this morning i had a reality check.
it was the kids' first day back to school and it was that blessed time for all school age children: morning.
kids, husband and woman were all scrambling around the kitchen....getting breakfast, packing lunchboxes, checking backpacks, arguing over socks, feeding animals -- yes, a typcial, blissful morning in the mcnatt home.
as i stood there hovering over the assembly line of turkey and cheese sandwiches...i froze with the thought, "where in the world would an 18 month old child from china fit into all of this?" i pictured myself, for a moment, with a toddler on my hip in the midst of our morning mess. i wish i would have kept my panic to myself. instead, however, i voiced it out loud to rick. it was like that tube of toothpaste illustration. once it's out, it's out. there's no taking it back. he looked at me, i looked at him. he looked at me, again.
umm....yeah, we could only imagine.
okay. alright. i get it. that was a scary, but necessary, step in our process. i know for certain God gave me that image to keep my idealism in check, my head out of the clouds and my feet planted firmly on my (dirty) kitchen floor. just in case i was getting too far ahead with the "idea" of adopting, He, in His perfect timing, brought me face to face with what the "reality" of adopting just might look like. i don't necessarily want to see it like that. i'd prefer to doodle her name in my journal and imagine her hand in rick's hand...i want to wander through the toddler section at baby gap and pick out a pair of mary jane shoes for her tiny feet. BUT, the reality is we will most often have a chaotic kitchen, a hurried morning, a frantic exit... and in this mess, we will have a toddler. a little sister. a daughter. a child for whom we will never be enough. we will not be calm enough, capable enough or prepared enough. THAT is why we depend on Him. He is more than enough. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (~ 2 Corinthians 12:9) in the confusion of my morning madness i hear my Father's voice assuring me of His presence even in all this. especially in all this.
and then i see her on my hip.
"EVEN THE SPARROW has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young-- a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God." ~ psalm 84:3
2 comments:
you never fail to make me cry...must be all that "relating" and gratitude that someone has the brain power to articulate it well. so....if you ever want to just meet w/ me and impart some wisdom...i can do some HEAVY reminding of the toddler on the hip thing. better yet...you can borrow them one morning for a trial run!!!!!!!!!!
I had one of these moments just this week as well...and our life isn't half as crazy as yours yet. But I was trying to get everyone breakfast, pack lunches, etc...and I wondered how in the world I was going to work feeding a baby into our morning schedule. Whew! I pray in the end that God will just meet us both - that He will give us the grace that we need...because if I am left to make this work on my own - I don't stand a chance.
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