Contentment

Brent preached in "big church" today. As far as I know, children and children's ministry workers everywhere call the main worship "big church". Once a quarter we have an Activate service in which kids and adults worship together. I sat in the second row with all 5 of our kids. I really didn't think we'd make it past the music. Jack doesn't want to leave us to go to preschool (I wouldn't make him until he's ready anyway), and it's a bit difficult to have him sit and be quiet anywhere. Understandably, he doesn't know he's supposed to sit still and be quiet and he doesn't understand English. I was pleasantly surprised that he sat through the whole service with only 2 "wu niao" (potty) breaks.
 Anyway, Brent talked about contentment, being satisfied with what you have. It made me think of Jack when we first got him. (It's been a month now can you believe it?!) He was so scared and felt so out of place, he clung to his few wordly possessions. His sippy cup, a 5 yaun note, a water bottle and a can of milk. He wouldn't let them out of his site, or even out of his hands. He needed to feel like something was normal and in his control. He fell asleep the first night clutching them, and for the next few days he had to bring them everywhere with him. Slowly when he got to know us and he warmed up to us, he let Brent carry a few of the items. Then he let me carry them the next day. And then one by one, it was ok to leave them in the room when we went out and then he no longer kept tabs on them and we packed them in our suitcase and he didn't need to know where they were anymore. He had us- well at that point he had Brent, he really liked Brent and didn't have much use for me. It was momentous for me to watch him slowly let go of the things and embrace us instead.

 It's a beautiful picture of our walk with God isn't it?

A month later, Jack still does like to carry stuff around. We gave him a backpack and he totes his special treasures around. But he is quick to put his stuff down and run and climb in our laps when he sees that one of our laps are empty- Lucy doesn't like that much, he literally will sit in ANY of our laps and he's roughly the same size as her. :-)

    Oh how we love Jack. How I thank God with all our boys in Heaven, He has given me a boy to love and cuddle on my lap. How I love our 4 girls. I can never forget where we came from. All those years of  tears, loss and no children to now. God has given us FIVE children here on earth to raise. Still trying to get used to that number. I was was thinking maybe 6 kids is when you get the status of BIG family, but after a few trips to the store with kids hanging out of my cart in all directions and the stares, we may have crossed that line...

 God is good all the time.

And we are so content.

Gallo

Jack still jabbers in Chinese. The only thing he can say in English is "bye bye". His greeting is passable, he says "Gallo!" He's doing well, loves teasing his sisters and he has a great smile for the camera now.