Colors?!

This morning I asked Elli what outfit she wanted to wear and she pointed to her pink dress and said, "pink" then pointed to her black and white dress and said, "black", then her green shirt, "gree" What?! Where did she learn colors? She is growing up too fast!

Papa Houge (she calls Grandma and Grandpa "Papa")

The last 12 days we have been enjoying our days with "G-pa and G-ma" Houge! We have had a ball doing....Octoberfests x 2, LBJ farm, Toyota tour, touring Castroville and Boerne and Fredericksburg, cheering for our high school football team (our neighbor is the coach and Texas h.s. football can be compared to other states' college football...it's like no other), glass shops/factories, central market, celebrated birthdays and spent "cool" mornings on the patio. Whew, I think I missed a lot of things as well! Needless to say, we did a lot and Elli loves her grandparents! They made her this stained glass night light for her birthday, too!

More Vikram Happiness!

Many of you know, we have had some major headaches lately with finding out that we probably will not be able to get him until early spring of next year due to change in the process/India court systems. Anyways, what had me in tears many days lately was the fact that immigration had lost our paperwork and we had to "prove" that we had sent it all otherwise, well, not a happy ending. Today, a nice lady from immigration called me and said she got our paperwork completed and we will get our immigration forms soon!! Miracle!! It doesn't speed up our process at all, it's was just a huge mountain that suddenly came in our path and we had to drive over...but it looks as though we passed over this mountain at least! Thanks, everyone, for your prayers! I was so excited when I got off the phone, that Elli is running around the house saying "happy, happy!"

New Pics of Vikram!

Don't ya want to squeeze his cheeks?! He is even wearing blue! This wait to pick him up is crazy tough!! I just want to tickle those chubby rolls and hear him giggle.

One Year Ago...

Wow, she has grown so much! Her friend, Mia, gave her the same outfit she had last year, so had to get "yearly pics".

Elli and Jackie...in San Antonio

My close friend and Colorado room mate, Jackie visited us this weekend. Elli knew Jackie was special from the moment we picked her up from the airport. The whole way home Elli said, "hot dawg!". On Friday we went to the zoo for the first time and Elli's storybooks came alive. She loves making the sounds of animals and "talked" to all of the animals. I think we had just as much fun watching her. She loves butterflies and makes the sign for it and just loved to point at them (pictured). We also had a blast going to the Riverwalk with Jackie, having prayer times in the morning, S'mores by candlelight (it really works!) and we got to go to Ross Parsley's first church service in Austin---so cool! Needless to say it was a rockin' weekend and Elli misses her Godparent, Jackie.

Exploring Arizona with Brother/Uncle Eric

We have had some serious summer adventures and thought we would end it with a bang visiting Paul's bro, Eric, in Sierra Vista, Arizona (close to Tucsan). When we arrived, after traveling all day, Eric had set up a play room for Elli with her own chair and lots of toys. She danced because she was so excited. We visited Fort Huachuca (where he retired and now works as a civilian)...yes the Air Force vs. Army rivalry remains and hung out in a cute mountain town, Bisbee. Our favorite evening was eating at "My Big Fat Greek Restaurant" where Elli yelled "Umpa" quite a bit with her hands in the air! Hilarious!! The music reminded Paul of his Mom's record of Greek music from her Greek roommate. We also fun conversations with Eric on his new outdoor patio. Elli really attached to her uncle Eric and it's always sad to say good-bye.