random thoughts from my songbird

i have so many random thoughts-most of them

stem from my conversations with my songbird, olivia.

she may be small...but she has mighty inside of her.

the thoughts and questions she thinks of...

here are this week's conversations in a nutshell.

about her brother jack...mommy, i miss jack.

hmmm. what made you think about jack?

mommy, i think about him all the time.

wow.  this one stopped me in my tracks.

if you don't know our story, we lost jack when he was full term.

there was a tear in his umbilical chord.

olivia misses having a big brother...

**we will always miss him too olivia.

she is very excited about her new baby brother..

which brings up a whole new realm of ponderings.

thoughts about will...mommy, it's too bad will didn't come out of your belly.

really liv?  why is that?  

well, it means he isn't a part of our family.  

he is a part of deborah's family.  but not really ours. 

{deborah is our amazing birth mom}

 what makes you think he isn't a part of ours?  

well, in our family, everyone has blue eyes.  will has brown eyes.

{this topic came up a few weeks ago, and i thought it was resolved...but, apparently it wasn't.} (:

okay, so what makes a family?  

a family is when everyone has the same of something.

so, i brought up one of her friends and said, i am so glad to know that.  

i guess your friend is really my other daughter because she has blue eyes like us!!  

no mommy, wait...she has a mommy.  she isn't your daughter.

well, i thought that you said...

and our conversation kept going.

where we ended was a very different place then where we started.

i'm grateful that she is open with me about her big thoughts, her doubts, her concerns.

i'm equally grateful that God reminds me to slow down and listen to her...really listen.  and to ask her questions-questions that help me understand where she is coming from and where she may be going...

we landed in the place that our family may look different than other families...but, it doesn't change the fact that we are family.  that will is our son and he is olivia's brother.  

that that little boy has forever changed our lives for the better.

and, that we collectively couldn't imagine our lives without our little man.

he has definitely won our hearts OVER. 

lastly, thoughts about a friend that lied to her.

mommy, i just wish she would have told me

that she was a friend that would lie to me right 

when we decided to become friends.

then i would be ready to feel this way.

oh, olivia...what a great thought.

i wish we all came with tags saying how broken we are...

mine would say,

i may not be able to call you back when you would like me to

or

i'm someone who thinks about your acts of kindness all the time, but i just get hung up on how to put my gratitude into words on paper for a thank you note...

or

how about this, i will, more than likely forget about a coffee date,

disappoint by not following through on something...i'm just another broken friend.

but, i'm a good friend.  one that is loyal and loves to see you succeed as a woman in this great big hodgepodge world of ours. (:  

releasing others from our high expectations is such a gift of grace.

i long to be a woman of grace...to offer it freely.

my prayer is for my little ones to see this in my life and 

to experience the power of grace so that they may offer to others as well.


i guess to sum up my thoughts on her thoughts...her thoughts slow me down.
they create a pause button-they make me take the time to really think through my everyday and 
understand what my purpose truly is.

it is to love God and to love people.
double-love command