Out of the mouths...

"Dear Jesus, will you heal Mama's headache?  You are the King, and you are good, and you are nice. Some kings would say 'Do this or that!' but you are nice!  You wash our feet! So thank you, Jesus...amen."

May her words always be as honest and as trusting and as straightforward as they were tonight. Thank you for your prayers for me, my sweet daughter.  Don't ever forget to always run to the good and very nice King!

My Heart

Check out the Sweetness that is my daughter...she was up in her new room today, working at her craft table, and this is what she was drawing! Check out the details: hair, eyes, and our favorite colors. (Note: Beth has never known me with red red hair...she calls it "brown", like most people these days.)

How'd I get so lucky to be her mama?!  I love you, too, Beth...always and forever.

Oh, my uber-compliant one!

Conversation between me and Beth this morning as we are getting ready to leave for school:

(I'm getting dressed, and she knocks on my door.)

Me:  "Who is it?"

Beth:  "It's Beth."

Me:  "What do you need, Sweetheart?"

Beth:  "Do I have time to go to the bathroom?"

Me:  "Honey, in the time you came upstairs to ask me that, you could have gone to the bathroom."

Beth (sounding a bit dejected):  "Oh."

Me (so as not to crush her spirit):  "Sweetie, from now on, if you need to go to the bathroom, just go, okay?  You always have time to go if you need to go."

Beth:  "Okay."

Beth:  "Mama?"

Me:  "What?"

Beth:  "So, does that mean 'Yes'?"

From the mouths of babes...

Beth:  "Mom, do you know that we have two dads? One is always with us, and the other isn't."

Me: "Well, the other one is always with us, too. We just can't see Him." 

Beth: "Oh, that's what I meant. God is always with us. The other dad, the daddy who lives at home with us, he's not always here."

She understands...better than I do sometimes.

Kid thanks is the best kind...

Tom and Beth were thankful for many things last week...can you guess which wrote which list?

My toys

My shoes

My class

God

My friends

My brothers

My dad

My mom

My sister

My teachers

Pretend kitchen

Friends

Art

Crayons

My stuffed animals

Stickers

Coloring books

The sprinkler

My family

My dollies

For Tom, it's all about the people, people!  For our creative and imaginative girl, well....it's obvious.

And the mama is thankful for them both.

Beth Says

"Oh, Bart, you're so cute!  I know I wanted a girl, but I would miss you if I didn't have you!  I love you soooo much!  As a baby, you're so cute!"

Yep.  We love him, just as he is, boy parts and all.  :)

What a great day really looks like...

Earlier this morning when I checked Facebook, I saw that a "friend" (who just got back from India after meeting her son) had posted a photo of Soudemani, Tom's nanny from his two years at the orphanage.  She is a beautiful woman, and we are so grateful for her intense and loving care of our little one.  Tom was just over 2 years old when he met him, and she was his primary caregiver for most of that time.

Showing Tom her picture prompted a look at other India pictures and videos...always a treasure to walk down that very important memory lane.

And then, the words from Beth, "Tom, do you remember the time when we first met at the airport?  That was a great day!"

Yes, it was, girly.  Yes, it was.

Caringbridge - Update from Nashville

Yes, that's right.  Our family is in Nashville, Tennessee, this long weekend for the 10th-anniversary celebration of Show Hope.  We are so thankful that we were able to come, especially since when we first got the invitation in the mail, it seemed like such a long shot.  I figured I would be on bed rest or something by now, but here I am, traversing the country with my family in our 12-passenger van!

Tonight, Steven Curtis Chapman and his family welcomed donors, grant recipients, and others to the anniversary concert, and it was wonderful! Full of amazing stories and testimonies of God's grace, we were again humbled to get to be a part of the special world of adoption.  Neil has been particularly vocal this weekend about how grateful he is that we adopted him (If he only really knew how thankful we are that God chose him for us!), and we keep thinking of how this reflects our relationship with the Lord--how grateful we are that we've been adopted by the King!

There are many things I should share related to the babies.  So without further ado and in no particular order...

