(Many) updates

On Friday we dropped parents off at the airport needless to say with teary eyes but with hope to see each other soon... somehow. We were so blessed to spend this past month together...we got to vacation for a few days in Chicago, enjoy the flagrances of fall (and winter as we got snow on Oct 10th!!!!), shop, cook, watch movies, and just do the typical family stuff that families do. We took tons of pictures as usual and will post some of them here. Ella misses them already and wants to visit them in Romania soon, so do we. So blessed to have such good parents, we're really proud of them and grateful that could visit.


We got to go to the temple together and that was such an awesome experience. Love my parents and I'm so grateful they/we can be together forever. I don't know if you can tell from the pics, but I tried to capture their glowing faces after the session.

On the 16th we celebrated Ella's 4th birthday! She actually had a birthday weekend and not just a birthday as we celebrated her on Fri, Sat, and Sun. On Sat she had a party at the gym where she takes gymnastics and on Sun after church we had family friends over for a nice Romanian/Indian meal with mici and veggie/rice pulau and other goodies. She had tons of fun! It was really wonderful to watch her and her friends play together. They're literally like little "party animals" jumping around, running, and following the instructor through all the fun activities they had. Then they gobbled down the cake (which in my mind was a masterpiece) as neither me or my mom ever adventured to bake and decorate a horse cake! 

Back to watching the little "party animals", aside from the excitment what struck me was the love and camaraderie they shared. It was genuine friendship.

Another testimony to me that these little ones are indeeded the purest. Ella was a great hostess: she welcomed each friend to the party and later helped the gym personnel to set up the table with plates, glasses, and silverware. She got a tons of beautiful presents for which we're very grateful. From mommy and daddy she got three live fish pets. Her first pets ever. She loves them: stands in front of the fish tank and talks to the fish. I can feel/tell she'd love to be able to have a way to truly "pet" them :-)

I think that's it for today. I'm grateful for a good/busy work day (at work) and looking forward to finishing the day with Ella and Hrishi.

Hooray!!!

Some wonderful late breaking news! We are moving to TX! Can't really tell you how happy and excited we are! There's tons of work ahead of us with all the packing and moving logistics but it'll be worth it. Already done a lot online searches, scurring the area to find preschools, fitness clubs, stores, etc. and to my surprise everything I was looking for is available and more! Looking forward to this new beginning! Truly thankful for our employer agreeing to this arrangement and of course to Him for making it all possible. Coppell, here we come!

Catching up

This is the very reason why I was hesitant to start a blog: fearing that I would not keep it up to date. I guess it's ok if I don't make entries every day or every other day as long as I keep them coming at "reasonable" time intervals (whatever that means.) Our trip to Chicago was awesome, had tons of fun, stayed in the heart of the city, half mile away from the Navy Pier.

Ella soaked it all in, loved the Navy Pier rides, the Field Museum, the aquarium, the planetarium, and the boatrides, but more than anything she enjoyed the company of her grandparents. She loves them so much and she's embraced them back right away. We were all wondering how she was going to react after not seeing them for such a long time (over a year.) They got along wonderfully right away from the moment we picked them up at the airport onwards. It was great to see mom and dad and show them around the big city. We took lots of pics (yet to be posted.) We're blessed to have pretty good weather with no rain or wind (which is a bonus when you're talking end of Sept-Oct in the Windy City.

It was great to be back home in Omaha though. Ella missed her "home sweet home" and was delighted to show mamaie and tataie (grandma and grandpa) all her toys. Of course, she got TONS of presents in books and soft toys (her most favorite), and delightful outfits from mamaie and tataie. She is one lucky little girl!
Now we're back at work and she's enjoying her time off from preschool having a blast with her grandparents at home. She amazes them with her sweetness, sharpness, and creativity.

The more I type this, I feel this should be a post dedicated to her, as I've been even more amazed and grateful for having such a special wonderful child of God entrusted to us to raise and to cherish.  Where do I start? Just can't saying enough about the big kisses, hugs and "Love you's" she genereously shares, her great singing and dancing, her deep interest in books, her amazing pretend play/games,  her vocabulary and overall language skills that (from what I can tell) surpass those of children her age, her love of God and desire to learn and listen to scripture stories, oh how we love her!!! I just pray to be or become more the kind of mother/parent that will allow her to continue to blossom and fully develop her amazing potential! I love you, baby! We are so lucky to have you!

Other updates... over the next couple of weeks we'll know if we'll be spending another winter in good old Omaha or if we'll start a new adventure in a different place. We hope and pray it's the latter.

Loved Gen Conference, feel so blessed to have such inspired leaders, prophets to lovingly guide me, speak to my specific needs, and offer comfort and strenght! Thank you, thank you, thank you!