Georgann's Valentine's Table

From Georgann:  When I bought our entry table I always thought I'd decorate it for the holidays.  Christmas was easy because I had my Santa collection.  Some years I'd put out a few things for Easter, Halloween and Thanksgiving. I never had much for Valentine's Day so, I did what Abby would do and searched on Pinterest.

Here's a lot of what I found . . .

Too pink, too red and too foo foo!  WITH NO INSPIRATION!  

I kept searching and finally found something I liked . . .

So I created the I Corinthians 13 framed art, bought the "Love You More" picture at Hobby Lobby, added the cute wooden Valentine bear made by Kay that I've had for , flowers and 

a candy dish of chocolate kisses.

Now I have a Valentine's table!

I caved

Well, I did it. I caved. I bought Cole a toy. The first one I've ever bought. Yesterday, he had an apple and had the best time crawling after it as it rolled across the floor. And then he found out it tasted good...

So, we decided to share it. Boy, did he love it!  I don't know what he loved more. The flavor? Or the way it felt on his teeth? Or that he thought he was getting away with something he shouldn't? But he loved it. He had apple juice running down his chin. 

So, I bought him these. Balls. 

Why? I was hoping he would roll them all over the floor and crawl after them like the apple, which he did for a while, and then lost interest. And now I have four extra pieces to pick up as they're strewn about all over the floor. I should've stuck with my "buy him nothing superfluous" rule a little longer, but they'll be fun to have as he gets older. Right?

As a side note: not having to buy Cole anything up to this point is totally the result of lots of support from so many awesome people that have so graciously given us things, new and used! Where would we be without everyone?!?

My birthday is coming up

Last night my good friend Tiffany had Cole and me over for dinner to celebrate my birthday early (Marc was out of town the last two nights to Santa Fe for a meeting) along with Travis and Michelle and their kids. We had soup and beer bread and cupcakes with bright pink frosting that Laynee picked out just for me. Cole did awesome. He sat on the floor and played by himself, smiled at the appropriate times, laughed when the kids made faces at him, ate some potatoes out of the soup, and crawled ALL over the floor. I felt special that they remembered my birthday and found time to celebrate it!

Cole steals the show when we're with other kids! Here he is with Ashton and Laynee. 

Dave & Georgann's weekend in Sublette

From Georgann:  We were in Sublette this weekend.  It had been a while since we'd been there. Dana thought the last time was for Cole's Gotcha Day in late June, but I found pictures from a Labor Day trip in late August.  STILL, it had been a long time!  We were due for a visit and we enjoyed every minute of it.

We had a warm welcome from Cole and Marc, General and Dana on Friday eve -- in time for one of Marc's famous BBQ steak dinners coupled with Dana's wonderful side dishes.  The food was delicious all weekend, as you can imagine!

Julie and Elsy arrived Saturday afternoon and came with stories to tell. Soon after Julie left home she witnessed a cement truck just in front of her take a curve too fast and turn over. She was one of the first "on the scene" and helped the driver out of his truck. He was fine. He didn't say much to her but got on the phone right away. She said cement and oil were pouring out of the truck.  The whole ordeal shook Julie up quite a bit.  

The party moved over to Al's and Shirley's house on Saturday night so we could watch the KU game. We all slept there the next two nights.  Cole would have preferred his own bed at home but once he was asleep he slept well.  Al and Shirley were gone for the weekend, returned Sunday evening and the slumber party continued!

What we loved about the weekend:

• Kids - Cole, Elsy, Dana, Julie and Marc
• Being in southwest Kansas
• Watching our daughters be wonderful mothers
• Food!!!
• The fact that they wanted us there!
• Snacks!!
• Time watching and playing with grandkids
• Seeing a KU victory
• Church
• Taking lots of pictures and videos
• Taking Cole on a walk
• Watching Elsy walk
• Getting the smoker working
• EVERYTHING!

 

It was so much fun seeing Elsy and Cole "play" together.  And seeing them do all their current "tricks".

