Nature Therapy

This week we received some difficult news. The beautiful little girl in Ethiopia that we had been told would be ours will not be. The orphanage said that they made a mistake and gave her to two families with two different agencies, ours and one in Italy. We were totally sideswiped by this, to us she was our daughter and we loved her so much already. Thankfully and oddly enough Greg was home and took both calls, first last Tuesday letting us know the situation and then this Tuesday saying the orphanage claimed that the Italian family was the first to pursue this child. It was a difficult week of uncertainty but we feel peace now that we have our sad answer. We trust that God has his hand on our lives and on our adoption and that He will bring into our lives the child that is meant to be ours, in the mean time we wait...
My good friend and old college roommate Christina was visiting from New Hampshire this week. Christina lives to be outdoors and is always good at pulling me into beautiful hikes in even the most inclement weather. It was great to have her here!

On Monday we hiked in the Chuckanut Mountains just south of Bellingham. The hike totally kicked my butt! It was very steep and I was sore for 2 days. The view on the way up was of the Islands (San Juans, Lumi, Victoria BC.) and the Olympic mountains beyond.









On Wed we did a beautiful hike but it was pouring out so I didn't bring my camera. On Thur it snowed for the first time since Christmas so we went for a walk to Whatcom Falls park and lake Whatcom.

A weekend in Bellingham

The weekend before Greg left for Nigeria was cold but sunny and if the sun is shinning in Bellingham people get outdoors. On Saturday we hiked up to Fragrance Lake right here in town.
The tree without a trunk

Unfortunately Ella did not do much hiking, she cried, we caved and poor Greg carried her most of the 5 mile hike
The fog


The fog blocked our view of the ocean.





Ice on Fragrance Lake

On Sunday afternoon we took a 1.5 mile bike ride down the trail from our house to Whatcom Falls Park.

Being 4

It still amazes me how much Ella changes in just 3 months.
To top the list of what's new with Ella would have to be coloring, drawing and writing, she loves them all! The first day she picked up a coloring book she sat and colored for 2 hrs! It is such a marvelous new activity for her (and me!) Then one Sat morning in November she went from drawing squiggles and telling us "It's a 3 legged flamingo" to drawing this:
"It's a fish" she said. Greg and I looked in disbelief. Yes, obviously a fish.

A person standing near sunflowers with birds in the air, the sun and clouds.

A rabbit. I love how all her papers from school she now writes Mom and/or Dad she also usually writes Love and Ella and today she wrote Dog. She also writes strings of letters and then asks me what she wrote- rarely is it readable.
She loves to ask us how to spell words for her to write. She also loves workbooks, which are just mixed in with her coloring books. She reads out letters on signs as we drive around town and asks me what they say. She can read the word "No" and finds it everywhere.

* It's been sweet to see how thoughtful she's becoming. Like getting Greg a cup of water for hiccups without being asked, or the internal struggle that shows on her face when she knows she should share a toy but doesn't want to.

* She is insistent on growing out her bangs, although she rarely wants them clipped back (this drives me crazy!)

* She occasionally self narrates. "She couldn't wait to go inside" etc. I love this!

* Her memory is scary, with our trip to CA she amazed me by talking in detail about things that happened on our last visit - October or 2007!

* She is really into horses and unicorns

* And too keep it honest the drive me crazy thing she's picked up lately is saying "boooringgg" when she is not being entertained. This is like nails on a chalk board to me! She/We are so spoiled in the US to assume entitlement to constant entertainment and enjoyment. I think she's heard me lecture her on this enough, as well as show her pictures Greg took in Niger or kids playing with rusty old tires, that this is becoming less frequent.

The games we play:
"Hide the Yetti", This game was inspired from the local Trader Joes where they hide a stuffed Yetti among the shelves and while we shop Ella, pushing her kid sized shopping cart, searches for the Yetti. Once it's found we tell someone at the front desk and she gets a treasure out of the treasure chest. In an effort to not grocery shop daily we found a Yetti of our own and play a game of hiding it around the house. It's also proven a great way to move her upstairs to get ready for bed etc.

