I have not blogged since returning from Zambia. I’ll be honest, coming home was amazing, but the past few months have not been easy as we have adjusted to life with 2 toddlers and a huge gamut of issues that accompany adoption.
But, my heart tonight is reflecting not on all the hardships, but on the joys. Jeremiah turned 3 yesterday! Yes, 3 years old…I can’t believe it! We had a wonderful day at the aquarium and then we had some friends over for dinner and enjoyed a Cars cake that everyone (especially Jack & Jackson!) couldn’t wait to dig in to?
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My sweet baby boy (I know, you would yell and say, I’m not a baby, but you will always be my baby),
It is such a joy to be your Mommy. I love that I have the privilege of watching you grow and that I get to know more of your little intricacies than anyone else in the world (one day I’ll have to hand that role off to your wife, but I can’t think about that right now!). You are so smart (many times I worry about the day when you will completely outwit me) and inquisitive. Sometimes your questions get tiring (like when you want to know the names of everyone in the pictures of the book, including their last names), but please keep asking! You are so loving (maybe sometimes overly so when you smother your sister in hugs), but I love that you cherish cuddle time as much as I do.
Buddy, I love you and I can’t believe you are growing up so fast…you’re in preschool already! Anyway, things are kind of crazy right now as we get used to having Charis in our family, but I wanted you to know that I love you even more now than the day that I brought you home from the hospital 3 years ago.
Love,
Mommy

“What’s that?” Honestly, I couldn’t even believe the question Jeremiah was asking. How could he not know what that is?!? He had just walked into Kim and my bedroom and picked up a pacifier we had sitting there! And he asked, “What is this?”

How could you not know what a pacifier is? Dude, you wouldn’t go to bed for the first couple of years of your life without one! You would start to calm down, be ready to fall asleep, then come to full alert, “Where is my ‘afier go?” You would put it in your mouth and then immediately be out. It’s only been a couple of months ago since you reluctantly (read: unwillingly/unvoluntarily) gave it up. And now you don’t even know what it is? You crack me up kid! I love you little mister!

Thank you all for being so excited with us as we (what seems like slowly) approach being able to travel to Zambia.  We are so glad that God has completely blown up the plan that we had all along and has revealed His own plans for the Larkin family to travel with us.  Since Jeremiah will now be going with us, I decided it would be best to start mentally preparing him for this change of plans, but I had no idea that the conversation below would be such an amazing blessing!

Here is a little glimpse into J’s heart…

Me:  Jeremiah, I have to make a call to Zambia, where baby sister is.

Jeremiah (a few minutes later):  I love Zambia (said Mwania).  I walk to Zambia.

M:  Well, its far, far away across the ocean.

J:  I take a boat?

M:  Well, we’re going to take an airplane on a long, long ride to get there.  Do you want to go to Zambia with Mommy and Daddy to get baby sister when we go?

J: (Thinking, puzzled) But I go to Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop’s house.

M:  Well, what if Mom-Mom came with us?

J:  (excited) Oh, our whole family together!  I give baby sister big hug and Mommy and Daddy and me together with baby sister!

(tears from Mommy and lots of hugs…HE GETS IT!)

We can’t wait to have our whole family together.  Thank you for your prayers as we wait for that day!

As we approach the reality of actually bringing our child home, we decided it might be time to take the conversation about adoption with Jeremiah to a new level beyond just praying for “baby sister in Zambia,” which is a pretty abstract concept for a 2-year-old.

So, these are a few of Jeremiah’s new thoughts about the adoption…

• “I stay with Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop AND Nan and Pap” (while Mommy and Daddy go to Zambia)
• Are you going to miss Mommy and Daddy?  “Uh huh.  I play toys with Mom-Mom.”
• What are you going to do with baby sister?  “Sit on the couch and watch TV and drink milk.  She drinks different milk.  And I drink my milk.  And my milk is warmed up. “  Can we warm up baby sister’s milk?  “No.”
• What else are you going to do with baby sister?  “Play toys.”
• Where should baby sister sleep?  “in my room.”  But what if she wakes you up?  “That’s ok”
• “I wuv baby sister.”

Larry and Jeanne came over for dinner the other night. Big J proceeded to put on a show. Enjoy.

A couple of nights ago, in a time of family worship, Kim, Big J and I were singing “Jesus loves the little children.”

Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
All are precious in His sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Many of us learned this simple song when we were kids and we are enjoying teaching Jeremiah those same songs we learned as kids. But as we were sitting there singing, that picture of God’s family really struck me. Revelation 5:9 declares that God is making a people for himself from every people, tribe, tongue and nation. All children – red, yellow, black and white – are all precious in God’s sight.

Such a simple song. Such profound implications. I don’t really have a deep point except to say this. People often ask us why we are adopting internationally. This song is the answer.

A few months ago, as we were announcing our plans of adopting from Zambia, Scott, the student pastor at Covenant Life, made the comment that one day we will have a black kid. Certainly, I knew that, but his comment really struck a new chord in me. That black kid is part of our family. We want our family to look like God’s family with red, yellow, black and white being precious in our sight because they are precious in God’s.