The very good very bad Day

It's Good Friday. But it all started with Bad Friday.


Jesus knew it would be a bad day.


"Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”  And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.


He was mistreated and slandered.


The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him.


He was completely innocent, but He was numbered among transgressors-- hanging between two who deserved their punishment.


...he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors...Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 


He struggled for breath for more than three hours as darkness covered the face of the earth. Creation watched, breathless, as Jesus breathed his last and surrendered His soul.


 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said,“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. 


But this was no ordinary death.


And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”


And He was buried in a cave-like tomb as some of His loved ones watched.


And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus saw where he was laid.


But the story doesn't end there...




{Quotations taken from the ESV version of the Bible from Luke 22, 23, Isaiah 53, Matthew 27, Mark 15}

Outtakes

Big as Mommy?

Seriously, is that a fat joke?

Accepted!

My heart is bursting today... we have been officially accepted by Hopscotch Adoptions as prospective parents! They deemed us acceptable to work with to help us bring Lovebug home! We are beyond thrilled... our eyes are a bit dazed with all the $ signs we are seeing for our agency and our home study next month, but we are trusting our Big, Amazing, All Powerful, Mighty God to provide the way for Lovebug to join her forever family!

Recently I was reading Genesis 22, and was just blown away by Abraham's faith in the Lord's provision. We certainly don't have the money to bring Lovebug home in the bank right now, but sometimes I think God calls us to something bigger than us for bigger, better purposes than we could even imagine. If we could write a check and simply hand it over, somehow we would miss out-- God is able to provide. God is ready to provide, and He is allowing us this chance to trust Him, for our own benefit, our own blessing.

I am hopeful. And amazed. And excited about what will happen next.

We're coming Lovebug...

Adoption Belly

Confession: I have an "adoption belly"...

Is that normal? I'm not sure what's going on, but I have a belly sticking out to go along with the adoption paperwork we're completing. And I've had indigestion and general tiredness too. Is it normal to have pregnancy-like symptoms when you're adopting?!

I guess the culprit might be the lemon bars, the strawberries & cream pie, the strawberry muffins (somebody please make me stop drooling over everything on Pinterest!) but either way I feel like I'm baking/eating/gaining like I'm pregnant!

We sent off our agency application today and we have a home study date on the calendar for April-- oh my goodness this is really happening! 


We're coming, Lovebug...

Only a Day Away...

Doodlebug crawled into a full bathtub tonight in his pajamas. I had already bathed him, removed him, toweled him off, diapered and dressed him. I guess he thought he wasn't done playing.

Some other bug of mine* has had three pee accidents in two days.

This mess was waiting for me when I got out of the shower this morning:

I am so glad God designed parenthood to be a tag-team effort.

Sometimes it's easy to take our husbands for granted-- laugh at their different methods, belittle their effort to "help", and deem ourselves the most capable parent of the home.

I tell you what, take Hubby away and I feel pretty darn incapable. Sure, he does stuff differently (like leaving the house without brushing his daughter's hair), but at least when he's here someone can supervisor the monsters while I stand in a stream of hot water and wake up. I don't have to give bath, clean the kitchen up, and get everyone jammied before 8pm all by myself. Someone can clean up the kid who peed his pants while the other can start the laundry and locate and mop up the pee-puddle.

What a blessing to have a partner in this awesome misadventure of parenthood! I'm so glad my love will return tomorrow afternoon! (Rumor has it he's bringing presents too-- help with the kids and fun gifts??? What's not to love?)

*Name withheld to protect the guilty.

Chasing the Moon

Hubby is gone for a few days for work, so tonight the kids and I called a cab and headed out on an adventure to the mall. I'd like to give a shout out to my new best friend, IKEA, for their free child-care, and warehouse full of cheap housewares for me to breathe and browse while the two oldest Bugs play.

We ate dinner, played at IKEA, looked for a baby gate in another store (I really need one to keep Doodlebug out of the kitchen, ya know), shared an iced (decaf) coffee, looked for pants for Stinkbug, ran to the bathroom because MOMMYIREALLYHAVETOPEE,I'MGONNAPEEMYPANTSRIGHTNOW happened. And then we hopped into another cab with my IKEA bag (I got a new pillow), and rode home.

As we exited the highway my eye caught sight of a huge faintly glowing orb hanging low in the nearly black sky. I pointed it out to the kids, and they tried to track the moon from the window as the taxi turned and turned before depositing us outside our building.

The Bugs were still asking about the moon when we got out of the cab, so I asked if they wanted to hunt it down and see if we could catch it. Ears perked, eyes brightened. Imaginary flashlights flickered on and we were off. We walked and walked and I was worrying a little that because of the mess of cars and buildings and city life, we wouldn't be able to glimpse the moon again, but we turned one last corner and there it was. Glorious harvest moon. Breath-takingly beautiful in the dark night.

We stopped to appreciate its hugeness and then the kids ran off to try and get closer. 

Come on, mommy, we have to catch it!

At last, we tired of stalking the moon (we had expended a lot of energy at the mall already...), and we trooped back home. On the way, Stinkbug keep asking me to point out the moon to him. He wanted to catch every sight of it he possibly could before it disappeared from view. I smiled at his amazement, a good reminder for me to stop and enjoy.

As I went through the evening chaos monotony routine (potty, brush teeth, pajamas, devotions, track down loveys, get water cups, potty again, kiss goodnight), my heart just felt lighter. I'm glad I went on a moon-chase whim tonight. It felt good to throw normalcy and schedule to the wind, and click on my imaginary magical flashlight (Ladybug's idea) and hunt down the big, beautiful moon.

That particular moon-- the glowing orange ball, as perfectly round as a dinner plate, hanging eerily low over our city-- will never exist again. But it will forever live in my heart-- along with Ladybug's eager running ahead to catch a glimpse, and Stinkbug's wild exclaiming about the size of the moon. 

Let us not forget as moms to hold our routines, our normalcy, our sanity, our plans in open hands, and instead hold tightly to the little ones who will forever be slipping like water from our fingers. Chase the moon. Seize the moment. Enjoy your kids.