Monday, November 24, 2014

{Trimming the Tree...and 9 months home!}

The kids begged and begged and begged...and I went back and forth on decorating before Thanksgiving.  It was the tradition in my home growing up to wait until after the turkey had been eaten and the leftovers were all that was left.  It was the tradition here until this year...and sometimes even the best of traditions need to be broken every now and again.   I'm starting to understand why some will leave their decorations up much past the New Year and even, a few, all the way until Easter.  We celebrate Jesus daily so why not have a tree up in His celebration a little earlier and longer than usual this season???

We still very much enjoy and savor each moment of Thanksgiving and spend the better half of a school day studying the pilgrims, Indians and Abe Lincoln pardoning the first turkey...but those in no way trump the One Who died in our place and promises us Glory.  So, the kids won...and our home is already donning lots of twinkling lights.

And...oh the pure joy of watching our littlest love's eyes light up with each decoration that came out of the box...when the tree was first up...the moment the lights first were plugged in...and the embrace she gave her stocking that was embroidered last year with her name and hung just longing for the day she would unpack the goodies within it herself.  It was like she'd known all along the stocking was hers...it was as though it was some long lost toy that she had seen before and was so thrilled to find once again.  She was made for this.  God has given her glimpses, too.  Perhaps in her dreams...perhaps in other ways...but she knew.  She savored and she knew.  She proudly totes little figurines of our not {so} breakable target nativity set in her doll stroller and tucks them away in her little hiding spots.  They are her treasures now, too.

Nine months she's been in our arms...and God truly works wonders in that time frame.  Things are falling more naturally into place.  I forget she doesn't look like us...well at least from some others' view points.  An elderly gentleman was giving us the strangest look in the store the other day and I just couldn't figure out why he kept staring so rudely.  A few moments later...I realized.  She is ours now...in every way.  Boundaries are broken and literally seen no more.  God has grown her in my womb now and there's moments I forget I didn't birth her myself.  Adoption is such a beautiful gift.  A hard, die to self, ugly cry, hand me a box of tissues and a box of dark chocolate glorious gift.  It encompasses both the Lamb and the Lion...sacrifice and strength...balanced delicately in His power alone.

Our daughter has gained 10 pounds, grown 2ish inches, walks, toddler jogs, dances, laughs, plays hide and seek, talks, cries out for mama, latches firmly onto dada when he comes home and squeals with pure delight, fights with her brothers, stakes her claim and holds tightly to it, totes baseballs and nascars in her princess grocery cart, lets her will be known, hides under blanket drawn forts with her Lulu, flies like an airplane on her Bubba and makes us consciously aware every waking moment just how good God truly is...that He always provides...that He is faithful...and that He rescues both the orphan and the middle-class. 

Our lives will never be the same...and I'd never want them to be.  Jesus has broken our hearts for what breaks His and opened our eyes... and Christmas will never be the same either.  Praise God for that!






   

1 comment:

Auntie Mip said...

It is astounding the healing powers of love. I hope this doesn't sound awful, but she't did not look healthy when you first posted pictures. Whether it was lack of spiritual, emotional or physical health or all of the above, she did not look well.

But nine months of good nutritious food. Of routine and structure. Of warm beds and nightly baths and brothers and parents and aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and friends. Because of prayers and because of love she has been have brought brought back to life. Her very own resurrection.

She is not the girl you first held in China, you are right...she is yours! And those nine months are just as life giving and sustaining as if you had carried her within your womb. She is yours and she is God's...resurrected indeed!!! God bless her and each of you this Christmas.