Beauty in the Every Day

Lillian is just shy of 15 months and I could just pinch myself she is so awesome.  I find myself on a daily basis just stepping back and seeing the awesomeness that she is and thinking, "Is this really my life?  How did we get here?  Where did she come from?"  The answers are yes, one day at a time, and God.

She is truly joy in the flesh.  Don't get me wrong she has her moments and right now "me" is her favorite word (said in a whining tone and used more like mine and give me) but for most of the minutes of the day she is a joyful, happy little girl!  She does something new every day from twirling, to dancing with happy feet, saying new words (she is a talker!) and singing.  She's been able to sing EIEIO for a while, but just a day ago I caught her singing in perfect pitch and almost perfect timing the word back in Bring Back My Bonnie To Me.  It.  Melted.  My.  Heart.

She gets so excited when her daddy comes home and I can't tell you how blessed I am to watch my husband flourish in his role as parent to a little girl.  His love for his girls is evident daily and he is so tender to us both. He helps me to flourish as a momma and is your stereotypical pushover with his baby girl.

I know these days are going to pass quickly, just as the past year did.  God help me to see the beauty in the every day.  Help me to not continually look to the next milestone but enjoy the now.  For I know one day it won't be so rosy and the bumps and trials will come.  You will be faithful as ever, but for now I am praising you for this moment, this stage, this grace.

Happy Resurrection Day!

The dress wasn't exactly what I wanted her to wear and for the first time in 30 years I didn't get a new dress for myself, but none of that matters. She looked beautiful in her cousin Chloe's dress made by their Gamma and I got to wear the dress I wore for her adoption. I praise God  for the fact that I can even say I have a dress worn at the adoption of a child, MY child.  

What matters most today is Christ's Resurrection, not our clothes or the items places in a basket or the eggs hunted. 

In the past 13 months, Lillian has given us a tangible glimpse into what it means to be adopted by Christ. She is not my flesh and blood, but she is MINE!  I would move heaven and earth for her if I could. I would sacrifice my life for hers. The love I have for her is indescribable and yet it pales in comparison to the love the Father has for us. I am grateful to have this "special" first hand prospective.  And truly it is because He Lives that I can face tomorrow!

"God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Christ Jesus. This is what he wanted to do and it gave him great pleasure."                 

 Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)

She Is Just Enough!

She Is Just Enough!

Fatherhood Looks Good on Him

He waited a long time to be called daddy. Oh how good fatherhood looks on him!

Extra 5%

I. Am. Not. a morning person!  I naturally want to stay up until 2:00am and until 10:00am.  And by the grace of God I have a baby who sleeps from 9:30pm until 10:00am almost every day. I am so grateful I am able to stay home with her and she is naturally on my preferred schedule.

For the past four weeks I have been purposefully waking up at 7:27 on week  most days. For most I know that doesn't sound early but subtract two and a half hours from when you usually get up and 4:00am something puts it into prospective. It was really hard to do at first and I still dread my alarm, but I have to say it's been a great four weeks. 

Stephen and I went to a Couples Retreat on Valentines Weekend.  In general we do not fight and I would classify us as avoiders when it does come to things that are "issues".  What we walked away with was there is always that extra 5% of happiness we can and should be working to tap into with our marriage.  I had already planned to give Stephen a 30 day challenge of my getting up with him for Valentines Day and after the weekend I know God put that on my heart specifically for this.

I still don't particularly like getting up, but after about an hour of being up, when we sit together in the formal living room doing a devotional together it is so worth it.  The time sitting and talking and praying together is amazing.  These past two days I have been super sleepy and so we didn't get up early and Stephen got up just in time to head to work.  I actually missed it these last two days and once my day got going it wasn't worth the extra sleep.

Now that I know that extra 5% is out there, I want it!!!!  How do you and yours tap into your extra 5%?

She Perfectly Penned the Feelings of My Heart

Adoption.  Everyone has their own thoughts about this word:  Yes I want to do that; No I would never do that;  It's something I might like to do;  I would do it if it wasn't so expensive; God would have to just drop a baby in my lap...and so on.

Stephen and I had discussed adoption when we first got married that it was something we might like to do.  So yes we had planned to eventually, possibly, adopt but after we had biological children.  Lately I have struggled with this. I love Lillian so much and NEVER EVER want her to feel she was a backup plan because she WAS NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I came across this blog today and the author perfectly penned the feelings of my heart.  She's put into words exactly how I feel...

This is what I can tell you now.  We didn’t adopt because we couldn’t get pregnant.  We couldn’t get pregnant because our first born [daughter] was to come to our family through adoption. 

Now that [she] is home, we know without a doubt that even before the world began, [Lillian] was ours.  And that, God graciously allowed enough time to pass so we would open our hearts and walk into the plan that had always been.

It was always the plan. The first choice.... Isn’t it ironic? Infertility made me a mother. Not because  I ran out of options, but because all along it was the only option.

No Time to Post

I have a one year old and no time to write!  So many things I've thought about but no time. 

We had the opportunity to share our story at the CASA banquet. I had been wanting to share in a public setting and was grateful they gave us the opportunity. 

Tonight night we had Stephanie and Trish over a day early to celebrate Lillian's Gotcha Day. This day last year Stephen and I went to bed a family of two having no clue the next night we would be going to bed a family of three. 

It's been a beautiful ride this past year and words cannot express the gratitude I have to ALL involved in bring home our little girl to us. God's blessings are abundant. 

In other news Lillian took her first steps this week, experienced snow last week and is just loving life as a one year old.