The 'rents

I had a mom once. She was wonderful, beautiful, talented, sweet, generous, and fun. She was awfully crafty and artsy too. She made holidays so special and magical, like Halloween birthday parties where her and her theatre friends would dress up and create a haunted closet for us kids, with peeled grapes for eyeballs, and cooked spaghetti for brains. Or Easter eggs decorated like every guest in the house, based on their profession....not to mention the flour sifted onto the floor in front of the front door so I could 'catch' the Easter bunny. So many, many, fond memories of my "muddo" as I used to call her.

She's in heaven now, and it's funny how God takes care of me in the midst of tragedy. He gave me a new mother, and although she could never replace the spot in my heart where my muddo lives, she lives right next door. She has taken me in as her own daughter, and shown me that you can love a kid no matter where they came from :).   I'm reminded of this as I look at the picture of my parents from our last trip home. And also as we near the finalization of our impending adoption. I don't think I would have ever went down the road to adoption if I didn't feel in my heart that kids without one or both parents need SOMEONE to love them...the way that I am loved. It makes such a difference...such a huge difference. So thank you, 'new mother', for inspiring me to reach out to an orphan and change their life the way you have changed mine.

Dad's pretty great too...have I mentioned that he's my superhero? He can do anything...I mean ANYTHING. He can build a farm from scratch, stand up a sawmill, build a log house with his own hands, fix anything, build anything, and he can draw, and play, and be hilariously funny and sensitive. He taught me how to draw a star and a pig, how to shoot straw wrappers (which I just taught to a kid at a restaurant the other day, and the kid now has a new skill for life!), how to drive a stick shift, how to skip, how to honk the horn in a semi truck, and how to plant and harvest wheat, and a thousand other things. He's pretty amazing.

So here's to appreciating your parents. I really appreciate mine :)