Eight months in...

I think 6 mos. is the mark. It's the mark I'd tell other adoptive parents to put on their calendar and plan on for the big reveal. That reveal would be the "new normal". I've spent the last 2 mos. looking back on it and I'd say, yes, that is when I realized we had hit our stride and life was set on autopilot and it was working just fine.

She loves the Mosaic Shop

I can't explain what exactly made me realize that we were there. It was Elli's doing. It might have been her vocabulary boost. She'd have one every 2 or 3 weeks but this was different. She was speaking in a more nonchalant way, more casual. She seemed more comfortable with her English although it's far from excellent, it's really pretty good. Most anyone who speaks to her can understand her. That is pretty impressive. But it was more than that. She just seemed more... American.

She's picked up on cliches that are truly American, almost Southern. She completely understands when people are being sarcastic, cynical, and just plain joking around with her. It's quite fascinating to spend more than a few minutes with her and just talk. She loves to just talk and most nights, that is what we do as I put her to bed.

Just after her visit with Judge Brewer.
She was granted her MS Birth Cert.

Her prayers have changed. They aren't as bullet-ed as they used to be. Still, they lack complete sentence quality but they are more like she is actually talking to Jesus. She asks a lot... A LOT... of questions about God and Jesus and people. They are all excellent questions and they make me realize how much incredible teaching goes on in Treasure Land at Colonial Heights.

She wants to know more about everyone. She wants to be able to tell others about everyone that is related to her. She wants to know HOW everyone is related to her and to each other. Sometimes she seems to care about the most insignificant things and yet dismiss some of the most significant. That is, until I try to view life from her perspective and then so much becomes more clear to me.

She allows herself to get upset, angry, disappointed, frustrated. She allows herself to say "no". She allows herself to suck her thumb. That was something that she'd done all along and yet for the first couple of months with us she didn't. Then, one day, I walked into her room to wake her up one morning and there it was... her thumb, in her mouth. It was something she was afraid to let us know about. After all, they hated that she did that in China. Little did she know, right now, I couldn't care less.

I wish I could explain exactly what I "felt" that day when I realized something was different. Different in a good way. I could almost feel it physically it was so clear. It just WAS. It didn't take long to realize that we were settled.

Then, out of the blue, not even a week ago, Elli mentioned her Chinese "parents". UGH! I seriously HATE it when she talks about them. She wasn't treated well by them and she has very little to say. But that night she referred to them as her "real parents"!

THAT WAS ENOUGH!

I could no longer hold back. "They aren't your real parents" I said.

Laughing at my shear idiocy "Yes they are"

"No Elli," I said in the most selfishly frustrated tone I could muster, "They are just two people who helped you grow up."

She looked at me like I'd lost all mental faculties right there in front of her.

"Elli, you don't have a mommy and a daddy. None of the children that live where you lived have mommies or daddies." I said, feeling like I'd just begun to dig my own grave.

She laid on her bed sucking on her thumb like it was a pacifier. She sucked on that thing so hard that I thought it might detach from her palm. She looked at me intently and I wondered at what moment I was going to see a silent tear fall from the corner of her eye.

"Elli, you lived in a place called an orphanage. That is where children without parents go to live because they cannot live alone. Someone has to help the children grow up and that is the job of all those people that you lived with." I had to say something else. Something that helped her to believe that I was sharing this with her purely for selfless reasons and not just because I didn't want her to mention those Chinese parents EVER again.

"Elli, do you think that if they were your REAL parents they would have let us just come to China and take you away?" More than anything, I didn't want her to have any ideas of future "parents" coming for her.

"I would never let someone come to take you away. Do you know what Daddy would do if someone came and tried to take you away from us?"

She looked deep into my eyes, took her thumb from her mouth just enough to speak clearly and said. "Daddy shoot them." and in popped her thumb and her eyes got heavy.

"Yes he would. REAL mommies and daddies - REAL GOOD mommies and daddies don't let ANYONE come and take their children. Elli, no one will ever come and take you away from us. WE are your REAL mommy and daddy. OK?"

"OK.... I love you mommy."

"I love you too princess. Get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning"

I have no idea what she was thinking as I walked out of her room. I don't think she cried. Maybe she was glad to know those two weren't her REAL parents. Maybe she was confused because she didn't understand how little children could not have a mommy and daddy. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut and waited for her to be a little older.

There are a lot of "maybes" with being an adoptive parent. There are a lot of victories and failures and guesses and hopes. There are also a whole lot of joyous moments that come every day that I'd not trade for anything. Some days I cannot count the number of times my heart leaps into my throat just because she says some particular word or because she allows herself a freedom that indicates her confidence in her place in our family forever.

We are just a little more than 3 mos from celebrating one year together as a family. It seems like only yesterday we brought her home and  yet it's as if she was with us forever.

The Farhart family... complete.

The Prayers of "One Less"

Last week, three short months after arriving on US soil, Elli asked to pray as she lay in bed being tucked in for the night.

"Sure, baby, go ahead"

"Jesus...

