Happy Birthday Ellie!

Ellie Bug turned 4 today! She had a special day and seemed to be on a total sugar high by bedtime. I try to make birthdays really special around here. They only come once a year..right? For those of you who know Ellie best, knows that she has a passion for FOOD, especially SWEET FOODS! She picked Jumbo Cinnamon Roll for breakfast and chocolate milk (we only allow her to have chocolate milk once a year..her birthday!) I made blue cupcakes for her special school snack (with sprinkles and cool whip topping) and then after school she wanted our family to go to Ci Ci's for her special birthday dinner. Five pieces of pizza and a brownie and sticky bun later, she was an itty bit hyped up. Great day and great fun for her today, and all I could think of each hour was the day of her birth. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Birthday breakfast...BIG Cinnamon Roll and Chocolate milk! She was happier about her food than her gift!


Ellie at school during her special birthday snack. Notice her cupcake wrapper is empty..she devoured it before I even arrived with the cool whip topping.


Family (All seven of us) at Ci Ci's for some scrumptious pizza...


Ellie posing outside of Ci Ci's..


I also wanted to share a story with you today that was emailed to me from a girl named Catie. She is pregnant with identical twin boys and the doctors feel that she may have twin to twin transfusion. They are monitoring her very closely, she is 28 weeks now, of course scared to death and has been told she may deliver one stillbirth if the transfusion of nutrients continues. I am going to post her email so you guys can join with me and pray for her. Please pray for more "miracle babies" so she can testify to the world how mighty and gracious God is. This is from Catie:

I am pregnant with identical twin boys. Mine are not the rare mono mono that yours are, but they do share a placenta (with separate sacs). That gave us our share of fears as we started visiting a specialist at 19 weeks who talked about TTTS and stillbirth of one twin and other scary things. (Funny side note: After she described all of this to us she said, "but don't worry"...Seriously, not worry at that point?!) So we have continued to be monitored very closely- specialists one week, my regular ob the next. One of my babies (John David actually) was measuring a lot smaller than the other (Timothy). There was a difference of 23% between them that then grew to 35%. I was terrified and began to put myself on partial bed rest each day. And PRAY! My husband has been a rock of prayer throughout this pregnancy as I have become so overwhelmed at times. Well, as of last week, John David had grown and the difference between the babies has shrunk to 18%. Praise the Lord!! We have faith that they will both continue to grow at healthy rates and we are really hoping to make it to 36 weeks now. I am 28 weeks and 2 days today.


I am hoping to connect with her and continue updates on her twin boys. Thank you in advance for praying with me for her and her unborn baby boys.

Last picture I wanted to share is of Great-Grandfather James Daniel Pate holding grandbaby James Daniel Pate... I will have it framed and placed in James' room.