other people's children

the last few weeks i have been thinking about my heart for other people's children. one of the first precious ones that comes to mind is averi matthews. i had the great joy of watching averi one day a week for almost her first year of life. moments holding her, feeding her and playing with her i will never forget. averi gave me a small glimpse of what being a mother will look and feel like and her sweet spirit captured my heart. when we left denver one of the hardest good-byes for me was saying goodbye to averi.

the hommes children also come to mind as i think about kids i simply adore. the hommes children are hilarious. i have fond memories of watching connor and dylan run around in circles to the olympics theme song, hearing them sing their favorite praise songs, maci performing 'camp rock' and most recently smiling as sonya told us how dylan and connor told her before we came over to visit that, "tim and kristi are our friends too and we want to play with them!"

i could go on and on but i can't finish without mentioning the moser children. talk about steal your heart. ben, isa and sam are wonderful. hearing ben exclaim "kristi!" with every bit of excitement in his 3 year old body when he sees me for the first time each day, isa running to me with a huge smile on her face just wanting to be picked up and sam - sweet sam - coming upstairs to see sam watching "baby praise" kills me every time. the noise they make above us causes tim and i to smile on a daily basis.

all that to say - the Lord has used and will continue to use these precious ones in profound ways in my life. i trust all of you out there who are parents will agree with me that children truly are one of God's greatest gifts to us. it saddens my heart to hear stories of parents whose perspective is so torn that they see their children as a burden, a distraction, or simply don't stop to pay attention to the treasure before them. so until the Lord blesses tim and i with some little people - thanks to all of you who share your sweet, funny, wonderful children with us. we love them!