Crazy Week

Picture: Emma and Anna at our play date

Have you ever had one of those days? Well, I've had one of those weeks.

Before I start into my week, I will say that we went to the Zoe Conference with Brian and Angie Knost and had a great time. My mom drove to Nashville and got Emma (I have wonderful parents) and then my mom and dad brought her back to me Sunday.

Ok, now for the craziness....
Matt Wilson had flown to Nashville and road back to WV with us. If you know Matt, you know that he is 6ft7. This becomes important, I promise. Well, we stopped at Chuck E' Cheeses so Emma could have a break. (Thanks to Matt for being such a good sport). It was very crowded. There were like six birthday parties going on. Anyway, Adam and Matt were talking and I took Emma to play in the climbing tubes thing. I stood at the slide because that was the only way down. Well, she was up in the tubes for a while without me being able to see her so I began to get a little worried. I started to walk around trying to see in the windows and couldn't see her. I began to get very worried. I got Adam's attention and he came to the slide. I decided that the only thing for me to do was to climb up into the tubes. I got up in the tubes and couldn't find her. At this point, I organized about ten three and four year olds into a search party. We were all crawling through this maze of tubes looking for a little girl in pink and orange and yelling Emma. This picture seems somewhat amusing now but seriously, this was the most frightening moment of my life. By this time, I was in a full on panic. I was in a full panic and was in a maze. Not good... Since everyone had heard me yelling for my daughter, everyone began to look. I slid down the slide and began to look around. The first thing I thought was to check the bathrooms. So I ran screaming into the bathroom. Then the manager came out and began to very calmly and slowly ask me what Emma looked like. I wanted to hit the guy. I seriously was in the middle of a nervous break down and he was talking like a gay guy. Anyway, about that time Adam came around with Emma in his arms. Matt had spotted her climbing unto a skee ball machine. Thank you God for making Matt tall enough to see over everything in Chuck E Cheeses. Emma will not be getting in another one of those things until she’s twelve. I spent the rest of the trip trying to think of things to tell Matt to prove to him that I was in fact a good mother. But, I’m pretty sure that he’ll always see me as the crazy woman crawling through the tubes at Chuck E Cheeses screaming her head off.

Monday:
We tore down wallpaper at the youth house. We discovered at least five different wallpapers in the many many layers. Maybe more. It's still not finished.

Yesterday:
I left my cell phone on my car and drove off with it on there. Adam went to get it replaced for me only to find out that I had opted not to get insurance.

Today:
Well first, this is the second time I’ve written this post because my computer did something funky and I lost the whole thing.

Emma and I had a play date with my friend Julie and Emma’s friend Anna. Anna is about six months older than Emma. We had a wonderful time. Emma doesn’t usually have girls to play with. But, in the two hour period we were there, Emma pooped four times. And we’re potty training so it wasn’t a pretty picture. I know you may not want to hear about my child’s poop but when you become a mom, poop talk is a normal part of every day life.

Then church…
Our church works with a government subsidized apartment complex. I’m so proud to be apart of a church that does this sort of thing. The kids from this complex are bussed to church. What an awesome opportunity!! I will take a moment to brag on our teens here. Our teens are great. They along with Ryan and Jesse Ice (our interns) go to the Powell Apartment complex every Thursday night and sing songs and do crafts and stuff with these kids. If it weren’t for their hard work, these kids wouldn’t be at church.. Our teens are great!! But, these kids don’t exactly know how to act in church and I had eight of them. It was a crazy night. But, when we were leaving, this kid, Tyrell asked me “Do you want me to come back?” I said, “Well of course I do Tyrell”. He said, “Will you be my teacher?” And so I’m thanking God for giving me the honor of being one of the people that get to show this kid Jesus. And so I’ll pray, somewhat reluctantly, that next week, God will bring me twice as many.

After church:
Emma was taking a bath and the door bell rang. I ran to answer the door. It was a woman from church dropping something off. Then I heard Emma screaming in the bathroom. I ran in there to find that she had poured a bottle of shampoo on her head. I wet a washcloth and handed it to her. She stopped crying and I went back to the door. Emma started crying again. Becky kindly told me she’d let me tend to my child and I went back to the bathroom. Shampoo had gotten into her eyes. I got her out and washed her eyes the best I could. She stopped crying but flatly refused to get back into the bathtub so I could wash the shampoo out of her hair. I then cleared everything off the kitchen counter and told her we were going to do it like Nonna does it at her beauty shop and rinsed her hair in the sink.

But really, after losing her on Sunday, this all seems so small. I really doubt that anyone reads this novel but writing it was definitely therapeutic and certainly cheaper than a shrink.

