Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Happy birthday sweet girl!! We love and miss you, Ellie. 

We mailed out this invitation to family and friends along with a balloon in the hopes to have many photos from people who love Ellie and are celebrating her birthday by sending us a photo of the balloon. 
At Ellie's funeral we had lime green balloons for everyone who attended to say a prayer or tell Ellie something and then release the balloon. So we thought we would extend the idea to her birthday.

We received the first balloon all the way from Denmark! My dear cousin has spent much of her summer abroad, jealous.

From my cousin's parents and brother, all the way from Oxford (this is a place my mom and I have been, together).



My parents neighbors in MN.
IL church friends.

From a friend that I have known since pretty much birth.

From my grandparents.


From my brother.

Isn't he sweet : )

From one of my best friends and my Godson.


From cousins in MN.

IL aunt and uncle.


IL cousins

IL cousin

My best friend in IL

My grandma's sister
 Jason's parents


IL church friends


Jason's brother and our sister in-law (& of course our Niece)


IL church friend


A friend from my Master's cohort

My parents



Couldn't forget Bailey, my parent's dog

From Bethel University (my mom works there and I attended)



IL church friends



IL cousin

Friend from work
IL friend
OK, cool story. A friend from my cohort (above a few photos) told her sister in FL about Jason and I; her sister and her Tampa Generals cardio-vascular transplant OR team took a photo for us!


A friend from work


My parent's neighbors (promoting my parent's Little Free Library)





Family friend from PA

One of my best friends in MN

A friend from work

One of my best friends and Godson in MN

My cousins vacationing in SC, look at the water!


I chose to use all 3, M and T. 
Friend from work.


IL church family


A friend from work
Friends from church in MN and my former boss in college.

A friend from work sent flowers for Ellie.

Family friends in MN 


Our good friends, Jason's Goddaughter, her brother and friend. 



Good family friend in WA.

My mom's friend (who sent us the lantern below)

Sorry, we couldn't get it rotate correctly.
From Jason's brother in South Korea.

Another cool story! An exchange student (from Germany) from my high school found my blog and sent me photos after reading Ellie's story. We have not talked in 10 years!



Good family friends in IL


MN family

My aunt in MN
My aunt and family in MN/TX

From my cousin in MN
My aunt and uncle in MN

I will keep posting throughout the day as I get more photos.

Here is Ellie's graveside from today. 

And here is our mailbox at home.


Jason and I sat at Ellie's grave for about an hour tonight and at 6:53pm exactly we took a video of our balloon release...it did not end how we would have liked. 




Jason and I received a Japanese Sky Lantern from my mom's friend last summer and we knew we wanted to save it for a special time. As Ellie's first birthday grew near we knew it was the perfect opportunity to release the lantern. Please ignore all the banter in the background : )



Here's one more version (where I quickly grab my phone to record it myself). 



Happy birthday, baby girl! It was one for the books. 
We love you,
Mom & Dad

5 comments:

  1. Love all the pictures, your little angel in heaven had an awesome birthday. With all the balloons in the pictures it was like she was in the pictures sharing the fun going on, enjoying the beautiful flowers, seeing awesome sites and being loved by all the friends and family. Thanks for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. We had a great day seeing all of the balloons fill my inbox!

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  2. I also forgot to add that Shelby I'm your dad's cousin in Oregon.

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  3. Shelby and Jason - what a great tribute to your daughter, sweet Ellie. There is so much love shown through all these moments everyone created. What a special day. We love you!

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