Simplicity

I like this article. 

I recently asked our two daughters...adopted from overseas at 4.5 and 3.5 what their earliest memories were.

Neither had memories of their orphanages which was very interesting to me...since my earliest memory is from a day when I was three.

It's so fascinating that they have no memories until years after they came home.   Like no memories.

One daughter...(not Girlie)  said this..."I know I had a good childhood with you...I just don't remember it."

Keep it simple.  Live life with family and a close-knit circle of friends.

I think this goes a long way in providing security for little hearts. 

When they feel safe...they are able to relax.  Then thrive.

And remember all the memories being created. 

Fathers

Most of the time...it's the moms who get the hardest hit. Day in and day out.

I thank the Lord that He has seen fit to give our daughter my husband as her father.

When I am unable...he does what needs to be done.

When I am unwilling...he does the hard thing.  The difficult thing.

When I am unresponsive...he responds.

When I've had enough...when I've given up... He moves in to take up the task at hand and then he leads me to a better place.

This article has lots of people crying over on fb.

It's cuz it's so lovely. 

I know many men who are fathers to those who were once other men's children.  It's so lovely.  It's so beautiful.  It's so amazing.  And touching.  And inspiring. 

Now I'm crying. 

"He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."  Malachi 4:6

Just a Few

Have you recruited friends to come alongside you on this journey?

Early on...we let one couple in.  The  one couple who knows everything.  All the details.

Then a few more.   Not many.  Just a few.

They pray when we are too weak to pray.  They pray when we are too angry to pray.  They pray when we are to afraid to pray.  They pray when we are apathetic and have no desire to pray.

Girlie knows this.

They pray for us and for her.

They speak truth into our lives and into her life.

They love us and they love her.

They fight for us and they fight for her.

They know she is a blessing and a gift.

They know we are too.

They remind her.   They remind us.

I am ever so thankful for them. 

Spiritual Friendship

 Spiritual Friendship message

reminded me of this....

re-post

and for some reason....this....

re-post

I praise the Lord for the friends He has provided for me on this journey called life.  With all of it's ups and downs.  With all of it's twists and turns.   

HE has been the number one friend...the one who hears the silent cries and screams and hears the silent longings of my heart......the ONE who hears the things that I dare not utter.    Things only He or my husband know.    

But the earthly ones HE sees fit to gift me with...they are of great value.

In fact, they are priceless.

Heart Change re-post

I was directed to this blog.  I don't know much about it, but so far...I like what I see. 

"Orphan care isn't just about embracing the broken places kids come from. It also exposes our own broken places and forces us to deal with them. As we step deep into the fractures of their stories we're pierced again by the cracks in our own. It's impossible to seek healing on behalf of someone else without first experiencing healing to a certain degree within yourself. We simply cannot give what we do not have.

We were entrusted with the humbling task of caring for a very fragile, vulnerable and defenseless baby girl - and in so doing reminded of our own insecurities and wounds and forced to consider what healing through Jesus needed to take place in our lives before we could rightly extend that same healing through Jesus into hers."

I am reminded of this post from 2008.  

Stumbling Block

A wise friend once assured me that if I was a stumbling block in my girlie's life...a thing making the road to salvation more difficult for her...an excuse that would forever be used....then our loving Father would take me out.  He would remove me from her if need be.

Do you love your child enough to ask the Lord to do whatever it takes to save them?

Even if it means you are taken out of the picture?

With this thought...I was confronted by my own pride.

And then He helped me to lay it down. 

Love

Sometimes so hard to do...I know. 

My Girlie