Friday, April 14, 2017

No Greater Love: Another Letter to Our Sweet 3 on this Good Friday

Dear F, R, and A:

We just had our fifth Skype call with you. I am truly so grateful to have this opportunity to get to know you a little, develop a rapport with you, and create a situation in which we will all feel more comfortable when we come to get you (soon, please soon). I can't believe how much more comfortable we all are after a month or so of skyping.

You are all so dear. Every time we end a call, I look at your dad and say, "Those kids are so stinking precious." We spend the next few hours randomly recalling different things that were said or done (like tonight when you kept rubbing your hair, F, and said you were enjoying it before it all got cut off). Emma and Kelsey usually disappear to their rooms for bed and then the next morning on the way to church or school, they will bring up different moments in the call. We cannot wait for you to be sitting on the couch with us, at the table across from us, or in the swings beside us instead of seeing you through a computer screen.

F, I love your quick smile and easy laughter. I love the way you always help your brother and sister out when something isn't translating well and the mature way you handle the calls. I can already tell that you are golden-hearted and you are so eager to please. You are obviously full of energy and life and I expect that you are going to be the boy who fills our home with joy.

R.... well...... we have already sort of classified you as our mischievous prankster. You are so observant, watching each of us closely and imitating our expressions and gestures (sometimes, I suspect, out of humor). The flash of white that is your smile is going to light up our world very soon. I love that you are so polite and courteous and yet you love to laugh and be silly. I think it's funny the way you and A pick at each other (this may cease to be funny quickly in real life, hahahahah!).

A, I think my very favorite thing about you is seeing you laugh at Emma and Kelsey. I absolutely cannot wait to see another sister added to their little sorority and watch the three of you traverse the teenage years and then life by each other's sides. You are the most quiet of the three, but you are sometimes the first to catch on or realize what we are saying. I see your eyes light up and that smile spread across your face. I love to see you laugh at something that is said and I can already tell that smiles and laughter from you are going to be the treasures of my heart.

I've served Jesus and walked with Him for 32 years now, and I've seen some incredible and beautiful things. He has brought me so much joy in my 39 years on this earth. In addition to the gift of marriage to your dad and the gifts of healthy, sweet new babies in Emma and Kelsey, this is the most astounding gift He has ever given to me. I look at your faces and I just marvel that you are ours and we are yours. Of all the people in this world, that He chose US to get to be your family.... I just can't comprehend any greater way for Him to show that He loves us. Today is the day we celebrate His Sacrifice, the giving of His life on Calvary. It was that Sacrifice that made it possible for all of us to walk in communion with Him and it is that very communion with Him that allowed for this miracle of miracles, the joining of the three of you and the four of us. There is no greater love, y'all, than the love Jesus has for us. We are blessed beyond measure.

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