Marc helped Dave get his new box smoker going.  The smoker was a gift 

from Don Puryear and proved to be difficult to light.  Elsy helped. 

We enjoyed smoked white cheddar, mild cheddar, almonds & pecans.

Can you hear Cole's giggle in this picture??

 We tried all weekend to get a picture of Grandma and Grandpa with the kids. 

How do you like this one?

Two wonderful mothers!  They love their kids and each other.

Here's the whole gang after church at Long John Silver's.

Notice Elsy's pigtails?  So cute!

Elsy wow-ed us all with her walking ability!

The Family Made it to SW Kansas

"Southwest Kansas is kind of stinky," Elsy proclaimed. 

From Dana: Elsy and Julie made it to Sublette today (and Mom and Dad yesterday)! Hooray! I couldn't be happier and more content and feel more loved and relaxed. What a joy! This is so fun!

(Currently, the babies are both asleep, the women are chatting quietly in the sun-soaked living room and the men are outside trying to get Dad's cold smoke smoker working to smoke some cheese, with General supervising...)

Cory the evangelist!

Wednesday when I got home from work Ladell met me at the garage door to say that I should stay in the kitchen so as not to interrupt a conversation that Cory was having with some young men with the Mormon church. They came to our door and instead of sending them on or not answering the door at all (which is what I would have done) Cory decided to engage them in conversation. I could hear him respectfully disagreeing with their points and presenting a very clear case for Jesus. I was so impressed and blessed beyond words. Ladell thought about joining in the conversation when he got home but could clearly see that Cory needed no help at all. It was so fun to hear him share the gospel with eloquence and passion. At the end he said, "Well, gentlemen I think this conversation has reached its limits so we'll end it here." He sent them on their way. "There is no greater joy than to see your children walking in the truth." 3 John 4

3 Things

1. Mom, Dad, Julie, and Elsy are coming to visit this weekend. We are only slightly concerned about where we'll put everybody. Lucky for us, we all love being together! And even luckier, Al and Shirley have offered to let us use their house while they're out of town. I cherish these times when we can "all" be together. They happen so few and far between. Can't wait to have them here to show off all Cole's tricks and watch Cole and Elsy interact. 

2. I have decided to let my teaching license expire. Gasp! Everyone always told me never to let that happen, so I've done the requirements to renew and keep it active up to this point. But no one could ever really tell me what would happen if I DID let it lapse. Finally, I got a relatively straight answer, in writing, from a state education employee saying that, unless things change, all I would have to do is take the standardized tests for my teaching areas and my license would be reinstated. Sounds like a plan! Feeling a little nervous but think I'm covered. 

3. I have no messages in my inbox! I am very much embarrassed to admit that I have been toting around nearly 3000 emails in my inbox for the past 10 years, I bet. I even had 70 unread messages somewhere way back there that I never touched. I would know I had a new message if my account read 72 or 75 or whatever unread messages. Isn't that awful! So, this week an update to my phone practically forced me to deal with the problem (I had resigned myself to the fact that this was just the way it was going to be). I sat down one evening and started hacking away and about 2 hours later, this is what I saw. I never dreamt it could be true but it feels so good, so freeing!

 

Elsy is walking

This is the best picture I could get of Elsy walking, she is pretty fast. I have enjoyed watching her walk around and keeping herself entertained. I love being an aunt, wish they all lived in the same town.

Adoption Thoughts

 I came across this article (http://empoweredtoconnect.org/healing-the-wounds-of-relational-trauma/) regarding adoption a while ago and shared it with my family, but I want more people to read it to be informed. I think the guy has a real point, though I hate admitting it. His point is that adoption doesn't happen without major loss and trauma to the child...even as a baby. I related to the author when he said that although he's heard this to be true, he wanted his family to be the exception. Me too! 

I have already started praying that God would use Cole's adoption and the pain he'll potentially feel to draw Cole closer to himself into a deeper relationship with him as Cole looks to God to fill the emptiness he feels from being severed from his birth mom. 

