Look who is growing up?!!!

I

Happy 3rd month, little Miss Sunshine!!!

You brighten our days and we're falling in love all over again. We are so blessed to have your sweet spirit in our home and hearts.

You are a very strong little girl, who loves her formula and her sleep. You are very talkative and spread lots of smiles and raspberry kisses. You are already pulling yourself up, love bath time but strongly dislike when you have to come out of your little bathing tub. 

You are very loved!!!

( a little banana bread cake improvisation and raspberry lemonade mock tails curtesy of your big sister, Ella who loves you dearly.)

You blessed our lives for a short while but your sweet spirit will always be felt in our family heart.
(You were moved to the paternal grandmother on April 3rd, 2015 Easter Friday.) We love you and miss you dearly!!!

Fostering children

Many may wonder why we foster. I have been thinking about what would be a simple one-word answer. An all encompassing answer. Yes, we both, all three in fact (Ella included) love children, all children, and we love them a lot. We know there are so many of them going through what no human being should go through and we want to help, get them out of that, to love them, to offer them a loving and safe home.

But if I were to truly sum it up in one word, in one reason, that would be Christ. I do it because i feel this is my way of showing Christlike love, of being Christlike. This is my was of fulfilling or attempting to fulfill this commandment He gave me:

"For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

"I was naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

"Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

"When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

 

"Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

 

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."- The Words of My Savior in Matthew 25:35-40

GSWEC Show: the making of a little Champion :)

Ella kicked off the New Year, really-The very first weekend of 2015 with some beautiful performances on Piccolo.

She got her first Champion (first place overall) ribbon by winning first place in all her classes in cross rails. In flat work she didn't do so great as at the time, her and Piccolo were having a bit of a disconnect on when to pick up the canter and not a fast trot, but as only Ella can turn it around, she at least got the purple ribbon( last place),  the royal color! I love her amazing sense of humor and positive attitude!! 

It was so great to have an amazing cheering squad who braved the close to freezing temperatures and spent hours standing and cheering for her. She sure felt so loved and encouraged!!! I love our family!! And of course, the lovely and warm hat from Mamaie and Tataie sure kept her warm!! 

Oh, that huge smile!!! She was so so happy and proud!!! 

 With her pretty awesome teammate who did great in the long stirrup division ridden by Hope Meinen. 

Some shots from her performance with Hope. She came first in two classes and second in the other two. 

 We shared some amazing moments those couple of days.

With the rest of the team and her trainer and barn owner, Marieke Slik. 

The beatitful collection of ribbons:

The very best of luck in your next show, girls!!

Holidays

Again, I'm so behind with updates. We had a good Holiday season though. My brother and sister-in-law and their adorable girls flew from India to spend the holidays with us. The girls had a lot of fun together and it was hard to part.

The house was full and full of laughter and that did my soul (and I think everyone's) much good.

(This is Toby, missing me.)

Christmas was lovely in every way. 

Due to the nature of my work, I was not able to take one single day off holiday season (don't ask how happy I am (NOT) about this.) They all took a road trip to Atlanta to visit our family there, and then one to SC to visit Hrishi's Alma Matter (Clemson University), and then on to their final destination, the most magical place on earth-Disney World! They had a blast although it was again (for Hrishi, especially) a lot of work, planning, food prepping, and more planning to keep Ella well-fed and safe, as she did not have any store/restaurant food the entire trip. Luckily for her (and for us all, especially for me being at home and worrying about all this), her amazing aunt in Atlanta, Meghan, cooked safe yummy food for her, and so did her other even more amazing aunt, Aparna! :) I love these ladies and they sure made this momma feel loved and comforted by taking such great care of Ellie. 

I can say though that being home by myself, I was able to work out every day, cook and freeze meals and prep a nice New Year's meal they arrived just in time before the clock striking 12 into the New Year, to enjoy! Yes, that was a very long drive back from Orlando... some 14 hours.

I am grateful beyond words to my awesome husband and brother in law for driving safely and tirelessly for so long! And grateful to HIm for making it all possible.

Our lovely Toby kept me nice and warm company and was his wonderful cute and cuddly self. :)

Here's hoping this New Year will bring us all much joy in our labors, answered prayers, and happy times.

The first weekend of the New Year, Ella competed in a GHHJA (Greater Houston Hunter Jumper Association) show and won her first Grand Champion ribbon ( that is first place overall.) She won Reserve Champion on the first day of the competition (which is second place overall) and set a goal for herself to come first the second day. And she did. She did an exceptional job and not only won first place overall but swept blue ribbons in all her classes. Oh my goodness, how happy she was, extactic in fact, and so were we! The other super nice accomplishment for her pony, Piccolo is that she competed in the long stirrup (higher jumps) competition ridden by a good friend at the barn, Hope Meinen, who is 14 and won both days first place in that division. Our Piccolo is quite amazing!

We love this beautiful Welsh and Hanoverian pony. 
 

I think I will dedicate an entire post to this very special event. It meant a lot to Ella and all of us.