Love and Cakes

Today some friends gave a welcome shower for Talitha. 

Is this cake not the cutest?

She happily spent several minutes going from arms to arms. 

                                     

We are overwhelmed by the love we have been shown. Every step of this adoption process, we were covered in prayers and kind words and good wishes from all around. One day Talitha can look at these words and pictures and know that she was loved and wanted from the very beginning.

Adoption is hard. Super hard. By far the hardest thing I've ever done. I've never been so emotionally drained, so stressed, so elated, so focused on pieces of paper. There were bitter tears and prayers from face-down on the floor, lots of zeros written on the checks and moments of panic.

All along the way, though, love was there. Love came in the form of friends and family who prayed for a girl they didn't yet know; love kept a little one with a broken heart alive in an orphanage - one blue-faced day at a time.

Our pastor often says that hurt people hurt people. The opposite is also true - loved people love people.

Today I was reminded yet again of His goodness and kindness towards me. Today I read sweet cards and unwrapped boxes of diapers and gift bags of pink clothes intended for an beloved daughter who was once a sick orphan and I saw a glimpse of who He is and who He is pressing me to become.

Those of us who have been swept up in the all-consuming love of the Most High? We love. We're not always the best at it but the closer we get to Him, the more His love rubs off on us.

We are surrounded by people who know know how to love well.

I want to love better. I want to love even when it's hard - no, especially when it's hard. When it's costly and painful and nothing is certain. When the risk is great and hope lingers just beyond view, that's when it matters most.

Loved people love people.

And Matt and I? Have been greatly loved.