Life Moments

As I sit and type these words, I am torn between wanting to get my words down and putting it off until later so I can play with my girls now. You see, last week one of my favorite musicians, Steven Curtis Chapman, lost his youngest daughter in an accident outside their home. Obviously, I did not know the Chapman family personally, but being a fan of Steven's music and keeping up with he & his family on his website, I feel like I do. His music has touched my life, along with many others for years now. He has written encouraging, fun, uplifting and poignant lyrics, comforting many and I pray those same words will be able to comfort them at this difficult time. The Chapmans have also been an important advocate for adoption, something that has been on my heart for some time and increased when I learned more through the foundation they created. It is called Shaohannah's Hope and focuses on adoption assistance, awareness and orphan care. Along with their three biological children, they adopted three little girls from China. Maria was the youngest of these.

After reading several blog entries on Steven's website, they are hurting, of course, but they are still able to praise God and rejoice that Maria is in heaven with Jesus and that they will see her again soon. How uplifting...that amidst a tragedy and loss of this kind, they are full of faith and love for a God that is Sovereign and know that nothing happens in vain. "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for peace, not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11.

Since learning the news, I have felt such sadness and heartache for this family and utter disbelief that something of this magnitude could happen to a family completely dedicated to serving the Lord. However, it is a lesson to me that we should hold onto each moment as best we can, making each day count. This is really nothing new as I have had significant loss in my own life, but yet another reminder that we can never know what tomorrow brings. Although easier said than done on some days, I desire to do this, love the Lord, strengthen my faith daily, be the best wife and mother I can be and enjoy and relish the little moments that may seem insignificant, but are what life is truly about.

Perhaps most touching is the song he most recently released called "Cinderella" and is about exactly that...slowing down and taking time for those little moments. Here are links to the music video and story behind the song. Click on "See More Videos" to access the story. http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/radio/frame.htm

Some tidbits...

Life has been relatively quiet lately, which is why I haven't been blogging much. We are enjoying the warm weather and getting to be outside, whether it's at a park, a friend's house, or our own backyard. Rory is still not walking, which is somewhat frustrating when we're outdoors. Luckily, she doesn't seem to mind crawling on concrete or dirt. I have to adjust my own thinking and recognize that dirt is not the worst thing in the world! Some days I think she is just lazy with her walking. She sometimes won't let us put her feet on the ground to stand her up. She is, however, talking and jabbering a lot, which is fun to hear. She has also been imitating us regularly. For example, when we cough or sneeze, she does a fake one of her own. Pretty cute! We finally got her 1-year pictures taken, oh, just a few weeks late. We got several good ones - she smiles so easily!

Cameron just continues to grow up and is a lot of fun to carry on a conversation with. I love hearing her talk about the kids in her class at church. We are there often, working and volunteering, and she talks about her "friends" regularly. A little shout out to my girls...there are many weekends we are at church for all three services and they don't seem to mind. They're either used to it or just love being there as well! Cami loves playing outside, especially swinging. She loves music and dancing as well. Her favorite artist right now...Taylor Swift, a young country singer. She has the cd in her room and turns it on often. She is also into wearing dresses or skirts right now, although she still doesn't like me to fix her hair.