Friday, September 5, 2008

Forever Family

This week we celebrated Forever Family Day. One year ago, this past Tuesday, Ellie was placed in our arms for the first time. Just like the births of Clay, Mary, Sam, and Annie, I will never forget the moment Ellie was handed to me. The following day, she officially became our daughter, but just as the child you carry inside of you is a part of you much sooner than their birth date, so is the child that you carry in your heart for so long before an official document declares she is yours. We cannot fathom our family without her in it.

I had planned to post pictures from last year as well as Tuesday's pictures, but I can't yet bear to post them again. Her pain and fear was so raw. I don't want to make light of it. Please feel free to follow the link to our adoption Journey To Me site if you'd like to see those, but I just can't post them here. I will share some pictures though from Tuesday, which also happened to be our first day of school (since Sam was fighting a virus last week when I had planned to start.) Annie and Ellie are doing "preschool" with me (using Before Five in a Row, for any other homeschoolers who might be checking this out.) This week we're reading The Runaway Bunny. We were talking about some of the pictures we saw in the book, and Annie said she saw the Mommy Rabbit. When I asked Ellie if she knew what a baby rabbit was called, she thought for just a moment, and then answered, "Tiny, lil rabbit!" Brilliant, huh? We made scarecrows and put them in the garden, or should I say the spot where one day I hope to have a garden.


To celebrate our Forever Family Day, we went out to PF Chang's and then back home for cake.








And now, just to see if anyone's paying attention...we'd like to share that we've started paperchasing again; this time for our son. More details to come!


4 comments:

Joanne said...

HAPPY FAMILY DAY ELLIE!! Looks like you had a wonderful day! She is growing and changing SO much - what a beauty!
So excited to hear more about your son !!

Shandra said...

WOW! What a diffrence a year makes? I still remember sitting in that room waiting for Lilah and experiencing what it might be like when we met Lilah. The three of you meeting is still so very vivid in my mind and I think of it often. Her grief was so powerful but the love you and Bo had for her was moving. I would love to see her now. She looks like a diffrent child. Happy family day and back to school!

Elizabeth Bergeron said...

congratulations on your special day! Time does go by so fast! We just realized that our Emma has been with us for 19 months! I can hardly believe it!

Debbie B said...

I had no idea about y'all adopting again! That's wonderful!!!!

Love and Hugs,
Debbie