I know I've talked about this before but each time I sit down to type, I am in awe at what God has done and overwhelmed. Sometimes I have mentioned about how I can feel God using this change in our lives to shape and mold us. You know, that's not always very pretty, but I want to be changed. I hope that doesn't sound pious, but I really do want to be changed. I used to pray faithfully that God would make me more like His Son. The longer I walk with Him, the more I realize the depth of my sin. It makes me think of a hymn we have been consistently singing since we got Jake. For some reason it came to mind one night while we were there in the hotel room and I was trying to put him to sleep. The last verse in "Come Thou Fount" says,
O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothèd then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.
This is such good news!!! But even better is the verse that comes a couple before that one:
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.
Jake just loves to hear this hymn and sometimes tries to do his own version of it.
Anyway......on to "He can run!!"
Today as I followed behind Jake trying to remind him to walk in the house, I was reminded of something that I have thought about several times since being home and wanted to share about it. Bear with me just a minute and I'll get to the point. I realized last night that we have got to get Jake, for his own safety, to stop running in the house. So we tried all versions of acting, charades, etc., to show him that we run outside (picture 3 or 4 of us trying to show him how to run without him starting to run and thinking that was great!) and walk inside (picture the same 3 or 4 of us trying to show him how to walk inside and him thinking this was a great big marching parade). We were a bit overzealous, but eventually he did get that something happened outside (he knows the "miles" are outside which are the cats) and something happens inside.
Well today he forgot all that so I was trying to catch up with him going down the hallway, without running myself, and remind him to walk. I think that he thinks he's in a mansion. Our house really is compared to where he came from. And now that he knows his way around, he just loves to run the hallway back to Parker's room. Well, he just likes to run with Parker no matter how you slice it!! It's neat to watch what God is doing in each of my children's lives and how He's teaching them about toddlers. And it's also neat to watch how each of their relationships with Jake is so different. Parker is a passionate person (wonder where she got that from:)) and she has that kind of relationship with Jake. What that translates to is a very physical, high energy situation....lots of holding, forced kissing, picking him up high (makes me sweat), jostling him around, AND RUNNING DOWN THE HALLWAY!! So anyway, back to the title (again). So today as I am running after him, I am reminded of a prayer request that we had in our prayer cup on our kitchen table. The prayer request was that Jake would be able to run!!! Many of you will recall that Jake was adopted through the special needs program in China. Jake's official diagnosis was "cerebral palsy". Initially when we got his referral back in October of 2011 we could tell some about how he was doing, but at 16 months old it reported that he was "standing with assistance". We thought that was a good sign but we knew that sometimes the information isn't as accurate as you would like. So anyway, to make a long story short, we decided to accept his referral (our first and only referral....Praise God!! because we didn't want to feel like we were choosing, though we understand completely that families have to decide what they can handle, which is wise to say the least). I'll fill in a little about how God showed us Jake was our son when I blog tomorrow or shortly thereafter.
But anyway, from the time we accepted the referral til May we didn't have an update which is pretty common. Still that diagnosis lingered and so during those months we decided to just go all out in our prayers for Jake and not only pray that he could walk, but that he could run. So finally in May when we got updated pictures and some video, we could see that indeed this little one was walking, talking, interacting. We felt so blessed. One day as I cleaned the kitchen one of the prayer slips had somehow made it's way to the counter and I almost threw it away, but decided I should look at it. This was literally within the week that we got the pictures and videos and I felt as if it was almost like the Lord was saying "remember this request....I have answered". I remember being in awe, but the funny thing is that the video only showed him walking. I was already giving God the praise for him running because I just knew that he could, but still I hadn't seen that. Well, as I'm running behind him this morning, I remembered our prayer request and God's faithfulness to answer that. How precious of Him!! What a blessing.
I don't know what Jake's future holds and as I watch the Olympics and see all these young men and women from all over the world representing all the nations, my heart feels like Jake's won a gold. I don't know if he'll be a runner, but let me tell you something folks......HE IS FAST!!!! By far the fastest of all my children at his age. He's not only fast when running, but fast when reaching for things, undoing things, taking things apart, and all the other things that toddlers can do that can hurt, damage, etc. It's amazing. He can get into trouble super fast also!! So, my prayer request if anyone is hanging in there and not given up on my blog, pray for his safety. And pray also, if you could, that I will get my ducks in a row, as the Lord sees fit, to start back our homeschool work in later August. I feel a need to plan, but it's difficult. I knew it would be hard, but with the fastest 2 year old I've ever seen, it's harder than I had planned. But I'm not complaining mind you. God is sufficient and He will help. Please continue to pray for my other children and anything else that comes to mind. My greatest concern throughout our adoption is how will this affect them. Pray that Jeff and I will continue to make changes that we need to in parenting and that our relationship will be sweeter than ever. He is and has always been my hero!!
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