Tending to the Broken Part 2

I was cutting the pizza when the question came from our foster daughter. 

"Nan, are you going to miss me?"

I put the pizza cutter down, got on my knees in front of her, fighting back tears.

"Baby Girl, I am going to miss you more than you can know.  And even though you aren't going to live with us anymore, we will always and forever love you.  Now come here and sit on my lap so I can hold you one more time."

Within an hour, we were going to witness the third miracle of the week.  But unlike the first two (clean mammogram, no septic system replacement required), this one was going to hurt.

I had been asking The Lord to equip me with plastic lips for this miracle.  Plastic lips?  Oh, you know.  The ability to smile when inside your heart is broken.

Technically, that would have been the fourth miracle.  I am just not a plastic lips person!

"They're here!  They're here!" she squealed with complete delight, flinging open the front door to discover that not only were her parents there, but 3 of her brothers and her 2 sisters too.

Miracle Number Three.  Right there in front of us.

They loaded the truck with the boxes I had carefully packed with all of their stuff, put the car seats back in their place, and then came inside so that I could take a picture of them.

They sat on the couch, our foster daughter on her dad's lap, our foster son on his mom's with all the other kiddos crowded around. 

I knelt down in front of the little girl that I had been a mother to for 5 months. 

"Baby Girl, today is a miracle.  You get to go home with your parents--something we didn't think was possible.  But all things are possible with The Lord.  Remember this day, Honey."

Then they were saying their good byes, their parents telling us "thank you" for taking care of their kiddos all these months, and then they were gone.

And I stood there with Grace clinging to my waist as she sobbed, and Isaac doing the same on the other side.  Matt stood a bit away from me, fighting tears and looking shocked.  And I was overwhelmed with the task at hand--tending to the broken hearted.

But this time, the broken were our own three amazing, cherished children.

And I had no idea what to do.  Because I was heart broken myself.

And that's when the leader of our house--my tender husband--did something so perfect it was absolutely breathtaking.  He sat us all down on the couch where moments before a family had been reunited, and he spoke words to us that dried our tears and brought us peace.

We had given our hearts to two little ones who desperately needed a safe place to wait--to wait patiently while The Lord prepared to deliver a miracle.  We taught them about hope.  We taught them about caring for family. We taught them to live life to its fullest even when they feel broken. 

It's impossible to teach such lessons to others without believing in them yourselves.  So I don't think we will be broken for long...I'm smiling this morning, and it's not because God gave me plastic lips.