                          for Elli...

                                                 for Elli's home...  

for Elli's friends...

                               for Elli's dog... for Elliot...

                                                                           for Josh, for Kate, for Sam, for Drewloo...

for Elli's baby dolls...

                                         for Elli's loom...  

                                         

                                                                            for mommy...          for daddy...

                                                                  for Rachel heart...

Jesus...

                                          Amen"

   

The fewer the words the better prayer - Martin Luther

You Can Sit Down Now

Today Elli and I went to the park. She really loves to swing. She sits on a swing and lets you push her until her legs hurt from the plastic seat. Today was an amazing day and after we dropped Kate off at dance Elli and I went for an hour of swing time.

We didn't have to pull into the parking lot to see that everyone else had the same idea. Thankfully there were a couple of free swings. I pushed her pretty high hoping she'd catch on to the idea of pumping to make herself go higher. She has the movement but not the strength to do much with it and so, inevitably I would end up behind her once again pushing to make her fly.

After about 10 minutes a large group of young girls screamed and giggled their way to the swings and although, by that time, I had gotten onto the swing and put Elli on my lap to show her how high we could go together, she really wanted to move on. I don't know if she just didn't like the noise or was intimidated by the shear number of girls that were nearby.

We walked from one piece of equipment to another. She's discovered that she likes to climb. She likes to climb precarious things. The girl needs a rock wall.

On each piece of equipment she climbed the requisite height to reach the slide and then stood on top of the slide to take in the view. She would stand and stare for quite awhile. I was wishing I knew what she was thinking but then on second thought, maybe I'm glad I didn't.

After she had played on every piece of equipment we walked to other little "toys" and experimented with those. By this time we were standing in the very center of the play area and she began to stare at a mom sitting on a bench just outside the log border. She turned and looked at me and said "Mom, you can sit." while pointing to that same bench. I asked her if she wanted to sit down and she said no.

Then I understood. "Oh," I said "you want me to sit down while you go and play." She smiled and nodded and watched me walk to a bench that was in the middle of everything. I wasn't going to let her out of my sight.

It didn't dawn on me until I was sitting there watching her try to make friends, try to "go it alone", just how lonely she must be. One of the first things she asked us ever was if she had friends in America. Friends are very important to her. As a matter of fact every "friend" we have belongs to one of us, according to Elli. It had been 2 weeks since she'd really spent quality time with any friends from church because of Easter holiday and then being sick. Today was her first day of feeling completely normal and she was anxious for companionship. 

She's realized that siblings aren't the same as friends. At least not the same as the friends she wants to have. Josh and Kate have lives of their own and don't play with her whenever she asks. I wondered as I watched her if she ever had a day alone in her life. I wondered if she ever played alone in her life. I thought about the number of times that I asked her to play alone in her room for a little bit while we worked on school work. I needed some quiet for the kids. Did she even know what I meant? If she did, could she have thought that was a punishment? 

When it was finally time to go she couldn't stop talking to me about her "new friends". She uses very little Chinese anymore when she speaks to me. She's quite good at explaining what she's thinking and wondering and experiencing. The most important thing she wanted me to know was that they spoke to her. She felt that was HUGE. I wonder why? I wonder if that's not typical of "new acquaintences" in China. I asked her if she spoke to them and told them her name. She hadn't. 

All the way to dance she kept talking about new friends. We talked a lot about friends. I assured her that she had many. She hadn't seen them in a long time and wasn't sure they were still her friends. Oh, if she only knew. 

Long ago and far far away...

Seven years ago last Friday, March 15, 2007, a tiny little girl was born to whom, we don't know. Can we guess? Sure, I have. Should we guess? I don't know, is it impolite? Probably? When a perfect little girl is birthed and abandoned in a market on the same day in China, guesses abound. I have my guesses, I'm probably right, I hope I am. A perfect little girl was found at a food market in Haikou, Hainan Province, China.  A little girl that authorities thought was abandoned. They thought her mama didn't want her. They thought perhaps her baba didn't want  her either, or that no one even knew who her baba was. None-the-less, they took her to the orphanage. That is where abandoned children go in China. To the orphanage. The Social Welfare Institute of Haikou City.

What they didn't know is that she had a mama and baba. 

The orphanage director, or head nanny, or whomever is in charge of naming abandoned little girls, named Elli Fu Rui Si. Fu, because that is the street the SWI is on. Rui Si... well, we think because she was tiny. Her first name means small. Very unimaginative. There were so many other choices but maybe God put that thought in their heads. After all, her big sister's middle name is Raye and that is how Rui is pronounced in Chinese. Maybe God didn't really even care what they named her. After all, He knew that Rui Si wasn't her name at all. He just hadn't told anyone yet. 

For almost 6 years Rui Si lived at the SWI in Haikou City. 

Then one day God whispered into the ear of a little 8 year old girl on the other side of the world. "Kate, what do you think about being a big sister? Why don't you tell your mommy that you'd like to be a big sister?" That is exactly what that little 8 year old girl named Kate did. 

