Picture of Joy

I have a friend with a great talent and I am very blessed to be on the receiving end of that talent. We spent the day together on Thursday when she took the most gorgeous pictures of my angel baby. There are a lot of beautiful pictures in the world, but when you can look at a photo and literally see the spirit of your daughter leaping off the paper, you know that you have a treasure. This is only one of many....

Please check out Terra's work at Terra Richards Photography to see more of her amazing talent.

Strawberry and other desires....

Last night, our little family was in our car headed home from church. Jason and I were drained. We are currently in a leadership catalyst class taught by our amazing pastor who teaches the equivalent to a masters theology class. It's wonderful, thrilling, motivational and daunting. Every week we leave amazed and drained....but we're growing.

So, feeling like this, we decided to stop at QT on the way home for a coke (not actual Coke because we live in Texas and coke means anything that isn't water) and a snack. Raylen was in the back seat and we hadn't planned on getting her anything. It was late and she had been given a snack at church so we just discussed what we would have. Jason got out of the car and left it running for us and as the store door was closing behind him, Raylen said "Strawberry for me Daddy." I asked her to repeat what she had just said and she said the same phrase again. I kind of laughed a little at her audacity thinking that she would get anything sweet at this late hour. She knows better and I wondered why she had thought of strawberry? If she ever gets any kind of drink other than water or milk, it is always Sprite and that's it. I dismissed it and told her that Daddy was just getting he and I something and that she didn't need sugar before going to bed. She said nothing and sat quietly until Jason returned. When he did come to my window to drop off the drinks, he was carrying to cokes and a bottle of strawberry milk! I couldn't even touch it! He was confused so I told him the story and asked if there was any possible way that he could have heard her or known that she had asked for that. He explained that he had gotten our two drinks and was walking to the counter not planning on getting her anything when he passed the milk case and it came to him to get her some strawberry milk as a treat. He hadn't heard her at all. We both sat in the car without moving for a minute, trying to make heads or tales of it. I guess if we were different people we would have drifted into thoughts that our daughter has some kind of psychic ability. She does not. If she did, she would know to clean her room before I punish her for not cleaning her room.

It was truly an amazing coincidence. It wasn't until later on after Raylen was in bed that I started thinking about it again and it spoke to me. So many times, I am like Raylen with God my father. I have desires and I will keep them from Him for a while thinking that it's a long shot that He will "show up" in that circumstance. Then, when I've held on for so long, I finally tell Him what's been on my heart and then beg a little hoping He hears exactly my request. What I realized last night is that God has my best interest at heart. I don't have to shout at Him hoping that He hears my request and I don't have to wait to tell Him, afraid it's too small or out of reach. It is His very nature to provide for and bless me with His goodness. Sometimes His goodness doesn't turn out to be strawberry milk, but other times it does! Either way, every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father and I can relax and enjoy all of His gifts because they are all good.

Dedication

On Father's Day, we were so excited to have the opportunity to have Raylen dedicated at our church. For those of you who don't know, dedication is not baptism or an act imparting salvation, but it is a time set apart to present our family to the Lord, ask His blessing and commit to raise our daughter to love and honor Christ. This day for us ranked as high as the day her adoption became final. We are keenly aware each day that even the small things we teach her shape her life for the future and to formally commit her and ourselves before God is a special and miraculous thing.

Speaking of miracles....in the pictures I hope you can make out that the word MIRACLES is on display. The word is there in reference to the current message series our Pastor is preaching. I loved seeing it there as a happy "accident" that reminded me of the miracle that God alone has done in placing Raylen in our family. Again, thank you to everyone who has prayed for us along the way and who continues to pray for additions to our home. We deal with fear, doubt and weak faith each day, but having been reminded of God's faithfulness before, I am convinced again that He will make a way again.

Family Fun Weekend

This weekend, Jason's sister Kayla and her husband and kids came in to visit. We went to Keller Fest on Friday night and to the Fort Worth Zoo on Saturday. Hot, but lots of fun. Enjoy the pictures!

Stories to Share

I blogged earlier about adoption and since then two things have happened today that I also wanted to share.

