Merry Christmas 2008! (our Christmas letter)

Dear Loved Ones,

Our prayer is that this letter finds you healthy, happy and whole. This is the Ellison family’s first ever Christmas letter!  We wanted to take a moment to share our year-in-review with all those we treasure in our hearts.

2008 was a whirlwind of play dates, appointments, and sharing meals with family and friends. Andrew is enrolled for college again, Blake has discovered Monopoly, Grace can read, and I cut off (almost) all my hair!   You can say it: “What was she thinking?”  In other news, the kids cannot wait to meet their new pets – they both asked for hamsters for Christmas.

In May, we were blessed with a trip to Florida. We were able to visit with many of my Floridian family members. Blake and Grace spent time with my Grandpa Roney – an experience that beats sitting on Santa’s lap any day. This trip was also our first visit to Disney World.

In June, we spent some quality time with my brother Kevin and his wife Angie while they were in town from Wisconsin.  Also, our June included  a day trip to the Toledo Zoo, and a swimming class for the kids.

August brought our annual camping trip with friends at the Pinery Provincial Park in Ontario. Fresh air is good for families. J We ate more s’mores than is probably legal in Canada.

Andrew and I celebrated our 9^th anniversary on September 11^th. We are so blessed to have each other and to know the miracle of marriage.  Andrew is working for Saturn, and he tied for top salesperson in his store for 2007. Andrew also teaches middle school kids at church once a month. 

Blake turned eight on September 17^th.  He is excelling in third grade, and enjoys being on the student council. Blake played T-Ball in the spring and spent five whole days on his own at summer camp with kids from our church.  He is also looking like quite the smarty-pants these days in his first pair of glasses.

Grace just turned five on November 30^th.  She is learning all about what it means to be a Kinder-gartner. I get to help in Grace’s class every other week and see her in action as a student.  She is a cuddly, creative girl with a great sense of humor.

As for me, I have finished 19 credits so far toward my nursing degree.  My mom has been a great support, watching the kids often while I was in class. And I love my Wednesday nights, when I volunteer with the teenagers at our church.

Next year we will enter a new stage in our lives: the kids will both be in school all day.  Imagine the possibilities for Mom! Most likely that means I will be enrolling in a few extra classes. Our house in Detroit is up for sale and we are excited to move on to our next home, wherever that may be!

In 2009, we hope to continue growing in love and pressing on towards Christ’s calling for our lives. We would love to hear from you!

Warm Wishes,

        AMY

 

 

The Birthday Boy

 

 

Blake's Birthday: September 17, 2000. 8lbs.5oz.

 

Naps are fun when your bed is a car!

 

8 years old today. Same Blake, just all stretched out.

 

Man, I love this kid.

Happy Birthday Blake!

 

Structure Brings Silliness?

After-dinner silliness

 

I’ve had such a chill day.  My house is clean, quiet and calm.  It feels like a while since it’s been this way.  Summer has a way of bringing chaos into our house.  Perhaps that is one reason I have come to love fall/winter.  During the school months, I am diligent about keeping order; details like chores and bedtimes are rarely overlooked.  But when summer comes, we are all so excited about being outside and doing things, and I find myself more than not putting off my good disciplines in order to cram in as much fun as possible. 

 

Today, my children were extra tired from a late night last night, and our garage roof was getting a facelift, so we stayed home and relaxed.  I did some laundry.  Blake took a three hour nap.  (By the way, I’ve never seen a seven year old who likes to nap like him.  He would nap four or five hours if I’d let him. Perhaps that’s why he’s tall…) Grace helped me scrub and hose-down the garage exterior.  We grilled some burgers and MADE BEDTIME.  And in all this, I was reminded how much my children like structure.  They were so content and happy and playful today.  As much as they may beg me to break the routine to let them do various things, the days when we stick to a routine are the days they enjoy the most.  I knew this, but haven’t seen it in my house in months.  

 

Dinner tonight was FILLED with laughter.  Total silliness.  Grace is just a little comedian.  She makes us all, even herself, crack-up until our sides hurt.  She has been such a sunny addition to our family.  Grace is my songstress, always singing something she learned or made up.  And Blake, oh my Blake is such a blessing to me!  He helps me in so many ways.  He helps with laundry, reads bedtime stories to Grace, and he almost always obeys me without a fuss.  He and I connect very easily.  I am so blessed when I think of the gift I have in my family.  

 

 

 

i’m still alive.

promise.

i finished my first college essay tonight. my sister teases me that i am only so excited because my school expreience is just begining… she assures me that in a few years, lectures wont be so interesing, and homework wont be as fun… but gee… i hope that’s not true. as much as studying in itself is not something i enjoy, while i am doing it, i am deep down excited to be learning, and using brain muscles that have been dormant for a long while.

tomorrow my son turns seven. he’s had one rockin birthday weekend extraveganza. yay! happy day, buddy.

my life is turning – again. i suppose our lives are always shifting and changing. well… with school started, and our house hopefully selling this school year, i know some changes will hit our family a bit. and then there’s church. ah, yes. church. it’s quite the subject eh? we could talk for days on this subject, and yet in the end, is there really anything to say about it at all? it is what it is.

my husband has a change of career on the brain too. please keep him in your prayers. selling cars is not a career he wakes up excited about, and it’s not the best job in this economy for a single income family. we have been praying and feel that his going to school would be good, maybe a computer related track- but the guy works all the time, so that will be very difficult to say the least… sigh….

anyway. i am hopeful for the future, it looks good to me.

 

tough love.

my kids are sick. for real sick. finally a reason for their intense crabbiness of the past couple days. fevers. coughs. and blake had some icky sticky runny yellow goo – oozing from his ear all day today. gross. but it seems to be relieving some of the pressure that was causing his cries of pain last night.

i was tough on him last night. i knew he was sick, and thought he probably had an ear infection – but since the doctor’s office is closed for the weekend, and i had given him motrin, i thought surely it was okay for me to ask and expect him to stop crying after an hour or two of his non-stop wailing. i was tough. not that i think i was entirely wrong in expecting him to compose himself just a little bit. it’s just hard to feel good about being tough even if i know it’s for their good. it’s hard not to want to spoil them when i realize that they are going to be adults before i know it – and i wont be able to wake up and make them pancakes while they run around laughing with eachother.

not long ago i was bathing grace, shampooing her little head, and i was once again overcome with the feeling that i want to freeze my children in their current ages. i want to shampoo my babies hair forever. selfishly, i dont want them to grow up. to lose their naivety. time is just racing by, much faster than i expected it to.

 

My Family

blake may not be so happy here, but mom and grace are!

and that’s all of us! i was trying to find a picture of the four of us together, but it’s apparently impossible; one of us is always behind the camera.

 

My son blake is for some reason fascinated by tatoos. we’ve told him he has to be 18 first for a real one. in the mean time, daddy gives him great sharpie tattoos!