Happy 8th Birthday to our TWINS!

My favorite little people in the world turned 8 this past weekend.

We weren’t there for their first 3 birthdays, but we have enjoyed their glowing faces on the last five.

After coming to us at age 3, and reunification with their birth mom did not succeed, we adopted our twins (at age 5).

Birthdays are fun. 

They can be milestones of learning when we choose to look and listen.

For me, my twins have taught me thousands of life lessons.  Some I would have prefered to never learn.

All children are blessings AND they are work, and wounded children from traumatic pasts can reveal even more significant life lessons.

Here are just a few:

1. Even when you think you can’t, (in Jesus) you really can.  We have many people tell us, “there is no way I could foster kids like you all did”.  We can’t either.  We can’t even parent our bio kids (apart from Christ).  But with Him, all things are possible (all means ALL).

2. Even a little bit of God’s love will drastically change someone’s life. We are His vessels.  We pour out His love.  And we do it in finite doses.  And somehow, lives change. Hearts are healed.  Our little ones have grown in tremendous ways.

They are secure – not scared.

They have been tenderly embraced – not further scarred.

They are stable, and not wondering – what crisis is coming?

3. Even when the wounds run deep, and the past is tainted, God can make all things new.  He makes beauty from ashes.  He picks us up out of the filthy places and puts us up there with His son Jesus.  Our twins came broken.  We all do really.   They were deeply neglected and abused.  And God has made them new.  Each and every day.  All the pieces of their little lives, are in His hands.

4. Even when change seems hopeless, hope is never lost.  Hope is our anchor, because it is focused on Jesus, and His capacity.  There are times that we feel overwhelmed by our twins’ issues and it seems the patterns of destruction run too deep.  And then we glimpse God’s grace in the middle of the junk.  And we remember.  He made them.  He is their ever present HOPE, and ours.

5.  Even when others don’t understand, God does – every single time.  One of our twins is having a hard time at school right now.  Let’s just say a grade may be repeated if “things” keep up.  And we do our best.  And we ask for help.  And we hire tutors and therapists, some say, “Why can’t YOU just take care of it yourself?”  We can’t.  We’ve tried.  And we need all the help we can get.  And only those who fully engage into our lives, and particularly the lives of our twins, truly know the burden it is (at times) to raise wounded kids.

6. Even when we’re tired, and spent, and drained, He will continue to fill us up.  He is our generous portion.  He gives us enough love for each of our five children and for one another.  He reminds us to stop.  Rest.  Take that nap.  Leave that mess. And just BE with Him, and know that He is enough. He is their “enough”!

7. Even when I fail, and I don’t model Jesus to them, He forgives.  He graciously gives second chances, over and over again. Ignorantly, in my pre-adoption mind, I thought, “I will be so patient with a stranger’s kid.”  That was before they entered our lives.  Loving my twins has revealed to me my deepest flaws.  And gratefully, I belong to a redeeming God, who loves me, no matter what.

8. Even when I know that God is good already, He shows me that more and more each day. I am blessed.  Beyond measure. I cannot measure the fullness He has given me – in Jesus, in my marriage, and in getting to be MOMMA to five children.  My heart is so full.  And I pray I see that, so I won’t take it for granted.

My twins are adorable -

and they are a mess.

My twins are enthusiastic -

and they are exhausting.

My twins are hillarious -

and they press my every button.

My twins are just like Me. 

And they have helped me see, just how loving my Heavenly Father is -

no matter what I do and don’t do -

I am HIS and He is mine!

They belong – forever family – and our daily Life Lessons are invaluable gifts from our great God.

What life lessons have your family members revealed in your life? 

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