Before I go, I do have to share with you a couple of…..

Funny things Emma did:

On the way to Nashville, Angie road with me and Adam road with Brian. Emma was sitting quietly in the back seat while Angie and I talked ninety to nothing. Emma piped up and said, “Excuse me”. It may have been one of those things where you had to be there but we lost it.

And, she can say the pledge but instead of justice for all, she has justice frog.

See you next Wed.

Love from Above,

Dana

PS: I spent two hours writing this twice. You could at least leave a short comment

Hilarious

You guys have got to see this. This is the funniest thing I've ever seen. Seriously, whatever you have to download (It should open with Windows Media Player) to view this, do it.
Direction: Click the link below. It will take you to another web page. Then look for the link that says click for video on that page. For some reason I couldn't do a direct link. I want to see some comments on this one people.

CLICK HERE for video.

~~Dana~~

Potty Training

How is it that I'm the only one having trouble sleeping?



Picture: Emma and Connor at MOPS



I've always wanted to be a mother. Most things have come very naturally to me. It's like I'm finally becoming what God has always intended me to be. And then, potty training... God has a funny way of keeping us humble.. Emma is a very smart kid. She has been calling her skin her epidermis for a year now. She can name all of her body parts. She can name about five of her body parts in Spanish. She knows her ABC's. She can pick most of them out when she sees them written. She can count. She knows all her colors. And, she can explain to me in essay format why doesn't need to use the potty. Yesterday, I said, "Emma do you need to TT in the potty"? Her reply, "I don't want to right now". I said, "Emma, big girls TT in the potty". She says, "I don't care". So then she TT's in her underwear and says to me, "It's ok momma, I can change into dry underwear". I will like to say here that I think a lot of mothers rewrite history with their children. It's funny to me that I know so many mothers who say their children were potty trained by two but I know several, several two year olds at the moment and not one of them are potty trained. I feel very fortunate to be living in a place where people move slower. Seriously, that's frustrating when you are going through a fast food drive through that isn't at all fast, but when it comes to potty training, the pressure is off. Most people here don't even start until closer to three and alot of their children aren't trained until more like four. I like that. I sort of look at it like this: Once she's potty trained, that's the end of her not having responsibilities. And that's the beginning of growing up. And I want to keep her a little girl as long as possible. So there, now it's in writing I won't be able to say, years down the road, that she was potty trained early.

Yesterday, we went to our first day of MOPS. I absolutely loved it!! Emma loved it too! It was so much fun. For those of you that don't know, MOPS stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. It's a Christian based organization. The kids go to their own classes and do crafts and games and a bible study and the mom's do the same thing.


Funny Things Emma has said:

Adam and I were reading the story about Adam and Eve to her the other night. When we got done, she said, "Now let me read it to you". She opened up the book and said, "Adam and Eve, don't eat the fruit".

Yesterday after MOPS, we were eating lunch with Adam and I told Emma that we were going home to take a nap. She took my face between her hands and said, "Honey, don't say that".

She is staying with my parents this weekend. We are going to the Zoe Conference in Nashville and mom is going to drive up to Nashville to get her. When I told Emma this she said, "I'm going to Nonna's, you stay here".

Last but not least: She told me, "Connor has a baby brother, I want a baby sister". You people are about to see that she doesn't get everything she wants.


YOUTH GROUP: I'm loving it so much. Last night we had Heart to Heart and we discussed how we were going to decorate the youth house. We are going to go with charcoal, light gray, and aqua. I'm really excited about getting started. We have such a great group. They are growing in so many ways. I think they have a few growing pains along the way every now and then but I think God has great things in store for this group. "I thank God every time I remember them".

Well, I guess that's it for now.

Love from Above,

Dana

The Emma Trilogy

WARNING This is going to be a long entry about Emma. If you want to read some kind of deep theology or such, read Adams. I'm a mom. This is what I do.

Part One: Shaving

Ok, just a random thing on my mind. Taking a shower… Either I have to take a shower before Adam leaves or I take a shower with Emma. I haven’t lost my mind to the point that I let a two year old run around the house by herself. So, this morning we set the alarm clock for very early and guess what, didn’t get up. So as I was showering with my beloved daughter wrapped around my ankles, I began to think… I used to think of shaving as a beautiful art form. Like I was a beautiful swan gracefully perched upon one leg. Needless to say, my swan days are over. But hey, at least I still shave my legs.

Part Two: Daddy’s a Nerd

I have the best role in the world. I am with Emma all day and I get to teach her everything she knows. For now, I’m the smartest person in the world to her. I realize that one day she is going to become a teenager (sorry to take a dig at you teenagers) and I am going to become instantly ignorant but, for now, I’m soaking it up.