And her mommy and daddy bought her a DOG!

Is it possible for two grown people to be more stupid?

Is it possible for two grown people to be more deaf to the whispers of God?

Is it possible for two grown people to be more oblivious to exactly what He was saying to the whole family through the precious little voice of their 8 year old daughter? 

Possibly not. 

But God is gracious and kind and very, very patient. 

One day at the end of the 11th year in the 2000th century He had spoken to the hearts of a few of His people and made a way for the Farharts to begin the search for their daughter. The daughter that they knew lived on the other side of the world. The daughter that they knew had been missing from their lives for so many years. The daughter that they've never seen but knew that God knew her and that He, as only He could, would bring them together in a way that He would be glorified.

After money gifts lovingly and sacrificially given, interviews and paperwork as we'd never seen before. After creating fun little projects to sell and the biggest yard sale in the history of the world (certainly no one could have had one larger), and more paperwork, more interviews and more checks written to organizations I'd never before heard of...

The Phone Call Came...

This is the little girl God had  hidden away for us on the other side of the world
 until such a time as this.

That phone call came in August. On January 3rd 2013 we would begin the adventure only God knew was going to happen all along. On January 7th 2013, God blessed us with our 3rd daughter, one only He knew about for so long.

Elizabeth Hope Farhart. Long awaited and loved from a distance. There was so much we didn't know and so much we were hoping to realize. 

We had only just laid eyes on each other the minute before.

The paperwork was almost finished

Our new addition.

It's hard to believe that before she was even conceived in her mother's womb, God knew she would be our daughter. I cannot imagine, after only 2 months together, my life without her. We have all been changed. I  particularly in ways that I cannot still articulate but the change is there. Why that is, I am not sure. It's something for another blog post, someday.

Let me just say this. If you are reading this and you had some part in bringing Elli home whether it be large or small, financial or spiritual, you have participated in a supernatural event. One that none of us can truly understand this side of heaven - of that I am convinced and may be exactly why I cannot explain what has changed inside my being. There are not enough words in our language to say Thank You adequately. I pray that the remarkable power of the Holy Spirit can warm your heart to it's core and you can know the depths of our gratitude for enabling us to be united with the daughter that only God knew we had for so very long.

Happy 6th Birthday Elli Hope

"I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living,

My baby you'll be...."

Saturday Night Revelations

In Guangzhou riding to one appointment or another
January 2013

We are beginning our 8th week as a family of 7. To be honest, I was shocked at that realization. I feel like Elli has been part of our family for such a long time. Is it really still February? Yes, I suppose it is. I guess I shouldn't be surprised then at the conversation we had the other night.

I am almost fascinated at how we, she and I, communicate. It's less and less through Google translate and more and more that she understands what I'm asking her or saying to her. There are hand gestures for sure, she has beautiful, tiny, almost infant-sized hands. They are practically perfect and miniature. They speak volumes when she uses them to help her ask for something specific or when she uses them to express some emotion that she has had.

Sam and Elli... their first meeting.

It had been a really fun day. Most of her days are. There is a lot of laughter, giggles, and lately, silly faces around here as she loves to delight in her surroundings and loves to make people laugh. I suppose for the most part that is somewhat of a defense mechanism. After all, if you make the people around you happy, they are less likely to send you back where you came from. She's always a winner when Sam is around. He cannot help but smile and laugh at her whether she is being appropriate or not. It's always a great day in Elli's mind when Sam comes over. It's never for long but it's always for an Elli fix (and sometimes for dinner).



As adults, we assume a lot. I assumed that after "all this time" Elli should be totally secure in our love for her and the permanence of her as a member of our family. Then, I looked at the calendar and realized it'd only been 7 weeks from the day we first met. I am not sure I am convinced of much of anything after 7 weeks let alone being a loved and adored part of a family. She is a 5 yr. old little girl who is only just now becoming comfortable with a language she hardly ever heard. She is only just now considering American food to be palatable. She is only just now dropping her defenses and being honest about an occasional negative feeling.

Before 10 minutes ago, I was shocked about our conversation of Saturday night. Now it makes a lot of sense.

Saturday was a busy day, most of it because of all the rain we've been having was spent inside and, for me, in the kitchen preparing food for the coming week. Kate spent most of the day with a friend down the street and Josh was typically upstairs in his room hunkered down with friends on Xbox Live or drumsticks flying filling our home with downbeats and fills or strumming and plucking on his guitar. Saturday, Elli had daddy, that was important because daddy was leaving for the week beginning on Sunday morning. Daddy is Elli's Chinese communicator and when he's gone she doesn't get a lot of easy communication.

By Saturday evening Kate had returned and she and Elli had disappeared into her closet. Within 15 minutes I  saw two silly girls emerge dressed in a mish-mash of colorful apparel and ready to put on a show. They danced and twirled and sang and laughed and before they knew it, it was time to dial down, take a bath and head off to bed.


