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!

December 20, 2008

Last Weekend of Shopping...

I can hardly believe this is the last weekend before Christmas! Have you finished Christmas shopping? I haven't but I don't plan on doing any this weekend. I panic in crowds and well, it is just not good. So, we will bake and prep for Christmas Day and jump into the last minute shopping on Monday!
I am wrapping the under the tree gifts tonight in hopes of not staying up until the wee hours waiting for Santa's delivery of unwrapped gifts. I am really hoping to just sit out that cup of milk, cookies, and reindeer food and go to bed early. I won't - never do; but it is nice to share the thought!
The kids are so excited with anticipation of what Santa will deliver! They are going to be so surprised!
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On another subject, Ella Grace and I have met an Ukrainian lady who has been able to speak with her in Russian on a couple of occasions now. In speaking her native tongue, Ella Grace seems a bit lost on some of the words - we hope the conversing will help her to retain her native language.

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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.

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