Ellis Ohana News

2011-04-06T15:08:00.000-05:00

FOR RECENT UPDATES VISIT MY CURRENT BLOG... http://www.amyarcherellis.blogspot.com Blessings, Amy for the family

2010-10-11T07:40:00.002-05:00

Here is Emily singing Happy Birthday Jesus!

2010-09-11T22:16:00.003-05:00

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY DONOVAN!

We celebrated Donovan's 1st birthday this month. I can't believe he has been with us for a year now. He has been such a joy and a blessing. We have so much fun with him and look forward to another great year with him. Here are some pictures of him and his party.

2010-08-14T20:48:00.002-05:00

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY SHELBYANNE!!

We celebrated Shelbyanne's 5th birthday today. She has been counting down the days till her party (today) and her actual birthday (tomorrow). I am so excited for her. She starts kindergarten in 1 week. I remember with great fondness my kindergarten teacher, Miss Tucker. I think she was a big influence on me becoming a teacher.

I made Shelbyanne's birthday cake. This was definitely a new cake adventure for me. I used fondant for the first time. She loved it which made the late night and all the hours of labor worth it.

This past week we helped out at Northstar Community Church with their Vacation Bible School. It was a lot of fun. I, Amy, worked with the preschoolers. We had 30+ preschoolers throughout the week. They are precious kids. I was able to be with the girls since they are both in preschool, which was good and challenging at the same time. They loved that I was their teacher, although since I was with them Emily wanted to be in my lap and at my side a lot of the time. She did really well though for a 3 year old. Rob was with the 4th-6th graders. He had a great time with the older kids. It was challenging and fun for him as well. We enjoyed serving with the other leaders and getting to know folks there.

2010-03-03T09:52:00.004-05:00

We've had a fun February. The girls have enjoyed getting outside to blow bubbles, draw on the sidewalk with chalk, and ride their bikes. We are looking forward to more warm weather.

Donovan will be 6 months old this weekend. He is almost rolling over, reaching for everything, and definitely ready to start eating food. He is such a happy baby. We are all enjoying him being a part of our family.

Donovan Josiah

Shelbyanne and Emily sporting their bicycle safety gear.

The first warm afternoon we had the girls and daddy ate a picnic lunch and played with water outside.

We took the kids to The Watermelon Patch, an indoor play place for kids. They both were able to climb the climbing wall all by themselves, Emily only needing help getting down.

2010-01-13T10:21:00.004-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

We graduated in December from the training we have been in for the last 3 and 1/2 years with New Tribes Mission and are now officially missionaries with NTM. WooHoo! We took some time after graduating to enjoy Christmas at home as a family. We even had Santa visit us at our home. The girls were thrilled. Shelbyanne sat in his lap and told him what she wanted. Emily told him what she wanted, but she did it from Daddy's lap. She warmed up enough to give him a hug before he left.

We have been in transition for the last several weeks. We are now in Alabama visiting with family and friends and working on our partnership development. We will head to Florida in May to do the same. Then we are planning on heading to Tanzania in the beginning months of 2011. Shelbyanne and Emily started preschool at Spanish Fort United Methodist Church Preschool. They are really enjoying it and already starting to make new friends. Although Shelbyanne comments often that she misses her teachers and friends in Missouri.

This is a picture of them before their first day of school.

We hope you all are doing well and having a great week so far.

2009-10-17T08:27:00.002-05:00

Here is a short video of Donovan. You can hear the girls in the background. We are all doing well. Donovan is growing and sleeping well. Rob is still trying to get a deer. We hope to be having deer roast or stew or something someday soon. Hope you all are doing well. We love and miss you all.

2009-08-02T22:06:00.004-05:00

What in the world have we been up to? I wonder myself some days. We have had a very busy summer. It has been lots of fun hanging out with friends and family. As of today I am still pregnant!! Woo Hoo! We plan to be back in Missouri this Friday. I am looking forward to meeting our baby boy. I just hope we decide on a name for him before he comes. We are still taking suggestions if you have any. Here are some pictures from our most receint events.

Rob's brother Reed trying to beat my belly. I think he did it!

I got to hang out with Brooke, a friend from High School, and her family. It was great!! We all had a blast!

We took a trip to the Miami Seaquarium. We all enjoyed seeing the sea life. I was suprised that Shelbyanne and Emily both were willing to touch the animals.

2009-06-19T22:22:00.002-05:00

Summer has arrived and is in full swing. We have been in Alabama visiting with friends and family since leaving Missouri in May. We are having a blast. The heat is kicking in, and we are having to be careful to watch how long we are in the sun. We have done so many fun things. Here are a few pictures of what we have been doing. Hope you are having a wonderful summer as well.