Usually if daddy is around, Elli insistes that he put her to bed. Saturday night was no exception, except one, after he kissed her goodnight and left the room she called for me. That has never happened. I was almost a little put out. After all I had more to do and she had already been tucked in. I put on my happy face, told myself to suck it up and headed in to give her a kiss goodnight. That was not the plan that Elli had, though.

I could tell that she was jazzed. Not really relaxed and sleepy enough to close her eyes. Her mind had been racing. Elliot jumped up onto the bed and cuddled up next to her (because after all it's not possible for me to be out of his sight). She began to ask me about daddy being gone. Elli wanted me to reassure her of all the things her daddy told her. One thing he said, the most important thing he said, was that he would be home in 5 days, "on mommy's birthday".

I confirmed for her that what he told her was true. That it was time to sleep. She would have none of it. She started talking about birthdays, that my birthday was next, then her birthday, then Kate's birthday then Sam's birthday, then Drew's birthday... all of this she said to me in English. She has come a long way in 7 weeks. I confirmed, once again, that she was correct. She's excited about her birthday. We've looked at birthday cakes. She had made sure earlier in the week that she would have one and that it would be "BIGGGGG" (with her arms open as wide as she possibly could open them).

Josh's birthday cake made of milk chocolate
delivered to our room in Guangzhou
compliments of The Garden Hotel

I told her that she would be 6 on her birthday. Then she did something I didn't expect. She did her typical "point towards the floor" meaning "here at home". I said "yes, of course, you will be here for your 6th birthday."

She began to list everyone's birthdays in order again. She got to Josh's and I told her it was a long way away because he had had his birthday in Guangzhou.

Once again, she made a comment about Guangzhou. Guangzhou was the city in China just Northeast of Hong Kong where the American consulate is. That is where all the Americans have to go and stay for about a week after leaving the province where they received their children. That is where all the paperwork is finalized in order that our children, born in China, can arrive in the states and become immediate citizens. I was a little baffled about her mentioning Guangzhou because it was not a place she'd ever been before the 11th of January of this year. I was confused and honestly thought she was telling me she wanted to go back.

Guangzhou 

With a little fear and a lot of trepidation I asked her. "Baby, do you want to go back to Guangzhou?"

"NO NO NO NO NO!!!! Meiguo" (pronounced Megwah - meaning America)

 She promised me that she had no interest in going back. She wanted to be in America. I asked her if she was happy to be here. I asked her if she was happy I was her mommy. She said yes, very happy.

Then she again asked me about her 6th birthday and I realized what she needed to hear.

I held up the appropriate fingers and I said "Elli, you will be 6 here, and 7 here, and 8, here..." she joined in the counting. "and 9 here, and 10 here..." we got as far as 30 and I then said "then you will meet a man..." she looked at me puzzled and I sorta laughed to myself. I knew very well that her smile and pretty face and heart of gold she would meet a man before she was 30.

Her first look at her bedroom "is this all mine?"

She began her daily reminder to me (often several times a day) of all that was "Elli's". She pointed to her bed and her room and her toys. She just wanted to confirm that she BELONGED. After all, if that room was hers she was surely staying.

Then, she sat up, looked in my eyes and said "Mommy," making her hands into fists and putting them to her eyes as if she was rubbing them (her symbol for crying) "Guangzhou" she added. I knew what she meant.

Her first plane ride... Jan 11, 2013 - from Haikou to Guangzhou

On our last day in Guangzhou, first thing in the morning, before breakfast, she had a throw-down of sorts. It was to a degree legit but it got out of hand. It was crunch time, we needed to eat breakfast and hand off our baggage to be taken to the van. We needed to get to the airport and begin our 20 hour excursion back home. She decided to stand in the middle of the hotel room crying at the top of her lungs for one full hour. She wasn't going to move, she wasn't going to be quiet, there was no calming her as I had successfully done previously. There was only one thing to do - ask our guide to speak to her.

Sweet Rebecca did just that. She came to our room and not only calmed her down but did it with reason, not allowing her to continue to wallow in her circumstances. She basically told her to "get a grip". We ended up leaving for the airport with a very angry but tearless and quiet little girl. I, on the other hand, lost it on the van ride to the airport. That had put me over the edge. I wasn't crying for myself, I was crying for her. Crying because we were taking this little princess to begin a wonderful life in America but she had no way of being assured of that. Thankfully, within the hour, she was her old happy self.

A new American Citizen. Antics on the
Plane-Train in the Atlanta Airport

 "Mommy," she said again, "Guangzhou" and again she made her symbol for crying.

I smiled and said, "Yes, Elli, I remember. You cried in Guangzhou."

"Mommy, I sorry."

I was stunned... "What?"

"I sorry" symbol for crying "Guangzhou"

Oh my, I really didn't know what to say. I took her hands in mine. I smiled at her.

 "I love you, Elli"

"I love you too, Mommy"

She laid down and cuddled under her blankets. She looked up at me and grabbed my face in her hands. She has a routine of kisses before she closes her eyes. She turned my face and kissed my right cheek, then my left cheek. She pushed my face down and kissed my forehead and then, the most prized kiss of all - a big pucker to my lips. I did the same and she said. "Goodnight, Mommy, see you in morning."

