Happy 4th Birthday, Ellie!

Birthday Girll with her Tinkerbell Cake

Oh, there's so many wonderful ways I love my Ellie-Belly:
She's my firstborn and there's a special bond attributed with that
She's got motherly intuition at a ripe young age
She's compassionate to those hurting
She's a vibrant, energetic, strong-willed, dynamic leader
She makes new friends better than anyone else I know
She's confident
She's an excellent artist and enjoys making up stories & songs
I love you so, my Bird-Bird growing up too quickly for me!
Fairy Friends: Emmy, Brooke, & Ellie

Feeding the 5,000

Opening Presents

Miss Natalie's Dance Party Extravaganza

Lovin' on Mia

Ellie & Kendall-Roo






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Wise Shopping

Christmastime is quickly approaching and the art of frugality is a favorite pastime of mine. All that said, I wanted to turn you on to my latest favorite blog. I check this site multiple times a day for some great deals and freebies. I'm always looking at the Target and Walgreens deals, but there's so much more out there! Just yesterday I was able to make a photo calendar for FREE (shipping and all!), and a few days ago I was able to get some awesome magazine subscriptions for just $5! And my latest? Well, I'm in the drawing to win Riley a Glacier Outdoor Combo Pack for fly-fishing. So, whether or not you've got thriftiness in your soul, check out the website for practical savings.

And, if you're the crafty type, I have two ideas for you. Check out this adorable crayon roll tutorial! I've made several and they're inexpensive & simple to make. Just know that if you have little people living in your house, that's what they'll be getting for Christmas this year from the Post family! Last year, I made these Superhero Capes for Ellie's 3rd Birthday party. While not as cheap nor easy as the crayon roll, these still made great gifts. Oh, and there's always a personalized apron or art smock. Let me know if you attempt any of these... I'd love to see your finished gems!

Thanksgiving in Ohio

Dave, Dad, Ellie, Riley, Me, Saedi, Steve, John holding baby Logan, Scott, Laura, Blake
Megan, Mom, Nana, Jenny holding Hailey, Theresa, Nathan

Last-minute, we decided to trek up to Ohio for Thanksgiving. Ellie is a trooper during road trips and sleeps like a champ in the car. Saedi, on the other hand, can never seem to get comfortable. Needless to say, we spend many minutes singing, playing random made-up car games, and manually holding up the computer so the girls could watch a movie. It's funny that Riley and I both prefer driving over having to entertain the girls in the car! Oh how times have changed. No more passenger side sleeping! Regardless, we're glad we went up for a few days as this is the first time my whole family has been together in over a year.

Ellie playing masks with her cousin, Nathan. Can you guess which one is her?


The girls playing momma to baby Logan. Of course, both girls wanted to give him his bottle, but their attention span lasted seconds. As they got distracted Logan's bottle would slip out of his mouth until intervention was made.


Story time with Aunt Meg. Saedi kept saying, "Jesus loves me!"









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Pics with Daddy

Hair Salon

Horsey Rides

Daddy and the girls raking the Fall leaves




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Loss, Grief, & Rejoicing Intertwined

"Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again...My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you."
Psalm 71:20,23

I've been a poor blogger lately due to a heavy heart pre-occupied by sad news. A few weeks ago we found out I was pregnant, and then at six weeks I miscarried. I finally feel like I'm able to put a small bit of this experience into words. Thus, getting re-started on this blog feels like a dreaded, big step right now. Writing about it is yet one more confirmation of our loss, but it's also a needed step of closure for me. So, bear with me as this is just the beginning of my intertwining thought process.

I'm unable to explain it, but these past two weeks of grieving through my personal loss I've felt an unusual attachment to the Ethiopian baby's birth mother. I will probably never meet this woman, and I may never know the circumstances to why she chose to hand over her precious baby. But right now my heart and soul grieve with her for the loss she has experienced or is about to experience. I find my mind causing me to think the worse not about her but about her circumstances...is she somewhere dying of Aids; is she desperately poor & feels she can no longer make ends meet; is she lonely & feeling hopeless? I grieve for the unknowns of her life. Whatever her circumstance, my heart aches for her and it yearns for her to find the peace of Jesus that is sometimes easiest to recognize in our strongest hardships.

So, yes, even in this grief we're so very grateful that God is preparing us for the arrival of our child from Ethiopia. In some ways, this child from Ethiopia has been my hope. The miscarriage has ignited my passion to fight harder for that baby and I'm beginning to feel first-hand what it means when the books say, in adoption "we are parenting from loss" (MacLeod 5). While we rejoice that we're getting a new member of our family from Ethiopia, and we're excited to add to our family and become a multi-cultural, multi-racial family, this adoption is based upon loss. We will experience the loss of not being able to carry this child and care for the little one for the first months of his life. Now, we'll add the component of loss due to miscarriage. And while everyone may think that this child is "so lucky" to be gaining a family in America, this poor little one will experience more loss than most of us will suffer entire lives. He will have been handed over by his own mother, and losing his country, language, extended family, caregivers, history, and comfort of being with others who look like him. So, yes our hearts skip with excitement when we dream about this adoption happening and holding our little one for the first time, but right now this momma is grieving over the loss of a miscarried "belly baby" (as explained to Ellie) and I'm grieving for the suffering that our Ethiopian baby & his Momma have (or will) endured.

I've appreciated the following statement that is referring to adopted children, but I think can be applied to anyone who has suffered a loss: "If we work with our children to honor their loss, it can be incorporated, and the child can function as a whole again. Then grief & loss are still part of the child, but no longer the dominant part" (MacLeod 174). For me, honoring loss right now means acknowledging that my miscarriage was real and painful, and while this loss will always have a place in our family's story we can rejoice at the joy that awaits us ahead. This little one will not be forgotten.

Aahhh...now that feels good to get that written out. And thanks to Megan for giving me the Scripture that I've clung to:

"Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again...My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you."
Psalm 71:20,23






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While I'm Waiting

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Cupcakes

For the past two years we've gone to Natalie's house with other friends on Halloween night. We all bring food to share, some of the guys usually pass out candy, the kids go trick-or-treating, and then we watch them go bonkers from the sugar in hopes that they'll eventually wear out. The girls were cupcakes this year. Ellie had spotted a cupcake costume on the cover of our Pottery Barn Kids magazine and had been asking to be a cupcake. This thrifty momma was not about to shell out the money for a Pottery Barn costume, but my mother-in-law was happy to help me re-create the costume. I think we did pretty well! The girls got loads of candy and had a blast with their friends.
Brookey as Snow White, Miss Emmy as Cinderella & Ellie as Cupcake

Inspecting the Goods

Buds, Ellie & Caleb





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