PLANTING TREES

As we continue this new journey with our new kids-I can't help but feel that our family is like several trees that were securely planted in the ground.  As we opened our hearts and home to two new kids, in the process, the Lord ripped us all up, and torn from our spot in the ground.  Some of us are starting to wilt slightly, some still going strong, and some are just sitting and waiting on Him for what is next.
Now this all may sound harsh, but it isn't, because as we welcomed the kids into our lives, Jesus has carefully and lovingly put us all back in the dirt, all replanted.  The difference is, He didn't plant us in the same spot as we were before, but in a different location. This had to be so, you see, because we had to move over and make room for two new members to grow next to us.
In this process of being transplanted, we now have to re-root and re-attach to each other as we follow Our Maker, Our Foundation.  We have to re-adjust to our new place, the place where He has planted us, as we wait for the re-growth to occur.
It is hard and it is going to take nurturing from others, rest, (Living) Water, and His Light, but we will make it, and in time, become one strong row of trees again!  All to HIS GLORY!  Change is hard, growth is hard, but we are going to do everything we can to grow where we are now planted and to honor Him, the One that put us there.  We cling to the knowledge that He sees the entire plan and knows exactly where He wants us.
It is hard, and it is challenging and I am exhausted-it's not just a mental, emotional, or physical exhaustion each day-which are all VERY real and VERY hard, but it's a spiritual exhaustion.  I feel the battle line that has been drawn, I feel like I am often times fighting an up-hill battle.  In these challenging days, where we are all trying to figure out each other and learn our "new normal", where we are teaching all of the things that my other kids have been raised to know, and where we are often feeling like we are starting from scratch, there are glimpses of light.  In the moments where I feel like I just can't do this and wasn't cut out for this mothering of eight, this learning how to parent kids with such loss and hurt in their little lives, the wondering if we will ever get to a normal again, God will give us a thread to hang on to.
I have to share two little things that happened this week-One, as we were worshiping at church on Monday night, we were singing "Open the eyes of our hearts Lord".  Haile began singing the chorus, in broken English, but doing his best to sing the song.  Our hearts melted, praise to the One that gave us this gift.
The second was tonight.  We found his Amharic Bible that we had purchased in Ethiopia and gave it to him.  I found the chapter in Ephesians that we have been studying in church and put his bookmark there for next week.  He then asked me, "Morning, read it"?  I was overjoyed that this boy was asking me to read his Bible to him in the morning.  Thank you for these small glimpses into Your Plan Lord and into our boy's heart!
Thank you to EACH of you that are walking with us, your support and prayers are upholding us and we love each of you dearly!  We are blessed to have such good caretakers here on earth.  Thank you for praying fervently for our family, the meals, the phone calls, the cards, watching our kiddos while we go out as a couple.  Thank you for treating these new kids like they have been here forever, for the gifts for them, for the Bible verses for us that we can post all over our house, for the encouraging words when I need to talk, for just listening to me ask for the thousandth time, "What If......." :-)  We love you and you will never know how you have touched our lives and made this transition so much easier!  (I am working on thank you cards, just give me a little more time). Thank you for loving on our family during this time and helping us adjust to these new spots that we have been placed into in our family, and our newest little members.
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8