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The rain is falling softly, steadily and I am sitting next to the window just watching it. The kids are out of school and running wild and loud somewhere upstairs. They should be reeled in and I have so much work to do, but for a moment I need to just be. The puppy curls up in my lap and I hold a large mug of green tea which radiates heat into my cold hands. I slip my feet out of wet shoes and find a perfect resting spot for frigid toes on the heater vent in the floor.
Peace.
I love Christmas but I despise the consumerism of our culture during the season. I complete most of my shopping on-line, and do everything in my power to be completely finished long before those few weeks in December, only venturing out into the insanity when I have no other option.
Last night was one of those times. Just as I finished my errand and made my way to the cashier, I heard an agitated woman say something about “Spiderman”. I asked her what she needed and told her there were several Spiderman items in the $1.00 bins in front of us.
“There is a nice notepad down on the right,” I said.
She then looked at me and responded with a doom more fitting for someone who had just swallowed a deadly poison and could find no antidote than someone shopping for stocking stuffers, “A watch,” she said. “I need a Spiderman watch.”
“Oh,” I replied. “I bought one of those…”
“You are kidding!” She exclaimed.
Then she said…
“I will pay you anything for that watch!” Read the rest of this entry »
Photo op time again. I did this set of cornrows on my middle daughter Saturday. We splurged on some fantastic Christmas beads from Snapaholics, a terrific on-line resource for hair beads and snaps run by a fellow adoptive mom. I think it is my favorite hairstyle ever. Let me know what you think!
This first photo is from the back and shows the block braids as well as the ends of the cornrows I did on top. Each braid has five beads, one gold glittery star, one silver glittery star, one band of each red, clear and green.
I pulled the braids from the cornrows on top into two ponytails and secured with an elastic to reveal the block braids underneath.
The second photo is from the top and shows the cornrow pattern. I chose to draw slightly wavy parts instead of straight ones and I was pleased with the result. Also, the cornrows are divided into two sections, each slightly curving towards the 
sides of her head.
I tried to make the cornrows a little smaller this time. Both of my girls are given to “the frizzies” and I have found that braids stay pretty longer.
My daughter’s hair had been in a simple top knot all week and was very tangled as a result. Including the time spent combing out the hair, the style took about three hours to complete. I have no idea if that is ridiculously slow or not. Probably so. Oh, well…one more head complete and experience gained!
Here is the last shot. Such a beautiful girl!
And yes, that is all her hair. It has really, really grown.
I took my journal from two years ago into the van this morning. The kids were all strapped into their seats when I turned around and began to read the entry from December 13, 2005. They know the story but they listened attentively anyway.
Two years ago today….
All was dark.
Two years ago today…
Hope was thin.
Two years ago today, I sat in the bathroom floor of a house in Haiti writing in my journal. While my husband and new daughters slept, I pushed exhaustion, fear and despair away for just a few moments to meet with God. Christmas was close and the guest house where we were staying had a small tree lit in the living room. It was so hot and every night the rains came, beating against the open, louvered windows and snuffing out the electricity for awhile.
I sat in the bathroom floor with my journal propped on my knees with a flashlight near and recorded just badly things were progressing and precisely how broken my heart was to think that my oldest daughter’s papers would not be complete and we would find it necessary to return her to the orphanage to wait longer still. It had already been two years…
This morning, I finished reading aloud to my children and closed the journal. “More tomorrow…” I said as they begged for the rest of the story they know so well.
Especially her. She grinned and from her car seat in the back of the van pleaded to hear the end. She wanted me to say it all again.
God did the impossible two years ago. He moved mountains and she came home.
“My Father,
I believe that no matter how impossible my situation seems, You are enough. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
I believe You will never leave me, nor forsake me. (Hebrews 13:5)
I believe You hear the cry of my heart. (Psalm 34:15)
I believe You love me and I believe that with You there is always hope. (Psalm 62:5)
I believe You hear my prayer and will answer before I call and hear while I am still speaking. (Isaiah 65:24)
I believe there is nothing too hard for You and I am safe in your hand. (Jeremiah 32:17)
I believe that with You there is transcendence. (Romans 8:28)
I believe that though this world is full of trouble, there is hope because You have overcome the world. (John 16:33)
I believe the mighty power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in my life today. (Ephesians 1:19-20)
I believe You have received me under your wing, and so my God, I will hide there. (Psalm 63:7) I will observe mercy and justice and I will wait on You continually. (Hosea 12:6)
I love You and I am so, so thankful You love me.
Amen.”
In April of 2007, I wrote a post entitled “A Miracle for Marisa” in an effort to raise prayer support for Marisa as she battled cancer. I have never met Marisa in person but when I read her husband’s post Dear Cancer, a victorious testimony to the power of the risen Christ, I was captivated by her journey. Perhaps, her story resonated so profoundly with me because I had just lost a dear friend, also a young mother, to cancer the previous Autumn. In the months that have followed, I have faithfully read her blog and prayed for her and her family.
For the last two days, God has burdened my heart continually to pray so I was not at all surprised to find a post on her site this morning by her loving husband which announced she is in the hospital and “heaven is near”. So, today as I went about the mundane tasks of my life I have offered near constant prayer that her journey to paradise would be peaceful and that God would now work the miracle of surrounding her husband and three small children with comfort and peace.
I want to honor Marisa today. I want to celebrate her life and so, I hope it is not too presumptious that I have written cancer a letter too….
Dear Cancer,
You must have been shocked by her tenacity. She was a much fiercer competitor than you imagined, wasn’t she? Perhaps, you are smug today as you anticipate the end you have labored so tirelessly to bring about. Oh, foolish, foolish Cancer…you don’t really think you’ve won do you?
This is not the end. It never is for the child of God.
As a matter of fact, I don’t see how you have won anything at all. You strove to weave together for them sleepless nights, anxious minds, and troubled hearts…
But the Comforter was always, always near.
You thought you might coax them into turning on the Creator of All. Perhaps if your vengence was vicious enough, brutal enough, they would bend, break, and turn away from Him.
But they glorified Him until the end.
You must have envisioned the finish line as you rampaged throughout every cell and at last took up residence in her pure, sweet heart.
But Cancer, you forgot something.
Foolish, foolish Cancer, has the sound of the Babe in the manger’s cry already faded from your ears? You plotted death, Cancer but when He took His first breath He breathed life for all of us.
Foolish Cancer, it is not the end. It is the beginning! Soon, she will breath strong and free and in the blink of an eye we will all be there with her, because a thousand years here is only but a day in that Eternal Place.
Foolish, foolish Cancer…
You have won nothing at all.
“Go in peace, Marisa. We are saddened to be separated from you for this little while. Thank you so much, for sharing your light with us. We are all better for it. Perhaps today will be the day our Savior returns and we will all always be with the Lord….”
“Lord Jesus, come quickly. ~Amen”
My December article for Rainbow Kids is up and running! Check it out: Hair Matters!: Simple Braid
