And we have Lift off

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and are so grateful that both of our families are here and we get to spend time with both on the Holidays. We had lunch at my parents and dinner at my Dan's parents and it was such a fun day. My mom talked me into going to Walmart at 2:30 for Black Friday. Lets justsay it was probably my last experience. We did get some really good deals on toys, so I guess it was worth it.

Over the last few weeks we have been waiting for Ellie to take off. She has been standing on her own and takes a step every now and then. Well she has finally decided to walk. She has had an eye infection for a few weeks. We though it was just allergies until it got really bad this last week, so she went to the doctor. They gave us their best guess as to what it is and told it was probably contagious (which after 3 weeks no one else has got it). She is on antibiotics and will hopefully be better over the weekend.

Meanwhile while waiting for Ellie to walk, Dan was training for his first 5k. He ran in the Greensboro Gobbler on Thanksgiving morning and did really well. We were there to support him the whole way, and very proud of daddy. By the way, Madison's favorite part of the race was the huge tubs of oreos they had (she snuck a few).

One Year Ago Today

It all started on my way to work, I received a phone call from our social worker asking us if we would like our profile to be shown to a birth mother. There were issues with the baby and the birth mother that I won't get in to, but Dan and I talked and decided to let God take control and if this was our child then the birth mother would pick us. I called the social worker back around 2pm and said to show our profile and let us know the outcome. Well little did I know the birth mother had already chosen us to parent her baby girl. We had 2 hours to accept her, and of course we prayed and felt like God was giving us this opportunity. We were then told we could pick her up the next morning. Yes. we had 14 hours to prepare for a baby we had no idea about.

Ellie turned one this past Saturday (November 7th). Yes this year has been very difficult, but I would not change it for the world. God has bought this special little girl into our life and I can not imagine life without her. I thank God she had birth parents who were willing to give her a better life, and I pray for them everyday.

Here are some pictures from Ellie's first birthday as well as some we had done of the girls together.

Mountains, Bees and Bat Girl Oh My!

Whew! It has been a very busy couple of weeks. I have been wanting to go see the leaves in the mountains so badly for years, and every year something always comes up and we can't go. Well this year my wonderful husband planned a surprise trip to Grandfather Mountain with just the two of us. My parents kept the kids and we went hiking in the mountains. The only problem was it was cold and rainy, so even though half way up the mountain my husband was about thrown off the mountains, it was a really nice trip. I am so amazed at the beauty god creates with the colors of the leaves. It truly takes my breath away and is by far my most favorite time of year.

Madison has wanted to be Bat Girl for Halloween for the last three years, so this year i broke down and let her be what she wanted. Last year she was really sick, so we didn't really get to do much, so I figured this would be her first year to really get into Halloween and enjoy it. I have to admit she was one cut Bat Girl. Ellie was the cutest Bumble bee I have ever seen. It was a long day and Ellie was getting really fussy, so Madison and I ran Ellie and daddy home, and decided to go trick-or-treating with Nana and Jaden. This was her first real Trick-or-Treat experience. She had so much fun, and got some really good candy too I must add. Now it is on to another busy week as it is Ellie's birthday week!