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Merry Christmas!!

Minori sitting on Santa's lap for the first time at the age of 19!

Carter has always likes Santa but Griffin not so much, this Santa he liked a lot!!

Minori's first time down the hill!

Griffin is getting so big, last year he could not go down by himself.

Griffin with his two favorite people, his cousin Lydia and Mickey Mouse!

We have been having so much fun the past couple of weeks enjoying the Christmas season and the winter. We watched with delight as our Japanese friend, Minori enjoyed many new experiences. Sledding, watching a hockey game, Rodolph, frosty and sitting on Santa's lap. She is such a breath of fresh air, she is really a beautiful young lady! She chose to stay here until after Christmas so she could spend the season with us in America, she will be going back to Japan on the 27th for a few weeks. I am sure her family is so anxious to see her!

We have already had one Christmas celebration and three to go. Looks like the snowy weather may change things up a bit but we will have a white Christmas for sure.

This year more than most I have been reminded of the true reason for the CHRISTmas season, the birth of our Lord and Savior. I have thought about what things must have been like, really been like, for Mary and Joseph and how the wise men must have felt when they realized the Messiah had come, just as the Lord promised. I read this the other day and loved it, "Celebrate the Son, give thanks unto the Lord, keep watch and look forward to the day....The King is coming!!"

Happy Birthday Jesus, what a blessed day it was!!

2009 Christmas letter

Ty usually sends out a annual letter in our Christmas card, he did write one this year, the above picture is the proof, but we did not include it in our card. So here it is, mostly in his words:

Merry Christmas 2009, from the Ellis family in Eau Claire, WI and one in Seoul, South Korea. This year we once again enjoyed a year of many new things, new places and new experiences. We know how blessed we are, we consider our friends and family among our greatest gifts.

New things for us: For Griffin life changes in small ways as he continues to grow and mature. He has FINALLY got the bathroom thing figured out, loves riding his bike, talks non stop, and is learning so many things, they are sponges at that age. He started preschool this fall and loves it, he turned 4 on October and is happy to tell anybody who asks how old he is that he is 4! He still likes trains, Mickey Mouse, Dora and his big brother but his mama is his favorite!

Carter also continues to grow up (too fast if you ask me). He is in first grade and loves school. He played t-ball, soccer and hockey this year and started cub scouts which he really enjoys. He loves to build with Lego's, do math homework with dad and play with his friends.

On November 4th we got our adoption referral for our daughter (we have not picked her name yet). She was born on June 4, 2009 and her birth name is Wooyoun and she is just beautiful!!

Check out the November 12th post of this blog for more information and photos of our precious gift. We expect to get out travel call within 3-9 months and be in Seoul one week later. We will be in Korea about 5 days before we can finally bring her home to meet he big brothers, what a joyful day that will be!! So for now, as adoption goes, we continue to wait.

Our new experiences:

This year has seen the boys busy and growing up fast, we have become a family of 5, Ty is working out of the home again, our dog, Jake died a few weeks ago and Kim continues to find new ways to stay busier than ever with events, groups and activities of all types. Life is never dull around here!

We also have become a host family for a University student who is studying here from Japan. Minori does not live with us as she lives on campus, but she comes to our home and joins our family for activities often. She has taught us a lot and is so much fun to have around. The boys love her and she fits in so well at out home. Another great idea of Kim's, like I said, never a dull moment.

We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. We hope you are filled with joy. Take time to slow down and enjoy the season. And thanks to you all for helping us remember how blessed we are, May God bless you all!!

"Oh Come Let Us Adore Him, Christ the Lord!"

Thankfulness and NYC~

December 3rd already?? We are definitely getting ready for Christmas and very excited for the season. Over Thanksgiving I had the privilege to take a vacation of a lifetime. I went to New York City with my favorite mother-in-law, Maryann, my great friend and sister-in-law, Julie and the best aunt-in-law and travel agent, Shirley!! We were gone for 6 days and did enough things for 3 weeks including 4, yes I said 4, Broadway shows, the Macy's parade, sitting on Santa's lap at Macy's, the Statue of Liberty, walking food tour in Greenwich Villi age (highly recommended), and shopping in China town (a story in itself)! We had so much fun and the memories we made were priceless!! The 4 of us travelled so well together, looking forward to future trips with these beautiful women. Yes, we all left our families for Thanksgiving and yes, they all survived! Which brings me to what I am most thankful for, my life partner, my wonderful husband!! He is truly my soul mate, the one God created for me, how lucky am I??

