The Greatest Thing

Happy March! 

As things usually go, I've blinked and February has flown by... even with the added bonus of an extra day! February brought to us our very first baby of 2020. A precious newborn baby girl was placed in our safe early in February and for the past few weeks she has been the center focus of my busy days and l-o-n-g nights. She came to us fairly frantic and it was a particularly loud first few days but by the grace of God, little Miss R, seems to be settling in. We think she is going to have MANY words and have fairly intense feelings but she is eating well and her happy moments are elongating and increasing daily. I hope to transition her into the home over the next week or so. 

I know Valentine's Day was a few weeks ago now but we took some really adorable photos that I couldn't help but share. Parenting these precious people has introduced me to a kind of learning about love that I hadn't experienced before stepping into this calling. This kind of learning has bent, broken, scarred  and bettered me far more than words can tell. I am sure most who have parented someone else can say the same. To love someone is to give them the power to injure you. Yet the pain of parenting is marked with such treasure and such joy that makes it worthy of the pain. I am so grateful for the opportunity to love these precious, wild and priceless souls. Despite the fact that, Lord willing, they will leave me one day to find love in a Forever Family. 

One of the questions I am most frequently asked is, "Do you have any children of your own?". No, I don't have any biological children nor think that i ever will  have any babies I get to keep. But truthfully, I can't fathom these kiddos being any more "my own" than a biological child would. I would just get to keep them a bit longer (the Lord would have to really help know how to parent a 5th grader, haha). Thankfully, I know what my role is in the lives of these little people. My call is to introduce them to the love of Christ that lives in me. I know I won't be remembered -- my smell, my voice, my face will surely be forgotten. But the love of Christ that they meet in me will remain in their hearts forever. Then one day, maybe in Sunday School when they are five or when they are 50 and sitting on a bus, they will hear about the love of Christ and something inside them will rise up and say, "I've known this love before". 

I pray that the Father Himself will strengthen and encourage you to better love those He has placed in your life. The hard ones, the ugly ones, the sweet ones, the bitter ones, the snotty ones, the ones who will leave you, the ones who stay a bit too long, the ones reclining by your side and the ones sitting on the other side of the world. To even love the one He loves that stares back at you from your bathroom mirror. As your heart learns to better love may you also be better able to receive the love that has been yours all along. The love of God demonstrated to you on the Cross of Jesus Christ. There has never been a day when you have been unloved. May not one day pass any of us where we have not actively chosen to love those God has given to us. 

Love y'all so!!! - Nicole and all the babies at El Roi

p.s. this is my favorite poem that I put in each of the scrapbooks I make for my babies. And it seems perfect to share today: