Gotcha Day

I have so many details swirling around in my head about our experience but not enought time to write it all down right now. I know many of you are eagerly awaiting an update so I'll give you a few datails now :). I'm unable to post picture to our blog since we only brought our iPad, but boy do we have some cute ones. Picking Elliana up at Acacia Village was a joyful experience but also heartbreaking. Our agency was almost 2 hours late picking us up, so we arrived right at nap time, which is never a good time for a transistion. Our embassy appointment went well (despite the fact that we were late getting there too and I was about ready to have a heart attack fearing that they would not allow us our appointment... Not the case though...it just took a long time for our turn. Then, it was a matter of minutes with the official before we were out the door. I kept thinking..."really...all this waiting and praying and paperwork for a 45 second interview..." We get her Visa today and head home tonight. I think our plane is going to be full of babies. Many people I spoke with who had Embassy appointments on Wednesday and Thursday are heading home tonight. Ok now onto the good stuff.....

Elliana has been in our care for about 36 hours now, and she is doing great, under the circumstances. I'm sure she is feeling a little panicky. Can you imagine how confused she is right now? Here are a few observations we've made in our time together. -

• She is super smart and observes and absorbs everything. 
• She loves bubbles and the squeezable bags of fruit! Oh yeah, and toddler gummy fruit. She fed us yesterday. Too cute! 
• Day one she was all about daddy. Yesterday not so much. We will see what day 3 brings! 
• I think she likes her new clothes and shoes! 
• Her hair is super curly and oh so beautiful. I cant stop playing with it. 
• She slept 12 hours her first night with us. 
• She had her first bath last night, which she did not particularly enjoy :(. Her nanny did advise us of that in advance - she ate great the first day. 
• Yesterday she didn't eat a whole lot, except for dinner. She enjoyed her boiled eggs, potatoes and injera. Sounds appetizing, huh? At this point we are allowing her to eat whatever she WILL eat... Just to get us through these first couple of days. 
• She does great in the car. - she sat on our lap beautifully for 2 hours at our embassy appointment. She hasn't spent too much time off of my lap! 
• Yesterday afternoon, she finally got off of my lap and played for a bit. She discovered her reflection in the sliding glass door and smiled. This was entertainment for at least 45 minutes! She tried to share toys with herself :) 
• We are still calling her Geneme for the most part.. Sometimes Ellie-Geneme. 
• She said a few things yesterday, which was wonderful! Of course, we have no idea what she said! -
• She likes our cell phones and holds them up to her ear like she is talking... 
• Her lips are so beautiful but become dry and chapped easily. I had a fun time applying Chapstick while she tried to eat it! 
• She likes stickers and knows exactly what to do with them. We have plenty for our plane ride home (thanks Karen!) 
• She likes books and her favorite one from the collection I brought is "The Jesus Story" 

 Honestly, with each passing moment we can see how she is beginning to trust us more and more and come out of her tender shell. Yesterday she started smiling at us. We have nothing to do with that. God gets all the glory here. No book, class or course can mend a broken heart like He can. Praying He continues to reach our little girl in ways that we cannot.

Once I get home and can get TWO babies off of my lap, I'll write more about Acacia Village, the Embass appointment and our experiences. I'm sure once we get home there are going to be a few struggles between two sisters who are going to be fighting for equal lap time!