Behind the Scenes

It is so easy to get caught up in the crises that DO come our way that I have often thought that when I get to Heaven, I want to ask God to show me all of the things that DIDN'T come my way. I want to see the heartbreak He prevented by keeping away those who would hurt me, the mistakes He kept me from making by leading me down a different path, and the high heels He kept out of the cuffs of my dress pants (if you have ever worn such a combo, you know that it's deadly...) so that I did not trip... Okay, so I might have to ask Him why He didn't do a bit more of that last one. ;) Having a child has given me a firsthand view of that provision in two ways.

First, I get to see the ways that I keep my little redhead safe. When he plays, I move things out of the way so that he does not fall. I try to anticipate his needs by bringing his hat to keep the sun out of his eyes, even though he insists that he does not want it at that time. I try to convince him that he really does not want to pour all of the sand out of his sandbox because then he will not have anymore to play with. I am constantly aware of his needs and what I can do to meet them, which can only be a tiny fraction of how the Lord watches over us, keeping us safe and meeting our needs before we even know we need them.

Second, I see the ways that God has meets my son's needs even before he knows how to ask. For example, last week my husband was approached at work by our son's former foster care consultant, G. G said that his former foster mother would like to give us a picture of our son and their son, whom he referred to as his "baby." Of course he said yes, but did not mention it to our son.

Let me pause and fill you in. Some key things you need to know here are:
1. Our son has never mentioned his former foster brother.
2. He has never asked us to get anything from his "other house."

Moving on... That night, as my husband was putting our little guy to bed, he stated that he missed his "baby," and that he does not have a picture of him to show us. He then asked his daddy if he could get him a picture of his "baby."

That gives me chills...just to think that God takes care of us down to such tiny details as a photograph. But it doesn't end there. I toured about seven preschools months ago before our child ever even knew we existed. We picked one, feeling like it would best meet his needs. A few days ago we met his (new!) teacher who shared that she grew up in the foster care system and is very excited to meet our little guy! What are the odds?! Pretty good when God is involved....

Before I close, I want to share one more little story, just for fun. We took our guy to Pei Wei for his first Chinese food experience on Sunday. When he opened up his fortune cookie it read, "An unexpected relationship will become permanent." Yes, Lord! Amen to that!