New Growth and God's Faithfulness

<sup>Well I begin today with a word of praise!  
Mr. Lucas was awesome yesterday and VERY busy... He played in mud--without getting dirty mind you.  Washed the back deck steps with a hose--without getting very wet.  Changed his clothes when they did get a tad dirty.  Pounded nails for about 2 hours +.  Played at the playground.  Rode his new bike. 


Then he ate more eggs for dinner. Had a bath and was unconcious by 7 p.m. and didn't wake up again until 6 a.m. 


YEAH GOD!!!!


We all slept last night!
I woke thinking about how God's Mercies are new every morning!
So I looked up the passages that relate to this and found this:</sup>

^{Lam. 3:22-26}

²² Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
   for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
   therefore I will wait for him.”

 ²⁵ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
   to the one who seeks him;
²⁶ it is good to wait quietly
   for the salvation of the LORD. 

And as God would do, He had me notice something else this morning.  But, it requires a little explanation.

Back in 2003 when Jacob was still around, we went to some beautiful gardens in Milwaukee, WI called the Domes.  He and Isaac both picked out some small Aloe Vera plants to bring home.  Both boys kept them in their rooms.  Isaac's poor plant got knocked off his loft bed a few times by the cat and did not survive.  But, after Jacob died, we closed the room to his door and didn't really pay attention to his plant for several weeks.  One day I went into his room and found his plant.....flourishing...I had completely ignored it, but as God would do he allowed for new growth.  That plant grew and grew over the next 5 years to be a monstrosity while we were in Wisconsin.  It grew so much that it shot off "babies" that I gave away over the years.  Here is a picture of it before we left Wisconsin to move to Georgia in 2009:

I don't know why, but this sweet plant represented such healing and hope and growth.  It was a sweet reminder of Hope.

today the same plant

Then when we moved in 2009 this plant was traumatized by a near car crash.  We are so grateful that those involved with bringing it here are safe.  But, the plant was damaged.  And I thought it would be a great idea to put it outside in the Georgia sun and give it a good dose of sunlight.  Wrong!  And it got completely drenched in a rainstorm on top of it.  All of these things took their tole on this plant and in the past several months and 2 years, it slowly began to fade to near death.  But, for some reason even though all looks pathetic and without hope, I left this ugly plant sitting in my dining room.  I just could not throw it away. Isn't that pathetic?  I was going to just throw it away before we left for our trip to China but never quite got around to making it a priority.  I thought "I just need to let go".  

TODAY

I went to just look

Today, the day God laid on my heart "My mercies are New Every morning"...I went to just look at this plant

And this is what I saw:

I'm not sure if it shows up very well, but way at the base of the weak and dried up leaves, to the left, can you see the tiny little buds of new leaves????

THAT'S NEW GROWTH!

I will have to gently remove some of the old leaves over time, but God has shown himself faithful even in this little way.  He is allowing for tender new shoots of growth once again. 

Maybe this is a good time to also share some tender and sweet parallels in our life.  

Jacob's last birthday with us was his 6th birthday on January 23, 2004.

Lucas was born on January 26, 2004.  We did not know this when we first looked at his file - we were not searching for a replacement of our sweet boy--in fact this is part of the reason we decided on China when we went to adoption.  We thought we were "safe"...a girl cuz that's what China primarly adopted out at that point, black hair, brown eyes, all of it--as far away from a Jacob parallel as possible.  But, Jacob was the one who had said we should adopt--just months before he died.  I asked a boy or a girl?  he said a boy... As we began the process I could not imagine that.  So we "tried" for 5 years to get that girl....ummmm Lucas is a boy!

Here are a few other "things"

Jacob was a Helper

Lucas is a Helper

Jacob LOVED to eat

Need I say...Lucas eats

Jacob loved to vacuum

The first day Lucas was home he vacuumed my living room without being asked

Jacob was very strong willed

Lucas...yep

Jacob was stubborn

Lucas...stubborn at times

Jacob loved to "give"

Lucas hands out food and gifts to friends and family without question

I'm not trying to say they are the same person, nor am I saying Lucas replaces Jacob.  This is very hard to explain and understand.  I cannot begin to explain how God weaves families together nor why the timing, nor why the personalities.  But, I DO know that He is Merciful and Faithful...

^{Lam. 3:22-26}

²² Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
   for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
   therefore I will wait for him.”

 ²⁵ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
   to the one who seeks him;
²⁶ it is good to wait quietly
   for the salvation of the LORD. 

and after I looked up this reference I realized we sang Great is Your Faithfulness at Jacob's Funeral.  It's all a little too much for me to fully comprehend really.  So be patient with me as I walk this journey.  And try to just live and accept God's Faithfulness with me:

Living in God's Faithfulness and Mercies,

Heidi