Shriner's

Ella Grace has an appointment on Monday at Shriner's Hospital.  We were able to go to a free screening a few weeks ago, where they recommended her for treatment, so Monday is our big day where she will go through a 3 hour evaluation to determine if she qualifies for services from Shriner's.  We are excited and hopeful that they will be able to help us with a few issues that need to be taken care of.  Today, the girls and I are driving over to my parents house, because they live closer to Shriner's than we do, and on Monday, my Mom is going to go with us to Spokane to help me find my way around and spend some quality time with Allyson, while Ella Grace and I are at her appointment.

Ella Grace's first week of school was a success... she really seemed to love it!  All of the therapists at school observed her last week, and it sounds like she will begin her therapies this next week, after we are back from Shriner's.   By day 3, she knew when I got the backpack out, where we were headed, and was excited and happy to go!  So proud of our girl, and how she tackles every new challenge set before her!

School Days.....

Today was a big day for Ella Grace!  She went to her very first day of school!  We really thought long and hard about what to do with her schooling situation, knowing that she needed the therapies that are offered, and after meeting with the team 3 times, we felt comfortable enough with all of them, and felt like it was definitely the right move for Ella Grace.  We have been so impressed with all of the team who will be working with her.  They have worked very hard to get Ella Grace into the program, even though there are only 3 weeks of school left.  It is a place to start, and they pushed her through to the summer program as well, so she will be getting services throughout the summer, which will be so important!  We have the priviledge of knowing several of the school employees already, and many were very excited to see her coming.  This made it much easier to leave her in their very capable hands! 

Through all of the evaluations, Ella Grace now has an IEP (Individual Education Plan), which gives us goals for her education.  We are starting at very basics right now, and it will be so fun to see the progress she makes as she goes!  The school even hired a personal education assistant for Ella Grace, who will be there with her every single day, helping her through the afternoon.  I can't tell you how amazing this has all been to us!  We are so very thankful for such a great team of people!

Practicing carrying the backpack!

Here we go!

Ella with Miss Mary, walking down to the recess door.

Recess time is first.... how fun is that?

Not too sure about the helmet!

Puzzle time, and time for Mommy to go home! 

I think she's going to love it, but I can't wait to go get her in 10 minutes!!!  Allyson commented that she misses Ella Grace, and Caleb wants to go with me to pick her up from school, so he can check it all out.  (Jake's not home until after Ella gets home, or he would want to see it, too!)
  Very happy for our girl!

Wordless Wednesday

Persistence

I have to preface this picture with the fact that this girl LOVES to eat.  It is her happiest times of the day, every single day!  When it's meal time, it's time to get down to business, with no messin' around.  Well, to her, for the first two months of being home, praying before meal times was considered "messin' around", and we usually prayed quickly, while she fussed and hollered for her plate of food to be delivered!  Tonight, for the first time, after working on it for so long, she stopped, bowed her head and folded her cute little hands and closed her eyes while we prayed.  Okay, so I have to admit that NONE of the rest of the family had their eyes closed after we saw what she was doing, and we all clapped and clapped after prayer.  What a sweet, sweet moment that I (we) will never forget!  Yes, THANK YOU, Lord, for our food, and for our many blessings, including this sweet one!

(and no, I don't photo every prayer time, we had a re-enactment after dinner was done!)

The girls....

The beautiful grown up girl in this picture is my niece, Kaylee!  She's really more like a big sister to my girls, and she's AMAZING!  She would do anything for my girls, and has spent hours playing with, entertaining and loving them since the day Allyson came home!  Kaylee was so excited to finally have a GIRL cousin!  And my girls.... they think that "KayKay" can pretty much do anything! 

It's taken a little bit for Ella Grace to warm up to KayKay, but she hasn't given up!  She stops by often after school just to spend a few minutes playing with Ella Grace and bonding with her!  She brings her friends down to meet Ella Grace, cause she's just so excited to show her off!  All of her hard work has paid off.... Last night in church, Ella Grace started pointing behind me and putting her arms out... she had spotted her KayKay and wanted to go to her! 

Kaylee is going to adopt LOTS of kids from China one day (we've already discussed it), and I can't wait for the day that she brings her first little one home!  But for now, I'm so thankful that she wants to invest so much into my little girls!   Love you, KayKay!!!

LOVE IS....

....A big brother who brings home a book of sign language, so he can teach his baby sister how to better communicate! 

He has the book memorized after reading through it (so wish I had that ability!) and we can ask him just about anything and he can show us the sign.  We are working on more signs for Ella Grace, but her favorite sign, by far, is "more" and "eat"!  She giggles every time! 

Sweet Saturday!

Breaking her into the GOOD stuff!!!