Coming

“Por qué no vienen?” Why aren’t you coming?

After 20 minutes of looking sad and avoiding eye contact, Emmanuel finally--and reluctantly--asked us this heartbreaking question Sunday.  For an instant I glanced at B and knew we were thinking the same thing: reassure him, remind him this long wait isn’t the same as other losses he has experienced in the past. We both longed to be able to reach through the screen and hug Emma, to show him how much we love him and are doing everything possible to come quickly. One day that moment will come.

For now, we’ll continue to pray for God’s timing—and we’ll enjoy each minute on Skype, each email, each text, each picture.

We are coming, Emma. Te lo prometemos. We promise.  

La cancion

Yesterday I heard a new song…from our daughter. Freely and from her heart, she sang to us.

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. A couple of times she covered up her face out of embarrassment, but she kept singing. When finished, several times she said, “Mom, cántame una canción” (sing me a song), and I couldn’t think of one in Spanish. But then Papi rescued me by recommending we sing one that we know from church, one that means so much to us because it talks about who God is. We—who are definitely not known for our melodic voices—sang “Forever Reign.” And I believe that it, too, was beautiful. We were singing to the Lord AND to our daughter. She smiled the entire time, a smile that seems to erase all of the hard moments….such as afterward when we had to talk to her about being nice to her brother. Such as the struggles she has faced in her past that want to define her. Such as a decade of uncertainty and pain.

My heart is singing today.  Sing with me.