In the bible it says that children are a gift. It is true that once in a while I question that but tonight.... well tonight I couldn't believe it or feel it more. What an awesome God who loves me so much to bless me beyond my bestest dreams.
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I asked Rachel to go grocery shopping with me last night-- it had been a while since we had some one on one time. As I maneuvered through traffic Rachel began to talk.
"Do you remember when you told me your verse? Well I didn't have a verse for the longest time but a few nights ago I found my verse. At BSF our teacher was sharing from Job and then he spoke my verse. It says that God gives and He takes away blessed be the name of the Lord."
You shoud have been there. It was such a beautiful moment-- my oldest daughter finally had her verse!
"And what makes this verse so special Rachel?"
"Well... for my life He has taken things away but He also has given me a lot. Still He is to be blessed."
"Do you know the actual verse number?"
"No, but I was hoping you could help me find it."
Job 1:21 The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
And even though that is more than enough-- many more unexpected blessings.
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After dinner I went to get Alex and Dennis ready for bed. Without prompting, Anastasia was right by my side offering to help. As she sat on the edge of the tub and poured water over her little brother's heads I was filled with such warmth and love for her, for my little ones, for my family. At one time I wondered how she might feel joining our family with so many other siblings, two of them with special needs and now I have no doubt that she loves them with all her heart. Right down to putting on Alex's socks, she was right there to keep me company and be a big sister.
And you should have heard her English. Wow-- six months home makes all the difference!
~~
Adding to the blessings is Paul who was in the hall looking at pictures on the wall. He smiled to show me that he had brushed his teeth-- but I showed him that he missed a few spots. Back in the bathroom, I cupped his chin in my hand and gently brushed his teeth for him as he looked at us in the mirror. "Mom, what is Jeremiah?"
I explained that it was his middle name and he wanted to know where we got the name. As I began to answer him he proceeded to go through each and every child's name including Galina's. As we talked he led me to the montages hung up in the hallway. As I told him the names of the babies in the pictures he wanted to know where his baby picture was. As I tried to explain to him that we didn't have one, I showed him the recent pictures of him on the walls. He wasn't angry or sad but as his Mama I felt a sense of unspoken loss for all of us. Though adoption is so beautiful, we have to remember that our gain is someone else's loss. Oh how much my heart aches to show Paul a baby picture of himself. But that most likely will not happen and so I will do the next best thing-- continue to build new memories for him, with him and hang up as many new pictures as I can of him.
And though not having a baby picture of Paul may sound like a strange thing to feel blessed about it is the fact that he has taken an interest in knowing where his name came from, knowing whose baby picture belongs to who even though there are no baby pictures of himself, and choosing to invest his time getting to know what John's grandparents looked like even though he will never get the chance to meet them since they passed way a few years back.
Oh how my heart feels so full right now-- oh how I love my family so much.
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17 inspiring thoughts:
Really beautiful... Children are a blessing from God. He said it, and it is so true.
He is an Awesome God!
Loved this post! It helps me get to know each of the kids mentioned, a little more.
God IS so good! Thanks for sharing!!! :)
Christine, you are so inspiring. I love to hear how your family continues to be transformed. Thanks for sharing all the joys and tribulations. Have a blessed weekend!
Great stories.
Also, I forgot to tell you... CONGRATULATIONS on the new addition to your family! :)
It is so nice to hear how well your family is doing!! I especially like hearing about Anastasia and Paul and how smooth their transition into your family is going. We are in the process of adopting older siblings (a girl-11 and a boy - 14) from Estonia. We love reading your blog about the older kids and their daily trials and accomplishments!!
God Bless you Christine,
Michelle
That verse from Job is one of my favorites, too. What a wonderful mother/daughter moment.
Christine!! Congratulations on the addition of Galina to your family! You and your husband have so many blessings. I have found with my family that the blessings FAR outweigh the sacrifices, and it seems you have found that out too! May God continue to bless you and yours as you fight through the trials of this life!!
della
I wonder maybe if his baby house has any pictures of him or if his internat has younger pictures. I have heard of families swapping the government file photo of their child with a new one and being allowed to keep a precious baby photo of their child. Good Luck!
Your Rachel is such a blessing. That does seem like such a great verse for her right now. She'll be such a good example for Galya.
How I envy you!
Love this!!! How BLESSED and overflowing....makes everything worth it!!
Hey Christine,
We can particularly relate to the last couple of paragraphs. We had a similar issue with our youngest Bennett. We celebrate thanksgiving at our church with a big church-wide dinner. We were in line and going past one of the offices where we have all the baptism pictures that we've had in our church. Bennett saw where Anna just got baptized this summer with the whole family with her in the river. Then he saw a picture of Courtney (our second oldest) getting baptized but only Georgia and I with her because we hadn't adopted our 3 younger ones yet. He asked "Where am I daddy - I guess I'm up on the shore watching". He was only 3 when we adopted him in 2006 so now he doesn't remember that there was a time when he wasn't with us. He's also not old enough to completely comprehend when I tell him that he wasn't here yet.
My heart aches for him a little just as you describe in what you shared. You just wish you could fix it but you know that it's just a little hole that's going to be there.
Take care and thanks for sharing.
Barry
So beautiful and so happy for you all....that love is present and God is at work. Wonderful news about Galina also. I am sure she will bring many blessings to your family's life also.
Christine,
I am so happy for you for your new addition! What a full, wonderful family you have! It's great that Paul wants to know about his adoptive grandparents. I'm sure he will meet them someday.
-Sarah
So sweet, Rachel! Now you have a life song too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qp11X6LKYY
Hi! International adopted children may not have many pictures of their early childhood. But they may try to make a lifebook. I have heard of adopted familes who have done searches for their adopted children and located a neutral party who would act as a laison for the adopted family and the birth family and the adopted family was able to find out many of the missing pieces of their child's early life and have even gotten early pictures of the child.Some of these East European countries are small so doing birth parent searches maybe easier than one may think or maybe quite hard depending of the adoption situation.Blessings. Pat
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