"See you in the morning, Elli. I love you."

"Bye."

I  cringe every time I hear her say that. There's something unnerving when your daughter tells you "bye" as you leave her room after tucking her in. She has always said that so I've tried not to let it bother me too much. I think when she learns more English, I'm gonna tell her not to say that anymore.

"The Talk"

So, we had "the talk" tonight... Elli and I.

How did it happen, you ask? How were we able to do it so soon? After all it's only been a month since "Gotcha Day".

After church Wednesday night, Elli and I came home together, just she and I. We had a lot of time alone and I wasn't in a hurry to get her to bed even though she needed to go. She didn't want a bath, she needed a bath, she didn't like the snack I picked out, she needed something before bed... then she wanted a bath... UGH.

Then she asked the question, more with her hands than with her mouth as is typical between she and I.

"Are you staying here (meaning here in the house) when I am in the bathtub?"

Wow, where else would I go? She's never seemed to worry about that before. But then, she's never had a bath alone before. Usually Kate dons her bathing suit and sits in our big tub with her. Kate has never grown out of tub toys and has more rubber duckies than Ernie. Between the rubber duckies and the Barbie mermaids they have a grand time. I wonder if Elli wonders if Americans all bath for over an hour with toys every time? They don't sell bath toys in China. Actually, they don't sell very many toys at all in China.

So, I got on my handy-dandy Google Translator and told her that I was staying right here the whole time she was in the tub. That seemed to satisfy her curiosity.

But...

Just then...

I had a thought.

I got back on the translator. I typed in, "I will never leave you alone."

She smiled and nodded her head.

I typed again. "I am your mommy, F.O.R.E.V.E.R."

She stopped, nodded and held up the number 4 on her hands.

No, I'm not gonna assume she knows what I said.

I typed again. "I am going to ALWAYS be your mommy."

She stopped. She turned off the Kindle show she was watching. She turned to me and smiled. Not a huge, my life is complete, kind of smile. She smiled at me like "I was pretty sure of that but now I'm happy to be totally sure of that."

Then I typed "We are always going to be a family."

She pressed the button over and over to hear it in Chinese two, three, four times. Then, she did something that I wasn't expecting. She wanted me to retype what I said but put in there that Mommy, Daddy, Drew, Sam, Josh, Kate and Elli were ALL a family. She wanted to hear every name spoken together, Oh, and to add the dog too. She doesn't often call him Elliot. She usually calls him "go go".

So, that is exactly what I did. Elli pressed it over and over and over again. She could not get enough of hearing that Chinese lady's voice remind her of her Forever Family.

If she wasn't sure a week ago, two weeks ago, she is sure now. She is Elizabeth Hope Farhart. Elli for short.

Forever
             and Ever
                        Amen.

You'll kill me...

"You don't tell anyone about this do you?" Kelly asked me toward the end of the first half of our appointment at the UAB International Adoption Clinic in Birmingham, AL. She was joking... well mostly joking... well, maybe half joking. You see, our appointment went really, really, REALLY well.

Daddy and Elli waiting for our appointment to begin.

Elli was relaxed and happy and acted just like she always acts. No manic moments (as sometimes comes in the evening brought on by the Prednisone we are slowly trying to rid from her body). No lack of desire to be obedient. No intentional digging in of heals when I or daddy said "no" or "not now". She just was... Elli. She laughed and giggled and played almost the entire time on daddy's lap. She'd occasionally look up at the muted TV with SpongeBob or Scooby Doo or Dora running across the screen. She'd catch Kelly glancing at her out of the corner of her eye and respond with a wide smile and twinkling eyes, never moving from the comfort and security of daddy's lap.

Kelly loved that about her. Frankly, Kelly loved
everything about Elli. Kelly loved almost everything we told her about our whole adoption experience from "Gotcha Day" until that day 22 days later. It's not that Kelly had never seen such a good outcome so quickly before but it was rare. I desperately tried to pull thoughts and events and feelings from the depths of my memory to share with her in the hopes...yes HOPES... that she would tell me "Oh, well, THAT's a red flag." But, no, there were no red flags.

She was hoping I'd not gone on and on about how wonderfully things were going because she was afraid it would be discouraging to others. It's not that I didn't realize that or that I'd not chosen to keep my mouth shut, especially on the adoption Facebook site I frequent because I knew other moms who were really struggling with A LOT. Of course I'd not want to be the source of discouragement. I know those moms, they'd be so happy for me. But honestly, when you are jet lagged, when you have other children that are making demands of you, when  your newest family member won't let you put her down for even a second in spite of the fact that she might weight 30 pounds and you haven't slept in 2, 3, maybe 4 WEEKS! Well just how much happiness is left in your body especially for someone who just throws it out there that she is experiencing none of what you are.

Hmmm, nope... not sharing a dang thing.

