Walking In The Truth: Three months and counting!

It is truly hard to believe that Elsa has been home for three months. It honestly seems like she's always been here! This simple grace from God is too wonderful to comprehend. As I hear the two girls giggling in bed with the lights out, see two black haired beauties swinging on the playset, or witness the shrieks of joy as big brothers "chase" down the little sisters, I am once again overwhelmed by His goodness to our family!

"But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.'" Isaiah 43:1

We read this portion of scripture this morning at church and I couldn't help but think of the similarities between God calling His children to Himself and us bringing Elsa home. We called her by name, she is ours. By His grace. Hallelujah!

Seeing this side of adoption has had a profound impact on Annika. She has always been a thoughtful, deep thinking little girl so I guess we shouldn't be surprised. The other day as we talked about her Chinese heritage, she asked, as she has in the past, why we think her birth mother gave her to the nannies. "Didn't she want me?" The question wasn't asked in a pitiable sort of way, just inquisitive. Still, it made my heart ache. Those questions will always be there. Thankfully, God's Spirit was at work in the conversation and I heard myself telling her that we just simply don't know what circumstances her birth mother found herself in at the time. BUT GOD DOES! More than that, I went on, He had planned all along that you and Elsa were to be Lindquists. That's a fact we find right in His Word. This thought is not new for her. I could see the wheels turning. Then she turned and said to me, "God must have really wanted me in His family! He knew the best way for me to learn about Jesus and belong to Him is if you and Daddy adopted me." Wow!! The gospel, plain and simple. Twice chosen. Annika gets it. I smiled through my tears as I gave her the biggest hug ever. So blessed am I.

Elsa, aka Mommy's shadow, has settled into a great routine. She loves the days we drive Annika and Ava to school. She requires kisses from both of them before they can go to class. She has begun a preschool gymnastics class that she loves. Her English is growing by leaps and bounds. I think I will really miss all the "Chinglish" when it finally leaves her vocabulary completely. Some of her favorite words and phrases include:
"me too", "popcorn", "pray", "more", "I -v- oo" (that's I love you in case you're wondering!), "all gone", "drink", "play", "nigh-night", "one, two, three" (this usually precedes a jump from various heights), "Jesus"
I go on, but you get the idea. Her prayers are simply the most precious things! She asks to pray and then after addressing the Father lists off as many names of family as she can, over and over! When she feels she has sufficiently covered us all, she says an emphatic "Amen!" in conclusion.

This is a long post, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we took a little 1,700 mile roadtrip to Florida this month. Don't ask if we'll do that again. Not sure we will! :) It was wonderful to connect with big sister, Mari, and some of her friends as well as have some family time on the beach and at Magic Kingdom. I will end with a few pictures. Just a few. We have 700. It was a wonderful, relaxing week away. Until Todd's back began acting up. But that is another blog.