves playing peek-a-boo in it. Ella loves pretending she's a puppy being given as a present.