praise in all things.

We took the boys to one of the most "western" and nice hospitals in our South Asian city to get their one year vaccinations (wow! Can it really be that these little babies are 1?!) It turned out to be much easier than I had planned and the boys were so sweet while we were waiting our turn... They were making friends in the waiting area and we started to talk to some other families. I quickly realized that several families were not there for simple vaccines... two families with precious little ones were there for chemotherapy. Her shaved head told me that this was not her first time through it, and her smile and eyes showed a depth of character and maturity that made her seem way older than 4. Her mom seemed to not be worried and her confidence seemed to give her baby girl strength as well. Another family was from the middle east and did not speak much English or Hindi, and I can only imagine how hard it is to understand what is going on in your 2 year old boys body when you can't communicate well with doctors. In her country, chemo is not available, so they come here to our city every few months to get another round of treatment. Her husband had a big smile as he chased their son who ran around freely shaking people's hands and trying to not get into to much trouble :) She told me that my kids did not look like me because their skin is darker than mine! I tried to explain adoption and I don't know if she understood, but finally she gave me a thumbs up sign, so maybe that meant she approved. I did understand that she is "friends" with America, and when her son walked up to Josiah, the dad explained that he called him "little brother" in his language. She wanted to know what was wrong with my boys, and when I said they were just here for vaccination shots, I felt very humbled to have been blessed with healthy babies. Even though our road to bring the boys home was filled with lots of tears and months of waiting, we stand here together as a whole family praising God for his might work of redemption which can be clearly seen in all of our lives. I want to count the blessings of my life and include the things he not only has blessed us with, but also protected us from... We don't deserve all that He gives us, but too often, we focus on what we want instead of what we already have been given.

I came home thankful for a nice Dr's visit... and even as I found my heart silently weeping for the babies and their mothers who deal with something far more painful than I have journeyed through... And I will praise the Lord for each and every smile from my sweetie little men.