Thursday, February 21, 2013

When You See Jesus

The snow was beautifully falling Monday morning as Gabriel looked out the back door, "Jesus!  Hi Jesus!"  I looked outside, expecting to see our neighbor, Barry, walking the alley, on his way to work.  I looked outside and saw no one.  Ana runs to the door and calls out the same thing, "Jesus!.  HI Jesus!"  So, we're all 3 looking out the back door.  They are "looking at Jesus".  I am looking at snow falling. Ana looks up at me and says, "Mama, Jesus made it snow."    Hmmm.

Fast forward to dinner last evening.  It was Ana's turn to pray-she always begs to pray at dinner-

Dear God~
Thank you for my fam-il-y.
Thank you for our food.
Thank you for Jesus.
Amen.

She doesn't question when I tell her Julia and Cole were in my belly and she was born in my heart. She loves it, in fact.  She loves to hear how we flew on a plane and picked her up.  She loves to hear how we walked in and cried and said "she's so cute".

When the Lord made us aware we had two babies in Ethiopia, waiting for us, I would envision Jesus standing over their cribs, holding them, talking to them, smiling down at them.

And then He sent us to get them.  I quickly started to fret over how I would care for them, feed them, teach them, etc.

How quickly do I forget that He is the author of all. He is the one holding all things together. I so often think I need to fix everything for my children, all 4 of them. That I.am.in.control.  

Remembering, it's okay to walk through hard places. God is still God.  God is still good.  Nothing changes WHO God is. He is still our praise.  He is still our salvation.

For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be glory forever.  Amen (Rom. 11:36)


Thursday, February 14, 2013

Mama, Tell Me Again...

Mama, tell me again, about how you came to Ap-ic-a to get me.  How you flew real high in a plane and you said, "Oh, they're so cute", and then you cried.  Tell me, mama.

This is a common conversation these days at our house.  Ana loves to hear how we flew on a plane to get her. How excited we were to meet she and Gabriel.  And her favorite part is when I cried and Daddy cried (on the inside) and she and Gabriel giggled and laughed when they met us.  She faithfully makes me repeat, "Oh, you were so cute!"

Here it is, Ana...

Here's mama...

Here's you...



Here's us then ...

Here's us now...

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Don't Want to Forget...

Me:  Ana, do you know how much I love you?
Ana:  This much. (holding up two fingers)
Me:  Nope. This much.  Forever and Ever. (I stretch out my arms as far as I can.)
Ana:  You're my hero.  (walking away from me into the living room).
Now that makes a Mama's heart swell with joy

(and just in case I forget how hard our "normal" can be, both A and G were just sitting in opposite corners of the downstairs, me about in tears, Gabriel definitely in tears, Ana doing acrobatics in her little corner of the world)