God is in the details

For this Memorial Box Monday post, I am almost embarrassed to share this little selfish story of God's abiding care and love, but perhaps someone needs to hear again how even the smallest things matter to our God and even in them he hears and answers prayer.

A couple of weeks ago the littles were playing games - or watching YouTube videos of trains and Caillou, their current obsession - on our iTouch when it got to be bedtime. The next day we looked for the Touch in all the places it is normally left and it was no where to be found. I looked again and again, on and off that whole day and it had just vanished. I wondered if it had accidentally been put in the trashcan. It was that lost.

The following morning, two days after we'd last seen it, I was feeling sick about having lost such an expensive gadget. I felt guilty for not being more mindful of it. I should have taken more care. It had been a gift and I felt like I wouldn't have been quite so cavalier with letting the littles cart it around if it had been my money that bought it.

So at the end of my time with God that morning, I prayed, "God, I know you know where that Touch is, please show me." Then I got up from my chair, took my journal back to it's place on top of the fridge and while thinking about something else (don't know what) for no apparent reason at all I opened the pantry door and looked down. Well, actually God had a reason. There on the floor of the pantry, leaning against a bottle of apple juice, was the Touch.

Our awesome God had immediately led me right to it. I had no reason to be going into the pantry, except as an answer to prayer. Even this little thing, caused by my own negligence, our God cared about. How can we not trust him to care about the big stuff too? All glory to God!

Making progress

We are making progress.  The paper chase is complete.  The homestudy is nearly finished.  Next we submit our application to the USCIS for permission to bring a foreign born child into the United States.  So we are on to the "waiting for permission" portion of the adoption journey.  First permission from our government, then permission from China.

I am starting to think about the process of integrating a new child into our daily life.  We will likely not enroll Faith in school immediately and instead will give her as much time as she needs at home with family to learn English and learn what having parents and siblings is all about.  We are big fans of the Montessori method and have incorporated Montessori philosophy at home.  Plates, bowls and glasses are all on shelves that are accessible to even our smallest family member.  I rarely crack an egg anymore - I have eager helpers who are expert egg crackers.  They also help with lots of other things at home and take pride in their abilities.  It's been a tremendous validation of the Montessori method to see how they thrive when offered the responsibility.   I've been exploring options for Montessori with Faith and ran across a new program for homeschooling with Montessori-based materials:  NAMC Homeschool Program.  It looks fantastic!