In the Meantime...

In the past few weeks, while my heart and body have been recovering from the loss of our fourth child, life has gone on. And that's a good thing. I have many wonderful reasons to get up in the morning, and here are three of them:

I think this whole experience has given me a deeper love and more tender feelings for my three precious daughters. More patient to bear with their foibles, more loving towards their needs, more kind to listen to their stories, and more intentional to teach them and train them rightly. I am so blessed to have Clara Anne Danielle, Chloe Rachelle, and Christin Arielle in my life. What a gift from God!

So as life has been going on, our time together as a family has been that much sweeter. Here's a few funny pictures to share. In this one, the girls had just gotten new jammies, thanks to a package from our sweet friends Karl and Chris. Yes, Chloe is wearing a bubble wrap bonnet! Clara Anne thought she'd try the layered look--the green jammy shirt goes with another pair of shorts with the design that Chloe's wearing (now affectionately known as the "cars" jammies), and then the "ice cream" jammies are on top. Blue is Clara Anne's favorite color! She loves these jammies!

Not content to pull silly faces, Chloe thought she'd WEAR a silly face. We picked this up at Toys'RUs in Hong Kong and John wears it on family game nights. It's guaranteed to get a laugh!

And here's those jammies doing what they were intended for . . . keeping little girls warm and snuggly, even after they're officially supposed to be up in the morning. A few extra minutes snuggling in Daddy's arms made for some more silly faces!

And finally, here's a picture from the other day. Clara Anne was having her rest time on the couch, curled up with . . . hmmm, is that Shakespeare? Yes, indeed it is! It's a cartoon-style book that has a brief synopsis of many of Shakespeare's stories. Looks like it put her right to sleep!

So, in the meantime, life has gone on. The Lord is still faithful, my days are still full, and I've been given a sense of renewed thankfulness for all that I've been blessed with. I'm especially thankful for your prayers. I know that many of you have lifted us up faithfully; thank you for that. We really do appreciate it, and I feel like my heart has healed so well as a result. Psalm 34 has been a real encouragement this week. . . it's worth some dedicated time of meditation! Here's a snippet:

"I will bless the Lord at all times;

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul will make its boast in the Lord,

The humble will hear it and rejoice.

O magnify the Lord with me,

And let us exalt His name together."

Psalm 34:1-3