PETTING ZOO

WATER FOUNTAIN

FIRE STATION

PARK

ART IN THE PARK

PLAY TIME AT HOME

PLAY PLACE FOR KIDS

2009-05-13T21:20:00.003-05:00

We've had a great spring so far. The weather has been wonderful, and we all are enjoying the outdoors. Rob has been out fishing at least once a week since we have had nice weather. We are going to have a great fish fry soon with the fish he has caught. This semester will be completed next Wednesday, and we will be heading out for the summer to visit with friends and family. We have been learning so much and enjoying building relationships with people here at MTC.

Rob let the girls play with a fish he caught in their water table. They had a blast with it. We were proud of Shelbyanne for touching and holding it. She loved showing it to her friends, Sam and Ben.

Here Rob is showing the girls how he fillets the fish. He was telling them all the parts of the fish as he gutted it. The girls were quite interested in this science lesson.

We hung a hummingbird feeder outside our window. We have frequent visitors. Rob took some great photos of a few of our new friends. Shelbyanne has made it her job to announce everytime she sees a hummingbird at the feeder.

It's A Boy!!

2009-04-19T20:25:00.002-05:00

It's A Boy!! Woo Hoo! We took the girls to the ultrasound with us. It was good for them to see the baby. Emily was concerned that mommy wasn't okay. It was really cute. She sat up on my lap towards the end and said, "You okay Mommy?" Shelbyanne is getting used to the idea we are having a boy. She really wanted a girl, but she is going to love having a baby around. Both girls are very interested in babies. They are going to be great big sisters.

Hope you all are having a great weekend and looking forward to another fabulous week.

Blessings and Love,

Amy

2009-04-12T21:54:00.011-05:00

We hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.

We went to Oaklahoma for Spring Break with some of our friends from the training. We had a blast! Here are a few pictures of the things we did this week.

We went to an easter egg hunt on Saturday at the state park. It took about 5 minutes for the children to collect all of the eggs that were scattered all over the grounds. Shelbyanne and Emily and Ethan got to pet a real bunny. Emily kept wanting to say hello to the bunny in it's cage.

Emily had a really hard time the day we were leaving. I don't know if she thought we were going to leave her or not. Daddy snuggled her in his jacket. She felt much better after that.

2009-03-23T14:55:00.004-05:00

Hey all! We had a great winter, but are glad that it is Spring. We are definitely enjoying the warmer weather.

Just in case you haven't heard already we are expecting Baby #3 at the end of August. We are super excited. We will have an ultrasound on April 17th to determine the sex of the baby, so we will let you know how that goes.

We have been so busy with life and classes. We took a Phonetics class last semester and are starting a Grammar class tomorrow. I am enjoying learning tools that will help aid in our language learning. I am anticipating learning a second language to be a big challenge for me. I have never done it, so maybe I will be pleasantly surprised.

Hope you all are doing well and look forward to sharing some more of our lives with you through this blog.

Blessings, Amy

We went to Ha Ha Tonka State Park with our friends. It was so much fun. We all had a blast.

Here are Shelbyanne, Ethan, and Emily hangin out together. Emily and Ethan act like brother and sister. It's so funny to watch.

2008-12-08T17:13:00.004-05:00

We had some great friends, Nathan & Rachel Allen & their girls, head down from the Bible school in Michigan, to visit for Thanksgiving. We had a blast. Rob and Nathan made a turkey in a trash can for a Thanks Giving Day pot-luck meal we had. Rachel and I spent the morning and early afternoon cooking, hanging out and watching the girls.

Rob got his first deer this season. He was invited to go with a man on staff here to his firend's land. They froze the first day and saw only 1 deer. The second day they were walking out on the trail when Rob saw and shot the deer. We have really enjoyed and been thankful for the meat from that deer. He hopes to go out hunting and get one more deer when doe season starts this weekend.

Hope you all are having a great week.

2008-10-14T09:34:00.003-05:00

The Love of a sister...priceless!