I am so excited for Christmas this year, my boys are at really fun ages and 2010 will be the year our precious baby girl comes home!! Stay tuned for updates!!

This Bible verse is perfect to remember this season: Hebrews 13:2 "Keep on loving each other as brothers, do not forget to entertain strangers for by so doing, some people have entertained angels without knowing it."

And baby girl makes 5!!

Last week in the middle of us being sick, we got information about our daughter!! What a wonderful day it was, her name is Wooyou, we will change her first name at some point. She is 5 months old, birthday June 4, 2009, I finally got my Summer birthday. She is in a loving foster home and growing wonderfully, 17 pound at 5 months!! She is so adorable, as you can see from the pictures. Now the hard part begins, the wait... We started this journey in August, 2007 with the first piece of adoption information gathered. We started with our adoption agency in October 2008, were officially on the waiting list as of February 2009 and now we are waiting to travel. We are told the travel time can be anywhere between 3 and 10 months. Most families have been traveling in 4-6 months so we are hoping for that. Once we get our travel call, we have about one week to get to Korea. That will be a crazy week. The boys talk about their baby sister a lot and understand what is happening as much as they each can for their ages. We are so thankful for the family that is taking care of and loving our baby girl while she waits for her "forever home."

Life is good and God is great!! 1 Samuel 1:27-28 says, I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted me what I asked of him."

I am so excited to finally paint a room PINK!! Enjoy the pictures of baby girl Ellis!!

October!!

Since I can remember, October has always been the busiest month. 4 out of 6 of the kids in my family have birthdays in October, not only in October but all in the last week of October. Needless to say, growing up we ate a lot of cake in October. Now that I am all grown up October is still such a busy month. Griffin celebrated his 4th birthday in the middle of the month. The funnest birthday so far with him. Four is such an awesome age, I think it is because three is so challenging and four brings so much more independence. If you have followed by blog or if you know me at all, you know that we had our challenges with our three year old this past year but things have really turned around!! He has finally begun to figure out how things work, mom says no and she means it!! He is also so much more independent and growing up so fast. He is still my baby and such a mama's boy.

I also have a birthday in October and I love my birthday so I usually have a birthday that lasts an entire week. Why not, I say?? My wonderful husband bought me 37 roses, can you guess which birthday it was? He is an awesome man!! Of course October ends with the funnest celebration of all, Halloween! Our exchange student from Japan was so much fun to celebrate with. She has only heard about Halloween and seen it in movies. She carved pumpkins with us, bought a costume and went trick-or-treating with us. She is so adorable, when we got out to start she said, "I love this, it is real not just a movie." We have enjoyed spending time with her so much and feel like she is a part of the family.

On personal note, God has really been teaching me things and I am growing so much. I am learning about obedience, true obedience. It is challenging but I am really enjoying it. Obedience is described as "the overwhelming desire to walk in the center of God's will at every moment."

Happy November everybody!!

October and the cold came WAY too fast.

I cannot believe it is already October 11, my baby will turn 4 in a week. School has been in session for several weeks now and everybody is adjusting just fine. Carter likes first grade and has already learned so many new things. I met a little girl in his class and she is the female version for Carter, she is just like him. Of course, I liked her a lot. Now that we are in our second year at Crestview Academy I am still so pleased with the choice we made to send Carter to school there. It is a wonderful fit for our family. Griffin is really liking his preschool and I am enjoying two mornings a week to myself. We have also been enjoying spending time with our new friend from Japan. She fits in so well with our family and the boys love her. She is very special and I am so thankful that God brought her into our lives. She had not been over to our house for a couple of weeks and when she walked in the other day she said, "it is so nice to be here." Being 18 years old and so far away from her home and her family, I hope she gets some of what she is missing from being at hour house.

Attached are a few pictures from September before the weather got so cold.

