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!

April 10, 2009

Ballet Recital...

Ella Grace will have her 1st ballet recital tomorrow. She was a bit behind when she began ballet, but she has practiced hard and Mrs. Amanda has worked with her a few extra times to help her catch up. In the video below we arrived at 1130 and it was cloudy and cool. By the time of the recital at 1230 it was COLD, WINDY and beginning to RAIN. Ella was freezing!
Enjoy the show.

15 comments:

Conethia and Jim Bob said...

Good luck with the recital. Can't wait for the pics!

Anonymous said...

She is too cute. I bet she loved it except for being cold. I remember my ballet recital but I was older.
Adorable. All the best to your whole family,
Besos,
Petra

Julie said...

That is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen!! She is adorable! Halle Grace has a ballet production in May - your video got me excited! :)

Kevin and Tammy said...

How adorable. She did a great job. Hope to see you guys again soon.
Tammy

Michelle said...

Oh my gosh!!!! She looked so cute! You must have been so proud of her! Loved it!!!

Anonymous said...

Pretty video. How precious.

Tarita Byas-Harris Sterling's Mom.

ArtworkByRuth said...

She is fabulous! She is really graceful!

Anonymous said...

Ella did a great job. She is so cute..
Jennifer

The Flying Eagle said...

OMG She is so adorable! Please tell the ballet star congratulations on a beautiful performance!

Unknown said...

How cute is that!!! She looks absolutely adorable and you all must be sooo proud. She loves to twirl.

Besos grande,
Tammy White

Anonymous said...

Hi Lisa,

I'm not sure if I ever congratulated you. But your girl is beautiful. That was alot of work to go through. I'm deployed now and many of these sites are blocked.

There are alot of hot single men here, I'm not sure if I can choose just one. But it does make for a very nice work environment.

I just got back from R&R and everything is fine. Just six more months to go and I'll be back with my baby, who is up to my shoulders (but I can still carry him).

Congratulations again, I'm very happy for you. Take care,

Hugs and kisses,

JD

Anonymous said...

Lisa,
How cute!!! She has the body of a little dancer too:) Thanks for sharing!

TD

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to say hi and thanks for including me on this list. In these days of bad news everywhere we look, and crisis this and crisis that I find your updates one of the most heartwarming, encouraging, and motivational things out there. Please say hi to Jim for me. Regards- Larry Greenberger

Conethia and Jim Bob said...

How adorable!

Unknown said...

With only 5 weeks and a few days, Ms. Ella Grace did an outstanding job in her first Ballet recital. As you can see in the video, she worked so hard and gave it her all in every graceful move :) Lots of love from a proud ballet teacher!

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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