Happy New Year! My imagination is running wild...

Saying farewell to 2010 and a hearty welcome to 2011. Thank you 2010 for all the experiences you brought me and all the things I have learned from those experiences-- good or bad. May I remember my lessons learned and hold onto all of them so that I may continue to grow from them. And may I never forget all the sweet memories created and look back on them fondly.

I consider myself so very fortunate to have the chance to adopt for a second time. I look forward with great anticipation to seeing the faces the angels that are sent to us to care for. I cannot wait to meet them, hug them, squeeze them, kiss them, and love on them.

I sat in church this morning imagining the first time we bring our new babes with us. It will be so fun to introduce our new children to our church family. I think that for sure I would be inclined to keep them with us and not give them any sense of abandonment by dropping them in the nursery. Roy and I would sit in the back-- each holding a babe in our arms. I just know in my heart they would be quiet, not making a peep throughout the entire service-- content sitting in our arms. As I let my mind wander a month or two ahead, maybe we will be more comfortable and feel that we have given them a feeling of safety and security. I imagine the first time we put them in the nursery-- hugging and kissing and loving on them so they know for sure that we will be coming back to take them home safe and sound.

I rode home in the car imagining the future with our newly acquired minivan full of our beautiful children-- laughing and playing and squealing as they come home from church. The older kids singing a song they learned that week in church and the younger babes clapping along. Maybe having to mediate a discussion on what "the words actually are."

I drift farther and father into the future...

I imagine my Jenna mothering my new babes. She will love on them endlessly-- bridging the gap between the older and the younger. She will help me in the only way she knows how cooing over them and  mothering and nurturing with me. I envision my Kallista pouring her love and hugs and kisses on these babes endlessly. She will make sure that these babes will have no choice but to feel love. She will read them stories and sing them songs, all the while loving them with all the sweet hugs and kisses she can give. Josiah will be the older brother that looks after and oversees-- the protector. He will claim these babes as his own. Just as he has done with the girls-- his sense of ownership and pride takes root when he talks about them to others, referring to them as "my girls." He will love in his very own way. He will hug and cuddle but more than that, I see Josiah talking his talk to them and showing them all the fun light up toys-- teaching them how to play with each and every toy they come in contact with. Lessons taught through playing side by side-- demonstration, verbal instruction-- whatever it takes-- my Josiah will make sure these babes get full use out of every single toy they encounter.

I am going to close with these sweet imaginations playing in my mind... Happy New Year!