Time and Rubberbands

Sunday nights are becoming a good reflection time for considering the past week and thanking God for the joys I have experienced.  We were able to have Savanah and Danelle stay with us the whole weekend and I am learning that with 5 daughters there are a million requests for my time.  Can you read a book?  Will you play a game with us?  Can we swim?  Can we do manicures?....Can you make us a sign so we can open a hair salon in our room?...and many...many....many more requests.  On Saturday evening, Savanah asked me if I had time to braid her hair so it would be wavy for church on Sunday.  Any other time, I would have been tempted to say I had other things I needed to do.  I did have a list of things I wanted to try to get done that evening and I had a suspicion that braiding her hair would cause a chain reaction (If you know what I mean).  Sure enough, my suspicion proved to be correct and I ended up searching for enough rubberbands to braid 5 golden heads of hair.

Now comes the payoff story for the time I spent.  Today, Karly and Danelle were in the restroom at church and Karly asked a lady in the bathroom if she liked her hair and the lady reponded, "yes, who did it for you?" to which Karly responded, "my mom"...then Danelle asked the same lady if she liked her hair too...and the lady responded, "yes...and who did your hair?"  and she said, "my mom".  She hasn't actually referred to me this way yet, so I was quite surprised (and happy) to hear she had said that.  I have kind-of been thinking they would probably never call me "mom"...not because they hadn't yet because it is still early in our process of getting to know each other and bonding, but because they are old enough to have pretty strong attachments with their biological parents.  I will be surprised if she begins calling me "mom" regularly any time soon, but that gives me a sweet little hope that we may reach that point eventually.

God never stops surprising me!

Disney World or BUST!

We have been hoping and praying for the last month or so that we would be able to take the girls on vacation with us.  This year we have been preparing to take the girls on a Disney vacation because we felt they were a great age now to truly enjoy the experience.  A terrific family from our church is allowing us to use their timeshare and we had requested special permission for Danelle and Savanah to go with us, but there is always "red tape" and "hoops to jump through" and hoops made of red tape...yep, good luck jumping through those...they are pretty tricky.  They remind me a little bit of the obstacles on America's Ninja Warrior :-) The date we are supposed to leave is coming up pretty quickly and I was starting to wonder if we would ever get permission for this.  We had tried to keep the vacation a secret for some time so as not to cause heartbreak if it didn't work out, but it is incredibly hard, if not impossible, to keep a Disney trip a secret when there are a 4, 6, and 9 year old inside the "cone of silence"....so, word got out and we prayed harder.  The great news is that we got word today that they can come with us.  I am thrilled...(though it is always the 11th hour answered prayer)...God keeps testing my ability to be patient and wait on Him.

In a bible study I am involved in we are starting to study the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  The book takes the perspective that it was spoken more to the "older son" than the "younger son".  Although I believe it is packed with truth no matter where you find yourself and which brother you most closely identify yourself with, it has given me a lot to think about.  I have been given so many "robes, rings, and fattened calves"...Especially lately, I have just been seeing God's hand blessing us with one gift after another and this book has challenged me to understand that the "reward" that should mean the most to me is simply being with the Father, trusting Him, and loving others.  When I do this, He gives me so many more opportunities to be a witness for Him.  It is crazy how taking a step of faith and starting the adoption process has allowed us to share our story with others and, ultimately, be a witness of what God is doing...to give Him glory.

Here are a few new pics of the girls...we had a fun time last week doing nails, shopping, picking flowers...it was a very girlie-girl time...good bonding.

Thank you for your continued prayers!  We are so excited for what God has been doing, but we are also aware that there will be many challenges along the way as this family melds together and each takes on their own role as sisters...and mom and dad too.

The Irony!

Our short meetings with the girls have been going fabulously!  We have been to a softball game, horseback riding, playing frisbee in the yard, to a couple cookouts, and tonight we had a wii dance competition..Brad even made up brackets for it...haha! AND, the complete irony of it all is that out of all the girls dancing in the dance-off...who would you think would win?...BRAD!  I guess complete irony would have been if Kooper would have won, but Brad is a close second.

Something I have learned and am learning is that this process is changing me...for one, just knowing I am following a plan God has clearly laid out for me (as a part of this family) is so fulfilling...it has been a while since I have felt this much fulfillment in my spiritual walk and I have been enjoying this closer walk with God.  BUT, also, with us beginning to see the girls only for short blocks of time...we try to plan our time wisely and we try to spend a lot of time with them and working to bond in different ways.  I have been seeing my "mom" role in a slightly different light as I have realized I had not been making this kind of effort in my time with my girls previously and I see this as a refreshing opportunity to "renew my vows" of mothering.  This renewal is a gift...the complete irony is that just when you think you have really given God a terrific gift...you realize He has "thanked you" with a blessing that is better than the gift you just gave away.