"Pet shop", one of my favorites (inject sarcasm) where Ella pretends to be a cat, dog, or horse and we follow her directions for all we say and buy her at the pet store, then we name her her chosen name, usually Rosebelle. She loves this scenerio, we play a few times a day.

"Get Married", another imaginary scenerio where Ella, a princess, marries a prince (cringe.) fortunately she doesn't dictate the script rigidly so I'm able to focus on what a wise and compassionate princess she is, and how long we've taken to get to know each other and then I ask her to marry me and we give each other roses and dance.

And the stats of this 4 year old: 40 lbs 43 inches 75% for each

Ella's 4th Birthday!

While we were in California Ella celebrated her 4th birthday. It felt funny being away from Greg on such a momentous occasion but since he was on call over New Years he wouldn't have been home for E's birthday even if we had been.
Ella's birthday (December 31st) started with breakfast out and a phone call to Daddy.
Then Nana and Papa brought Hunter, Chase and Ella to the park and I made Ella's cake. As always she was very specific about what she wanted her birthday cake to look like. She wanted a horse with a chocolate body and head and a strawberry tail. She wanted the tail covered in actual strawberries. I was nervous, because the end result was not very glamorous. But, when she came in from the park she was very pleased with the cake and said it was "almost finished" then she found the decorative sprinkles Auntie Faye had and finished the decorating herself.
The celebration took place in the evening at the house we had rented just a few miles from Faye's apartment.
Nana with Logan, Auntie Faye, Papa, Chase, Ella and Hunter.

When we got back to WA we had Ella's birthday party with 8 of her friends at The Jump Around Fun Zone

California

The week after Christmas Ella and I joined Deb and Cecil and drove 13+hrs to Mountian View, California. Faye and Bobby recently had their 3rd son Logan Asher. Nana and Papa came out from MA to meet Logan and celebrate Christmas.
Ella loved having cuddle time with Nana and Papa! And was very excited to give them the Christmas gifts. She has also taken to wearing her Christmas dress often.
Nana and Logan
Ella and Hunter



Chase is 1 1/2 and loves to "go go go"
Chase and Deb looking up at the Monarch butterflies who rest near the beach in Santa Cruz. The picture bellow is of a branch covered in Monarchs.

Racing towards the beach in Santa Cruz



Uncle Fuzzy (as Ella has renamed Cecil, who graciously put up with her patting his head a lot!) helped Ella draw circles in the sand.
Dinosaurs at the beach
And at Golden Gate Park
And at the San Francisco zoo

Our little girl

I know what you are all hopping for, pictures of our little girl, and I'd love to show them off (we have 4) but unfortunately we can not post pictures of her until she is in our arms in the US. Trust me though, she is adorable! We have had quite an emotional few weeks here as first we decided to pursue her and got excited thinking she was ours, then we were told she may not be, then we got no answers for 4 days and had pretty much resolved that she may go to another family, and today got the call that just floored me. She is ours! Hopefully we will be able to go pick her up in about 3 months. Now for the details. She is almost 10 months old, but tiny, about the size Ella was at 2 months, both in ht. and wt. She is fragile. We will name her
Amira (ah MEER ah), meaning princess in Arabic and Swahili, it is a name used in ET but we feel it's adaptable to life in the US. We plan to keep her current first name as her middle name.
And how did Ella react to being told about her little sister? With questions about when she would be able to go to Build a Bear. At one point I told her that we'd take her there before leaving for ET. To her we have been talking about her brother or sister in ET for 2 yrs (half her life) and I don't think she believes a change is really coming. This conversation we had a few weeks ago sums it up. Ella-"When my brother or sister gets here they will probably just call me Mommy." Me-"But, I'm the mommy, your the big sister!" E-"I know, but it's taking so long that I'll probably be grown up by the time they get here and they'll just call me Mommy." Not so Ella, only a few more months!!!

Life God

Today in the car Ella said "There are two different Gods, a God that comforts and a God that protects." I began explaining to her that there were many different attributes of our one God. But, she insisted "I'm talking about the gods at the pool" she explained. "The Life Gods" Just an example of how my Boston accent is adversely effecting her theology.