OWWWP

I was beyond excited to see an email come through from Erinn with the subject  being "On Wednesday We Wear Pink"!! I am so honored to be able to guest post on this wonderful subject.

Hi I'm Ashley from "Life on the Parsons Farm".  I live on a mini farm. I'm a wife, teacher, blogger and a new mom to our adorable daughter, Ellie!

My whole life I wanted to be a mom. I had dreams of having two boys and two girls. Four children are the perfect number to me and I still want to have four kids. 

I did not have the opportunity to become a mom to Ellie in the most traditional way, we adopted her.  I have struggled with infertility for years and we finally made the decision last year to adopt and we got our sweet little Ellie Faith in May 2013.  She truly is the light of my life.  Going through the adoption process we decided to leave the gender of our child up to God. Just like it would've been if we were having our own biological child. I was unsure if I wanted to have a boy or girl first, but secretly deep down I really did want to have a girl. God knew my heart and matched us up to have this sweet sweet little girl.

There is so much more to being a girl mom than just the frilly dresses and cute headbands and hair bows (though she does wear a lot of those!)  It is having that special bond with that sweet little girl and being able to understand things that she goes through and help guide her through your own personal experiences.  Being a girl myself I can really relate with things that Ellie will come across as she grows older.

I am looking forward to creating that special bond that only a mother and daughter can have with Ellie. And I am looking forward to tea parties, playing with dolls, wearing mommy and me outfits and talking about that cute boy that she meets at school or elsewhere. I can't wait to braid her hair and give her pigtails and have her share in the experience all of the joys that I had growing up; dancing, cheerleading, and horseback riding. 

Going through the adoption process is definitely an emotional journey. It has its ups and downs just like I'm sure any pregnancy does.  Well I didn't have to deal with morning sickness or contraction pains I did worry in the back of my mind of whether or not  we would be chosen by a nice birth mom or if this adoption would go through. Ellie is actually the second baby that we were matched up with. We had been matched up with a different birth mom that after finding out the gender of her baby decided to keep it. Dagger to my heart. God had a better plan and knew that this new birth mom that we got set up with just two months later was going to be the perfect match for us and bring us the most beautiful, healthy, and well behaved little girl. The process was long and arduous. We were posed with many questions. We had to answer many questions I'm sure most parents today don't even think about when they're pregnant with their own child.  In the end it all worked out, and I feel that we were much better prepared. By having all of those questions and needing to answer them, to really understand what our parenting style would be like and to start that great communication between mother and father. I also had fears, would I really be able to love this little one as my own? YES I could and I can. Sometimes I find myself looking at her trying to decide who she looks more like, myself or my husband!! Then I have to remind myself that I actually didn't birth her!!

I am looking forward to having more children and can't wait to get a sister for Ellie. To see that special bond that only sisters can have, she's going to be a wonderful big sister and such a great helper.

While she doesn't necessarily look exactly like me we still can dress-up in   matching outfits and she is still my little mini me.

Thank you Erinn so much for asking me to be a part of this wonderful series and letting me share just a little bit about myself and Ellie.

-Ashley