The Lord is my chosen portion and cup;you hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places...
God's word is sharp and cuts to the quick! This verse has instructed my heart during a season of barreness when I had an intense desire to be a stay at home Mommy...and now it convicts me as I am in the opposite season with a houseful of blessings. There are times when I struggle with the boundary lines the Lord has drawn for me. For this season, my boundary lines fall within the context of our home and not much beyond!
My heart at its core is selfish and self serving...I crave order, peace and comfort and all 3 of these desires have been a bit elusive in recent days:) I find myself most tempted during mealtime when there is a clamor of ,'Mommy-o, please may I have 2 boi chickie eggs? I want doup and ri...please fii u ma wate...and I wan plenty of ic... I wan chickie bo(translation... Please may I have 2 boiled eggs,I want soup and rice... (ie: not dry rice!) and water with ice...lots of it--I want chicken with a bone!!!) In the midst of it there are 4 other voices vying for Mommy's attention. While I am instructing all our kiddos to ask appropriately without demanding and encouraging those who are able to assist to do so , God is most concerned with the state of my heart...am I "put out" or poised to serve? Frequently, my heart drifts into the former state. It is a daily (alright, sometimes a minute by minute) challenge to make choices to joyfully serve those in my midst when everything in me wants to scream above the roaring din ,"No-no more chickie eggs...the kitchen is closed and Mommy will let you know when I decide it reopens...oh, and while I'm taking a break ...make sure there are no squabbles, messes made or interupptions !!" I sure need His supernatural grace to model Christ's sacrifice as I serve within the boundary lines of our home ... in my head, I know His grace is always abundant and sufficient, but in my heart, I often don't live this way.
I read a great quote this morning (before the 4 youngest troops awakened for the day's adventures). It is from John Piper's "A Godward Life"(pg67)
Jesus said that if you receive a child in His name, you receive Him and the one who sent him.
The question is not whether caring for children is easy and safe, or whether they are responsive and thankful, or whether caring is depleting. The question is whether Jesus is the same yesterday , today, and forever, and whether we can say with the apostle Paul, " I can do all things through Him who strengthens me". (Philippians 4:13)
So, there you have it...I am not supermom...there are times when I am not thrilled with the job description and yet, I can confidently declare that I can do this with the strength that God provides. Truly ,there is no place on earth that I'd rather be...I just needed to be reminded of that today~
Now that I totally bared my soul, I guess you are all interested in the latest with our 2 little Liberians and our transition as a family. Each day seems to be getting a bit more sane as we are learning the ins and outs of Mercy and Odesco's personalities. Thankfully, I feel like I have finally connected with our littlest man...I can see a meltdown brewing and now I just scoop (more like hoist...this boy is solid!!) him into my arms and he puts his head on my shoulder and allows me to comfort him. Ocassionally, this plan doesn't work but i am beginning to read him ! M usually bathes the little boys while I tend to the girlies but last nite' he did not get home until after bathtimes. Odesco was such a hoot ... playfully squirting me with water toys, dumping huge buckets of water on his head and dancing around in the tub with his huge tummy bouncing up and down. While dressing, we do lots of tickle songs/games which he anticipates and seems to really enjoy now. Tonight, he was so boisterous and just hysterical to see in action...his personality seems to really be emerging...I have a feeling it's about to get a bit noisier around here!! (is that even possible??)
Mercy also is becoming very comfortable in her new home. We are still in instruction mode with many basic issues (like playing kindly with siblings, not taunting/teasing etc) but I do think she is beginning to understand a bit more that rules are for her good , because we love her and want her to grow up loving God more than herself. She loves singing bible songs at the top of her lungs so we are now learning what an "inside voice " is supposed to sound like!
On Monday, Mimi and Pop Pop came for their first visit since the day the kids arrived home...(they were on a cruise !!). Both kids went running out to the car hollering their names and acting as if they'd known them forever. Odesco played football with the big boys and PopPop while Mimi painted the girls' fingernails, read stories and had tea with them. When it came time for them to go home,our 2 little Liberians were trying their hardest to impede the process!!
Today we had the privilege of hosting the T. family for lunch. They are friends of friends (clear as mud?) from church who are also adopting through AOH (and just received their referral of 2 children before Thanksgiving.) Our kids (their 3 older kiddos and our 6- their 3 month old didn't join in the fun this time!) played well together and it was great to be able to share some of the challenges and highlights we have experienced in these early days of adjusting. We also quizzed Odesco and Mercy to see if they had met and knew the 2 children this family is adopting..we're still not sure about that(since their 2 children arrived only a few weeks prior to Mercy and Odesco's departure home) but Mercy did give her opinion about how their names were to be pronounced! The hope is that these children will be home in the early spring of 2007.Although this family lives down South, they have relatives in the area and we are excited that our Liberian children will have connections in the days ahead!
We are hosting our polyanna party for one side of the family tomorrow and it will be the first time Mercy and Odesco meet a portion of their many cousins,aunts and uncles.Mercy is very excited about this~ especially since she heard that Mimi and Pop Pop would be coming....The past few days, we have been delivering cards and small gifts to neighbors and friends....M has also taken all of the kids out individually (to the $ store :) to purchase gifts for the other siblings (and me!). While I don't enjoy making room for more "stuff" it was a purposeful decision made to take the focus off of getting and to encourage a giving heart ...especially in our newest family members who could easily be overtaken my an "entitlement mentality". We have kept our Christmas decorations very simple this year and the tree is bare except for lights and a few ornaments we made. We also have the Liberian nativity set up and a few other play nativities as well. We are reading "Tabitha's Travels" this year...an advent devotional and using our Noelle advent calendar. Mercy especially shows great interest in reading bible stories and loves watching a short video we have called the "Birth of Christ".
Tonight as we attended our church choir concert, my heart overflowed to heart my sweet daughters on either side of me belting out "O come let us adore Him"...
My cup overfloweth!!!
Choosing today to rejoice over the boundary lines He has chosen for me (but feel free to remind me when I need it!)
Mama B
PS: Some B's Bits...
*Odesco now loves Liquid Bragg's Amino Acids (sort of like healthy soy sauce) and requests it with his rice...he calls it "doop"(soup)...in Liberia, from what I understand, any liquid poured over rice is considered soup
* Ice cubes are now a popular commodity like Chicky bones and several times throughout the day Mercy and Odesco ask me to replensih their water bottles ...with "plenty" of ice- According to Mercy "Plenty " is when we shove so many ice cubes in the water bottle that the displaced water spills all over the counter and floor!!
*Mercy and B3 have been wearing dresses daily (usually spring/summer outfits) So, I have decided not to make an issue out of dressing seasonally -yet....now if Mercy attempts to pull out the bathing suits, then we've got problems!!!
*Mercy and B3 are now sleeping in their own room and just tonight, they moved from the floor to the bottom bunk...slow and steady change seems to be the way to go with our sweet Mercy!
*We have devoured almost 5# of brown rice since Tuesday of this week!
*"Lau -oo-dah" means what is that/who is that in Liberian english....
* Mercy loves looking at all our family pictures and asking the above phrase over and over as she puts names together with faces. Then we look at the last professional photo we had taken of B1-B4 and I ask her who is missing from that picture.... she gleefully answers, "Mercy and Odesco!!!" I'm hoping this means she will be cooperative when I finally gather the courage to attempt a professional photo with all 6!
No comments:
Post a Comment