In the car today, we were listening to the Christian radio station and a man called in to request a song for two little girls having an end of the year swim party at their house. I thought that was sweet and it got me thinking about the responsibility of having a large group of children swimming on their own in a pool I owned. Scary. That thought led me to 1994 when I was 15 and a family in our church lost their 5 year old little boy when he drowned in a friend's pool. They weren't even swimming that day, but the little boy wandered away from the group and after being missing for only a few minutes, his teenage brother found him at the bottom of the pool. He actually lived for nearly a week on life support, but there was nothing they could do for him because they had also found an inoperable brain tumor that had been with him since conception. That was a horrific time in all of our lives watching that family grieve. Thinking about that made me think how thankful I am to Raylen by herself right now without other siblings until she matures. In my quiet moments, I long to add to our family, but with the very curious and energetic personality of our daughter, God knows exactly what He's doing. It takes all of my energy and attention to keep her from wandering off. Accidents will happen and having only one child does not prevent terrible things from occurring, but it gave me pause to be content and thankful in my current circumstance and not let my desires shadow God's provision in my life.

Secondly, this evening I am cleaning my house in preparation for my sister in law and her family to come and visit this weekend. I found myself bent over Raylen's bathtub scrubbing the ring of dirt that sticks after being washed from her active body. Raylen came to me, tapped me on the shoulder and told me "Mommy, God is telling me to give Him my heart." I think the scrub brush dropped out of my hand. "What did you say?" I asked her. "God wants me to give Him my heart, Mommy" a statement she made while gesturing toward Heaven. We entered into a conversation about how and why God loves us and what it means for us to trust Him and call Him Saviour. After we wrapped it up, I asked her if she wanted to tell Daddy and she went to him and repeated everything just as she told me. I can't tell you the thrill I have knowing that Raylen is hearing God and more importantly listening to Him! I have to give a shout out to our church and Pastor Cris and all the children's staff that are committed to teaching children, no matter what age the foundations of our faith. Above everything, we know that when we drop Raylen off at her class on Sundays, she is being taught Biblical truths that encourage her to follow Christ. We do our best as parents to teach her these things daily, but we know that we can't follow her in the world forever and so we rely on these teachers, her grandparents, her aunts and uncles, etc. to join us in shaping her faith. How exciting it is to watch her faith grow!

Raylen's Day Out

I have been extremely busy the last several weeks with a lot of projects. So, when my boss gave me today off to go along with the Memorial Day holiday, I decided to give Raylen the day. My decision was even more cemented after hearing about Maria Chapman, knowing that although I can't live in fear of what might be, I need to treasure each moment I have with Raylen and truly enjoy our time together. So, Raylen's Day became an official holiday in our house and we made the most of it.

We started out early and went to Log Cabin Village in Fort Worth. This was one of my favorite places as a child to go. If you've never been, it's a must see. For a minimal cost, you can experience several authentic log cabins and school house from the 1800's that are of local origination. One of the houses in particular, is set up as a "Hands On House" where the kids can actually play dress up, try out the feather bed, "cook" in the hearth, gather eggs from the "chickens" and pump water from a well. Raylen loved it and looked especially cute in my hand me down bonnet. The period people kept calling her Laura Ingalls.

After Log Cabin Village, we headed to Montgomery Street Antique Mall. We walked around for a while and Raylen did EXCELLANT at her first attempt to walk in a big store with breakables without being strapped in a stroller or buggy. I was especially excited that Raylen is learning to love old things, like I do (and her G-Da and Nawni do). We found some great bargains on the Value Tales Series of books that I read as a child and we are excited to start collecting now. After our shopping, we went to the store's Rose Garden Tea Room where we met up with G-Da (my mom) and had a delicious lunch. Raylen got a complement from another customer who admired how she behaved.

We made a brief stop at Dairy Queen for some yummy ice cream dessert. Dairy Queens are in short supply around here so it was fun to experience it again. As you can see, Raylen couldn't get enough.

Then, it was on to the Forest Park Train Ride. This train has been making trips around the Trinity River trails of Fort Worth for many, many years. My mom told me today that she remembers riding it as a child and I remember it fondly as well. Raylen loves train rides and we had a great and breezy time on this nostalgic train.

We were pretty pooped after the train ride, but we met up with Daddy and Uncle Joey at Joe's Crab Shack to eat some dinner. Raylen found energy somewher to play with her Uncle Joey and steal his Longhorn cap. By the way, Hook 'em Horns!

And after some unfortunate tears and cries of "I don't want to go home", we did indeed head home. The girl who said she wasn't sleepy is now, well, you tell me if she was sleepy or not.

Raylen's New Car

On Friday, Raylen and I passed a garage sale in our neighborhood and a pink Barbie Powerwheels jeep called to her. I just new it would be too high for us because I have been scouting one of these cars on Craigslist for a while. Much to my suprise and Raylen's joy, the car was very affordable and it came with a brand new battery. We picked it up later that night and she actually drove it back to our house. It's surreal trying to teach your 3 1/2 year old to drive! It wasn't long before she figured out our dachsund, Molli Brown would fit in the "back seat" compartment. They both were in heaven....