Someday I hope Ellie (and any other future children we are blessed with) are able to look back on their life as a "Nav Kid" and be grateful for the way that so many awesome college students have invested in them!

Let me give you a small taste of "Life as a Nav Kid" :) Ellie is one of the only 6 months I know who "hangs out" on campus :) :) She has already been to campus a LOT of times.. whether for prayer walks, volleyball games, visiting students in the dorms, Quad Day, other events, or in the case of the last two days- to tag along with me as I meet with students. Both yesterday and today it just worked out that Ellie would just come with me to campus... I was a little nervous, but she did awesome!! She sat on my lap for part of the time, and then sat in her carseat playing with toys. I think she is so enthralled by all of the commotion, that she is pretty content. I know these days won't last forever... I'm enjoying them while I can :)

Life as a Nav Kid (so far) has involved lots of travel, many evenings at home without daddy or mommy or both, conferences, students in and out of our home, and a whole lot of LOVE from many, many college students. I think Ellie would say, "So far, so good" At least I hope so :) 

It's been a very crazy month for us.... We started off October by flying to MN for my cousin's wedding. We then took a last minute road trip to Platteville to be with my dear friend Lindsey whose husband (of a few months, he is also a childhood friend) was severely wounded in Afghanistan. We then packed up and headed over to Indiana for Fall Conference. Then my parents came down for a few days and then Noah's parents came down for a few days (they overlapped for 24 hours). Now this week we head to Kentucky for a Navs National Staff Conference. WHEW!

Ellie got used to having someone new here every time she woke up from a nap :) I think I'm more tired than she is! We also had a very fun month of milestones (sitting up, rolling over, eating baby food, first Halloween, multiple trips to the pumpkin patch, etc. etc.) Here's a few pictures :)

Such a big girl!

This book was purchased at the Champaign Library in the honor of her birth (Her name is inside the cover!)

Talk about learning to sit in a chair ;)

Our sweet pea!

Happy Halloween Ellie! (Hard to see but the smile says Ellie)

Have I mentioned that this girl loves her thumb? And her blanket? And her crib? :)

Confession: I used to be obsessed with country music back in high school. It's true- just ask my family or my best high school friend Lindsey. :) An old song came to my head today when I was playing with Ellie.. It's written to describe love between a man and woman, but it totally fits with my (our) love for Ellie, too :) One of the verses goes like this...

How do I love you
Well count the ways
There ain't no number high 
   enough
To end this phrase
Baby, Completely
Wrapped up in you

It's amazing how 6 months changes everything! I knew I loved Ellie before she was born, but this kind of love is impossible to define!

I love how she is always so happy. Seriously, I can't believe how much it takes for her to get worked up. She is content 99.9% of the time. I looked down the other day and realized she had been on the floor for quite a while and I had never even given  her a toy, oh well, she was happy :)

I love how she gets so excited to see us when we go wake her up from naps or in the morning. She turns her head as far back as she can and just grins. I don't know about you, but there isn't much that makes me smile when I wake up in the morning...... {enough said!}

I love how she sucks her thumbs... We may have a bad habit to break someday down the road, but you just can't stop her. She loves them. The best is when we put her in her crib- we have a fleece sleep sack we put her in and by the time we lay her down, she already has her thumb in her mouth. We have to take her thumb out of her mouth to put it through the sleeve of the sleep sack. She doesn't like that, but 1.5 seconds later she has found her other free thumb and is then happy as a clam.

I'm sure this is just like every other parent's love for their child, but isn't it awesome? Yesterday it was Orphan Sunday at church and it has really got me thinking.  What about all of these kids who don't have parents to love them? I heard a story once about a grown man who was doing impressively well in life despite being bounced around from foster care to foster care as a child. He was quoted as saying, "Wouldn't you think someone would be proud to be able to call me their son?" But, he has no parents. I know how much  my parents love me and know I've had the chance to show that love to my baby. It just doesn't seem right that other babies don't know that love of a parent....