More Than You Can Handle

The Father recently afforded us the chance to be a teeny, tiny part of a big, beautiful, difficult moment in the lives of the sweetest little family. Unable as of yet to have biological children, this couple had been in the process of international adoption when they unexpectedly received a life-changing call. A precious little boy, born the previous day, had no home to go to. These amazing young people immediately flew to Houston from Atlanta--nervous, terrified, excited, but willing to embrace this gift and love with all of their hearts. It just so happens that this new young mom is someone recently brought into Kyra's life through her travels. Who could have imagined that we would be able to take part in this, all because of a move to Houston and a trip to Rwanda?  Although our part was small, it was a blessing to be able to help a bit, to give encouragement and hugs, to see and hear of all the love our God was pouring out into the life of this little boy, born alone with down syndrome and no mommy to hold him.

As I sat talking to this woman, who was suddenly and unexpectedly a mother, I saw fear, exhaustion, worry, and stress, right along with the love. I was suddenly overwhelmed with a realization as I found myself almost spouting off a little Christianese and saying something like, "You can do this. God doesn't give us more than we can handle."  Struck by the realization that sometimes, perhaps even all of the time, God does exactly that--He gives us more than we can handle.  It's called life. Life is more than we can handle.  All of these trite sayings that we like to spout off, you know the ones..."Let go and let God." "The Lord works in mysterious ways." "Everything happens for a reason." All of these are to me, quite honestly, neither helpful nor true.

This is what I know to be true. Life is hard, even the beautiful things can be full of adversity and trials. God isn't the author of the ugliness, the grief and heartbreak, the bad things that devastate this world. Being human and a citizen of earth means that we'll experience these things. The amazing truth of the Father is His faithfulness during it all...the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Perhaps a better way to respond to the difficulties in life is to acknowledge the hurt, the fear, the grief, the worry and then remember this...
 

Books for the Little Bitty Ones

 


While out shopping for a baby gift this weekend, the girls and I happened upon the stinkin' cutest baby board books ever.  Seriously.  If you need a baby shower gift, or if you have little munchkins of your own, these are a must have! A series of classics made into darling board books, these are filled with wonderful illustrations inspired by the original stories. Stinkin'. Cute.
Check out the website here, but be forewarned...you'll want to buy one of everything.

I want to buy all of them and keep them, but am having trouble justifying that expense since my kids are 15, 18, and 20.  Hey, wait just a minute--someday, in what better be the VERY distant future, I'll have grandkids! I'm off to Barnes and Noble...