“They say a person needs just three things
to be truly happy in this world:
someone to love, something to do,
and something to hope for.”
-Tom Bodett
A winter storm blew through on Tuesday. Rain turned to ice mid-morning and our shrubs slowly leaned stiff into place with each freezing drop.
By lunchtime, icy roads meant no more trips to town, so I pulled on thick pajama pants and curled up on the couch with hot soup and a sandwich filled with warm cheese. I watched for snow from the living room window, and by late afternoon- yahoo!
Just like ice cold confetti floating down from a silver-white sky.
Snow doesn’t happen but once every few years around here, so you understand why I had to pull on my boots and take a few pictures. 🙂
*****
Today, I’m painting more wood on the second floor, while Kevin finishes a song on the first.
This house was dark and empty for seven straight years, but now there’s music in her soul, and I’m convinced she was built to blossom.
*****
I’ve been hearing (daily) from one of the other adoptive Mamas while she’s in Haiti. She and her husband walked through the big green gates at the Three Angels for the first time last Saturday and my pulse quickens whenever I see that she’s written. There’s no telling how many times I’ve read and re-read her updates. It’s like I can’t read them hard enough. Do you know what I mean? It’s hard to believe I’ll be jotting down the details of my own experience there very soon, too.
And guess what?
Sweet P has our photo book.
On day 2, my friend said he carried it around “all. morning. long.” and climbed up next to anyone sitting still so they’d look through it with him. She said, “Layla, he was OUTLINING your FACES with his finger and babbling.” She said, “He is so ready for you to come and be HIS.”
See what I mean?
Can’t. Read. Hard enough.
Feeling incredibly thankful for Love, and letters, and hope that outlines and babbles today. 🙂
So happy for you!!
i gave my baby up for adoption years ago…This little boy is so lucky…i would dream every night that my baby had loving parents like you..it’s the biggest gift and someone once told me a straight trip to heaven..no waiting in line 🙂
gracious. so. much. happiness. my heart is full for you and K!
How fantastic. Y’all are going to make fantastic parents.
you make me cry happy tears : ) it’s so fun to watch you nest
I love, Love, LOVE reading your blog, and I am just so happy for you both! Everyday brings you closer and closer to your Sweet P, and it sounds like he is just as excited to be a part of your family as you are . My heart just melted at the thought of him tracing your faces with his finger.
So very happy for you guys! x
As a musician, a decorator and a mom, this made me BAWL!
I’m so thrilled for you both! This post brought a tear to my eye…..
thru teary eyes I say, God is good!
Love the sweetness of your news! God is Good.
My heart warms Layla. I am so excited on your behalf. Such a blessing.
My heart warms for you, my only son is curled up next to me, while I am reading your blog. (((((HUGS))))) and warm thoughts.
So excited for you and for your much wanted little one!
Oh, this is fantastic news. I can’t even begin to imagine how exited you are! I’m so so so happy for you. Thanks for sharing your journey with us!
I would love to hear more of Kevin’s songs – I loved Love collides, is this a song for Sweet P? My father is a musician and composed a song for my daughter when she was born, it’s a wonderful thing to have.
hugs from Switzerland,
G.
I’m so happy for you 🙂
Such joy, Layla– for ALL of you! God bless and keep you as you await your turn to be united with your precious Little.
Xo Heidi
I remember how excited we were when we knew our paper work was in the countries we adopted from and when we got the pictures we almost died of happiness. I’m so happy for you.
Tears streaming down my face!! So excited and thrilled for you both. This day can’t come soon enough! Stay warm!
Happy, happy times for you all! So exciting! Thank you for letting us peer in and be a part of all of this!
And….tears.
Love you so much, El! Miss you like crazy!
We too are bringing a house/farm back to life after it being vacant for years. My 76 year old neighbor grew up in our house and helped his parents raise hogs, chickens, cattle here. Seeing his childhood home coming alive again makes his eyes brighten and his heart smile. It makes me feel good to know our resurrecting the farm and home bring him such joy.
I can’t imagine what those words written by those in Haiti do to your heart and soul. They bring tears to my eyes and goosebumps to my skin. Soon a little child’s laughter will fill your home along with the music.
Goosebumps!
Oh, how sweet and beautiful that your boy is beginning to KNOW you already! I seem to be tearing up at every blog post I read these days. I’m glad you’re enjoying the snow. Here in Canada we have 6 months of it, so it very quickly loses its appeal. You know, familiarity breeds contempt 😉 Your house looks lovely with its temporary white blanket.
So incredibly happy for you!
WOW…and I SO so so get it when you say you can’t “read” it hard enough! My goodness you must be filled WITH so much anxiety, warm heart, excited…can’t imagine. I know us readers are filled with joy and we can’t wait. Your home is absolutely beautiful! Your sense of style well……just ROCKS!
Thanks for making my days with this blog!!!!!
Sincerely~
Lisa W.
Tears in my eyes when I read that he was tracing your faces…soon he will be patting your face! So excited for you all! May Jesus bless your precious family.
I am so excited for y’all!
“He is so ready for you to come and be HIS.”
