Little Fingers, Little Toes

      Some days I get a glimpse of how much I have.  How much we have.  We have a "we."  What a blessing.  We have our girls, and they are healthy.  What a blessing.  And that is all so much more than so many people, and sometimes it feels like too much.  Sometimes I honestly wonder if it is all not a big set up for when the rug will be pulled out from under me during some tragedy I can't yet visualize or even hope to comprehend.  And, I am back to reminding myself that God is good.  All the time.  His thoughts and ways are beyond mine, and for now, I get to enjoy some enormously precious blessings that I want to thank Him for.
      Some times my heart is moved in different ways.  Yesterday, I was reading this post on a blog that I love, and I found myself in tears.  Now that I have children of my own, I can almost not bear to think about all those children that do not have basic necessities in life.  And the reality is that it is much easier to not think about it, and where I live affords me this.  But, that is not what God has called us to.  Read this post if you need a little reminding and convicting about the way you live - I found myself ashamed of my own frivolity.  Which is not all bad, but I want to put God's heart above it all.  No pressure or anything.  In the fall, we are having a Rwandan college student move in with us for the year, because we want to share what we have been given, and we want our girls to see at least glimpses into another world.  I am excited about it.
      As I was blog hopping a bit yesterday, I stumbled across this amazing blog that I will now start always reading, and I found myself in tears again.  (I normally do not cry this much.)  Her story of courageously bearing a life she knew would not last past birth reminded me that God sometimes asks much more of us than we think we are capable of giving, and that He is always good, even in the very hard things.  Right now, my life is not extraordinarily hard.  It is normal difficult, with day in and out frustrations and challenges, but I hope that He is preparing my heart that if a time like that comes to us, I will glorify Him all the more.
      But yesterday, I got to rejoice in the little things.  My girls have all of their little fingers and toes, and I painted Lily's nails for the first time yesterday, which she was delighted by.  (Which was great, since it is harder to delight her some of these days.  Whining reigns supreme . . . )  We started with the toe nails.  Sparkly light pink is so becoming.



Then moved on to the finger nails.



And this is her shaking her limbs to dry everything.



And I told her we were going to take pictures of it, and she wanted Bella to come sit next to her.




I decided to Embrace the Camera and get into a few shots, and Lily kept cooperating.  For the moment.




Glad I have some of these moments, because you never know when this moment will reappear.  Again.