Thankful

We had the pleasure of feasting this week with our precious Kindergarten aged treasure.  We went to her school, along with the other 25 families with students in her class, and sat in the hall to enjoy lunch together.  And just like with most other experiences where this precious, amazing girl is involved I was overcome with gratitude to God for her life.  She was once lifeless, void of joy, and hopeless.  To watch her now dressed in her Native American costume just like every other five year old in her class, you would never now how her life began.  I watched her teachers embrace her and saw her willingly receive their love.  I listened to stories of how daily they stop everything and just soak in who she is though it often "interferes" with our own ideas of what we should be doing.  I saw students in her class seek out her attention.  I saw her eating, smiling, laughing, and traveling from each of us in her family to climb and sit on us as if to say.."hey you are here at school with me and I am so happy".  Though she can't speak with her natural voice, I watched her communicate so much! 

 I simply can't believe that God would intrust me with such a precious, precious one to care for.  I never dreamed that others would love her and appreciate her the way I do, but each one of her teachers cherish her.  I certainly never imagined in my wild dreams that she would in return love them back.  My God is so good!  While this journey with our Jillian is not at all how I planned it and her special need is still much, much more than I ever would have dreamed of taking on, friends it is so, so good to call her my daughter.  It is at times like this that I am so thankful that God is the one writing this story and that He didn't stick to my plan or what I thought I could handle because I can't imagine my life without her! 

Here is our sweet family with our big sister too.  She had an ortho appointment so we just extended her time out of school and bribed her with eating.  We enjoyed our "feast" which included subway.  This was probably not on the menu the first Thanksgiving, but it was just perfect for us as we were all together.