99 Lunches

Ninety-nine days into the school year and Ella's lunches still look like this and she still loves them.  I sometimes ask her about the amount of lunch, such as this evening inquiring if she wanted one or two string cheeses tomorrow (she chose one).  And Ella recently asked me to start putting fresh parsley in with her veggies - she's definitely from Armenia where many restaurants serve dishes with a bunch of fresh mixed herbs on the side.  Yum.

Picture Of The Day

I was at the girls' school today and remembered to take a picture of the Armenian flag that now hangs in the cafeteria. One of our favorite things about the school is that children born in 40 different countries attend there.  Each country is represented with its flag.

IAC 341 & 342 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 341 on December 3, 2015:

1) Spanish dossier from December 2010 referred a female child aged 1 year and 6 months

2) Italian dossier from January 2011 referred a male child aged 1 year and 2 months with features in health status and a family history

3) Swedish dossier from November 2013 referred a male child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status

4) Italian dossier from June 2015 referred a female child aged 9 years and 9 months

5) US dossier from December 2015 referred a waiting child (#2800) with a profile on the MOJ site

6) US dossier from November 2015 referred two waiting children (#2853 & #2854) with profiles on the MOJ site

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 342 on December 10, 2015:

1) Norwegian dossier from October 2010 referred a male child aged 3 years and 6 months

2) French dossier from December 2011 referred two female children aged 5 years and 6 months & 6 years and 8 months

3) US dossier from December 2015 referred a waiting child (#2858) with a profile on the MOJ site

4) US dossier from December 2015 referred a waiting child (#2871) with a profile on the MOJ site

5) US dossier from December 2015 referred two waiting children (#2915 & #2465) with profiles on the MOJ site

6) US dossier from December 2015 referred a waiting child (#2987) with a profile on the MOJ site

Picture Of The Day

You know it's going to be a good day when it starts with this self-adorned, self-proclaimed ballerina minion marching into your kitchen.

Lilit In America

As many of you know, I have been advocating for Ella's best friend from Armenia, "Eden" for quite a while.  Today, I am happy to report that Eden whose real name is Lilit has arrived in the US to receive life-saving spinal surgery.  SOAR and the Harold and Josephine Gulamerian Armenian Orphan Fund are making this treatment possible for her.  SOAR has asked me to keep a blog chronicling Lilit's journey which you can read here.

As you can imagine, there's quite a bit of excitement in our house surrounding Lilit's stay in the US.  Ella especially has been over the moon happy for her friend.  The girls have exchanged messages and are eager to see each other again.

Lilit is scheduled for surgery on January 27.  Please keep this special little girl in your thoughts.

The Ella Show

Not too long ago, Ella discovered that she can record herself with her camera.  Based on the hilarious videos that Craig and I now get to watch, Ella seems to think she has a real audience ("Hi everybody, you might remember me, it's Ella... hope you enjoyed this video") and that she can send messages to others this way.

Here's her game day bathroom pep talk for Peyton Manning:

And here's a completely silly selection:

Favorite Sentences

From the kids' second quarter report cards...

"Ella is making good progress in all academic areas in the first grade. She is reading at grade level and applying the learned comprehension strategies.  She continues to be an active participant in whole class discussions."

"Rex continues to make his thoughts and feelings known by whatever means possible.  He will use a variety of signs, verbalizations and pictures to make sentences and ensure his ideas are heard."

"I am so proud of the progress Emilia has made this quarter.  She is a delight to have in class!  Thank you for your support and for sharing Emilia with me."