One thing that I get to do this weekend is go to Texas. In Texas is a five year old little girl who was born with a unilaterl cleft lip and palate. Her  mother and I “met” in the beginning/mid of 2009 on Yahoo! Cleft Chat group. Her mother is so sweet and one of my good friends now. I was going to meet Tina (mom) and Ella (daughter) in summer of 2009 as I have family in Texas but things got in the way and it never happened. I could rarely reach Tina on the chat group and I thought I might never get to meet her and her precious daughter.Close to the end of April 2010, I received a friend request and message from a Tina. At first it just didn’t click, until I read her message. The two of us never knew each other’s last names, however through Facebook we had ONE mutual friend. How CRAZY/AMAZING is that? So it was set that I would meet everyone in June of 2010, and it’s been absolutely amazing since then.

Ella was three at the time and I instantly became smitten with this sweet little brown haired, brown eyed girl. Not only did I instantly love her but I instantly fell in love with the whole family. I have gotten to see them all a handful of times now and this Saturday will mark another time.

The first or second time I saw Ella I gave her a cleft bear from Cleft Palate Foundation. She loved it and it made my heart happy. Of course since I don’t have children yet, I love spoiling cousins and friend’s children so I usually bring something with me each time I go. Last visit in February it was going to be Ella and her sister, Audrey’s birthday so Ella got a talking Minnie Mouse doll.

This time however, I’m ecstatic to be bringing a cleft doll made by Kate from Tiny Wide Smiles – Doll Clinic and a cute t-shirt from ClefTees designs by Darcie! I asked Tina if she thought Ella might like the doll and we think she is going to go crazy about it!

I’m so blessed to have found people that understand what I went through but also who I can give encouragment to. Ella is little miss AWESOME! I am also happy that I’ve met other people born the way I was and I got to meet a wonderful family who live in Washington. I spent a few days with them a few summers ago and they took me sight seeing and they too are a family I instantly fell in love with. I love my Texas and Washington (state) families 🙂

At the beginning of this blog is a picture of Ella and I. Below is a picture of the cutest dolls. After Saturday I hope to have a picture of Ella and I with our dolls together…Also be on the lookout for a new page to my blog that will show pictures of some of my cleft friends, including Ella. ❤