The joys of the “little things” and brotherly love…

I am convinced that I have the absolute dearest friends.

Romans 15:1 says Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

I just want to say how humbled I am by my friends and their love. No matter how silly or trivial or even how real or uncertain—my friends have showed me Christ. Thank you. I know we ALL have things that burden us. Some of us share them–others of us hold them in. BUT–what freedom it is to have a Savior who wants to take them–and friends who are willing to help you carry them.

Psalm 68:10 says Praise be to Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.

DAILY? Oh–WELL…that MUST mean that DAILY we will have burdens. And it MUST mean that DAILY He wants us to give them to Him!!! He also knew that even when we give them to Him–when we declare our trust in Him–that even then…we would struggle with their reality. He was so gracious to not leave us alone–but to bring others who in Christ would be willing and even called to share them with us. Thank you for the emails of encouragement and identifying…sharing your children and their stories of perserverance with me (you know who you are!!!)…thank you dear friends for swinging by and for sitting on the floor with us to play–and being so excited to do life with us–reminding me again, “WOW! Look how far he has come!!!”…thank you for reminding me (you know who you are!!!) how BLESSED this road of uncertainty is as each of you have lived it…and still ARE in it–that WE get to REJOICE in EVERY milestone like never before TOGETHER–thank you for sharing your heart and your children with me. And thank you most of all, dear sisters and brothers in Christ, for letting me just be real–and helping me see how wonderful it is to EMBRACE uncertainty because we are in this together.

Some times I think the Lord allows us to see the hard things and their reality so He will be MORE glorified later in whatever He wills to do. I am thankful how I am changed in the process…how my priorities are changing more and more…I was smiling over coffee this morning thinking of how my heart and priorities have even changed dramatically even in the last year of adoption road and bringing Isaac home…how I have the most unlikely friends all over the United States (and Hong Kong…can’t leave out my friend Kim;). I was DREAMING about the possibility of ever having all these friends together–and how AMAZING that would be. And how FUNNY we would all look together…because put us together–and my “dream team” is the most unlikely group of people!!! BUT we have one common thread…and I then had to smile thinking that it was the picture of Heaven–and oh how amazing that will be!!! (Although I can still DREAM of that happening one day here too…right;)?! Thank you for reminding me to find joy in the “little things” and that…THIS is MY PRIVILEGE…thank you for praying for and celebrating with me…and thank you for being one of my joys!

Today is FRIDAY–the older kids are off to school and the BABIES ARE STILL ASLEEP?! Could it BE that I get QT and blog time AND COFFEE on a Friday morning!!! What a treat! SO…if you need a Youngin’ kid fix…today is your lucky day;). I am SO thankful for brotherly love–and so thankful for how the Lord chose to space my children. SO perfectly. Parker and Laney are old enough to be helpers–but young enough to still play with the babies. Frank is 9 months older than Isaac–so he is the PERFECT physcial therapy challenger for ITY. When he hears me encouraging ITY–he’ll run in and show him how to do it and then RUN right back to what he was doing. Can we just say together, “PRECIOUS!” SO…here are the kids taking pleasure in the little things, challenging one another and showing each other brotherly love…

These are the kind of things we do occupational therapy with at our house! Isaac works on his fine motor skills with things that the kids pick out for him. Yesterday’s choice??? To call MAG PIE Rogers on the walky talky. I TRIED to tell him that 1) She needed the OTHER walky talky and that 2) It won’t reach across the United States…but he tried anyway!!! He loves Mag Pie:)

And some other choice things for fine motor skills at our house…Parker got Buzz for his birthday–only Frank and Isaac have taken it OVER! Frank brings it to ITY, shows him where to push–and HE DOES! Needless to say, Richard and I have all Buzz lines memorized and we walk around our house saying things like, “Activating anti-gravity server–good thinking Ranger!” Isaac LOVES it and can even push the smaller buttons too!!!

And THIS is what happens when you have older siblings who challenge you…Well, yes–you get the pink bike b/c its the one that has training wheels (but Frank is confident in his manhood and can handle it!) BUT you also start practicing on training wheels when you are 1 1/2 years old. I have TRIED to encourage the tricycle but he says, “NO Frank!” So…there you go.

Is he NOT the cutest 1 year old you’ve ever seen on a big kid bike?

We did convince him to get on the old faithful John Deere that is 100 years old. He has trouble with reverse and that curve just gets him all messed up–so here’s Lou-bear helping him out…SOMETHING about seeing her profile MELTS me. Okay, I KNOW she is MINE–but isn’t she STUNNING?! Oh…hurt me beautiful!!!

SO…after she taught him how to get yourself out of a bind–he is able to do the hard work himself…

And last but not least—Frank’s MOST favorite thing besides firetrucks is helicopters…and nothing will stop him in his tracks quite like a helicopter…

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Here is ITY signing off!!! He LOVES the camera and especially when I use a flash at night…here he is saying, “Hey friends!!! Have a great weekend!!!!”

These pictures of my children being devoted to one another in brotherly love reminds me of so many of you. Thank you for walking this journey with me–for praying for our family and for allowing us to carry your burdens and pray for you. Thank you for sharing your stories, for your emails and for your encouraging sweet comments. And I can STILL DREAM about having you all here with me under ONE ROOF one day. HEY..there is a Wiphan Warthog Waddle—a 5K fundraiser in the Spring…what are the chances I can convince some of my “dream team” to come this way and make a weekend out of it;)?! Just sayin’!!! Love to you all—and like ITY said–hope you all have a great weekend!!!