Kate and Elli in front of Blair Batson Children's Hospital

Just 2 days earlier we'd been to see the head of the hematology department at Blair Batson Children's Hospital here in Jackson, MS. Yep, that's another thing I sorta kept to myself. This woman is seriously busy. She is awesome and came highly recommended. It's not like there aren't other docs there that are great too, she's just the one who a few people we asked suggested we TRY to see, if we were "lucky", IF we could get in. We called on Friday, we saw her on Monday afternoon. We weren't expecting that. We didn't assume that. We didn't even ask for that. Her appointment nurse just GAVE us that appointment.

Everyone was right. She is great. She's perfect to work with children. You just know a doctor when he/she should focus on kids. She sees a lot of sad circumstances. Her heart is happy though. She agreed with us that Elli needed to come off the Prednisone and echo'd a friend's comments who's son has Chronic ITP like Elli. "This is no big deal." She spent some time telling us why but it's so not a big deal that there's really not even much to tell. We fashioned out a plan and decided by the middle of March that Elli would be drug free and we'd see where she stood with her platelet counts. Easy Peasy.

Hmmm, yep... NOT talking too much about the whole Easy Peasy part.

I just realized tonight that I was breathing. I mean really breathing... easy. I don't remember the last time I sighed and if you ask my family why I sigh they would say "because that is just what mom does". I realized that I spent the last 12 months being prepared to watch my entire life change completely - I was holding my breath to see what was gonna happen.

It's not happened at all like I thought it would. I thought I was going to fail Josh and Kate second semester. Not fail them because THEY didn't perform in the manner expected of them but that I would be the failure because Elli's arrival would deprive them of being able to learn in the manner they deserved to learn. But no, Elli is as eager to learn as any other 5 year old. She happily sits at the table and traces letters, colors papers, repeats phrases and words that she needs to know and understand. Nope, school really hasn't changed..

The first day back to school. 5 days after arriving in the US

 hmmm NOT sharing that, not right now


Then there was the decision to stay away from church and ministries and well, pretty much everything because, you know, everyone has to cocoon for at least 3 months, right? So MAYBE by the end of March I'd be able to go back to church. So MAYBE she will quietly sit next to me in the sanctuary in "big church" for a month or two. THEN I will sacrifice the summer and attend Sunday night and Sunday morning classes with her so that HOPEFULLY we will all feel comfortable with her starting Kindergarten Sunday school classes in the fall.

Finishing her George Mueller coloring page from her
first evening in Treasure Builders

After two weeks we could no longer stand it. She was so comfortable, so well behaved, so.. well... so able to go to church with us that we just HAD to go. Two Sundays after we'd arrived home in the US we were all sitting in the sanctuary watching and waiting to see how this little girl was gonna handle a contemporary Christian church filled with hundreds of people. Actually EVERYONE was watching her. I am surprised that our Pastor didn't clap his hands to get our attention and point his way and say "I would be the one to watch right now."

She was great. She did exactly what any of us would expect a well behaved 5 year old to do. She was amazing. When it was over she handled the 500 photo ops she had brilliantly as well. The next weekend  (this past weekend) I chose to take her to the Sunday evening class for her age group. I sat in the class but she insisted on sitting with the kids. She was bummed about the big chunky crayons because, after all, she is almost 6 and she colors flawlessly, but THEY didn't know that. After listening to 10 other kids get their name called she realized that each time a name was called a child chose to give an "animal sound". To my amazement when the teacher said "Elli" she responded "Meow"... now really, we are SO ready for this! Next Sunday we will be in 9:30 Lifegroup for the K4's. Oh My she has no idea what's ahead of her.

Of course I will stay with her until she feels like she can go it alone but somehow I doubt it's gonna take until the fall. It's an exciting development but I'd hate to share the ease at which we are adjusting with a mama who is just desperate to feel the physical arms of her women's Bible Study group around her again after being gone for months because her new daughter or son just cannot be left in childcare yet.

The inner rocker came out tonight just under 1 month
from the day we first met this princess

Tonight, as I was getting Elli her bedtime snack she heard Michael and Josh upstairs playing some of the Praise Team sets that they have to be prepared to play over the next several Sundays and Wednesdays. She had just been bathed and it was late, after 9:30. She should have been in bed an hour before.

I messed around in the kitchen awhile, waiting for her to come down to have her snack and then go to bed. She was a no-show; for a long time. So as I've gotten in the habit of doing, I grabbed my phone and headed upstairs to see what was keeping her and low and behold I saw a blur. A blur that had been full-on for 15 minutes and would continue for another 15. She found new ways to dance to Praise music and then... out of nowhere, Josh did what we had not expected... out of the amp came "Gundam Style". Right there, in front of my face, the itty bitty very new Farhart danced You Tube perfection with her big sis as Josh drummed to the song and her daddy and I just stared in awe. She became 100% Farhart at 10pm February 4, 2013.

And I breathed and breathed and breathed. And I realized that was exactly what I was doing.