Rob's fishing adventure started off slow here in Missouri. He didn't catch anything for the first two weeks of fishing. Then he would catch one here and one there. Finally, a couple of weeks ago the fish started biting, and he has caught several since then. Today he caught two 14 inch Hybrid Bass, along with 4 others that were good sizes. He enjoys providing food for our family. The girls playing with their friend Eythan and his daddy.
Rob's work detail to on the grounds crew. He has done many jobs. On this day he was mowing the grass. It was a big job that needed a big tractor.
Shelbyanne and Emily are doing great. They are having a blast in their classes. Shelbyanne is learning so much. She love to sing and make up her own songs. Emily is sliding down slides and climbing on things. She is still a busy little girl.Amy went to Branson, MO, for a moms-night-away with 5 other moms in her class. We stayed at a "resort" for only $20 each. One of the ladies that went had a time-share with the resort chain. It was a great night for fellowship, getting to know some of the other moms, and rest.
Amy is bringing home a package from the mailbox, which is in the Administration building on the other side of the road behind her. Rob is taking the picture from the kitchen window.

Amy has started walking/running for exercise. (I need a lot of accountability in this area since it is not my favorite thing to do. I would rather play soccer but they play at inconvenient times for me, so I walk. Please feel free to ask me how I am doing in this area the next time we talk.) The girls are playing dress up. Emily is wearing the hula outfit we got for Shelbyanne's one year pictures. Shelbyanne is wearing the Dora costume we got her for halloween last year. She would not wear the wig last year, but had a blast with it on this day.
This is where we have chapel. We have worship and then a speaker. It is a nice chance for the students from all the classes to meet together.

We're Back...

2008-09-23T21:27:00.005-05:00

After a 2+ month sabatical from updating our blog, we're back. We have enjoyed getting updates from family and friends, and hope to be more consistent now that we have settled into a routine.

We had a great summer of traveling to visit with family and friends. It is nice to be home(even though its a new home) and settling into our little slice of normal life again. (at least for now)

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to the last month. Enjoy!

Lunch with our classmates. Let's wash up for dinner! This is our bathtub for the time being. We have a half bath in our apartment, and a shower house next door. We have staff and student friends who have bathtubs, so the girls get "real baths" in a bathtub about once a week.
Emily loves playing with her new friend, Eythan.
The girls got so wet while playing with their water table that we decided to have a picnic dinner outside. They loved it. Daddy had a fire ready to go in the fire pit, so we could make smores with our friends later.

This is a group activity that our learning styles group did in class . Our group was told we were riding down the road at 35mph on a long narrow skateboard. We instructed to get into order according to our birthdays. The only problem was that we were all mute. It made for an interesting activity. We worked together as a team and accomplished the task without anyone falling off.

Rob found a stick bug. Pretty Cool! He has also: found snakes & turtles, caught 2 fish, and seen a fox, some deer, and lots and lots of bugs. He's having a blast.

Rob built a fire pit in our front yard. Hanging out and roasting marshmellows with our friends at the campfire that daddy made.
Aloha Friday

2008-07-21T23:50:00.002-05:00

We have been having a great summer. We have made many memories with our families and friends, and are looking forward to making many more. We are now in Alabama staying with Nana and Pawpaw. It is not often that you have so much vacation time to spend with those you love. We only wish we could be visiting with everyone. We are heading to the Missionary Training Center in August. We will have 1 & 1/2 years in our next phase of training in Missouri. We are very excited about all that we will learn and experience there.

Here are a few pictures of our summer fun.

Swimming at Meme & Granddaddy's house.

Eating dinner with our cousin, Emily, and the rest of the family.

Here are our biggest cousins, Grant, Kyle, & Emily.

You guessed right! This is the actual Bat mobile. It is parked at the Chick-Fil-A headquarters near Atlanta, GA. Truitt Cathy, the owner, collects cars, and this one is part of his collection. He actually drives it when he does events for the kids in the foster homes that he started.

Mommy, Shelbyanne, Nana, and Emily all matched last Sunday for church. What a fun day.

Sometimes blessings come in big packages...

2008-07-05T14:25:00.005-05:00

We're a mini-van family now!

We traded our Escape in for a used minivan. It will be much more spacious for our cross-country travels.

The girls have really enjoyed spending time with their newest cousin, baby Trystan. The girls have gone on lots of treasure walks. A nice place to walk to is the bridge over the canal where we throw bread to the fish and turtles.
We went to Lion Country Safari last week and had the amazing experience of feeding giraffes. That was the closest we have ever been to giraffes. They are incredibly large animals. I can't even imagine how Noah and his family felt when these huge animals began to come to the ark. Shelbyanne was mesmerized with them, but she would not feed them a cracker. She wanted to pet them but she was too scared to get too close.

Hope you are all having a wonderful summer. We are doing great. Rob spent the day cleaning out our van. We all have enjoyed the many opportunities we have had to swim in the pool. Shelbyanne has really enjoyed swimming with her floaties, and is doing a great job. We will be in Florida for another week. Then we will head to Atlanta, and onto Daphne, AL to visit with Nana & Pawpaw.

