When I looked at the calendar and saw Rachel would be 9 months on Father’s Day, I invited Greg to the blog to share about fatherhood and our youngest daughter. If you’d like a peek into his life as a dad these past nine years, feel free to watch the video I made him. I’m grateful for Greg’s word here today, and, more importantly, the way he loves and serves our family. There’s nobody else I’d want to have beside me on this adventure!
Every year when Father’s Day rolls around, I am reminded that our God is faithful. It’s a time for me to look back and reflect on His goodness and grace in my life. I am so undeserving, and yet He has blessed me with three small souls to love and lead.
In looking back, I can tell you that He uses my children to change me daily. The Holy Spirit convicts me of my own shortcomings through the questions and conversations had with my two older inquisitive children. As we live life with them, I hope that they can hear and see the reality of God’s grace through my attitudes and actions.
My own father passed away in 2010, and I can tell you that I learned how to follow God by watching him. He followed God with his whole heart and was the example for me and my brothers on how to lead our families.
Hopefully, Kristin and I have learned a few things about parenting over the first 9-plus years with Cate and then 6 ½ years with Ben. Mostly, I think we’ve learned that the children need to see Kristin and I mess up, and see what it means to ask for and receive forgiveness from each other and God.
This year, in reflecting on Father’s Day, it is amazing to think about how last April, we had no idea that Rachel was even on the horizon. We had felt the Lord calling us to adopt again back in 2012 and looked into several options, but never had the right situation.
Kristin and I were disappointed and frustrated, but eventually we just realized that we had already been amazingly blessed by the Lord to have our 2 children. And so we mostly gave up our hope of adopting a third child. Our hearts were still pulled toward adopting a third child, but we finally had the grateful perspective that we needed. We learned a bit about being content in any situation and then, when we least expected it, we got a phone call from Rachel’s birth mom.
Rachel was born last September, and she been such an amazingly sweet addition to our family. Ben and Cate were immediately taken with their new sister, and she has responded in kind. Rachel has an engaging smile that she flashes to almost everyone.
At 9 months, she now gets around by crawling and she loves to grab, touch and taste everything she comes in contact with. We are so blessed to have her with us. We probably are a lot more laid back with her than we were with Cate, but hey, now we have a 9-year-old and 6-year-old to help us with little things around the house.
And the best part is that Rachel has two older siblings to look up to and learn from. I love watching her interact with them every day. So on this Father’s Day, I am going to reflect on the goodness of our Heavenly Father and rejoice in His provision in my life. I pray you can do the same.
Other monthly update notes from momma :: This girl is fun. She’s into everything and curious about all the details in her world. I forgot how exhausting this phase can be, but it’s fun to watch her discover. Speaking of discovering, she loves the pool. Good thing because my big kids and I prefer to spend our afternoons there. Funny thing, she still doesn’t like her baths.
She’s crawling at fast speeds, pulling up quickly and thinking about letting go, and climbing the steps. She still loves to eat whatever and whenever we are eating and is taking {very} small drinks from her sippy cups. She takes usually four 8-ounce bottles a day, although I can tell she’s cutting back. Oh and she’s wearing 12-month clothes, except pajamas, shorts and bathing suits, which she requires 18-month size, but each day I had another garment to the pile of stuff she’s outgrown. Girl is growing, obviously.
Look back on Rachel’s growth :: One month. Two months. Three months. Four months. Five months. Six months. Seven months. Eight months.
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