Yes, it's Fankful Friday. I couldn't say Thankful Thursday, because it's Friday...so you get "Fankful Friday," just play along please.
So, my girl Linny, over at A Place Called Simplicity, She has had many friends post on her blog about the lil or big things that they are "FANKFUL" for.
So, here I am.......waiting for my girl Linny to invite my over to her porch for coffee....Ehhhhhh Hemmmmmmm Yawn..... and telling you why I am thankful.
It's so funny how we "plan" our lives.
Here was my plan, just in case you were wondering. I was going to have 4 children. My husband said 2, I said 4, so I figured we would meet in the middle with 3....wink wink!
They would all be blond haired, blue eyed beauties. My daughter would have long hair, a few ringlets of curls on the ends, and eyes so deep they would melt the soul of anyone who gazed into them.
Wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll, let's just say, I'm glad my life isn't MINE! I am glad that there is a greater ONE who decides my steps and my path.
After spending the weekend with some beautiful sisters of mine at a Women of Faith conference, I have come to realize just how precious life is.
This life is so fast paced. Most days I just want to grab all my kids, tell them to get into their coziest pair of jammies, pop popcorn, grab a movie, and then we would all run to my bed to snuggle.
Those.....are the moments I live for.
It's so hard to see that my big kids are growing up. They are taller than me, which most people are, but, they have to lean down now to hug me. They are turning into young men and women, and I have to say that it hurts my heart a lil bit to see them getting bigger and more independent.
I don't think I truly ever valued life until we traveled to China and Vietnam.
I did and still do at times, take many things for granted. So many things just don't matter to me as they used to.
I remember my sister and I discussing the new Mercedes that an Arbonne lady at the convention had received for her hard work.
My sister and I agreed that Mercedes really aren't that grand. Sure they look pretty, drive nice.....hey they may even have the seats that warm your bum with a touch of a button. But, how many orphans could be saved with the money that bought that fancy schmancy car?
How many orphanages could be built in China, Vietnam, Africa with that money?
How many pairs of shoes could be purchased for orphans, such as my daughter, who went barefooted, in countries that aren't as blessed as we are in the good ole US of A?
Yes, Reality sometimes SUCKS! Why talk about sad times and starving children in foreign lands....oh that makes me sad...some may say!
But, truly.....that could be my daughter without shoes, without food, without a home in a far away land.
I will never forget the day we met Faith. She was 5 and in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. They day was so magical. I didn't say easy......it was magical.
I was told of how she took the picture of our family around and showed her friends saying....Their coming for me. My family is coming for me. She slept, for months with our picture under her pillow. She had faith that we were coming.
I'm not sure that I could have had Faith to continue waiting. I'm pretty antsy in case you don't know. Waiting in line at Target nearly kills me every time! Can I get another checker PALEEEEZ???
But, she waited, and waited......over 3 years she lived in that orphanage as other children came and went...and yet, she waited.
And then, God put a seed of hope in a crazy momma's heart half way across the world for this tiny, sickly, but faithful Asian girl.
I remember how I begged God for help, knowing we could not get to her. The finances were not there.......How would we do it.
But, you see, God sends us friends, in times when we need them. And with God's help, this friend taught me to make jellies.
We (God and I.....yes, he let me tag along!) brought our Faith home, one jar at a time!
HE IS SO COOL LIKE THAT!
So, today I am thankful for Faith, for her faith, and for that tiny seed of hope that God planted in this Momma's heart to help her find her way "home!"
Thank you God for showing me that we can save 147 billion orphans.....1 at a time!
Bambi
