I'll continue to keep y'all updated on the adoption- at the moment I don't have any new news, other than our children's Father is ready to come in for his interview at any time, and Emmanuel, the one escorting our children home, is ready to do so once all the paperwork gets finished up.  I'll let you guys know when they arrive- and I will try, very hard, to post a picture (especially for you, Bethany ), but I won't actually promise it...   

Just Life!

            Sometimes, daily life gets drag-y.  As you fall into the monotony of daily life, the same thing over and over, in can become hard to see what good you’re doing.  Cleanup, prepare a meal, clean the kitchen, change diapers, cleanup, prepare the next meal, clean the kitchen, baths and bedtime for little ones, more cleanup, preparing the next day’s school, and on the circle goes.  I know, because I’ve been there.  I’ve gotten discouraged, and wondered if my life was counting for anything as I did the same things over and over again.  In fact, I was there just yesterday.  J

            It wasn’t long, though, before God started prodding, and reminding me once again of what’s important- that reading The Story About Ping for the millionth time was counting for something, because I was building relationships with my little brothers.  Preparing a meal, especially with a certain little “helper” was a good thing, because feeding your family nutritiously is a large part of nurturing and caring for them.  (As a side note: Obviously, nurturing the family is the mother’s primary role.  My mom plays a huge role in this, much larger than I, as the queen of her home- we share the workload, meals is currently one of my “territories”.)  Cleaning up is a good thing, because it’s turning the home into a haven, a resting place safe from all the cares of the world.  God works through the little things, like our attitude in how we do something. 

            I read a story once, about a family who had several small children.  At church, the youngest started getting fussy, and finally the mother had to take her out to feed her.  She was feeling discouraged because she really wanted to “worship God” but now felt she couldn’t, since she was stuck out in the hallway with a fussy baby.  Then God showed her that she could worship Him- that it’s not in singing and clapping your hands that you praise God (though that is certainly one facet!), but in having an attitude that glorifies Him in all that we do.  I love that picture of realizing that you’re worshipping God while you’re out in the hall, bonding with your baby instead of sticking him in the nursery so you can “focus on God”.  It’s the little things…and how we do them.

            It’s in taking two minutes to dance to a praise song with your preschoolers and toddlers that you’re worshipping God.  It’s in creating a peaceful haven at home that you’re worshipping.  It’s in letting the toddler help you, even though it’ll take much longer.  It’s in letting go of self that you’re worshipping God.  It’s in diving headlong into the task He’s given you- to care for your family- that you’re worshipping. 

It’s not going out and doing some great thing.  It’s not being someone great, whose name and works everyone knows.  It’s not in getting a bunch of things done.  It’s not even in being perfect. 

It’s simply in doing the small tasks Christ has set before you, with a cheerful attitude as unto the Lord.  It’s about having an eternal perspective- knowing what’s going to count in the Kingdom; what will last forever.  Your children will remember the time you spent with them.  They’ll remember the delightful smells of home.  They’ll remember the atmosphere, and the type of Mom you were.  That’s what matters.  Because someday, your children are going to grow up.  They’ll start families of there own.  They may raise up another Godly generation, because of your influence and their home life growing up.  Or, they may turn and run from it, because they saw how miserable you were, and don’t want their children to grow up the same way.  It’s a choice- and it’s not just choosing to get the laundry done, it’s choosing to affect many generations.

What choice will you make?