Mr. Sun

Well, obviously life has been a little busy lately, note the lack of blog posts.  I really WANT to be more consistent in my blogging/journaling because I know that one day, when I'm really old and my mind doesn't serve me very well, that I will want words to help me remember these days that are fleeting by so quickly.  So many memories have been made over this past year with our Little Loves...mostly incredibly sweet memories that range from learning how to roll over to how to use a fork, and everything in between.  I blinked and now we have almost two year olds that, in my mind, will be starting college any day now.

Some of our girls' favorite words at this time are: "mama, dada, nana, papa, mimi, pop, balls (grapes), purple, sissy, cool, wassat (what's that), cake cake (pancake), banana, berries, play, B (Bauer), outside, car, please, geor, geor (georiga), ciate (appreciate)", etc.  They still like to sign a good bit too, even though they can now say most of the words that they know how to sign.  They know that the sky is UP and that the ground is DOWN, they can say and recognize the letter "A" and sometimes "B", and know that "C" comes after "B".  They will "count" with me to ten, on a good day.  Little sponges, I tell you.  Soaking up so much and blowing my mind every day.  Llama Llama Red Pajama is their most favorite book.  If you want, I can tell tell it to you by heart.  Their favorite part is when Mama Llama gets in a "tizzy"!  :)  Their Daddy is still their most favorite person ever.  I tell you what...that man...he's one heck of a good daddy.  I could brag on him for years.  I still sing "Mr. Sun" to them as Aaron and I get them out of bed every morning.  I've made up my mind that I intend to carry on this tradition for as long as they are living under my roof...so they could potentially hear it at LEAST 6, 205 more times.  :)  "Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, please shine down on me.  Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, hiding behind that tree.  All my friends are asking you, to please come out so we can play with you.  Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, please.shine.down.on.me!!!"

Everyday is not always roses...in fact, some days are mostly chocolate and coffee as I attempt to survive the moments of teething, learning how to share, patiently incorporating obedience into everyday life, and simply learning to ultimately trust Jesus with our girls' day by day.  Mama's in general worry...too much.  Am I teaching them the right things at the right time?  Should they be down to one nap a day instead of two? Are they eating enough?  Why did she just sneeze?  Our minds truly never rest, but I'm learning that there is a huge difference between caring for and raising my children to the best of my ability and then leaving the rest to the Lord, without worry.   It's tough...a daily surrender, for sure.   Whether our day are rose filled or not, I love being a Mama to these girls'.

A few questions asked by various people as of late: 
"Where are you in the legal process with the girls?"
- The girls' are still under foster care status.  However, the Lord continues to find favor on our desire to be these girls' forever family.  Hopefully you will be hearing more on that in the months ahead!

"Are you done?" 
- Meaning, after things settle with the girls', will we be done fostering/adopting?  I sure hope not!  The Lord has truly burdened both my heart and Aaron's in the way of orphan care.  We will have some time to pray about and think through what that may look like for us in the months and years to come, but I pray that we will never "be done".   I do have a van now, ya know!  :)

"Do you think you will have your own?"  
-These girls' are our own.  I know that's not understandable by all, and I get that.  Really, I do.  If we weren't traveling down this road, I don't know that I would get it, honestly.  To rephrase this question, "Do I think we will have our own biological children?"...I don't know.  I DO know that the Lord has given me a great peace about it either way.  His Sovereignty far exceeds any medical condition I may have that makes it incredibly difficult to conceive a child.   At this point in our journey, Aaron and I have not felt any sort of urgency to seek out extensive medical treatment that may or may not improve our chances of biological children.  That's not to say that we won't ever travel that road, but for now, the Lord has calmed and contented our hearts in that matter and we trust that He will continue to guide us.

I will leave you with a few pictures of some of our latest happenings.  Aaron and I created a play room for the girls' for Christmas this year.  I think I had just as much fun putting it together as they are having playing in it!