Snaggletooth

Our eldest fair-headed child has had a loose tooth for, I kid you not, about 3 months now.

She has worked diligently to loosen the fleshy tissue's grasp of her tiny incisor.

Let's just get something out in the open for a minute here. I'm not a fan of loose teeth nor of the pulling of teeth. And by "not a fan", I mean it makes my blood run cold. In addition to having chilled out blood, I cringe and nearly puke.

The time finally came where I was certain the roots were finally loosing the battle.  So, naturally, I freaked out and texted The Grandmothers. 

Too bad I couldn't find an emoji to properly display the amount of nausea I was feeling. 

We made our way home from karate, me having an inner battle of wills and Jade feverishly playing with the wiggly pearly white.

I was relieved to find the tooth still (barely) intact when we walked through our front door. Complaining of severe, earth shattering hunger pains, Jade made her way to the kitchen.

I snuck the other two littles upstairs. After a fun day of waking before the crack-of-dawn (no exaggeration, 5:30am, people), filled with lots of sight-seeing at the zoo and napless afternoon.. they were in a near catatonic state and beyond ready for bed.

I had just tucked the 2nd of the littles in when I heard faint footsteps treading up the stairs. As if by habit, her hand went to her mouth to check the progress of the disengaging tooth. A fit of shocked giggles escaped her little mouth accompanied by a face of astonishment.

"MOM!! MY TOOTH IS GONE," She exclaimed in a shouting whisper!

"What?!?! Where is it? When did you lose it?"

"I DON'T KNOW!! MAYBE IT'S IN ONE OF MY STRAWBERRIES?"

At this point in the story, it is blazingly obvious that I have found great favor with The Lord. Not only was there a severe lack of blood with the tooth being gone, but I was also not in the same room when it happened.

After the congratulatory hugs and giggles, she started her nighttime routine. I snuck downstairs to investigate the remains of her strawberries…. and found NOTHING! Here's to hoping teeth don't interrupt the digestive system too bad.

When taking pictures to proudly share with people, one does not have time to wipe strawberry remains off of one's child before said picture is taken. 

Wisdom

My house is still and quiet. Even the thoughts in my head have been coaxed to enjoy the simplicity that the next few hours will bring.

With the sounds of deep-napping-almost-snoring filling my ears and the softest of scents accompanying this calm, I'm so grateful to have found time to process all that has culminated today.

This morning I made a call to the agency we chose to work with in our adoption process. Our agency offers support to those providing foster care as well as those who are adopting through our state's protective service. We spoke for some time regarding our family, his experience in the adoption process, and what we feel called to do as a family.

I hung up the phone slightly discouraged with a million thoughts circulating in my mind. These thoughts, their scenarios and possible outcomes created a certain vortex for the day. Most of the day has been consumed with thoughts on what the next step should be for our family.

Following our normal routine, I tucked our two youngest in for a time of deep rest. As soon as their breathing became deep and rhythmic, I retreated to my favorite quiet place in the house. I knew what I needed to do. I sought refuge in the Lord. I spent time in prayer, quickly opened my bible and the material for our current women's bible study at church. What a gift the Word of God is to speak to our lives and our circumstances!

I didn't have some great epiphany during my short time of study today. But I do know that we will be seeking God for wisdom through faith as our adoption journey has produced yet another turn.

Pray with us? Pray for wisdom as we seek which path to take? Pray for clarity.. that we would know how the Lord is answering? And Pray that we would boldly obey?

Blogging slump

There has been so much to blog about lately. So much rich material happening in front of my eyes, words spoken in my ears, thoughts circulating in my mind….

I've tried numerous times to gather said thoughts, to form coherent and complete thoughts from them.

I've succeeded several times with a few half-starts. After a few sentences in, I'm left with a few wispy lines and struggling fragments.

It's not that I don't want to share, or can't share all that's happening. Maybe I'm still processing all that's been happening lately. Maybe there's just been too much of life lately that leaves me breathless when the words need to be spoken (or typed. Same thing, right?)

I'd really love to share with everyone all that's been going on lately.. So, I'm praying for grace to process, form and write these words out.

"The unfolding of your words gives light it gives understanding to the simple." 

-Psalm 119:130