Life With Janaa

Wow! Today marks the first week that Janaa and I have spent the entire week at home since April...Or, at least that's the best I can figure. We have not stopped the past few months.  Janaa's best friend Emma was able to get her visa and was here with us for a week with her mom and my friend.  What a blessing. Thanks for praying with us about her visa. 

Last week "Mommy" Rachel married the man of her dreams and Janaa attended her first wedding  (Rachel took her to one when she was a few months old, but she was too little to remember.), and was in her first wedding.  The ladies in white were so beautiful.  I have never been to a wedding where there was true worship in the way that we did that day.  There were so many answered prays represented there, from each of Rachel's children being in homes to Rachel being with an awesome man.  When I would mention it being Rachel's day she would quickly remind me that it was "Marc" and Rachel's day.  We all really like Marc. He and Brent hit if off from the start, and has continued to become a dear friend along side his bride.

Janaa did so well!  She was absolutely adorable.  The only part she didn't like was the heat and the uncomfortable dress in the heat.  We convinced her to make it to the reception.  We knew once she started dancing she'd forget all about being tired, sweaty and itchy in her dress.  Sure enough, she danced from start to finish and loved every moment.  Hopefully, she'll learn to dance like her daddy and not like her mommie. 

I'll post some photos from the time Emma was here and from the wedding.

It was just in the past couple of days that I realized that there are only 6 more weeks before my little girl starts school.  As I was looking at photos and I realized again that the last year has past so quickly.  I feel as if she came home just in time to head off to school.  It's a harsh reminder of what we missed.  Brent and I sat and looked through her baby photos a few days ago with an unspoken sense of loss between us.  It seems as if she grows 6 months each night.  In contrast, as we look through the photos it's still hard to believe that it's real.  That she is really ours and that she's really home.  It's still a new thing to us in many ways. Often I'm overwhelmed that God would allow us as broken as we are to raise such an amazing little girl.

As the days of summer draw to a close and the first day of school sprints ahead, my heart is filled with excitement and sadness equally balanced.  Janaa will do well, but I'm going to make the most of the days that I can sit in the pool reading her "big girl" chapter books...This week Cori ten Boom.