Thank-ful

The boys and I now venture out weekly and get the grocery shopping done.  I did it with my other four so here I am again shopping with the big cart that can never make the corners and seems to knock the elderly ladies carts every isle I go down.  Yes I take the wipes from my purse and wipe down the steering wheels that my boys like so many others hold onto as we drive through the store.

I have to say it is a different experience driving down the isle with these 2 little guys.  I often think of what a different world they live in now.  They could no longer live with their family  because there was not enough food for them.  Now they have so many choices of what cereal they can eat or what color apple they would like this week.  Just think about lettuce.  Kinda of strange but seriously think about how many types of lettuce can we choose from.

The boys love to go to the store with me.  Today Dawit ran out of his favorite thing.  Nutella.  He eats it on everything.  Today at lunch he put it on his broccoli and his orange.  He looked at the empty container and said, "go to store and get more".  Yes all we have to do here in America is just go to the store and get more.

Right now in the horn of Africa children are dying because there is no food.  Severe drought has left that part of the world in a place that we Americans can not even imagine. It is the worst drought they have seen in about 60 years and 13.3 million people are being affected.  On July 20th the UN declared a famine.  They have not declared a  famine in close to 30 years.  And here I am walking the isles of the grocery store with my African boys choosing and getting all that we need plus more that we don't.

Think I am a downer.  Maybe I am but the reality is sobering and holding and parenting these boys has changed me, made me more thoughtful about how I live and how my family lives.  Makes me more thankful than I could ever have imagined.  Makes me want to do more.  I don't know yet what that looks like but God is preparing and knocking on my heart and beginning to move me to a place I don't think I could ever imagined I would be a few short years earlier.

Looking forward to the journey ahead and  how God will again challenge my comfort zone.

The second favorite part of shopping with these guys is the unloading.  They love to put away all the food.  I have to look things over a little as I found the eggs in the freezer this last time and the cheese right next to the crackers in the pantry! 

First day of preschool and I have the butterflies.  I am ok with them being without me.  Kinda looking forward to it honestly.  A little down time.  I am ok with someone else trying to decode what they are saying and letting them dribble pee over someone elses toilet for few hours.

The butterflies are for: Are  they going to listen to the teacher?  Are they going to claim a toy and not share?  Will they refuse help when they really need it?  Will they stand at the door and call for me because they just cannot handle all the change and all the chaos?  Will the other kids accept them or be a little stand offish because they are different? 

As  I drove away this morning to walk with a good friend a quiet peace came over me.  They will be fine.  They will be fine.  Not perfect, but fine.  I have to remind myself often of how long they have been home.7 months. 

When I went to pick them up I chatted with all these precious ladies I used to work with 7 months ago!  They said, "they did fine!"  They did not want to sit at circle time, Israel stood in front of the door and quietly chanted my name in hopes  I would rescue him, they did not want help opening their cheese stick, and they had a hard time sharing the trains.  All in all they did great!!  Normal 3 year old behavior!

When I asked them if they want to go back to preschool next week there was a loud yes!  Well more like a loud Ye since they have trouble with those, S's.  So back they will go next week to play more trains and read more books and sing the ABC song.  Those were apparently the highlights of the day.   And I will pray for that peace that was given to me this morning and know that they are going to be just fine.  Maybe even great!!

She Amazes Me.

The other day I was peeling potatoes and I remember being in Idaho watching my mom peel a whole bag of potatoes for dinner.  One might think, big deal.  But it was.  This last Febuary my mom lost her vision.  It was unexplainable.  It happened soon after her knee replacement surgery.  She woke up one morning and because she had lost sight in one eye a few years earlier she knew what was happening.  She prayed.  She begged God not to take the sight in her other eye.  As the days went on she slowly lost her vision.  I remember her calling me and telling me.  We both cried on the phone and I spent many and hour praying and asking God to stop it.  Give it back to her. She is so independent and active.  What will this mean?  How will my dad do it all?

My mom kept going.  Kept fighting.  Kept LIVING!  Not that she did not have down days or moments or that she does not have hard days today but she keeps living and growing and learning.  She says that she has never been closer to God than now.  She depends on Him daily and gives Him all the glory in all that is going on.  Yes glory even though this is hard she has joy and purpose and is thankful for so much.  God does not promise us that nothing bad is going to happen to us.  But He does promise that He will walk beside us, hold us, and comfort us.  If we trust Him and depend on Him we will make it through.  She is making it through.  With grace and strength that amazes me.  Grace and strength that comes from Him.

She irons, does the laundry cooks, cleans, goes to church, goes to Bible studies, shopping, travels with my dad, encourages friends, reaches out to others, loves her family, and just keeps on living and living with purpose.  Every day she gets up exercises, has her quiet time with God, gets ready for the day.  Right down to hair and makeup.  She asked me when I was there how she looked.  Did her hair and make up look ok.  I realized I had not said anything because she looked so awesome.  She has always been one put together lady.  Nothing has changed in that regard.  She is still one put together lady.

She amazes me and am I so honored that she is MY mom and that I and my children have such a Godly example.  As I was peeling those potatoes I closed my eyes and tried to peel them like she did.  I didn't do the job she did that afternoon.  Mine still had brown peel on them. Yep, amazing!!

Don't tell her I posted these pics of her.  She will kill me!!  But here she is this summer with some of her 13 grandchildren.