THREE years of blessings...

Happy 3rd Birthday Evie Jayne!! (:

How do you put into words three years of God's ourpouring of love and hope! We are thriled to have shared the past three years with both of our girls, and watch them grow into amazing kids!!

Evie has had an EXCITING birthday month. Excitement here in the Elsaesser home can be good and bad. We'll start with the good. Evie had an amazing birthday week, filled with family lunch, the zoo, and a birthday party at the nail salon with a girlfriend from school (: Her walking is getting amazing!! Here is a video from the zoo:



Unfortunately Friday night after her birthday party she fell in our basement and was in a lot of pain. We went to the ER and they thought she may have just bruised it but we saw her Orthopedic Surgeon on Monday who confirmed that she has a fracture. He sent us over to the orthotics company that makes her AFO braces and they made her a fancy HKAFO (hip knee ankle foot orthotic) so she can still move around and keep exercising her leg. After a pretty miserable weekend it was great to have a solution that would help her get around. She was back to school Thursday and back to music class today.

So we have a new brace for the next three weeks before her next x-ray. Hopefully things will heal well and the brace will keep the fracture from getting worse. We feel super blessed to live in a city with so many pediatric specialists (:

I can't get my photos to upload, so Big Girl Birthday Photos will be coming soon.

Here's to many more years with our sweet Evie!!

Love you friends (:

Warning:

This post may cause tears and uncontrolled shouts of "Hallelujah!"

Hi Friends (:
After about a month of working on her skills...

EVIE IS WALKING!!!

There is nothing better for me right now than watching Evie take new strides! When Evie's physical therapist was wrapping up a few days before school started she took her first few independent steps, now she is walking independently across the room. She still crawls at times but is more consistently standing up to walk. It's slow and steady and she still uses her walker for long distances (and when she wants to go FAST - as she puts it).
I can't express in words how it feels for me to see Evie walk. Waiting for her to walk these past few years has humbled me and broken my heart (in a good way). It has caused me to stop hoping for the next thing and be content in the present.

I AM SO PROUD of our sweet girl and her determination. When our computer decides to cooperate I will post pictures of her FIRST day of swimming lessons yesterday.

and a big THANK YOU to Suzie from the park... who couldn't wait to meet Evie as she has been following our blog since the beginning. It was a good reminder for me that I need to get on here more often and share our JOY in the craziness of life!

and... we have another new family member! Our first foster placement went home after two months, and four days later we took our second placement. We are back to same-sex children and enjoying a bit of a slower pace (i have a new appreciation for mothers of boys!!!)

LOVE YOU FRIENDS! (:

Evie's life verse (capitals added by myself):

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
THEY WILL WALK and not faint.