Many Blessings to you all, Amy

2008-05-01T19:35:00.004-05:00

On Wednesday most of our class went on a hike. We didn't think it would be good for the girls, so we took them to the toystore in town. We also went to a McDonald's that had 2 Bill Elliot NASCARs in it.

Last night the school took us all out to dinner at Country Cupboard restaurant. It was a great buffet and had a neat gift/souvenir shop. In the picture below Shelbyanne is playing on a churn. At first Shelbyanne was pretending to churn butter. Then she wanted to churn cookies.

Today we had more classes where we heard about learning languages, pre-evangelism, and teaching through the Bible Chronologically.
This afternoon we had a fun cultural experience in something they call the "Village" here. They have a large room set up to look like authentic Yanamamo and Yuana villages. They had missionaries that formerly lived in those villages dressed and acting like real tribal people from those villages. We were supposed to observe their cultures and ask them the name of some of the items around them. We had a good time there.

Tomorrow is our last day here. We are really enjoying our time here. This area is so beautiful. Hope you all have a great weekend. Please pray for safe travel for all tose returning to school on Saturday.

Blessings and Aloha, Amy

2008-04-29T20:28:00.003-05:00

This week we are on our Senior retreat in Jersey Shore, PA. We left Michigan on Sunday, with its unusually wintry weather (for this time of the year). I think they are under a freeze warning this week. We are enjoying the crisp cold mountain air of Pennsylvania. It Rained all day Monday, but was an incredibly beautiful day today.

While we are here we are taking our Intro to Tribal Missions class. This is a picture of Greg Sanford, one of our speakers for the week. We are learning many of the things involved in acclimating to a new culture and language.

I hope to have more time to send out some more updates over the week.

2008-04-13T09:54:00.004-05:00

Hello Again! We have had a great month. We found out that we are accepted to the Missionary Training Center with New Tribes Mission in Camdenton, MO. We will be moving there in August and beginning the year and a half training. Here are some pictures of what we have been doing lately.

Emily playing with her toys.

Check out the hair!
Watch where you are going. I hope this isn't a foreshaddowing of the future.
Shelbyanne wanted to send herself in the mail to someone.
Easter Day
The "Tree of Life" at the Creation Museum in Indiana.

Emily's 1st birthday dessert after a day of traveling. Pops came for a visit!

Well, I will try to update more often. It is great to hear from you all.

Blessings and Aloha,

Amy

2008-03-15T16:04:00.008-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEME!

LOVE,

ROB, AMY, SHELBYANNE, & EMILY

2008-02-23T21:10:00.006-05:00

They grow up too fast, don't they? It seems like just yesterday that we were heading home from the hospital with our new little bundle of joy. Just in the last week or two she has started walking. She still falls and crawls, but she gets herself back up and keeps going. I think she is realizing that she can get to her destination faster if she walks. She has started saying sentences. I think today she said, " Da da ba da ga ma!" I know she had something on her mind.

Shelbyanne is growing up so fast as well. She loves to sing and play. She soaks up information like a sponge. Everyday we see a new aspect of her personality. Rob likes to joke with her a lot and today in the store their conversation went like this...

DADDY: We need to get a buggy. (referring to a shopping cart)

SHELBYANNE: That's not a buggy you silly monkey, that's a cart.

We cherish precious moments such as that one. She is at the age where she has started saying the funniest things. Both girls have such cheerful dispositions. They are incredible blessings to us. We are so thankful that God has given them to us.

Shelbyanne said she doing her homework.

If you look closely you can see Emily's teeth coming in. I think she has about 7 or 8 coming in all at the same time. Fun Fun Fun!

2008-02-03T21:42:00.000-05:00

February Flew in Like a Flash

2008-02-03T16:03:00.000-05:00

It has been cold and snowy here lately. Amy and Shelbyanne have been battling colds/viruses. We are on the mend. Emily has been starting to take a few steps at a time. Then she will stand there and clap her hands. Since the Christmas break Emily has been showing off her new teeth with the most adorable smile. Shelbyanne likes to cheese it up for the camera as well.
Daddy made a fort in their room that was so much fun.
We went sledding in the park on Saturday morning. This was Shelbyanne's first time sledding and she did great.

Hope you all are doing well. We finnish up our first block of classes for the semester on Tuesday. We have really been enjoying them so far. We will wrap up Philippians and I, II, &III John. Rob will continue on with Daniel/Revelation, and we will begin Colossians/Philemon on Wednesday.