That statement so stood out to me… It sounds just like Jesus doesn’t it? He is so ready for us to come and be HIS. Adoption and parenthood draws so many parallels to God’s love. It is a blessing within a blessing!
Sooo excited for you!
What a great post. I cannot wait until you have your son for your very own. It will be wonderful.
I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart,
So happy for you both!
Such wonderful news to read! I admire how you enjoyed the snow as I tend to complain this time of year. I grow ready to see the sunshine again and grey skies disappear. But, after reading your post I will look at the snow fall a little differently tomorrow. 🙂
i just cry…beautiful
God is such a personal God..father..frieind..lover
that He has His fingerprints of purpose written all over your story
there is always a reason and God can redeem everything if we let go and trust Him…waiting hard with you…xo
I am so thrilled for both of you…… what an exciting time! You will both be excellent parents!!
There are times when I would like to relive those wonderful early years, so enjoy your time with your son as it flies by so fast!
Thinking of you…….. Connie
I am simply giddy with excitement for you kids. What precious, precious, blessed news.
(Sniff)
My niece has a heart for Haiti. She went with our church and her Dad last summer. They spent two days at an orphanage loving on kids and feeding then food they’d brought for them. She decided yo forego her senior trip to France to go back next summer.
I just am tickled you may be bringing home a sweet child she loved, prayed for, and held. Her heart is in Haiti.
Keep us updated!
I have no words, just tears streaming down my face, goose bumps on my skin and an unbelieveable amount of joy for a beautiful that I only know virtually, but yet as a parent feel so close to. CAN. NOT. WAIT. to see you all together!!!
The images of you and Kevin in your house, painting and making music, with the snow sprinkling down and rest of your “family” so many miles away in the warm sun of Haiti, studying your faces was such a happy image. I just imagined you and Kevin in a snow globe and your child shaking it and watching the snow come down on his soon to be home. It brought a smile to my face and I prayed that God with strengthen and tighten the ties that bind you three together in His patient and gentle ways. Such a happy prayer.
Oh how exciting – it made me tear up! Hugs!
Tears of joy filled my eyes as I read about your son tracing your pictures, I am so thrilled to hear more about your family, and your house just waiting quietly under a snow covered quilt for the day when he comes home.
Dear Layla and Kevin,
Congratulations, from one on the other side of adoption…I was the baby to be placed in a home full of love, warmth and giving. It was God’s divine arrangement for my life and I will ALWAYS thank Him for His provision for me and now my husband and our children. May the Lord bless you all as you walk down this road together.
So excited for you all. We adopted our third child and I know exactly how you are feeling. Our daughter is now 27 and a true gift from the Lord. When we got the call that we had a new daughter it was like nothing I could explain. Then they sent us a picture of her. My husband and I would take turns having it for the day. Back then you were not aloud to go pick up your child. We had to pay someone who was approved by their government. My husband, our two other children and friends stood sobbing with tears of Joy the moment the plane landed with McKrai on it. We are excited for you and know great memories are in store for you. Be Blessed.
I love this update and am praying blessings on you and your growing family. So exciting!
I have only been following your blog for about six months so am new to your adoption process, but I have to tell you I started crying when you mentioned how your little boy was walking around with your book. I can just imagine him being so excited to show his friends his new family. I’m so happy for you and can wait til you get to meet him and bring him home. Congratulations and good luck!
My heart just leapt for you all!
Just cried as I read this. So happy for you, and we don’t even know each other! Can’t wait for you to bring him home and can’t wait to see pictures!
Layla, I’ve been reading TLC for a while, but I’ve never commented. The picture, however, you’ve painted of Sweet P sitting, tracing your faces with his wee finger. . . well, it just brought me to tears.
My husband and I have been together for nearly 15 years and have been married for 10. I can’t tell you how many times I came home from work in a flood of tears because another pregnancy had been announced. How many times did I crumple into a heap on the kitchen floor after another call/text/email/status update announcing yet another little one for one of our friends?
And now, today, I am sitting here looking at a 10-month-old little curly-haired angel rolling around on my living room floor, babbling away at the jack-in-the-box handed down from one of those friends after her little ones no longer played with it.
I waited so long and I know now that my wait was worth it. Because my baby girl was supposed to be mine all along. She was waiting for her time and she came to us exactly when she was supposed to. And she’s exactly who she’s supposed to be. And her presence in my life has made me exactly who I’m supposed to be.
All of this to say . . . you have no idea. You just have no idea. The love that is going to grow up the walls of your house like so much ivy. The flip your stomach will do every single time you get a smile. The feeling of a little one’s head resting on your shoulder. It’s all coming and you won’t even know who you were before it came.
Sweet P was supposed to be yours all along. He was waiting for his time and he is coming to you exactly when he is supposed to. And he is exactly who he’s supposed to be. And his presence in his life will make you exactly who you’re supposed to be.
🙂
And I want to re-read that several times myself! How wonderful for all of you!
So happy for you. Hope your boy brings as much joy into your home as our adopted son has brought to ours!
Tears are running down my face. I’m so excited for you, and I can almost feel the longing you describe. I pray for you guys and I don’t even know you. I’d say that’s a blessing of the Internet and blogs and Jesus all colliding at once. Thank you for sharing your heart with us.