Introducing Clara Rose Wilson – and God’s Kindness!

In the past year, you have met Maggie Violet and Trinity Grace, Ruthie and Rachel’s babies.  Well, now we have added one more baby to the household.

Ellie would like you to meet…  Clara Rose!

Unlike Maggie and Trinity, Ellie apparently did not adopt Clara.  Here is the story, according to Ellie (she has stuck to this story for over a week now) She had Clara last week (delivered in our basement hospital by Dr. Ruthie), and the baby had to be taken to another nursery because there was a very “tough” baby in our nursery that broke all the tools, so Ellie’s baby had to go to a different nursery.  The nursery just happened to be a nursery in Hartville where babies to be adopted are usually taken.  So we were just picking up her baby last night.

Now get this…  Let me just begin by saying that God is so kind to us!  We walked into Hartville Collectibles last night, made our way back to the nursery, which is actually a special room with the huge glass window where you look in and view 6-8 babies lying in real hospital bassinets.  Instead, we find the window covered with brown paper and a sign that says “Clock Room coming in Spring 2010.”  No nursery.  No babies.  A worker saw our shocked and sad expressions – especially a Mommy and Daddy who were probably about to cry as they thought of a little girl who had dreamed of this moment  for months, had carefully chosen a name, and knew exactly what baby she wanted (blonde hair and able to take a bottle).  The woman seemed as sad as we were and said that she had come into work the day before to find it that way – she had had no idea they were closing the nursery.

Ellie was very sad, but then the woman showed us that there were still a few newborn babies in a display case.  Lying there were three babies, and (praise God!) one was a blonde baby who could take a bottle!  The woman went in the back and scrounged around for any of the memorabilia that is usually given, like a pledge to care for the baby, a baby Bible, and some “It’s a Girl!” stickers.

We were so blessed by Ellie’s response.  She did not once complain or cry because she did not get to go through the whole “adoption” process with a “nurse” who showed her how to care for her baby and took her picture in the special rocking chair.  She was simply thrilled to have her baby!

It was Daddy and Mommy who wanted her to have the “experience.”  We were able to print out a birth certificate from the Middleton doll website, and we reenacted the experience this morning in the basement, with Mommy acting as “nurse.”

And here are the girls and their babies.

My 6-year-old

Little Elisabeth Kristine was born 6 years ago today.

Here she is at 2 months…

And now, at 6 years, with her very first real Bible…

Although we keep telling her that she MUST stop growing, she continues to disobey.  What do we do about that??  Over the past year, she has learned how to read, how to ride a bike, and how NOT to suck her thumb.  I wonder what this coming year will hold!

Happy birthday, my sweet, cuddly Ellie!  I love you!

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Oh, Ellie wanted me to include a picture of her birthday cake.  Her request was to have Bunny on the top of her cake.  She received bunny from a friend at our church when she was born.  Bunny has since turned from pink to gray-pink and is missing one eye, but he is still the most loved doll in this house, by far.  I did the best I could.  Ellie was very pleased, which is all that counts!

Wilson Book-It

We did Pizza Hut’s Book-It program for a couple of years, until we finally got tired of the girls complaining about going to Pizza Hut (yes, they are completely nuts!).  Knowing that the girls love Book-It, just dislike the pizza, we were trying to come up with an alternative, when my mother-in-law sent me a coupon book full of fun rewards for kids (To Kids with Love Coupons, by Hallmark).  Now we just print the Book-It reproducibles that are available to the public, giving the girls coupons when they complete the goal.

Here is a sampling of some of the rewards they get:

-  You choose the meal menu

-  A batch of cookies of your choice

-  A movie night – you choose the movie

-  A day outdoors with the family – you choose the activity

-  Make-your-own sundae bar

-  Seconds on dessert

What is so fun about this is that, really, we all win.  The rewards we choose are purposely meant to promote family togetherness (and if it can involve dessert, all the better!).

Knitted Gifts

For Christmas this year, we put our new knitting abilities to work on some washcloths.

I made the little girl cousins and my girls flower-shaped washcloths.

Rachel made Grandma Tyrrell a washcloth that had a nice moss stitch around the edges.

And Ruthie made Gramma Hilda a garter stitch washcloth.

Oh, I also made my newest nephew, Aaron, a washcloth with a duck on it.  Unfortunately, those pictures are not yet loaded to the computer.

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