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!!