Thankfulness

"God Places the Lonely in Families " Psalm 68:6

Thanksgiving has already come and gone an I have been woefully lax in writing on our blog. The only excuse I have sadly is lack of time (or maybe lack of priorities, I don't know)......

I just wanted to say today that I am thankful to the Lord for the lessons He has been teaching me these past few weeks since we returned from China.

In some ways these weeks have been very trying and frustrating to me. I think most of that is because I have been faced with many of my own inadequacies as a mom. I have felt stretched beyond my own abilities many days and sometimes impatient that I think Elani isn't "learning" to communicate as quickly as I think she should. Thankfully Marc is so encouraging and has told me many times to keep my eyes on the bigger picture of life, and to focus on the little positive changes that we are seeing.

When I look back on the past couple of months and thank GOD for how He has been there and how much JOY Elani has brought to our life, I can't help but praise HIM, for despite all my shortcomings, our girls are thriving and Elani has come so far.

I am thankful for Kari and Jennifer, our two wonderful speech therapists who besides being great at what they do, are wonderful, kind, nurturing ladies. I am thankful for Dr. Hardy our talented surgeon who has done wonders and will do a great job again on Dec 21st when he completely closes her palate. I am thankful for my girls and husband who show love to me every day and mean the world to me. Mostly I am thankful for the Lord. On days when I feel discouraged I am reminded that He never gives up on me and HIS mercies are new every morning. ADOPTION is such a great picture of a GOD who took us, loved us, kept loving us despite all our faults and hang-ups and then paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we might live. When I look at Elani's cute little smile, I am reminded that the GOD who made me knows how to refine and how to bless each of us and am thankful that HE does both.

Thank you Lord for choosing to set Elani and Malea in our family in a way that only YOU could have pulled off, my best laid plans don't work out as well as yours, and that's a good thing! :)