A heart full to bursting

My heart is full tonight.

Full of thankfulness, as the Lord has shown His faithfulness so clearly to our family, especially as we celebrated Clara Anne's baptism last Saturday evening.

Full of nostalgic reminiscing over the memories that were made with my friend Rachel and her family, living here in our city for four years--each of us calling this place home--and now she is on a yearlong sojourn to the States. They left on Monday morning, and took part of my heart with them.

And full of praise, for only the Lord could have orchestrated both of the above circumstances. Saturday night was a time that John and I have been praying for literally since before Clara Anne was born. As parents, seeing your child fully embrace the gospel and cling to Jesus is a miracle that only He can accomplish. How wonderful to see Him accomplish this miracle in Clara Anne! We have such hopes for her life, and every confidence that the Lord will complete the work he has started in her. As well, five years ago I had begun to pray for a friend, a close friend, someone to share life with in a spiritually intimate way, and through some amazing and unexpected circumstances, the Lord brought Josh and Rachel to live in our city. It almost seemed too perfect. How thankful I am for His leading, and for her friendship! We have shared much over these four years--everything from pregnancy and motherhood, life in this crazy country, recipes, education options for our children, homemaking skills, celebrating American holidays, praying for each other, phone conversations that end abruptly because children suddenly need mommy's attention. . . you name it, it seems like we've been through it together!

So though I am planning some posts to share more about each of these momentous events, tonight I just wanted to share a tiny bit of what my heart has been pondering. I feel like I'm still recovering a bit from the amazing events of the weekend and their implications. To add to the drama, we've had some tummy troubles in our house this week so the washing machine has been working full-time! And I've been trying to continue home schooling as usual. But sometime soon I hope to get lots of pictures uploaded and ready to share.

Because a heart full to bursting has to be shared!