Don't get me wrong, I, like you, think this has been WAYYYY too easy. Like you I realize there will be a trigger. Surely there's gotta be a trigger. Elli has cried only twice (only once with audible noise) since the day we met her. Some people, kids included, just aren't big criers. After all, she flat out watched the Lab Tech at UAB stick the needle in her arm and take 9 vials of blood. (I swear the number of vials increases each time we tell this story) She didn't utter a sound. She didn't even quiver a lip.

But I suspect that one day, maybe soon, something is gonna happen. Some memory or realization is gonna come storming to the front of her little brain and she is gonna look at me and lose all the composure that she's been so bravely trying to keep all these weeks. But here's the deal... that's ok.

Why?

Because yesterday... when I told her "I love you, Elli." Instead of her just smiling and saying "I love you too, Mommy." (which is pretty awesome in and of itself). She smiled at me, leaned into me so that her face butted up against my neck and whispered into my ear "I love you, too Mommy." And then, just for a minute, I stopped breathing. It was then that I got my first, real, "I love you".

So when it comes, if it comes, I'm ready. And maybe it will come totally BECAUSE it's official. She really does love me and she knows what that means and she KNOWS that she can totally lose it all over me and I will hold her through it until she cries out every last tear even if it takes hours. That if she is no longer that amazingly composed, always cheery, "A" game girlie, it won't change one little thing about how I feel about her. I will still think that she is one of the most brave little girls that I've ever had the honor to meet.

I love this girl!

"Oh no. Don't smile. You'll kill me. I stop breathing when you smile." 

-Tessa Dare, A Lady of Persuasion

Mrs. Farhart... it's time...

Elizabeth "Elli" Hope Farhart
taken Nov. 2010
NINE MONTHS before I would
ever see her face.

How many times have you spent days, months, or even years preparing for something, putting heart and soul (and even a little blood, sweat, and tears) into something and the big day arrives and you want to run as far away from it as you can to a safe and comfortable place and forget you ever endeavored to do it in the first place?  Probably not many if at all. Most of us work hard for something with the end result being what pushes us on in spite of what the obstacles appear to be along the way. I think, until this experience, I would have answered this question with "never".

Today, well this whole last week or two, has been my first taste of...

"WHAT IN THE WORLD HAVE WE DONE?"

I don't expect anyone else who hasn't adopted to understand these feelings because anyone who knows someone who has adopted from anywhere understands the commitment on every level that a person makes when they dive into this ocean of paperwork, gov't intrusion, check writing, fund raising, and for some, family disharmony. 

Elli in Sept. 2012. Celebrating with
her friends at the Orphanage
her adoption.

Why in the world would the day come when it all begins to "happen" and I feel like I want to run and hide?

Thankfully, I have met enough adoptive moms to realize I am not a freak, an insensitive creature, or an idiot... I am totally normal. The changes that are about to happen are monumental and in many ways the tasks are greater and mountains higher than if I were physically pregnant and about to deliver. I find it interesting that when I first considered these feelings I thought "If I were physically pregnant I'd at least know that God was all in it" 

Weird how I forgot that God was/is all up in this as well...  

So, just as I would head off, bag in hand, to the hospital to deliver a new little Farhart, I am off (with a few extra companions) with multiple bags in hand to travel half way around the world to meet my new not as young but still very little Farhart. There's just a whole lot more adventure that goes along with this birth. 

God is no less a part of the change in this family through Elli's adoption than He would be if Elli was born from my body and arrived home as a newborn. I have seen Him work in ways I'd not have seen if we weren't adopting and my faith and awe and commitment and delight are all the better for it. My thrill at watching Him work through my brothers and sisters in Christ has been thrilling and just as Mary tucked thoughts away in her heart as she watched interactions between outsiders and her first born, I have tucked away thoughts, written down thoughts, and snapped photographic thoughts and put them into a special box for Elli. When she gets older, when she hits adolescence (or earlier) and she begins to wonder about how she fits into all of this I will be able to pull out that box and show her how much people loved her. The people that she sits with every Wednesday and Sunday; the people that she plays with throughout the week; the people that she calls her best friends... she will be able to read for herself, see for herself, hear for herself of the love that all these people had for her long before they even knew who she was. That's an amazing reality. I'm excited for the day that the truth of that sinks in for her. 

I love all of you for enabling me to have that moment in time with her one day.  

So yes, it's time, it's time to load up the car, present our tickets, get on an airplane and begin the emotionally exhausting but adventure of a lifetime... and BECAUSE you are praying and petitioning my Lord on my behalf, I know I can do this because it's not ME doing it... It's Christ in me.

Elli on December 23rd, 2012... 15 days before her life and our lives will
forever be changed. 

The End Is Just Another Beginning.

And so it goes... something is coming to an end. Funny... as I thought about this blog post the end of 2012 didn't even enter my mind and yet, as I write about the end of Operation Elli it happens to be the last day of 2012... a year that will live, at least in my mind, in infamy.

The phrase Operation Elli was
first coined by my dear
friend Jessica Blanco. 

I have learned a lot in 2012, more than I ever expected but since I lean on my Lord for guidance and wisdom and direction, I'm not surprised that when I just let go and allow Him to run things He has let me in on far more than I could have ever imagined. That's just how He works. I'm so thankful that He is so much bigger than me or anyone or anything else around me. It's impossible to fully trust in someone or something that's just as big as you are.

