Friday, December 27, 2013

Christmas 2013

The Christmas that He built!


No job...


No problem...


The Lord showed up big time and through the hearts of some really wonderful family and friends, and some truly unexpected ways, provided our Christmas 2013!



Now if He could only provide the perfect Christmas pic!
 




hehe
 




 
 Honestly y'all, He may not have provided a job for Hubby - yet...
 
but boy how He has provided...
 
and our faith grows...
 
as well as our hearts
 
 
 what JOY!
 
 
 Merry Christmas from our crazy house to yours

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Christmas Eve 2013

It started the day after Thanksgiving


when Em had her year to place the angel on top of the tree.


I love Christmas


and I love decorating for Christmas


I have decorations that are my fav



and decorations that I have had ever since I was a child



cause I have always loved Christmas!

The lights are up


the gingerbread house has been made





and eaten!





as well as the reindeer food!






Our sleepy teenager was even able to join in on the reindeer food fun!






Bwhahahahaha!



YUM!

Everything has been done...

except the annual (gulp) Christmas picture!

So with knees shaking (hehe), we will attempt this annual endeavor...

right before we go to church...

cause I may need to ask for forgiveness afterward!

Ha!

Remembering the reason for the season!


 Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Insights

Our last day with our sweet Lily was hard and filled with sadness,here, but it was also an insight into the hearts of our two newest daughters.


I was worried about how they would handle this as they like to know where everyone is - all the time.

Things just aren't right in their hearts when the whole family is not all together.

They were right there when Lily passed and were witness to our grief and our tears...

and they handled it so very differently.

My precious Lucy was worried and upset but the tears really started to flow when the finality of it all sank in... the loss.

Just in the short amount of time that we have loved our sweet girl, I know that she, much like our Lizzie, carries her losses very close to her heart.

The emotion and grief is so close to the surface for both Lucy and Lizzie that any loss is hard.

I finally scooped my Lucy up and rocked her as she and I both cried...
just a baby step on this journey of healing.

Our dear Maggie, on the other hand, wasn't sad or upset as I thought she would be.


She, more than Lucy, seems to really love the dogs and I was very afraid that she would not understand and be very upset by Lily's passing.


However, she didn't seem to want us to be sad.

This sweet child kept saying, "Mommie no sad.  Mommie happy."

All the while, she was rubbing my back, stroking my face and wiping the tears from my eyes.

Maggie wants to be happy and she wants everyone around her to be happy.

She has buried her loss.

Bit by bit, she has begun to share with us, her life pre-us and it was not great...

but she is strong and found her way to survive...

just be happy.

Maggie reminds me every night to pray for Lily and that makes her very happy.

I know the crash and burn may come and I will be ready to scoop Maggie up and rock her too but for now we are just meeting her where she is.

Our precious girls have much to recover from but their healing has begun.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 
Psalm 147:3

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

My Teacher

Maggie loves to draw...

Her drawings are usually of us, her family, but yesterday she drew something different...

something amazing...

another reminder.

Maggie drew Jesus on the cross!


Now we have been taking the girls to our church, praying with them and talking to them about Jesus but we certainly have not gotten into the cross and all that it means...

all that Jesus did for us...

I just did not think the girls knew enough English to be able to understand or truly grasp what it all means for them - not yet anyway.

But Maggie knew... 

We were able to pantomime enough for her to tell me that she drew Jesus and that He was on the cross and that the others laughed at him and that He forgave them and that she loved Jesus!

I am not certain that she understands all that that means but wow!

She told me that her foster dad didn't have Jesus in his heart and that they did not pray.

About 3 months before we met Maggie, she was moved from that foster home to another foster care center and was placed with a sweet Christian lady whom Maggie said did pray with her.

In that short amount of time, the Lord used this sweet lady to teach Maggie and to help Maggie to know Him...

and now He is using that to teach me!

Our sweet Maggie has not been easy but I am becoming more and more convinced that she will teach me far more than I could ever teach her!

 
Thank you Lord for teaching me and reminding me about love and how to love even when I don't always feel like loving and what blessings and growth come from nurturing this moment to moment kind of love.