Two-year-old Ella is a bundle of energy and curiosity. She’s a happy little girl who adores her parents and her two older brothers.

Things are good for Ella these days, but it wasn’t always so. Born prematurely, she spent her first eight weeks in the intensive care unit. She came into the world with fetal alcohol syndrome, a heart problem, and visual issues. From the beginning, it seemed the odds were stacked against her.

At the same time Ella was finally strong enough to leave the hospital, Keith and Heidi Hutcheson - proud parents of two boys - were looking to adopt a little girl to make their family complete. The Hutchesons were Olive Crest parents who were caring for two little girls, but those children were about to be reunited with their father. “We were happy for them that they were going back to their daddy,” Heidi says, “but we were pretty sad that they would be leaving us.”

A few weeks before the girls were due to go back home, the Hutchesons received a phone call telling them about Ella. The entire family made the five-hour drive to meet her, and she instantly captured their hearts when they saw her for the first time. Heidi recalls, “She looked unwell. Her eyes were crossed, and she was so tiny. At 7 months, she weighed something like nine pounds.”

Heidi wondered briefly if she could give this precious little girl all the care she needed. But her husband dispelled her fears. “He told me, ‘She’s our little girl. God sent her to us. What else is there to think about?’ And our boys fell in love with her from the moment they heard about her.” One of them even asked if he could take his new sister to school for Share Day.

“We didn’t know how much we needed her in our family.” – Heidi Hutcheson

Still it wasn’t easy at first. Ella cried a lot, and she ate very little. But things changed as her new family showered her with love. Heidi says, “After a couple of weeks, we noticed that she was gaining weight and becoming more alert. And she was really bonding with us.” Last June, Ella “officially” became a member of the Hutcheson family. Heidi says, “What an exciting day that was! We really do think she’s our gift from God, and our boys are so over the moon for their sister. We didn’t know how much we needed her in our family.”