Styling Sunday...

We've been blessed with friends who have given us TONS of clothes for Ellie. She may never wear the same dress twice. So, I thought I'd have a little fun with all of the Christmas dresses she's been given and do "Stylin' Sundays". So... here's the first.

Giving Thanks....

This week we celebrated Thanksgiving as we always do, surrounded by family and feasting on enough food to last a month. And all over the world there are children, moms, dads, uncles, aunts, cousins, daughters, sons, and friends who ate nothing. I remember last year wondering what my little girl was eating, if anything, for Thanksgiving. I wondered if she had anything to be thankful for at all. This year, I've witnessed, yet again, the power of God Almighty, as Ellie was hugged and kissed in person by her extended family. I watched her eyes get bigger and bigger as we put more and more on her plate. I loved watching her try foods for the first time (she does not like broccoli casserole, but she loved the corn pudding!)I was in tears just having a front row seat to watch her experience the newness.

Yesterday we got to watch her experience yet another new thing: We put up the Christmas decorations! I don't know if Ellie has ever seen a Christmas tree before, besides what she has seen in the department stores. In fact, when our tree was lit up, she looked at me and said "Oh, it's beautiful like Kohls!". Sweet girl...

I wish I could put into words what it means to be able to watch her experience these things for the first time. Last night, she was running through the house, yelling over and over how beautiful everything looked and how much she loved snowmen. Bryan said "Mom, make her stop! She's driving me nuts!". But then we realized that we've had this to experience our entire lives, and for her, this is all new. It puts things in perspective when you look at it like that.

I held Ellie in my lap and showed her the nativity scene, explaining who the people were. She is in awe that the wise men brought gifts, wondering where the balloons were (I'm sure Baby Jesus would have loved balloons too!). She kept saying "that's so nice of them!". And I just cried (I do that a lot lately!)


Oh God, thank you for the gift of my two beautiful children. Thank you for the gift of hearing their laughter and their cries, for it means that I know they are experiencing life in its fullness. Thank you for the gift of being able to watch Ellie's face light up in wonder as she saw the lights and decorations here for the first time. Thank you for her innocence. Thank you for Bryan and his patience with her. Thank you that we have plenty to eat, that's never a worry Ellie has to have again. Thank you that we have clean water to drink, that we can live parasite-free. Thank you for my husband who is my dream come true. I'm so grateful that we can share this life together. Thank you for Who you are, for the miracles we see DAILY because our Hope is in You, Lord.