-At last Thursday's doctor appointment, I met one of the new doctors at the practice.  She was very nice...no surprise.  Everyone there is fantastic.  I was concerned about a couple of things, but we talked them through, and in the end, she was able to answer my questions in such a way that my concerns have faded.

-Also at last Thursday's appointment, I failed my glucose screening. I think this happened one other time.  No problem yet, except for the fact that I need to return on Wednesday for the more extensive 3-hour glucose screening.  She told me that 95% of people who fail the 1-hour test end up passing the 3-hour test.  That's what happened with me last time, and I'm hoping for the same result this time around.

-Baby Bart is still very, very low.  75% of his movements make me feel like he is clawing to get out.  This was part of my concern, but Dr. W assured me that some babies just find their favorite spot and hang out there.  I guess that's Bart and Aaron for you!

-Last week (again!), we received some amazing blessings from some folks.  On Wednesday, I hung out with a woman from church for a bit who had asked if she could meet with me because she had "a couple of things" to give me.  We talked for awhile, and I got to hear her story, which was so good.  I hadn't known before that their family had lost a daughter to Trisomy 18.  Heartbreaking, of course, but good to talk to someone else who knew before she was born that their child wouldn't live outside the womb.  It is a strange reality to know that you're carrying a baby who can't survive.  She gave me a book, "I Will Carry You" written by Angie Smith, wife of Selah artist, Todd Smith.  I am not a fast reader, but....I finished it yesterday.  It was sooo good! Angie and Todd also had a daughter who died upon birth.  Months before she was born, this sweet couple was told that their daughter had conditions that were "incompatible with life".  I cannot express how much that book has ministered to me over the last few days.

-Also on Wednesday, we received an amazing gift in the mail that came to us from some brothers and sisters in Christ who lives across the pond.  Jill (Jeff's sister) send us a prayer quilt made my members of her church, and it is beautiful.  It has been prayed over by many, and included was a card with the most dear sentiments--from people we don't even know.  How blessed we are to be walking this road, despite the uneven terrain.

My favorite moment of tonight was when Casting Crowns was on stage performing, "Praise You in this Storm".  As often happens when I hear that song, tears started falling as I chose again with my will to praise the God who gives--and takes away.  I used to hear that song and think of Hunt; now I think of these precious babies I'm carrying today.....

Tom noticed my tears immediately, and with his sweet little hand, he began to wipe the tears from my face.  Then Beth noticed and got in on the action.  "Why are you sad, Mommy?" she asked.

"Well, Beth," I explained, "I'm just thinking about how sad I am that we have to say goodbye to Baby Aaron.  I miss him already. But I'm also thankful because we can trust God with our sadness.  He hears our cries and understands."

And then...out of the mouth of my sweet babe...with her hands cupping my face, she looks at me and says, "Don't be sad, Mommy. We will see him again soon!"

Amen, little one.  You understand words that beguile the smartest of men and the most powerful of kings.

Because we will.  See him again soon, that is.  This life is but a breath.

So for the breath, I grieve.  But for eternity, I rejoice.

She draws! She writes!

Let's face it...the girl is a budding little artist!  One of her very favorite things to do is to draw...helped keep her entertained through half of the 2.5-hour church service last week.  There are lots of similar drawings, but I think this is my favorite...



...albeit just a tad bit creepy.

Time with the Twins

On Friday, I went over to the home of our dear friends, Andrea and Tim, to babysit.  Andrea was a part of a S.A.Y. Yes! training that Here's Life hosted this weekend, so Beth, Tom, and I went over and hung out all day with N, their 2 1/2-year-old son, and S & E, their 7-month-old twins.  We love this family like, well, family!

But Tom has a particular affection for E.  As in, I think he loves her.

When we were at my parents' house in March, Tom spent 20 minutes stroking E's hair while she was in her bouncy seat--with his little legs pushed underneath the seat, he sat and talked to her and sang to her and made her giggle.  It was priceless.

Any other boys out there with their eyes on E had better watch out!

When we arrived on Friday, the twins were napping.  But soon after, E woke up, and when I brought her downstairs, Tom looked at her and said, "Baby cute!  That's my E, Mom!"

