His hands & feet

I'm sitting here watching my three four girls come down the hallway at me. Adison is pushing Angie in a play shopping cart (recipe for disaster) while Ava and Riley are crawling behind pretending to be babies. For one, I can't believe I have four children. Four. All four an under (at least for another week). Secondly- there is a kid in my belly, too! I admit it sometimes takes a hard punch or kick from the inside (literally....) for me to remember that in just 8 short weeks we will have five children. 23 and with five children? I have to laugh when I think about the plans I made for myself before any Potter children were in mind at all, this was a much better plan.

Who knows what our family will look like in five years, or even five more months.

We are continuing to learn more & more about our Angie everyday. One the hardest things I've dealt with is her throw up, bowels and bodily fluids. It is so much easier to deal with when it is from a child that you have birthed and have raised for a little while. A few nights ago it was 3am, I'm frantically searching my home for a clean towel & begin to shower and scrub down a tired & sick little girl. It was anything but pleasant. I really needed God to remind me what in the world we are doing with this little girl covered in throw up and poop in my tub at the 3am. The only thing that came to my mind was "his hands and feet". Over and over and over again, it was just running through my head the entire time. When I thought I was going to lose it- I just started saying it, "his hands and feet". Shortly after she was bathed, lotioned, in clean pj's and snuggled up in my bed I began to feel less sorry for myself and remembered that this is what we are here for. To serve this little girl, even if it's messy, tiresome. Even when I am cleaning poop at 3am when my 30 -week -pregnant-self would so much rather be sleeping. Even if we are setting ourselves up for heartache that is sure to come when she leaves.

We love her. A lot. It's been three weeks with her and I am dreading the day we have to let her go. It's hard, but every single day it gets better. Every single day I am reminded of God's love and his hand in her placement with us. She is here for a reason, and I am so extremely thankful that God loves her SO much, to care SO much for her that he has removed her from the neglectful home she was in. He cares for her. I am thankful. Compared to what he has done for us, this is really the least we could do for him.

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” Mark 9:37