When we lived in Toledo, Ella was blessed to find a really special friend who happened to be her nursery leader and then her Sunbeam teacher at church. I think Ella and Denise are kindred spirits. They just really have a special relationship.
A couple of weeks before we left Toledo, Denise asked if she could take Ella out on a Saturday to have some fun together. We agreed and sent them off. They spent some time taking pictures at the local botanical gardens and had lunch together. They also went to a pottery painting place and painted a plate so Ella would have something to remember their day. Denise mailed us the plate a couple of weeks after we arrived in our new house. Ella has used that plate EVERY night since then-about 6 months. On Tuesday night she was obediently clearing her plate from the table and as she turned around she hit the plate on the chair knocking it out of her hands and on to the floor. It did not survive the fall. Ella was devastated and sobbed for quite a while. It was really, really sad (Marc and I were so sad about it that we didn't really even care about the damage this heavy pottery did to our floor!) Ella asked if she could take a picture of it so she could remember what it looked like. So we put the bigger pieces together and she took a picture. Denise, I don't know how much you read our blog, but any chance you would want to drive a few hours south and paint another plate with Ella? We know a place.