Recently God have me a life verse for Cole, Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, may you overflow with hope by the power of he Holy Spirit."

Will you join me in praying for Cole?

Thanks, Aunt Norma, for the suction toy!

Didn't want you to miss this!

From Georgann:  A photo of Dave was on the JCCC website this last week . . .  and I didn't want you to miss it.  Second semester classes started on Monday, 1/13.  JCCC has people stationed in high traffic areas where students enter main buildings from the parking lots.  This year Dave volunteered to work in the Carlsen Center.  That's where this picture was taken a couple years ago capturing Dave doing his "thang"!  

As I looked more closely at the page, I noticed a couple "very Dave" things.  What do you think caught my attention in this photo?

Future BBQ-er

The other day, Marc was grilling steaks for his mom's birthday dinner at our house. He said, "Bundle Cole up so I can take him out with me to check the steaks." And this was the result. Pretty cute! Cole's daddy is pretty proud of him!

Cole is 8 months!

I can hardly believe Cole is 8 months old! He loves to sit on your lap and turn the pages of a book and crawl all over on his knees and elbows. He's full of smiles and is starting to notice when mom or dad leaves. He feels safe and protected in his daddy's arms and reaches for him as soon as he enters the room. He's mastering the art of eating chunkier food but hasn't had any meat yet. He can sit really steady but has yet to be able to push himself up into a seated position. He pulls up on things to his knees. We have started training him with a few things, like not touching General's water and food dish, touching cords, etc. Sometimes I wonder if it's futile but then I see progress. He is easy to get to laugh which makes my heart soar! Sometimes we'll just look at each other and crack up! What a joy!

BEEEF Bake-Off

From Georgann:  Diane and Doug Elder hosted our BEEEF group for dinner last night. Diane made it so much fun. First of all, here's a little background. Diane's mom is an award-winning county and state fair participant.  She also enter, and won, many, many bake-off contests. Her most "famous" contest was in the Spam contest .  She created a recipe using spam and won the top prize for it!!  

Her mother was cleaning out her basement and had over 50 (fifty!) aprons from these contests. She gave ALL family members multiple aprons. Diane came home with 14. When wondering what to do with all of them, she came up with a BEEEF Bake-Off dinner idea.

When we first got there, we drew slips of paper that said which apron we got. (Janet got a Spam apron!)  Diane told us we could not take off the aprons all evening and had to wear them OUT the door. Which apron we donned told us which team we were on.  One team made the bread for the evening and the other team, which Dave and I were on, got to bake a carrot cake.  We had to ice the cake before it was totally cooled, but oh, the cream cheese frosting was fabulous!  You'll see from the pictures below that we were all bake-off award winners!  

While the bread and cake baked, everyone was eager to hear all about the wedding. We even went on Facebook to see pictures.  It was fun retelling stories about our weekend. It made us feel good that they wanted to hear ALL about it!

Besides the bread and cake, we enjoyed Diane's delicious homemade stew and relishes for dinner. What a creative way to host a dinner - and get rid of a surplus of aprons. It was a great hands-on night with some great friends..

Wedding Fuzzy Tacos

From Georgie:  On Thursday night before the wedding, a bunch of Voths and a couple Ellises went to the Fuzzy Taco Shop in Sherman, TX.  It was a recommendation from Kathryn in a letter she included in a Welcome bag at the hotel.  It had great tacos!  Besides the people I was with, the most fun thing was thinking that Kathryn had been there over the years.  I enjoyed being in Sherman, seeing where Kathryn grew up, shopped, did theatre, went to church, and ate tacos!

Bringing back the Ergo

My friends back home were so generous when Cole was born and two things they got me were a top of the line Bob stroller and top of the line Ergo baby carrier. I love them both! Immensely! But I had hung the Ergo up for the past few months and just pulled it out again yesterday and it worked great! As long as we're moving, Cole seems very content to just hang out and tag along. This seems especially good for late afternoon times when he's getting tired/fussy/clingy but bedtime is a little ways away yet. Don't know if it'll continue but we've gotten some Ergo time the past few days. Fun, sweet times together. 

