Ohhh...I am missing my little Sweet Cheeks!!!

What can I say?!??!!!! She is just fabulous!! Ellie was amazingly snuggly the first few days, then the personality started coming out! First, she will give you a little "huh" laugh. Then, the next level is a grin and the dimples below her lips on either side appear, i.e. the addition of the nick-name "Sweet Cheeks". The final reel-in is when she adds a nose wrinkle and belly laugh!

I was told that the Mama's would sometimes refer to her as Vanessa, because Maria is a common name. Now, I am quite sure that only the agency knows her as Maria. Her nick-name Vane (Bah-nae) is what she responds to best. Ellie is a nick-name of Elizabeth, so she has names in abundance. It seems like one of her quirks to have lots of names. :) So, we are rethinking what her legal name will be, we might just use them all!

She loves to sleep on your chest and will allow you to rock her to sleep. Coming off two active boy babies, who preferred to collapse when they are tired, it was nice treat. I knew when she would fall asleep, because her head would start sweating profusely! Vane enjoys looking at books, throwing her toys, and tasting everything. Everyone on the team loved to get her to stick her tongue out, especially during meetings. :) We found out that she is waving, blowing kisses, and can walk holding onto only one hand. She would repeat "da" or "ma" after us. The Mama's say she is "muy bonita y muy inteligente" and I agree! Ellie was not a fan of the rice cereal I would make up for her, but eventually, I got her bottle figured out, it had to have cereal added too. I was surprised to find out how little "real food" she eats.

The Mama's all seem to love her. It might have been somewhat over done because I was there, but they would all call to her from across the room to get a smile, or I would have to hunt her down after they swiped her for a hug. :)

It has been good to get home and see my other little people, but we ache for our family to all be together. I had to harden my heart some to get through church yesterday. Daniel was preaching on how we have all we need for life and godliness, and Ellie came up quite a bit as an illustration. There were, of course, her pictures on power point and afterwards, lots of hugs from people with wet eyes. I spent much of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday crying, so I needed a break. We met a family that was on both of our flights home, on their pick up trip of a baby girl a few weeks younger than Ellie. She was across the gate area, and turned to where I could see her face and I lost it. The in-flight movie was "Meet the Robinsons", which seemed like a cute distraction, so we watched it. I did not know until getting in to it that it was about an orphan boy looking for a family. There were some positive messages about adoption, but the scene with the birth mother leaving him as a baby on the steps of the orphanage was too much to take. I am sure that the crew was concerned because we were so emotional over a cartoon.

I have lots of other pics that did not get to the website, and memories to record over the next few days and weeks...so stay tunned! Thanks for your prayers and encouraging notes!!