About Our Family

El Paso, Texas, United States
We are James, Lisa, Patrick, Christian, Carson, and Ella Payne a military family serving our country via service in the U.S. Army. Jim and I have been married for 18 years and have 3 wonderful home grown sons -Patrick, Christian and Carson. We recently adopted our beautiful daughter Ella Grace Ana from Donets'k, Ukraine in September. Jim and I began our Army life together at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas and every assignment thus far has extended unique opportunities and challenges for our family to grow and learn; to become a stronger, committed, and a prepared Army family. Having recently lived abroad for six amazing years, we cannot express how thankful we are for the opportunity to have represented our great country and to discover the cultures and customs of other countries; to become close to the people and learn from them; to open our hearts and minds to the unfamiliar languages and way of life in other countries. Having now moved back to the United States, we are looking forward to discovering what new adventures await our family. Rest assured, wherever the Army sends us we will continue to serve you and our country proudly. Army life, we wouldn’t trade it!

July 23, 2008

ID Please...

In the military world reaching 10 is a huge deal.
Why?

Because at age 10 you get your very own ID card!

This morning Christian went for his very first ID card. They measured and weighed him, took his picture, had him sign his card and finally presented him with his ID card. He must now officially show his card to enter base, enter the commissary (grocery store), the base shopping mall, at the swimming pool, base theater, and all other ID card sensitive places on base.

Our little guy, growing up.



Some pictures of the milestone:

The Weigh In
Measuring Up

Signing on the dotted line

Finished Product

The smile of a 10 year old who just received his 1st ID card

PRICELESS!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Christian. Hope you had a wonderful day! Love you lots! Rachel

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday, Christian! Now you can run down to the shoppette or commissary for your mom. What an important job! Take care of your family and especially your new little sister. She is going to need a responsible 10 year old to keep her safe. Love you, The White Family

Anonymous said...

Thank you Mrs. Rachel and The White Family. I had a good birthday we had pizza and cake my mom made for me and my cousin came and my aunt zenia came and my grandma came to. My mom is going to have another party for Carson and me together but we are going to wait for school to start and we have more friends to invite.

Christian

ArtworkByRuth said...

Happy belated Birthday Christian! It's nice to know the military gives a "rite of passage" to the kids! God Bless!

This is our "spot" we began at the beginning of our journey in May 2007, to adopt a child from Ukraine. In August 2008, we traveled to Ukraine to bring our daughter/sister Ella Grace Ana home; and on September 12, 2008 we did just that.

While our journey to bring her home is complete, our journey together is just beginning. We will continue to keep our spot here, posting as frequently as we can; and keeping you updated on our next journey in life...maybe a second adoption is in our future.

Please join us by following us by clicking on the "Follow" link to the left and posting your notes at the bottom of any post we have made.

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