5 Months ago today we were walking out the door of the orphanage where Nic had spent his first year of life. We carried him out of the only building, the only room for that matter, that he had ever seen. He was seeing the outside world for the very first time.
I have tried to be sensitive to all the new sights and sounds that he is exposed to at once, but he has quietly enjoyed taking them all in with no objections or anxiety.
I will never forget his first time at the park looking back and forth at it all, tilting his head all the way back to see the tall trees and waving his hands and feet to feel the grass, or the way he calmly looked all around at his first track meet at the crowds with their loud cheers and the busyness of the action on the field.
He went in the pool for the first time yesterday. He wasn't so sure about it but he was calm as always.
It seems like everyday he experiences something new.
As he smiles back at friends and strangers who wave and talk to him when we are out and about I can't help but think about that baby who had never even had a visitor for his first year of life, the baby who spent his days laying in a crib, bobbing his head back and forth for any type of stimulation. The baby that had no idea he had a family that loved him and was frantically trying to get to him.
I really don't know how to describe in words the feelings of my heart when I see the love and joy surrounding Nic now through people and experiences.
But through God's love, provision and providence we have been able to see a vivid picture of love and redemption. It is not because we are a special family or extraordinary in any way but simply a family who can only love because HE, Christ, first loved us and our love pales in comparison to His. (1 John 4:9)
Charles Spurgeon wrote in a commentary on this verse, "The distinguishing mark of a Christian is his confidence in Christ's love for him and in the offering of his love to Christ."
Then describing the early believers he wrote,
"Love for Jesus was a flame that fed upon the core and heart of their being and therefore by its own force burned its way into their demeanor and shone there...
Because of their dependence upon Christ's love they dared much, and because of their love for Christ they did much, and it is the same now." (Evening by Evening, Charles Spurgeon)
I pray that out of zeal and love for Christ our family will depend on Him and dare much so that we may do much in our short time on this earth and by doing so we will continue to see these example of God's love, faithfulness and redemption.
Thank you for following our journey and if you are looking for the courage to step out in faith and adopt or to follow wherever the Lord might be leading, you don't have to take my word on God's faithfulness, simply open up HIS word :0)
--Kelsi
Full Quote From Spurgeon's "Evening by Evening"
"The love that they felt toward the Lord was not a quiet emotion that they hid within themselves in the secret place of their souls and that they spoke about in private or when they met on the first day of the week and sang hymns in honor of the Christ Jesus crucified; it was a passion with them of such vehement and all consuming energy that it was visible in all their actions, evident in their conversation, and seen in their eyes, even in their casual glances.
Love for Jesus was a flame that fed upon the core and heart of their being and therefore by its own force burned its way into their demeanor and shone there. Zeal for the glory of King Jesus was the seal and mark of genuine Christians.
Because of their dependence upon Christ's love they dared much, and because of their love for Christ they did much, and it is the same now"
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