My family and I live in Ohio and I must tell you, it has been one long winter. It’s not that we’ve had a lot of snow or cold weather; it just has been a long time since we have had warm weather and seen anything green.
Couple that with the fact that we’ve had to stay pretty
close to home as we’ve walked through the adjustment time with our son which we
just adopted last November. Spring
could not get here soon enough.
The area of China which I work in, and where my son is from,
is very tropical. It sits along the
South China Sea and the city is outlined with lots of parks and bay areas, as
well as palm trees everywhere.
Unfortunately the kids at the orphanage are not able to
enjoy any of this beauty as they live within the city and never go beyond the
orphanage gates. The walls and floors of
the orphanage are made of concrete and the grounds that surround it are cement. The shade of a single tree and a small area of
potted flowers are the only signs of Mother Nature that my son had ever been
exposed to.
The day we picked him up from the orphanage, as we drove
back to the hotel, his face and hands were pressed to the glass of the window
as we drove through the city. He was
totally mesmerized by all the sites.
When we got to the hotel he would run his hands along the
walls, the carpet, the bedding—anything and everything, he would touch. He would smell everything. He would even taste everything. He used every sense he had to experience this
new world that was opening up before his very eyes.
As he has gotten use to his new world, I see less and less
of this as he finally is adjusting to life outside the orphanage gates. That was until our Ohio weather crossed over
into a new season—spring.
With the warm weather he is now able to go outside. I literally sit for hours just watching him. While the other kids are busy playing on the
swing set or playing tag, Abraham is busy taking in every tiny piece of God’s
beautiful creation. I watch him sit in
the grass as he caresses it. Back and forth his hands go over the blades
as if he can’t get enough of them.
He picks every type of flower that has begun to spring
up. I have a counter now full of flowers
which he has picked for me. Bringing
each one, along with a clump of dirt, to show me the beauty
he has just
discovered. He brought one to me the
other day and said, “Mom. Beautiful
flower just like you.” (sniff, sniff)
His little nose is always yellow because he loves to sniff
the dandelions. Dandelions—the weeds
which I have always loathed and tried to make nonexistent in my lawn, are now
suddenly a thing of beauty as I look at them through his eyes and not mine.
He excitedly points out the green leaves that are starting
to appear on our trees and the bushes. The fields full of clover and daffodils. Now when we ride in the car I see his little face and hands pressed up against the window looking out--just like the first day we brought him out of the orphanage. The colors and beauty are everywhere and he is
soaking in every single bit of it.
When he walks out the front door he will point up to the sky
amazed by the clouds. And the stars…oh
how he loves the moon and the stars. Now
that it is warm out he will go out on the front porch. He’ll sit down and look up at the moon and
stars, just starring at them and talking nonstop about their brightness and the
vast number of them.
And the birds….have you ever stopped to just look up and
watch the birds? I have to be honest
with you; I haven’t—not for a very long time anyway—not since I was a little
girl. A couple days ago I laid down
beside Abraham in the grass for what seemed like hours just watching the clouds
drift by and the birds flying above us. He would
ask me what each type the birds were. I
wasn’t a whole lot of help since I didn’t pay much attention during my high
school science class.
But I did use that time to tell Abraham the story in the
Bible where Jesus reminds us of how the Father takes care to feed the birds of
the air; and how much more He loves Abraham and has taken care of him—even when
he was at the orphanage waiting for his family.
His response, “I know mom, Jesus love me.” Sigh……
A few days ago the kids and I were walking into the store
when Abraham stopped dead in his tracks as he pointed above the store yelling, “Mom. Mom.
Look! Look at the bird.” We all stopped and looked up and there we saw
a mama bird building her nest inside the letters of the store’s sign. So we all stood there watching this robin as
she took the pieces of grass and tucked them into the nest she was working
on. I shared with the kids how she was
getting ready to lay some eggs in the nest and would have some baby birds to
take care of very soon. We stood there for
quite a while just watching this mama bird build her nest.
Before I realized it there were several other people
standing around us looking up as well.
And there we all were watching and enjoying God’s smallest of creation
on a beautiful, warm spring day. This elderly woman who was standing beside me said, "We've got to remember to always look up or we will forget to apprecaite all that God has made for us."
The little boy who was once an orphan on the other side of
the world has taught this woman so many lessons since he entered my life. The most recent one is to stop. Look up.
And remember to thank God for all of the beautiful things He has created
and blessed us with.
Abraham always prays out loud before each of his meals. They are simple. But they are oh so very precious. "Thank you Jesus for my food and for my
family." Now he says, “Thank you Jesus
for my food, for my family and for the flowers and birds.”
Yes, thank you Jesus indeed.
In His Service,
Vickie
In His Service,
Vickie
