"God I was Thinking...."

"Mommy look!  I'm colouring like Sarah!"

A few weeks ago I was tucking our wonderful 3 year old son James into bed.  We were praying together and James was thanking God for how God made him... "Thanks God for making me funny." (I love children's freedom to love the way they are made!) As we do every night, he then prayed that God would "bring Sarah to our family."  Then he added, "And God thanks for making Sarah special without arms, but God I was thinking that maybe you could take one of my hands and put it on Sarah's so we could each have a hand". 

I was so touched by his selfless compassion.  That he already loves Sarah like a big brother and has been thinking in his little mind about sharing his hands with her. 

Yesterday I got a facebook message from someone in Manitoba I have never met.  She heard Marie Ens share about Place of Rescue (Sarah's orphanage) and she heard about Sarah.  This is a bit of her message...
"My son, who is now 8, is especially interested in Sarah's story.  As I was tucking him into bed tonite, he had lots of questions about the adoption process and why it had to be so difficult.  I told him that there are lots of people praying for Sarah to be able to come to Canada soon, and that the government would allow the adoption to happen.  He then looked at me and said, "does the government not realize how many of us are praying?!"  She sent me another message where her son said, "Mom, it feels good to be able to help them so much!"  She asked him what he meant and he said, "because we are praying for them.  And praying is the biggest thing we can do!"

Sarah's life is touching many.  James has learned so much through this challenging process...about faith, perseverance, love, patience and acceptance. And most importantly we pray he is learning that even if life does not always work out how we think it should...that God is GOOD and we can still have peace and hope in the struggles.  I am thankful that Sarah's life is also touching this little boy in Manitoba...and I know her story is not going to be wasted.   Sarah's Canadian grandparents, great-grandparents, family, our friends and so many others already love her and are touched by her little life.

I know that James will have challenges ahead being the big brother of a little sister who needs extra help and attention.  BUT I trust that God has already been preparing him by giving him a compassionate heart that will grow in character and love for all of the different types of people he will  encounter in life.  Already, this experience has been worth it.