So one thing I like to do is show Adam the things she’s learned for the day. First, I taught her to say that “Daddy is cool, I’m awesome, and Momma is my best friend”. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m very proud of my honor of being her best friend. But, I decided I didn’t want Adam to get a big head so I taught her to say, “Daddy is cool, but Momma is the coolest and “I’m Awesome”. By this point, I’m having a lot of fun so, “I decided to teach her, “Momma is the coolest, I’m awesome, and Daddy is a nerd”. Since that hurt Adam’s feelings a little, I tried to teach her something new, something a little nicer but no, nerd stuck. But here is the funny thing. Last night, we had one of the teenagers, JT, with us. So I said, “Emma what is momma?” She said, “Momma is the coolest” “What are you?” “I’m awesome” “What is Daddy?” “Daddy is a nerd.” Then I said, “What is J.T.?” She said, “J.T. is sixteen.” And he is!! LOL

Part Three: She wants to be like me

Ok, now for the serious part. Adam and I each have a basket under the bathroom counter that our toiletries go in. And, I must add here, that I married a guy that uses more styling products than I do. Anyway, after Adam leaves each morning, I go into the bedroom and get his toiletries and go and put them back in his basket because of course, he never does that himself. This morning, Emma went and got them, and put them right in the basket. I was very excited about this for a couple of reasons: 1. I’m going to get some help around here. 2. She’s showing signs of not being messy like her daddy. But then, the seriousness of the situation hit. She does everything that I do. So, in light of that, I try not to be cheesy and put song lyrics on here but there are some that I’m thinking of that are just too fitting to leave off. So here they are:

I want to be just like you,
Cause she wants to be just like me
I want to be a holy example,
For innocent eyes to see

Help me be a living Bible Lord,
For my little one to see.
I want to be just like you,
Cause she wants to be like me.

Something like that anyway.. Now, to our busy day.

Love from Above,

Dana

LEAVE COMMENTS PEOPLE

Emma has been sick the last couple of days. She threw up yesterday. But, I cleaned her up and gave her lots of hugs and popsicles and she's feeling better now. I need some rest before I can really update. Until then... Enjoy the pictures grandparents

Picture 1: Emma sick on the couch. You know if she was still long enough for me to get her picture laying on the couch, she wasn't feeling good.

Picture 2: Emma and Kylee (girl in the youth group) Emma loves her teenagers.

Love from above,

Dana

My life is the Grandest

Ok, today was not a great day.. Emma and I both have a nasty cold and when I have a cold, I don’t sleep well so I’m tired and have a cold. Adam left me stuff here to do that he should have taken care of before he left (thanks sweetie) and I messed it up terribly. So, I’ve been messing with that stuff all day. The highlight of my day was going to Hannah’s (girl in the youth group) volleyball game with Kylee and Anna (girls in the youth group). Williamstown didn’t win but Hannah sure looked cute out there. It was all made better at the end of the night. Right after I got Emma ready for bed and in her pajamas, I looked at her and said, “Emma, you know baby, I really don’t feel very good”. She said, “It’s ok momma, I’ll scratch your back. That’ll make you feel better”. And yes, that’s a direct quote,she said all those words. And so she scratched my back and I basked in her sweetness. And yes, it did make me feel better. So, I’m about to go to bed knowing that my life is the grandest. And, I’ll pray that God takes care of all the other stuff tomorrow. Edit Sept 22: and he did!! God is great!

Love you all,

Dana

Now here’s the thing I’ve been tagged to do about a hundred times now:


10 years ago I:
-was 17 and had just got out of a serious relationship (by the way, serious relationships are for married people) and thought my world had ended.
-was a senior in high school and held the Alabama state championship in high jump
-could do a back tuck

5 years ago I:
-was married to the greatest guy in the world
-was living in Albany GA
-was in college and could do a back hand spring

1 year ago I:
-was still married to the greatest guy in the world
-was loving being a mommy
-lived in Panama City Florida and could do a cart wheel
-
Yesterday I:
-Was still married to the greatest guy in the world
-still loving being a mommy
- had 20 something teenagers at my house and was lucky to be able to get out of bed

5 snacks i enjoy
-cashews
-soft pretzels with cheese from the mall
-cheese
-oatmeal pies
-chocolate chip cookies and milk

5 songs i know by heart:
-Stay by Lisa Loeb
-I’ll be there for you by Bon Jovi
-Patience by Guns and Roses
-many, many church songs
-many, many children’s songs

