Our Adoption Blessing: We have our girl!!!

Adoption is one of the coolest things God designed! I am in awe of how He swells our hearts to love this little angel. And little she is, Ivy is such a peanut! Ivy had a rough time on Monday. We are happy and heartbroken that she cried for several hours. Happy in that she is grieving the loss of her caregivers and grieving is good. If she loved and trusted once she can learn to love and trust again. Heartbroken by all that she has lost in her short life. Everyday we are seeing changes and we are calling them small mercies that are big steps towards healing. Tuesday's mercy- She woke up and kinda cracked a smile at Baba (Daddy), she is thinking maybe this man is not so bad after all. Wednesday's mercy- Ivy actually woke up for a bottle. Up until this point she has not cried to eat and just waits to be fed. Sad, but very common for a child living in an orphanage. Thursday's mercy- Praise God there is more than one and the day is only half done! She fell asleep in my arms in the middle of the night. She will stay awake for hours and hours until we lay her in the crib, then she is sound asleep in no more than 30 seconds. Baba got her to full out giggle this morning by tickling her. She was really skittish when touched in the face or played with too rough at first. Now she loves when he tickles her and she squeals. Best. Sound. Ever. Then just before her nap we were laying in the bed and she rolled over close to me and kissed my nose over and over. She thought is was hilarious and my heart filled to running over. What a little blessing she is!! Here are some pictures from Gotcha Day...

The sweet very tiny women beside me is Ivy's favorite Nanny and is the women she was most attached to at the orphanage. We thank her for loving our daughter and pray for her as she too has suffered the loss of caring for Ivy. The other women is the orphanage director.