What I Look Forward To.......

Today as I thought of my daughter and the fact that we're getting closer to bringing her home, my mind drifted off to a cozy, ethereal place to visualize all that I look forward to when Mary comes home. Anticipating this promise and all the blessings that God is pouring over my husband and me and just soaking in all the things that 'mothers do' helps me transition this dream into a sweet, tangible reality.
So - here are some of hundreds of things I look forward to when Mary gets home!

• Rocking and singing Mary to sleep
• Sitting her on my lap, holding her little finger out and having her play the keys with me
• Dressing up with her on Halloween
• Taking thousands of pictures of her, with her and with her father and all three of us!
• Dancing with her
• Reading to her
• Robert and I together, praying over her at night when she goes to bed
• Teaching and showing her that she too, can talk to God, at any time and pour out her heart because He really is, that safe - that concerned - and so much in love with her
• Taking her to church
• Singing with Mary
• Nurturing family relationships; What an awesome family Mary will come to know and I want her to really spend time and know and be a blessing to ALL of her family.
• Being there for her, watching and studying her, admiring her when she doesn't know I'm doing it.
• Play with her. Anywhere. Play hard.
• I look forward to sharing the beauty and inspiration of the outdoors with her. Share the beauty and inspiration of the creative arts.
• Celebrating every milestone, every accomplishment, every year I have her and make it a big, freakin' deal because we're here on this earth only once. So I look forward to making it count, making it special (Just like MY mom always did!)
• Laugh with my daughter. Laugh loud and hard!
• I look forward to falling asleep with her. Watching her sleep. Taking naps with her and her father.
• I look forward to my husband experiencing another child with his wife, being a family - strong, happy and intact because Jesus is Lord of all in our house.
• I look forward to not only enjoying my husband but having a husband AND a daughter for the first time in my life - ever. Wow.

My marriage to Robert has been an incredible journey in itself, not to mention the part it plays in the overall journey God has allowed me to experience. That said, before God brought us together, we had both experienced tremendous heartaches and failures due to poor choices (that always comes to bite, doesn't it?!), or rejection/overt criticism from others, people giving up, whatever losses we suffered or even brought upon ourselves, GOD RECOVERED!

God's word has promised us that He will restore the years that the locusts have eaten and we are humbled and inspired to have experienced this. Now that God is introducing Mary into our lives, we're delighting in another "first" in our marriage. The cool thing about failure and God is that His grace offers you the opportunity to learn from it. He loves us THAT much. His grace and mercy offer you the opportunity to experience it HIS WAY, to make it better than it was before. It is. And every day that I wake up, I look forward to what He has in store for me, lessons to learn, songs to sing, things to meditate on, etc....oh yeah.........and a baby girl to love and raise.