And today was Shirley's birthday. We'll celebrate Friday with steaks and chocolate pie at our house with Michael and Chelsea. We'll be celebrating Marc's birthday too!

TIMBER!

From Georgie:  Before we left Olathe to accomplish PROJECT: GET GROOM TO TEXAS, we had to take down the Christmas tree - our last real tree.  Brad had never had the pleasure of helping with this task so we had fun teaching him.

Dave is ready to conquer this beast!

 Once the top third was off, it was time for Brad to tackle it.

Brad is so cute!  He'll make a great groom, stupendous husband and a wonderful father!!!!

This is it!  How many guys does it take to dismantle an Ellis Christmas tree?  Unscrewing the trunk from the stand. Gotta be careful because there's still water left in the basin!

Goodbye chopping-down-your-tree tradition.  May you live on in the home of Brad and Kathryn.
Hello new tradition - 9 foot artificial pre-lit tree for the Olathe Ellises.

Here's the frozen pipes story

On Sunday and Monday here in KC we had record breaking cold temps-it got down to -10 degrees with higher than that wind chills. I think I heard people say that it was the coldest it had been in 20 years around these parts (I just got back from Texas so I can talk a little Southern.) Monday afternoon I went downstairs to put our luggage away. As I walked toward the storage room on the far side of the basement I heard water running like a water fall. I was doing laundry at the time so I thought that might be it but I knew it sounded different than I remembered hearing before. When I went into the storage room I saw water on the floor. I knew then that the water was coming in from the wall.

Place where our luggage and a bunch of other stuff was stored

Cory came and helped me figure out how to turn off the water to the whole house with the help of a phone call to Ladell. We moved the stuff out of the wet part of the basement, borrowed a wet-dry vac from our neighbors and Ladell called a friend from church who does plumbing. Our friend, Bill Penn told Ladell that if he found out where the broken pipe was he would come and cap it off. Ladell just started hacking into our basement wall and ceiling.

So painful!

He found the leak and Bill came in a short time. He capped off the pipe so we could turn our water back on. It was closer to the corner and the pipe that was involved was the one going to our outside faucet. One we can live without until Bill comes back to fix it. We pulled the carpet back and vacuumed water out of it and the pad underneath. Another friend named, Kingsley came and helped us vacuum and pull the heavy carpet back.

We are waiting to hear if we have insurance coverage to help with the repairs. Hopefully, we'll hear from the adjustor tomorrow. We have lived in our house 17 years and haven't ever had a frozen pipe there or anywhere. Goes to show you how cold it really was. To look of the bright side...we have some great friends and neighbors that came our rescue.  I went downstairs soon after it happened because the carpet was wet just about 3 feet out from the wall and on in to the cement storage areas. It could have happened on a work day or we could have been out of town and had a basement full of water. The basement is a mess right now but as they say "out of sight, out of mind." We are headed for a heat wave of 40s and 50s!

Tot Swap

Today we started a new venture we're calling...Tot Swap. The girls in Sublette in the ladies Bible study decided we'd try our hand at giving each other some time off. Two moms gather at one house and the rest of the moms can bring their kids over and get some free time. We did it from 9-11 today. We structured it with two moms at the house so there'd be plenty of help but also so those moms could have some interaction with each other too. This morning it worked out great! Tiffany was so gracious to open her house and I helped her out. Next week we'll switch and two other moms will be on duty. Even if it doesn't last, it's worth a shot. 

Here we are having snack. There are 4 families represented (I'm holding Cole and some of the big kids are at school). 

If Only Cole Could Walk

We met our friends at the Sublette rec center gym today to run off some steam and get out of the house. Cole loved watching the big kids run around and bounce the basketballs. He even tried to crawl halfway across the gym to get the balls. I think I heard him say, "If only I could walk..."