We cannot believe that it is February already. It is so beautiful outside our window, as long as we don't have to go anywhere. heehee It really is not too bad if you are just going from place to place. I drove on more snow the other day than I have ever driven on, and I could see how easy it is to lose control of the car.
Have a Great week!
Many Blessings,
Amy

2008-01-11T13:30:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful holiday. We hope you and your families did as well. Here are a few of the things we did while we were away.

Read books with Pops. Played with Pawpaw.
Hung out with Daddy.
Played with our Christmas presents.
Fed the squirrels.
Swang together.
Played with our cousins. Rode bikes.
Went down slides together.
Played dress up.
Built our annual gingerbread house.
Learned how to cook. Hung out with Bear.
Welcomed home a new baby.

And much more... Thanks for all the Christmas cards you sent. We love hearing from you all.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

2007-11-13T15:25:00.000-05:00

Well, I can't believe that Thanksgiving is already here. It seems like just yesterday that we were starting school. The weather in Michigan has been quite unusual. Just last week we had an overnight freeze warning. We are enjoying sunny 60 degree weather today, and it is supposed to peak at 45 degrees later this week. It is quite nice though. We are still able to walk outside during this beautiful weather. The leaves are still changing color and falling from the trees, which seems to be later than usual, but I am not complaining. I love the fall. I am looking forward to seeing snow again. I really enjoy watching the snow falling, while I am in the comfort of my warm apartment, of course.

Here's the picture of Emily as a pumpkin as promised.

The girls are doing great. Emily is pulling up to stand and taking a few steps while holding on to furniture or our hands. We were sitting at the dinner table Sunday night and Rob was saying "Dada" to Emily. All of a sudden she said "Dada". We were all suprised. Then Rob went into their bedroom to get them up in the morning, and Emily said "Dada" all on her own.

We went to a park near the school. Shelbyanne and some friends played in the leaves and then on the playground. We took some nice pictures in the leaves. I love our girls!

The Latest...

2007-11-04T20:42:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone!

We cannot believe it is already November. It should start snowing here soon. We are looking forward to that. We have been quite busy the last couple of weeks .

Rob played in a flag football game. It was NTBI Jackson vs. NTBI Waukesha. The girls team won, but the guys team lost. It was really cold and rainy that day so the girls and I were not able to go see Daddy play. Maybe next time.

He got quite muddy.

The girls love each other and are playing well together.
Aren't they sweet?
On Halloween night we took the girls to a church in the area that had "Trunk or Treating". All the cars ligned up and we walked from trunk to trunk collecting candy. They also had a hayride and pony rides. Shelbyanne had a blast. She dressed up as Dora (minus the hair because she didn't want to wear it). Emily was a pumpkin. I will post a better picture soon. Rob and I were a knight and a lady. It was fun. I forgot that I was dressed up until someone I knew would see me and comment on my costume.

Fall Fall Fall

2007-10-22T19:45:00.000-05:00

Greetings Everyone!

We hope you are enjoying the fall as much as we are. We have been taking advantage of the beautiful Michigan weather. The leaves are turning vibrant colors and covering the ground like a beautiful handmade quilt.

Emily started crawling last week. She still likes to play with her head and feet on the floor with her bottom in the air. She is so funny to watch.
This was a fun train ride. Just the right size for Shelbyanne, but not for Mommy!
This was Shelbyanne's first time in a bounce house. She cried at first, but then started laughing and even bouncing on her knees a bit when she saw her friends having so much fun.

Classes are going great. We are in the last week of classes for this block (each block is 3 weeks long). We will be finishing up James/Jude, Romans, and II Corinthians by Monday and starting new classes on Tuesday. Rob will be taking Soteriology, Galatians, and Hebrews. Amy will be taking Galatians and auditing Hebrews. We are learning so much and really enjoying our time of learning, studying, and just hanging out with our friends.

We look forward to hearing from you also.

And the winner is...

2007-10-07T20:34:00.000-05:00

The votes have been cast. Everyone who entered won.
Treat yourselves to a nice cup of coffee or tea on us!
In the last post we asked what you thought Shelbyanne was doing in one of the pictures. She is feeding her bear like Mommy feeds sister. What a sweetie! She has such a tender heart.

This is how Emily sleeps...flat on her face.
Shelbyanne is reading to Emily.

We enjoyed a relaxing day today. We went to church this morning. Watched Nascar, did homework, took naps, and played with our girls this afternoon. Then Rob had a volleyball game this evening. What a nice day. We hope yours was just as nice. Have a great week!

2007-09-30T22:20:00.000-05:00

Dancing with Daddy

Ready to Crawl
E-mail us what you think Shelbyanne is doing in this picture.

safariseekers@yahoo.com

We'll post the results next week.