5 things i would do with a million dollars:
-pay off our house
- put half of it in investments. I’d live off the interest and let my family have the rest after I’m gone
-Set my mom up where she could retire um, in West Virginia J
- Give some to the church
Um, I’m out of money… a million dollars really wouldn’t go very far

5 places i would run away to:
-where ever my momma is
other than that, I pretty much like being at home
-
5 things i would never wear:
-tight rolled jeans. A lot of you probably don’t even know what those are..
-granny panties… ok, I did that once but it was a joke (huh Sam and Anna)
-a girdle… I don’t care how fat I get
-Abercrombie and Fitch… Though I love their jeans, I’m boycotting them because their catalogs have naked people in them.
-one of those glitter t shirts that say princess, or hot or something like that

5 favorite t.v shows:
-The Apprentice
-American Idol
-ER
-Smallville
-Dharma and Greg

5 bad habits:
-losing my keys
-calling Adam a dork
-caffeine
--wearing my heart on my sleeve (me too Heather)
- -caring what people think

5 greatest joys:
-..Emma Elaine Ellis
-Adam Keith Ellis (when he’s not a dork)
-my family
-the kids in the youth group
- -spending time with friends

5 fictional characters i would date:
-the guy Harrison Ford played in Air Force One
-Mel Gibson in Braveheart
-Zorro
-Clark Kent
-Adam Sandler in “50 First dates” Guess I like the heroic type

who needs to do this now:
-Heather Hedden
- -Adam, I’ll believe it when I see it
-Kayla Hammock
-Justin, my nephew
-Justin’s girlfriend Caitlin. I need to know some things about this girl

Home Sweet Home

We’re finally home. We have been in seven states in the past week and I’m glad to be back home. Emma did great. She did not even whine once the whole trip. We made it home yesterday evening in an impressive 10 hours and 45 minutes. With a long McDonalds stop to play. Soon after we got home, we were paid a visit by some of the kids in the youth group. They brought milk and cookies with them. Very thoughtful.. I continuously thank God for bringing us here and blessing us so greatly.

Ok, the last few days of our trip:
We went to church with Adam’s parents Wed night and spent the night with them. Thursday, we had lunch with Adam’s grandmother and then traveled back to Birmingham. Thursday night, we had dinner at my friend Kristen’s house. Kristen is my best friend from high school and elementary school for that matter. I have known her since sixth grade. Our friend Jana also came over (also since sixth grade). All of our kids got to play together. Jana has two, Kristen one and one on the way (she's having a girl woo whoo.. And no, I don’t give in to peer pressure. We sat around at marveled at how much our lives have changed. Most people are not fortunate enough to have friends that they’ve known their whole lives. Thank you again God for blessing me so greatly.
Picture one: Jacob,Jayden(Jana's kids)Emma,Camden(Kristen)
Picture two: Emma,Kristen,Camden
Picture three: Emma and Camden

Today, I kept Connor Whitaker because Rachel had the baby. I’m about to do another post of the baby so their family can see pictures of him.

Have a great night.

All my love,

Dana

Funny thing Emma did:
She stood up in a chair and said to Adam, "Look daddy, I'm going to bust my tail".

On our way

I don't know if you could call this a restful vacation but we're having a good time. We made it down to the beach and were able to spend one day on the beach. We enjoyed seeing some of our friends and Emma really enjoyed getting to play with her old friends. We saw some of the teenagers and parents from Panama City and were glad to see them doing well. Emma has taken to calling the teens in PC "the old teenagers" and the ones from West Virginia "the new teenagers". We're now working our way back up the map. We are spending the night at Adam's parents in Enterprise Alabama and going to church with them tonight. Tomorrow night, we will get together with some friends of mine from high school and spend the night at my parents house. Then Friday, we'll be going all the way home. I'm so glad that I think of it as home already. I could be really cheesy and put in some song lyrics here but I'll spare you. Hope you all are having a great week.

The picture of the pregnant girl is my friend Pam. Isn't she cute!!

Love from above,

Dana

More pictures from the ceremony

Vacation

We are making a stop on our way to the beach. We are in Adam's sister's class room in Prattville, AL. This has been our first chance to get internet access. Our trip is going well. We traveled all day Friday and made it to my nephew's football game. The first picture is Emma with him after the game.My grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows. It was a really sweet moment and the family enjoyed being able to get together. We are missing everyone in West Virginia and have enjoyed the text messages and phone calls we've gotten to keep us updated on everything. We have already had some interaction with hurrican refugees and have some neat stories to tell about how God works when we get back. I will share them with everyone when we get home. Just a little reminder to the Heart to Heart girls, keep up your prayer journals :).

I will post more pictures Wed. night when we get to Adam's parents.

Love from Above,

Dana