First Day of School

You are all living this along with me, the start of another school year. This year was way different for me than last year, something about Kindergarten is so emotional. No tears were shed for first grade. I guess I did get a little emotional during the all school worship at Carter's school. Worship music always makes me emotional, I am so happy and feel so lucky that our children go to a school where they start the school year off with praising God and praying for his hand in all they do!! In Wisconsin most schools started last week, Carter did not start until this week so we are only on day 3. He is enjoying first grade and seems happy to be back in school. He did say to me last night, "It isn't fair that I do not get to see you all day." Melted my heart, I know he will not feel that way forever so I will soak it in while I can.

Griffin started preschool today and when I asked him for a kiss he said, "You can get one from somebody else." They are very different children that is for sure. School will be good fro Griffin, it is only 2 mornings a week so he and I will still have a lot of time to spend together. He is an awesome kid when you spend one-on-one time with him. He is going to be 4 years old next month, now that brings a tear to my eye.

Exiting news about our third child, we have been approved by the Department of Homeland Security to bring a child to the US. Now we just continue to wait. We are hoping to get our daughter's referral (her information and picture) sometime between November and February.

Hope you are all enjoying the summer weather we are finally getting!!

Summer is coming to an end.

Way too soon-summer never feels long enough, especially when the weather had been so strange this year. I keep waiting for summer to get here and stay. So as I have been irritated with the Wisconsin weather and wondering why I live here, my eyes were open in an unexpected way. This past weekend we hosted a college student from Japan. We picked her up at the airport on Friday night, after a very long trip. She stayed with us for the weekend and I helped her move into the dorms on Monday morning. Talk about courage, she is a 19-year-old girl leaving home for the first time and going to a new country all alone not knowing anybody. I thought it was hard to leave home and go to college 2 hours away. She fit in very well at our house, the boys really liked her and she enjoyed them as well. She is adorable and so sweet. There were so many things in 3 days that she experienced for the first time. She had never seen a lawn mower in person before, she wanted to try it so she got to mow a little of the yard, she had also never raked before so she helped the boys and I do that. Things I do not really enjoy doing she was having fun with. We took her to the drive-in movie and she was amazed. She could not figure out what I was talking about as I tried to explain it to her but she enjoyed it. When the movie was over, she stepped out of the van and looked up and was completely breath taken by all of the stars in the sky. She said she had never seen anything like that before. The sad part is, I never would have noticed that. She said many times how beautiful Wisconsin is, I will see if she still feels that way in January. She has only seen snow one time and asked me if it is true that the temperature gets below zero. She is in for a big surprise. She is looking forward to experiencing winter and winter activities. I have decided that my boys cannot go to college because it will be too hard on me. I almost cried leaving her at the dorms and I just met her. She is planning on being here for 4 years so we are so excited to spend time with her and continue to build on the relationships we have begun. One more thing that was funny, the food that she liked the best that I served her was a turkey sandwich, again something I take for granted and get quite bored with. All of this has changed my perspective on Wisconsin and it's weather, it is a beautiful place to live!! She is going to love the fall.

Attached is a picture of her and Carter.

Summer Vacation

We spent last week at a cabin in Minoquia with Ty's family. His mom and dad, his brother and wife and their 3 children. It was a nice week full of many activities. The weather could have been better but it could have been much worse, only one day of rain but not too hot. It was nice enough that the kids spend the better part of the first 3 days in the beautiful, clear lake. Well on the evening of day 3, they all started itching, they all got swimmers itch, some worse than others. Needless to say, they spent little time in the water after that which was OK because it was not very warm. Carter and his two older cousins spent quite a bit of time fishing and Griffin and his little cousin, Lydia (the only girl of the group) spent lots of time practicing their casting with rubber fish and bobbers. Let me tell you, they both have a great cast!! Now we are home and it is the first week of August, YIKES!!! We are trying to enjoy as many summer days as we can.

I am heading up north for a much needed girl's weekend. I love vacationing with my kids but I also love vacationing without them. I am hoping for lots of sun, laughs, memories (new and old) and relaxation, Oh and no whining!!

Hope you all enjoy your weekend as much as I plan to!