Emily is 6 months old today.

Today she decided to start saying, "Mamamama". It is neat to hear her little voice. She is a precious girl, and is becoming much more interactive. She is up on her hands and knees, rocking back and forth, and getting ready to start crawling. It is fun watching both girls develop.

Shelbyanne continues to amaze us daily. She is speaking in sentences that we didn't even know she knew. For instance, Shelbyane and daddy were finishing dinner when I took Emily to the couch to nurse her. I turned on the television to watch M.A.S.H. and Shelbyanne said, "Whatcha doing Mommy, watching M.A.S.H.?" Rob and I are still laughing about that one. She has even started role playing with her dolls in her doll house.

Rob and I are still enjoying our classes. I never knew that Romans was so full of excellent foundational teaching. In fact, I never really understood what Paul was saying in the book of Romans as I do now, and yet there is so much more that I need to learn.

I want to encourage you to get to know the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that you are studying the Word of God daily. What a Great God we serve!

Have a fantastic day!

2007-09-05T13:31:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been a whole month since our last update.

School has started and we have been going, going, going! We are doing great though. Here are some updates for you.

EMILY

Two weeks ago I took Emily to the Doctor at the University of Michigan for a checkup about her hips. She had been wearing a brace for 12 hours at night while she slept. They took an x-ray and the doctor said she only needed to wear her brace for two more weeks. The next check-up scheduled is in December. So, as you may have guessed, those two weeks are over and she is out of her brace for good. WooHoo!! Last night was her first night without any kind of a brace since she was 2 weeks old, and she slept pretty well. She is a very active baby. She is sitting up with support and rolling around on the floor. She is a joy to be around, & we love her smiles.

SHELBYANNE

Shelbyanne is doing great. She entered the toddler class in childcare and is loving it. She looks forward to going to class everyday. She communicates very well for her age. We love her sweet voice and are simply amazed at all of the things she knows and says. She loves her little sister. She is very mothering to her. It's cute!

ROB & AMY

We have started classes for this semester and are really enjoying studying the Bible and getting to know our classmates and staff better. Rob is getting involved in the prison ministry where they go to the prisons to share with the inmates how to have and grow in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I, Amy, am trying to balance family, homework (lots of reading), socializing, and my crafts (scrapbooking, sewing, knitting, etc...)

Please keep us posted on what you and your family are up to. We look forward to hearing from you.

Home Sweet Home!

2007-08-10T19:43:00.000-05:00

We're Home! There is nothing like the feeling of sleeping in your own bed. We have begun our leadership training and are glad to see our friends again. Everyone is doing well. The girls are slowly moving back into a routine. We transitioned Shelbyanne to a toddler bed last night which was exciting. She laid in bed an hour before falling asleep. I think she liked it!

We hope you all had as wonderful a summer as we did. Please keep in touch with us!

God Bless!

Family Fun

2007-07-29T16:08:00.000-05:00

Greetings from North Carolina. We will have been to:

Tennessee

Alabama

Florida

South Carolina

North Carolina

Virginia

& West Virginia

before arriving home on August 4th. We are having a great time visiting with friends and family. We hope you are having a great summer as well. Woo Hoo!

What's Up Doc?

2007-06-28T10:01:00.000-05:00

Greetings from sunny...no...rainy...no...sunny south Florida.

We have had a busy summer so far, but are having a ball visiting with friends and family. I apologize that it has been a month since our last update. We had a great time in Alabama with Amy's family. In the middle of June, on Rob's Birthday actually, Amy and Emily flew back to Michigan for a doctor's appointment. The doctor gave Emily a new brace that she wears over her clothes and only for 12 hours at night while she sleeps. Praise the Lord! The doctor said that her hips look normal now. Yeah!! We will have another appointment when we return to Michigan in August. We arrived at Rob's parent's home last Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Shelbyanne is having a blast playing in the water this summer. While at Amy's Dad's house she wouldn't get in, but would only put her feet in and play around it. Rob set up a small blow-up pool in Amy's Mom's backyard, and she would get in but not sit down much. Rob's parents have a pool too and Shelbyanne is finally getting in and having a blast splashing around.

We hope everyone is having a great summer. Let us know what's up with you as well.

Much Love and Many Blessings!

Its Bathtime!

2007-05-31T17:13:00.000-05:00

This week we gave Emily her first bath. She liked it a lot. She slept so hard afterwards that it was hard to wake her up. She is only out of her brace for 7 hours each day. It is really nice to hold her without it on. Emily and Amy are heading back to Jackson, Mi, for a doctor appointment on June 13th (Daddy's Birthday). The good thing is that we will be heading back the very next day.

