A New Day...

So wow a good friend of mind reminded me that I havent written in quite awhile (thanks Denise) I won't mention any names...hehe..
So in turn my blog is dedicated to her "Denise"

Every time I have the chance to meet up with Denise, Ella and family they give me such a dose of encouragement, love, faith & hope .. I was trying to think back when I first contacted Denise- it was in June--this is the email that i sent to her:

Hi there- I found your blog thru heathers facebook page- kind of funny I noticed she lived in Camarillo...We live in Fountain Valley : ) I would love to meet you and meet Ella--  Our lil E-V will be 2 June 6... She was born with DS as well and one thing that is always in my mind is the chance she will develop leukemia.. If there is anything you need or anything I can do - please let me know : ) I know this must be very difficult for you and I admire your strength--I also admire the friends that have come forward to help you...we are relatively new to the area ---so even though I have been to a few of the DSAOC support group meetings - I really don't know too many people.. Please know that Ella will be in my prayers every day & night Dani

and she responded:

Thanks for writing.  You are very close to us here at CHOC.  We actually live in Temecula but our new temporary home will be CHOC.  I would love to meet you and hopefully someday your little E-V.  They won't allow little ones in the hospital, but if you get a chance, I would love to meet you.  And you can bring a picture of your daughter for Ella's wall.  How exciting that they are so close in age.  I just had a blog friend stop by the other night and she lives in the area and she said she does some activities with the DSAOC too and her daughter just turned 1 on March 29.  Maybe you have already found her blog....Sweet Pea???  Do you have a blog?? 

I look forward to talking further with you.

Denise

We did go and visit Ella in the hospital in July at that time we were allowed to bring E-V..so Jesse, E-V and I took a few different bus rides and made our way to CHOC to meet them. I can tell you when I first walked into her room I immediately knew how much I loved Ella and Denise...Denise is a very amazing person-- she talked with such a positive outlook on everything --and i know if that was me i would of been scared to death..if she was she sure didnt show it..

Ella is saying "ooh" and E-V's still chewing on the DVD

playing on the floor

do you want to swap? cup for dvd

The girls were too cute..Jesse made them each a bandana dress..its funny because looking at pictures of all the kids online its very hard to judge sizes-heights etc and because they are so close in age you assume they would be close in size..Well at that time E-V was a good head taller then Ella..
I also realized at that time we both had two beautiful blonde haired blue eyed girls.. and I look back at these pics and say Wow they have really grown :)
We had a great visit i think we stayed for about 3 hours- the girls played with each other and moseyed around playing with Ella's toys on the floor...it was an awesome visit - an inspiring visit- a soul lifting visit..heart fulfilling visit.
WE were so happy that we got to spend time with them..my two most favorite pics of that day are:

peek a boo Ella

 

Dani & E-V ..Denise & Ella new friends

We have kept in touch via texting, facebook and of course (not by me blogging) but i have followed Ella's journey through Denise's blog. We would keep trying to coordinate times/dates to meet up again but a few fell through for different reasons.. so we had an opportunity at the last minute to meet up yesterday and since my New Years  motto is "live for today" we drove to Temecula for a visit... I was looking forward to the girls being able to play in Denise's home, outside for a little bit and maybe grab some lunch if time permitted. Here are a few pics from our visit from yesterday:

E-V & Ella on the Dora couch reading Elmo watching Barney

A Child
A child is like a butterfly in the wind
Some can fly higher than others,
But each one flies the best it can.
Why compare one against the other?
...Each one is different.
Each one is special.
Each one is beautiful.
Author Unknown

buddy swing <3

hmm what are we eating

im coming to get you

girls marching down the street

sun is too bright

wiped out

We had an awesome visit!!
thanks Denise for inspiring me to write again
Its amazing to see our far the girls have come since our last visit..each have their own individual strengths and weaknesses that they are working on..both are such happy- loving little girls..and yet very typical 2 year olds : ) 
I wished I would of had the chance to take a picture of the best moment..Ella hugging E-V ..they hugged so hard they both fell over with E-V landing on top of Ella..both of them standing up with a boo boo lip/look on their face and within seconds both began playing with Ella's toys and everything was just fine.
Two very inspiring little girls..both are very amazing to me...we hope to continue our friendship and add to this blog with our next visit being a lot sooner then the past..and meeting up with more FB/blog families and new friends. I can't even tell you how great it is to have this friendship.

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. Author Unknown