Now We Are Four!

KW joined us on November 10, 2010. Thanks for following our journey as a family!

Monday, January 23, 2012

What Broke My Heart

One of the things I love about God and his family is how He provides a means for all of his children to be cared for by putting different passions and heartaches inside each of us.

I just finished reading The Help, way after everyone else, so I pretty much knew what the book is about before I picked it up. But I had no idea what would actually make me cry.

Obviously, we are supposed to commiserate with the maids. And I do. It is so hard to believe that this treatment went on - even goes on today - but it did. And, I thank God for the people He has called to fight the battles of racism, mistreatment in the workplace, and women's rights all over the world. But they did not make me cry.

Most people would not feel any sort of tenderness towards the employers in the book, but I did. How sad.  To live your life cow-towing to the popular girl, trying to live up to unspoken standards, always living in fear of losing love, not even aware that you are empty and not experiencing any love at all. To have no idea of your real value, and therefore be unable to treasure the value in others. Women who really didn't grasp the Father's love, or understand what it could be like to be friends with Him. In general, I believe God has called me to walk beside women, and help unlock this relationship with them. During this early season of child-raising, however, I know he has called me to lay that aside and focus on the souls of our babies. So they, also, did not make me cry.

Who made me cry? Mae Mobley.

I know I was supposed to be happy for her Aibee when she was being set free to find out who she could be in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, but all I could think about was how she was being left alone in a loveless home. Despised. Un-hugged. Ignored. I didn't just cry, I sobbed.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Christmas Dress! (Hand-Made Version)

Nothing beats the antiques (yes, they are technically antiques) on my little girl!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

A First Thought

In 2007, dear friends introduced us to a new author. They gave us a copy of his latest book, and I read it soon after having Lee in 2008. Then, I tore through every other book he had written - thanks to my MIL, who bought them to read and pass onto me!

But something about that first book touched my heart in a special way. The story of a little boy, abandoned by his dad, and always looking to see if he would return. Wondering if he was valuable, if he was a mistake, if anybody loved him. Now, that boy is a man, and he is interacting with another young boy in the same situation, and all the emotions and memories are flooding back.

Around the same time, I read another book that opened my eyes to the tender heart inside my boy. Three years later, I remember that little heart on his most energetic days, trying train him up in a way that lets him know he is valuable, planned, loved by God and his parents.

What if we could give that kind of love to another little boy?