Annie-Girl

Our sweet Annie-Girl is home for the week on Spring Break. She just finished her fifth quarter of college studies (Graphic Design) at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She reminded us just two days ago that she only has four quarters left. We're all so proud of her. Victoria and I feel like Marilla Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables when she once said about her older-adopted Anne (Ann, spelled with an "e"), "You're all grown up - so tall and stylish." (Or something like that.) Our Ann-with-an-"e" certainly is too. This was all too evident this weekend when she served as the Maid of Honor for a very good friend of hers that she grew up with here in the Bay Area. Seeing her stand on that platform with the other bridesmaids in her beautifully tailored dress, off-white pumps and styled hair gave cause for flashbacks to days gone by. Most parents would, and do, feel that way when they see their kids all grown up in settings like that. Even younger brother Barret said he got choked up watching Annie walk down the aisle. He said he couldn't explain why, and even said that he's not the emotional type, but seeing her sister like that stirred up something in his heart that was inexplicable.

In a growing family where adoptive children seem to take the spotlight (not that any of us deserve a spotlight, or even want a spotlight for that matter), our "biological" children (sounds so impersonally scientific - YUCK!) may appear to fade into the background. That's what spotlights obviously do - they focus your attention on the thing being brightly illuminated. And while on a practical level that might be the case because the younger ones demand so much more day-to-day, hour-to-hour and minute-to-minute attention, on an emotional level that certainly is not the case. As commonly quoted, "once a parent always a parent", regardless of the age, physical proximity, birth order or means by which a child enters the family. So when thinking about one child, or praying for one child, it sparks thoughts of and prayers for the other(s). And round and round the circle goes because they're all part of a larger community, interconnected by love. Victoria and I cannot fathom one without the other. And just when you think your love cannot stretch any further because your heart is so full of love for one or more, God stretches your heart to receive another (regardless of whether it's by birth or adoption or foster). And then, Voila! You're falling in love with another person that's now a member of your family when all the while you didn't think you could absorb one more. That's been the case for us, and that's been the case for almost all who have gone before us, millions upon millions upon millions. That's why we should not accept the common excuse that we cannot welcome another member into our families on the basis that we've run out of room in our hearts or that our "love-wells" are tapped dry.

So back to Annie. She's the one that I want to spotlight now. What's in the spotlight looks bright not only because the illumination is on it, but also because other things around it are muted, which makes that which is the focal much more beautiful. For so long now, among all us "old-timers" in our family, she's been the one in the background. But her effervescence is not lost there because it redirects light toward that which our family has been drawn to by God Himself - the growth of our clan with the adoption of Poppy, Willow & Piper (in that order). She, like Austin, Meagan and Barret, has been a glue for us. All three girls (& Barret) love her so much and light up whenever she's around. The house is more alive when she's home. Her silliness, propensity toward self-inflicted injury, seriousness, desire to follow the pathway God has for her, standards for excellence, perseverance, ups and downs... you name it, we love all of it. And most all she's been one to give entirely of herself to those in our growing family that she didn't grow up with, but are now kin with a bond that's as rich as blood itself. She amazes us, and we could not honor the Lord with our love to this expanding family without her (and Austin, Meagan & Barret, of course). These things (adoptions) require commitment from the whole, and when we see Annie love these girls the way she has and does, it melts our hearts and elevates our worship of Jesus.

Annie probably doesn't see herself this way, and will "die" when she reads this. I can hear her now; "Dad, why did you have to make that post all about me?" But such is Annie, which is just one more thing to love about her all the more.

With all our love to the "tall and stylish one",