Today is the first day of February, 2011. Where did January go? Sounds like the musings of an old woman doesn't it? Well, if the shoe fits, etc. No kidding, when I turned my calendar over to the new month I had to think to myself that only a few days ago I was stressing over Christmas and all of the activities that surround the holidays. Now, we are a whole month into the new year and I can't, for the life of me, find anything that I have accomplished that is worthy. I have excused my inactivity by saying "snow just confines me to my home", or "it is just too cold for me to be outside". Those reasons, while they may contain some validation, are not good enough to excuse plain old laziness. So, with that thought in mind I intend to "pick myself up, dust myself off, and get back in the race", as the song says.
I had the most delightful outing Sunday night. Nicholas Maddux, who is Drew and Tara's son that they adopted from Uganda, had his third birthday. His mom's family and his dad's family all arrived for a lovely dinner prepared by Tara and Nita. After the meal Nicholas was seated at the head of the table in his booster chair and a decorated cake was placed before him. His big brown eyes took in every facet of that cake - especially the three candles, the Dora the Explorer and other little figurines. He did not touch the cake - just looked and smiled. After much coaching from the family he managed to extinguish the three candles and put his finger into the sweet, colorful icing. I fed him some cake and ice cream and he loved every bite. I thought, as he was eating and playing with the little Dora, he has the most wonderful future ahead of him because of the love and concern that Tara and Drew have for him and his brother, Patrick. He opened all of his gifts, hugging each one to his body and smiling broadly. He spoke a quiet "thank you" to each person as he opened their gift and when he was presented with a bright red motorcycle with a light and key and noise he was overjoyed and he rode all over the house many times. It was my first time to spend any time with these children other than the Christmas Party where the entire family was present so I truly relished this evening with the boys. When Drew and Tara announced that they were going to adopt these two children from an orphanage in Uganda I was puzzled as to why they would do that, given the fact that they already have three lovely girls. After seeing the amazing job that they have done with these two children that came to another country, a big family, new foods to taste, new clothes to wear, new beds for sleeping, a schedule to live with, and consistent discipline in order to be able to fit into the schedules of the rest of the family I am so proud of my grandchildren and the love and compassion that they have shown to two orphans who would have never had any of the advantages that lie ahead for these boys. I really do glory in their spunk. I would never have been able to handle such a monumental task. They, on the other hand, would just smile and say that they are simply following the Lord's example of love and they know that He will help them as they go through the days, weeks, months, and years of rearing these children in the love and admonition of the Lord. They have no fear. They have no uncertainty that God will provide what they need because they truly believe that God is good - all the time.
These two new great-grandchildren give me a total of 15 and when Patrick and Mikka marry in March, bringing Josea into my life as a great-granddaughter, I will have 16. Last night as I thought about this and thought about Billy I just had to smile and wonder what he would say about all of these people that are his offspring. I remember when he said that he called each child and their spouse and each grandchild by name when he prayed. He would have a long prayer time these days wouldn't he? I'm sure that he would have not minded and would have loved every child that those names represent. It is sad that he didn't live to experience the wonder and delight of all of the great-grandchildren because that is just what they are - Wonder and Delight with a lot of noise and chaos thrown in for good measure.
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