This Tuesday, Annie and Elise took advantage of time off from school to go to Dollar Day at the Dallas Zoo. Here are some pictures and videos from their trip. If you haven’t checked out the new Giants of the Savanna habitat, it’s worth the trip.
Audio from IBC
A week and a half ago, Annie and I were invited to tell our story — Elise’s story — onstage at our church. Â Basically, our pastor asked us a few questions toward the end of his sermon. I thought it was quick — four or five minutes — but then I listened to the sermon podcast. It was nine minutes long! I guess time flies when you’re talking about your crazy adoption journey. At the end of the day, after speaking in all three Sunday services at IBC, we were exhausted but grateful for the opportunity.
If you’re interested, you can listen to our nine-minute interview below.
What A Year!
Merry Christmas!
Wow, what a year it has been. Believe it or not, one year ago today we arrived at DFW airport with little Elise in tow. Here’s the last video from our Vietnam trip:
One year later, we celebrated our first traditional Christmas morning (no international flights). Elise came downstairs to discover a new kitchen and a backyard blanketed in snow. Naturally, we captured everything on video:
What a difference a year makes! We hope your Christmas was a great one.
These Days
Around this time last year, our lives changed pretty dramatically. It has been cool to think about what a difference a year makes. Where we’ll be one year from now … we have no clue.
Anyway, I wanted to give you an idea of what our life is like these days:
Elise (eating at the table): “All done!”
Me: “Oh, you’re all done?”
Elise: “No.”
Me: “OK …”
Our first Halloween
We weren’t sure if Elise would get to experience her first Halloween; she got diagnosed with type A and type B flu (again) on Wednesday, plus an ear infection. But our little Elise bounced back, so she could be Minnie Mouse. She didn’t really get why you went to peoples’ houses but didn’t go inside. She did, however, get that there was stuff in her treat bag that she didn’t want to let go of – surrendering the treat bag resulted in a minor melt down. But all in all, we were glad that Elise was feeling well enough to put on her costume. 🙂
Wake Up!
Waking up Elise every morning for school is a pretty funny process. Emphasis on the word process.
Goodbye, Summer
It has been quite a weekend in McClellan Town, let me tell you. Why? Well, the little one came down with the flu! Our three-day holiday weekend turned into wrangling an ailing but active toddler … not exactly what we had planned. The good news is that Elise’s fever has subsided and me and Annie managed to keep from coming down with flu bugs of our own.
The other good news is that Annie and I put together a little summer highlight reel of some of our favorite Elise moments (that we managed to capture on video anyway). Grab a bag of popcorn and enjoy:
The Aquarium
Summer is winding down so we’re doing our best to make the most of it. Recently, we took advantage of a day off to take a family trip to the Dallas World Aquarium. Of course, I had to shoot some video on my phone (beware the shaky footage for those with weak stomachs and beware the bad acoustics of a crowded aquarium).
Elise Shows Off
This week we put together a new video of Elise showing off some tricks. Specifically, here she is dancing, clapping, and weighing in on Dallas sports teams:
Dancing, Clapping, and Sports from Scott McClellan on Vimeo.
Elise does what she does best: entertains us.
An update on Emily: We recently found out that Emily is back on a ventilator but off of her blood pressure medication. She still has the unknown infection and has also come down with a touch of pneumonia. In spite of all this, the family sounded like things were better. Please continue to pray for all of them.
Walking
Elise has been walking up a storm lately. Here she is going back and forth across our living room: