The Reception

One month ago today, we carried Moses and Miriam through a crowded airport to meet a waiting crowd of friends and family.  

As we walked toward the gate, I fluffed outfits and fussed at Paul to make sure we all looked presentable after 30 hours of traveling with infants on our laps; one of which puked on us for 6 days straight due to lactose intolerance.

I tried to unravel myself from the grip of the other one, who clung to her Mama with fingernails dug deep, for a week straight, and kicked at anyone who tried to come near us.  Every time this happened around Ethiopians, they tsk-tsked at me.  

I knew they must have thought the new Mommy had Americanized the little habesha overnight.  I knew we must have been a sight; what with her perched high in my arms, clinging and shrieking and swatting at people, with her giant pink hairbows and new outfits... 

But I later learned that the tsk-tsk noise that Ethiopians make actually means they are touched. They knew she loved me.

  

And now it's been one month of that new love, 

and we are all in it.

I have rocked and rocked and rocked and rocked little girls to bed who just can't get enough "Mommy".  

I have cried with joy, and jumped up and down outside of a little boy's room after watching him  fights sleep to gaze into my eyes for one...more...second.  

I have stared up the staircase in total disbelief, listening to a tiny little Ethiopian princess unexpectedly yell one word repeatedly from her crib for the first time...

"Mama...Mama...MAMA!!!!"

And I run for her.  

I have watched my children fall in love with each other, 

help each other, 

teach each other, 

and HEAL each other.  

I have fallen in love with Paul all over again.  

How could I not?

And every day, Jesus is my strength.  I get to talk to him all day long, and ask for enough strength to mother 4 children under 5 years old.  And He gives me more than enough.  Every day.  I keep asking anyways, but I know He's there, holding me up, even when I don't ask.

So after all the writing about what I thought adoption was going to be like, now I can tell you what it IS like...  

It's beautiful...

And it has proven to me that
He really does know Best.

Waiting Children

Last Mother's Day, 

I had no idea what was 

waiting for me this year.  

I had no idea what kind of adventure we were headed for when we said "Yes" to Jesus.

I had no idea what it would feel like 

to walk them out of an orphanage

 and carry them home.

I didn't know that last summer, 

there was a little girl waiting to call me Mommy.
(And she does.)

I didn't know that my son was going to help me understand my Father's heart.

I didn't know 

that you can catch glimpses of Heaven 

right here on earth.

I didn't understand the promise of 
Hope and a Future... 

...or that we are all "waiting children".

I was waiting, too.

And He claimed me.  

He adopted me last year, 

right around Mother's Day.

And I was born again.

I was claimed by My Father, 

and given the keys to His House.

So, this Mother's Day, I ask you...

Who is waiting on you?

Thank you, Father, 

for choosing me; 
Your waiting child.