Which brings me to the end of "Op Elli" as it's affectionately called around here. It's the end because we leave in almost exactly 72 hours from this writing for the airport here in Jackson, MS. We will then fly to Atlanta to wait for 4 hours to board a flight to Seoul, Korea. Fourteen and a half hours later we will deplane only to wait another 4 hours to board a plane to Guangzhou, China which is I think about a 6 hour flight. Once there, we will wait another 5 hours to fly the less than one hour trip to Haikou, China, the home of Elli's orphanage. All in all, I think the Gman estimated 22 hours flying and 13 hours or so waiting. Every bit of it totally and completely worth it because Elli is worth everything.

My reason for writing is to thank you  - all of you - who did any thing to help bring Elli home. It was an operation that lasted for a year and that included hundreds of people and the result will be an itty bitty 5 yr old girl who knows no one, doesn't have a clue what love is (they do not tell each other they love each other there), and who really is mostly excited about her dog that she is coming to America to see. But to all of us, it doesn't matter because we know what she will discover once here... a forever immediate family and a forever church family. I also believe she will discover a loving and sacrificial heavenly Father who sent His son to not just raise $35,000.00 and take an incredibly long plane flight to rescue her from a hopeless situation but a son who gave up a royal life for a time to come to earth and give his life sacrificially, enduring agony and pain... all for her. THAT is why her middle name is Hope... more than anything, we want her to know the hope that she has in Jesus Christ.

write your name and a verse address
for Elli's adoption box.

So many of you committed to wearing the red "Elli" bracelets we had made up months ago. You have been praying for her consistently and she has stayed on your mind for months. Now, as we begin the process of boarding a plane to bring her home, I have one last request for your bracelet. If you would, after January 7th, 2013 (our Gotcha Day), take off your bracelets, write your name inside and a verse or message to her for her "box". I've made a box for her, a box full of letters and notes, and all kinds of goodies that have been given to us this year as we waited for her. I want her to know exactly what her presence in our lives means and that it's not just us but US... our family in Christ... that have loved her so dearly. If you want to write more, a letter or card just for her for when she's old enough to read it and understand it, then by all means, please do. She spent more than 5 years not understanding or hearing the words "I LOVE YOU" that is not all made up in one or two days, weeks, or even years. How much love will she see when she opens that box and realizes all the days of prayers and sacrifice and love that went into the year we all waited for her?

My posts will have to be small. I'm having a hard time keeping my composure lately. I have waited a long time to hold her in my arms, to promise my love and devotion forever, to see Kate become a big sister... and I have a hard time looking at all of this without seeing God's great "giving" to me (as He did to Job) after his "taking" from me in 1996. The parallels are just too great not to see His hand in it all and I do have such a difficult time not falling apart when I see Him work his redemptive power not just in the lives of people but in the situations that occur in every day life. This past year was such a year of redemption in so many ways. 2011 was very disappointing and sad for me. He is gracious - always - to do a work that we just cannot comprehend if we are willing to wait on Him for it all.

Please keep up with us here - hopefully our VPN will work in China and typing on an Ipad won't be more than I can manage. It may cut down on my long posts which will probably make most of you happy since it's the pictures that we all care about anyway! :)

We will return on the 17th and will most likely be sequestered for several weeks as we seek to build the security and trust with Elli that she needs. We hope to see you all in February.

I came across these pictures which reminded me of all the new things I learned about and new experiences I had in 2012. I have to say, 2012 was an amazing wonderful year personally in the lives of our family. I'm thankful that our lives personally don't have to reflect what we see around us. God is on His Throne regardless of who is in power in any country, state, or city of the world. I am thankful that History is really His Story and we know the end of the story already. May your 2013 be one of seeing HIS handiwork in your lives. Keep your eyes open lest you miss something big. It's the end of 2012 but the beginning of something new, 2013. What's He got in store for you?

This was the day we got our notice that
we were accepted by China to be Elli's
forever family. We officially went from
being a family of 6 to a family of 7. 

After 29 years of marriage we finally had our
marriage license.
We had no idea we never had one. 

Our fundraiser at Sweet
Tree Yogurt for H of C was
 such a success it even shocked
the owner.

One of my favorite ministries
is the youth ministry at our
church. Solid Ground is made
up of a bunch of awesome kids.
They wanted to help bring Elli
home so they designed and sold
these t-shirts and made enough
money to pay for our China Visas.

Our church chose to begin
a new ministry in 2012. Hearts
of Compassion was born from
a desire to help bring children
home to their forever families
regardless of where they come from.

One thing every adoptive family
needs to do is raise money. Very
few families have the money to
pay outright for their adoption.
I decided to make a little business
Many of you were gracious enough to
help bring Elli home through
Kate 'n Elli's
Thank you.

Haikou City, Hainan Province
is where Elli is from. We had never
heard of this city until Elli was
referred to us.