His intonation and determination were so precious.  Yep, I think he loves her all right.

Later, I was feeding E, and Beth was right next to me, trying to be so helpful in her own way.  So I asked her if she would help me if God gives us another baby.  She said that she wants twins and that if we get twins, she will take care of the girl and I can take care of the boy.

"Okay, Mom?" she asked.

I told her that she would have to talk to Jesus about the whole thing.  So she prayed...

"Jesus, please give us twins like NaunAnd (her name for Andrea)....they're really cute!  Don't give us boys.  No, no, no!  PLEASE??!"

"I think He heard me, Mama," she concluded.

Done.

Literal Beth

The concrete thinking of children is very apparent in Beth these days.  A couple of recent precious moments...

-A few nights ago, I was reading to Beth and Tom before bed, and we were reading from the Jesus Storybook Bible.  (It is an amazing read, by the way...even adults can learn a lot from it.  By far the best children's Bible I've ever seen!)  We were reading the story about Jesus teaching His disciples how to pray.  It said something like "You don't need clever words or lots of words to talk to Jesus.  You can talk to God just like you talk to anyone else you love very much."  I stopped and said, "Beth, you know how you come and tell Mama that you love me at random times during the day, for no reason?  (Which she does...a lot.  It's one of the many amazingly precious things about her!)  You can do that with God, too.  At any time, you could just stop and tell Jesus that you love him."  She looks at me and says, "I'm going to tell him in my heart."  Silly me...I was thinking that she meant that she would just silently pray in her head.  Nope.  She puts her head as close to her chest as possible and whispers loudly and forcefully, "I love you, Jesus."  She told him that she loved him in(to) her heart.  It was incredibly precious, as my girl didn't hesitate to go right to where Jesus lives to talk to Him.....in her heart.

-Today, Beth and Tom were arguing.  Probably over Baby Nani, the favored baby doll in our house.  I cannot wait until Christmas so that I can give Tom his new baby already!  Tom walks around insisting that Baby Nani is his, and then Beth runs after him defending that, in fact, she is hers!  This happens every day, often more than once.  Anyway, this morning I took Baby Nani away from them both and explained that we would share her in 15-minute increments today.  That seemed pretty good.  So then I told them to shake hands, since they were making a deal.  They proceeded to literally shake their hands....it was hilarious because they had no idea just how funny they were being!  They weren't trying to be funny...they were just doing what I had asked them to do.

No wonder kids love Amelia Bedelia so much....she thinks very concretely, just like the kids!

Let's Make a Memory

She was putting me down for my "nap" today....she being "mama" and me being "sister", of course.  After giving me some yummy homemade corn-apple juice--by far the best imaginary corn-apple juice I've ever tasted!--she "tocked" me in, and Tom gave me kisses on the nose.  I asked, "Mama, aren't you going to tell me a story?"

"Once upon a time, there was a little mouse who went nigh-night in a hole.  And that is your story."

Nigh-night, pretend mommy.  I love you a million times over.

Beth Says and Does

She says "get for".  As in, "Don't get for your monkey!" as she chases me with this crazy singing stuffed animal that my friend gave me for my birthday.

It is precious, and I don't want to forget.

In other Beth news, her fiery little personality is beginning to show itself in full bloom.  This morning, she sat on the steps and screamed for almost 30 minutes.  Almost as soon as we stepped outside, she stopped.  When asked why she had been crying and screaming so much, she looked at me, totally calm and dry-eyed and said, "I don't know."  And then she kept walking.

That fiery spirit is going to take her places, but it might drive me to Looneyville first.  :)

5 of 31

Tonight, as we were all getting ready for the Packers/Falcons game to start, Beth asked our intern, Noel, what her sweatshirt said. 

"That says Nebraska Huskers.  Go Huskers!" Noel said.

"No!" Beth enthused.  "Go, Packers!"

Was Daddy proud?  Oh, yes!

In other Packer news, you should see Neil's happy dance when Green Bay scores a touchdown!  Hilarious!