11 years ago

Today is the 11th anniversary of my father's death. The memories of that day are still so vivid in my mind. I came across this today-I have not seen this in several years but today there it was. It was written and read by one of my father's best friends (who has now joined him in heaven) at his funeral. It describes my father perfectly. To preface it, I should tell you all that my father was a barber at the same shop which he later owned for over 20 years.
"The Most Human Man"
"Have ya' got time for a cup?" was the sign, it was time to talk again.
And talk we did, about boys and toys and human events,
Because he was the most human man I've ever known.
We talked about difficulties, not complaining that we had them,
but how to get through them because there were still things to be done.
We talked about successes, not crowing because we had them,
but how they were brought about because more successes are always welcome.
And we talked about keeping humans human, not that we had all the answers,
but we were looking for some because being human makes people whole.
Oh, yes, we talked, maybe two hundred times and I learned more each time
about empathy, honesty, loyalty and service. About friendship and humanity in being.
"Have ya' got time for a cup?" It's time to talk. We've lots of memories to tell.
Memories to give us a better tomorrow, memories of the most human man I've ever known."

What a beautiful reminder of who my father was-a man of complete integrity! I am still learning from his wisdom.

These past few weeks are hard ones for our family, On July 23, was the 13th anniversary of my mother's death. If my father sounded like a saint, you should have known my mom!!
This was read at her funeral:
"I thank you for the love you each have shown, but now it's time I travel on alone.
So grieve a while for me, if grieve you must, then let your grief be comforted in trust.
It's only a while that we must part, so bless the memories within your heart.
I won't be far away, for life goes on. So if you need me, call and I will hear."

My mother was sick and knew she was going to die, she picked that to be read to us at her funeral. That was her; totally selfless always there for anybody and everybody and so full of life! So that is what we all have done, my three brothers, two sisters and I, we have continued to live and keep their memories alive!

I wrote all of this not because I am sad, I am a little, but because I have been so blessed!!
For those of you who question if heaven exists, stop questioning and just believe because I am excited to get there some day and I hope to see you all there so you can meet my parents or see them again if you were lucky enough to have known them!

Is it really July ALREADY??

Where is the summer going, way too fast. We have been busy as usual. The boys had a couple of weeks of vacation bible school, the first year that they could both go. I enjoyed my mornings a lot. Carter is in T-ball and golf this summer which he is really enjoying. Griffin is doing some exploring sports program which is perfect for his age. We have been camping a couple of times, although the first trip we got rained out which was a bummer. Ty and I have each joined a boot camp fitness program at the Y and I have been getting more into yoga/pilates as well as running in a few small races. We did complete a couple's triathlon this June for the third year. I lost a pair of shoes and got a large bruise, otherwise we came away unscaved. We both realized that since we have been way more physically active this year the triathlon was easier than in years past but still pretty hard.

We still have many things on tap for the rest of the summer including camping, a week at a cabin, a guys weekend for Ty, a girl's' weekend for me, and scrapbook retreat for Carter and I, a trip to the Zoo, many picnics and play dates and a wedding to end the summer! I am exhausted just typing all of that but if you know me, you know busy is how I like it! Hope you are all enjoying your summer as well!!

Pictures that could not fit on last post!

Family Vacation!!

A week ago we returned from a vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC. It was just the 4 of us, we thought of it as our last trip as a family of 4! We were gone for a week, what a week it was. We didn't have any travel delays or lost bags, the boys travelled well and nobody got sick so we had a wonderful time. It was a week of sun, ocean, beach and amusement parks!! We spent the later mornings on the beach, the afternoons in the pools and the evenings out on the town. There is so much to do there whether you are there with children or not. It was nice to not be on the go all day, every day. Carter was crazy about the ocean, he wants to be a surfer when he grows up.

Let me back up a bit. Carter graduated from Kindergarten on May 21 and we left for vacation on May 23. His school got out almost 2 weeks before the public schools got out. It was such a nice time to travel, it was not very busy at all because we went about a week before the busy season began. We really liked the placed that we stayed, if anybody plans on going to MB I recommend a 2-bedroom at the Beach Cove Resort in North Myrtle Beach.

We came home with lighter hair and tanner skin (although the tan is fading fast in this WI weather) lots of pictures and so many family memories. We are looking forward to summer and the adventures that await us!