We have been in Alabama for a week now, and are having a blast. It has been nice to not have homework, although we are looking forward to our classes next semester. Shelbyanne is enjoying being around water even though she has not ventured into it yet. We attended Amy's brother, Will's, high school graduation. He did great. We are so proud of him. We will be in Alabama till June 21st. Then we will head down to Florida.

We hope you all are having a great summer.

God Bless!

Emily Update!

2007-05-23T00:24:00.000-05:00

Isn't She Cute?! We went to the doctor today. Emily had an ultrasound to check progress of her hips. The doctor said to keep the current brace on her 24/7 for one more week. Then she can have it off for 7 hours a day. We are excited for her to get her first bath next tuesday!! She has grown enough that he moved her from a size small to a size medium brace. He said that we need to come back and see him in 3 weeks, so Emily and Amy will be flying back to Jackson, MI in the middle of June.

Hope all is well with you all!!

Summer is Coming!!

2007-05-10T19:02:00.000-05:00

We are coming up on the last week of classes for this semester, and boy are we tuckered out (tired)! I think having a baby may have had something to do with that though. Homework has kept Rob busy for most of our free time, although we do take a little time to get away and have fun.

We went to the Toledo Zoo last weekend and had a blast. It was cold and windy so not all the animals were out and about, but we got to see most of them. Shelbyanne had a really good time. We think her favorite animals were the seals. That's all she wanted to look at in the gift shop on the way out.

Emily is doing great! She is actually starting to smile at us and respond with the cutest facial expressions. We had another doctor's appointment at the University of Michigan on Tuesday where he changed out her brace with a clean one so we can wash the one she had been wearing. We have another appointment on May 22nd, for an ultrasound and doctor visit to see how much she has progressed. Please pray for her to finish growing completely so there will be no future complications. We want her to be able to run marathons or climb the Great Wall of China if she wants to when she grows up.

We are heading to Alabama on Wednesday, May 23rd. My (Amy's) little brother, Will, is graduating from high school on May 25th. We are so proud of him and thankful that we will be able to attend. Will is looking forward to being a freshman at Auburn in the fall.

War Eagle!

We hope and pray that things are well with all of you and your families. Thanks for all the comments we get in response to our blogs. We really like to receive updates on what is happening in your lives. We love and miss you all bunches.

Amy

Update on Emily!

2007-04-28T13:57:00.000-05:00

We had another appointment at the University of Michigan last week. The doctors looked did an ultrasound on her hips to make sure her hips are positioned correctly in the brace she is wearing. The doctor said it looked good. She has another appointment in two weeks to get a new brace put on (a clean one). And then she will have an appointment two weeks after that to check the progress of her growth. If the Doctor is satisfied with the progress then he will move her to a transitional brace that she will only have to wear 12 hours a day. Thank you for your prayers for Emily. Please continue to pray for her hip sockets to grow well and quickly.

Other News:

We had a great week with Nana. She was visiting for her spring break. Shelbyanne still walks around saying "Nana", as if she were around the corner. We are beginning our last block (3 weeks) of classes for the semester. Amy is not yet attending classes again, but is listening to them at home. Rob has been working diligently to complete homework and have plenty of playtime with Shelbyanne. She is adjusting well to being a big sister. She likes to hold Emily, and put her pacifier in her mouth if it falls out. We are really enjoying our two precious children. Shelbyanne just seems so big to us now.

First Week Home!

2007-04-10T17:17:00.000-05:00

Greetings All!

We have been home for a week now, and are doing great. Emily is adjusting well to life on the outside. She is eating, sleeping, and pooping like a pro. Amy has to wake her up at night to feed her. Shelbyanne is enjoying her sister being around. She says, "Baby, Hold you," which means she wants to wrap her arms around her for about 2 seconds. She is sharing well with Emily. She loves to give her toys to play with.

Updates:

We found out that Emily has hip dysplasia, which means that her hip socket didn't form completely.

(Developmental dysplasia of the hip is a congenital (present at birth) condition of the hip joint. It occurs once or twice in every 1,000 live births. The hip joint is created as a ball and socket joint. In DDH, the hip socket may be shallow, letting the ball of the long leg bone, also known as the femoral head, slip in and out of the socket. The ball may move partially or completely out of the hip socket.)

http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site706/mainpageS706P0.html

We have an appointment at the University of Michigan Hospital next week to find out what treatment plan they have for her. More than likely she will have to wear a brace for a certain amount of time to allow the hip sockets to continue to form completely. The good thing is that this does not cause her any pain. We'll update you as we learn more. Please be in prayer for Emily that she would heal quickly.

