Three Months Home

Three months ago today we brought our peanut home to Maine. It is hard to believe how fast the time has flown by. We've made it through a full season already, both literally and figuratively. We made it through the storms that I had blogged about in the first few weeks and we're so thankful to have had so much support along the way. We feel extremely blessed to see the progress that Tarah has made in just three short months.
Our girl has grown and developed in so many ways. She has gone up a shoe size and clothing size and is sprouting up like we gave her miracle grow. She is picking up new English phrases daily and cracks us up as she tests them out. Phrases said with the cutest little accent or tone. "Mama, whatchu doin?" "Eli, stop it!" Her stories from school are still in mixed language, so we are still not always clear as to what happened in her day, but for the most part it all sounds good. She is very proud to tell us every day when we pick her up that she didn't cry. She says, "No crying, Mama. No crying."
Since starting school she has really started to flourish. The structure and exposure to other kids has been fantastic. This weekend I spoke with one of the ed techs in her room and she had glowing things to say of Tarah. Everyone at school seems to adore her and she seems to be setting a good example for other kiddos with her coloring and work. The ed tech shared that she is amazed (and sad) to see how independent she is already. She shared that she really doesn't need her assistance anymore. This was great to hear. We had hoped that things would go well at school, but we just didn't know what to expect. Tarah has only had one meltdown at school, but the teacher helped her through it and they moved on and we have not heard a peep about any more. Praying that continues to be the case.
At home, Tarah seems to have adjusted to the new routine well. She adores her big brother, most of the time, except when he is getting under her skin. It is funny how even with a large age gap we still get to experience some of those normal sibling moments...cue "He's touching me!" Or "She started it." Friday she came home with a drawing of our family and at the bottom of the drawing her teacher had written what Tarah must have told her about the picture. It said, "My friend Eli makes me happy." In the bath that same night she was singing, "I love, Eli, I love Mama, I love Daddy, and I love Tarah." Not gonna lie, I got teary sitting there listening to her sing in her own little world...our little world. To finally be here with her in our house, singing about a family that she loves and understands is her family...this makes it all worth it. The five plus years waiting to be in this very spot. The "labor pains" are still fresh memories, of course, and our hearts go out to those still enduring their labor pains of Haitian adoptions, but the memories that we are now able to make will continue to sweeten the bitterness of that journey.
We know that there will still be challenges along the way and that we are by no means through the hard stuff. The adoption journey is a long road even after homecoming. There will be many ups and downs along the way. We will continue to hold on tight to every single up and every single victory that we have. And when we have the downs, we'll continue to cling to our faith and know that there is always hope for a new day and new beginnings. Thank you to all those who have helped us through the last three months. We consider ourselves truly blessed.