We had a great visit with Rob's Mom, Marsha. She left today for home in sunny Florida. When she arrived the temperature was 70 degrees. When she left it was snowing and in the 30s. We joked that she brought the cold weather with her. She really enjoyed seeing snow, as she doesn't see much in south Florida. We're looking forward to Amy's Mom visiting. She will be arriving this Saturday and staying for a week.

Take Care All!

2007-04-01T18:54:00.000-05:00

Emily Has Arrived!

2007-03-28T17:24:00.000-05:00

This is the newest addition to our family.
Her name is Marilyn Leigh Ellis. We are going to call her Emily because her initials are M.L.E., Emily!
She was born on Friday, March 30th, at 2:12pm
She weighs 8lbs 5ozs
and is 21.25 inches long

We went into the hospital at 9am in the morning. They broke my water at 1pm, and at 2pm I started pushing. After only 12 minutes and about 4-5 pushes she was out. We ended up having her naturally with no medication.

Rob's Mom arrived in Jackson at 1:30pm on the day she was born. Great Timing! Mom, Dad, Shelbyanne, Emily and Meme are all home now adjusting to life as a family of 4!

Shelbyanne's on the mend!

2007-03-24T21:04:00.000-05:00

Shelbyanne got hit pretty hard this past week with the flu and an ear infection. She had a fever for 7 days, but has been fever free since Friday. She had a really rough week. She stayed home from childcare all week which meant that Rob or I had to miss chapel and classes to stay home with her. I missed the majority of my classes this week, but I am glad that I was able to be home to spend that time with her. She really just wanted to be held and watch her Little People videos. We are glad that she is getting back to her normal playful self and eating again. My prayer was that she would heal quickly and that I wouldn't go into labor while she was sick. Praise the Lord that she is healing and I am still pregnant! :)

2007-03-13T12:46:00.000-05:00

I started feeling some contractions the other night. I really thought I was going into labor, but they subsided and I was able to get some sleep. I think if I had a choice I would really like to go into labor during the daytime. Being unable to sleep I had a lot of time to think. One thing I realized is that we seriously need to decide on a name. I don't want this baby to leave the hospital being called "Baby" because we were unsure what to name her. Although, I am positive that will not happen. :) Thanks for all your wonderful suggestions. We are egarly awaiting the arrival of our baby, and we will keep you updated!

Shelbyanne is ready to be a big sister. She loves babies. We were babysitting a friend's baby the other morning and she really wanted to hold him and carry him around like she does with her baby dolls. I don't think that would have been such a good idea. Well...take care all!

Countdown to Baby!

2007-03-06T19:00:00.000-05:00

The time is drawing near for the arrival of baby number two. I definitely admire those of you who have been down this road. It is tiring being pregnant and caring for a one and a half year old. Shelbyanne is a precious little girl. She is at a wonderful stage right now. She is learning new words everyday, and responding very well to our instructions. She can count to 10 by herself, and is learning to sing her A B Cs. She plays so well with others, and is really good with babies. We are excited for her to be a big sister. She seems to already care for her friends and usually wants to help them if they are in need. She has a sweet mothering spirit about her. I've been mentioning all the good things about her, but let me tell you she can be a bit stubborn at times. She is definitely testing us in many ways. I think she gets that from her mommy & daddy. We can all be a bit stubborn & selfish at times. Right?!

As for Mommy & Daddy we are doing well. Classes are going great. We have been learning so much this block. Rob is finishing up his Prophets class and is beginning Hermeneutics II. This is the second class of learning to properly interpret the Bible, historically and grammatically. Together we are taking Life of Christ, which has been an incredible walk through the Gospels. We are also taking Man and Sin in which we are focusing right now on the creation and purpose of man.

The timing of our classes and having this baby has worked out perfectly. We finish this block of classes on March 27, and I am due March 29. Then beginning March 30th we will be on Spring Break for a week. After spring break I am only auditing classes. I will have to attend or listen to the classes, but I will not have to do the homework. That takes a lot of pressure off of me and allows me to focus on our girls.

Thanks to those of you who have responded to our blog. We really love to hear how things are going on in your lives as well. I am sorry we have not been able to communicate more personally with all of you. However, we will be more diligent in responding to you in the future. We love and miss you all!

Welcome to Our Blog!

2007-03-02T19:00:00.000-05:00

We have finally set up a blog spot so we can keep you updated on what's happening with us. We hope that you will enjoy the updates and let us know as well what is going on in your neck of the woods!