And Next?

Abby has been on a kick lately of using the phrase  "and next?" or "then what are we gonna do after...."  IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!  Some times at lunch even before we eat she will be asking what is for dinner. Or as soon as she wakes up in the morning she is wanting to know what we are going to be doing after nap time.  My answer is almost always, "don't worry about it, worry about what is happening right now."

The lesson that I am trying to teach my daughter is one I need to learn myself!  It is one that God has been teaching me ever since we decided to come to Cambodia.  Even before we got here we were trying to plan what we would do after our nine months.  Well, God laughed at that and brought two beautiful brown game changers into our lives and nine months turned into an unknown amount of time.

Then this year has been a huge season of living one step at a time trusting in God's faithfulness.  In April we began paperwork for foster care and had to wait for laws to open up, then in June we got our papers turned in and had to wait for approval, then in August we got approved and had to wait for travel permissions, then we had to wait for passports, then for visas... the whole time we didn't know what the next step would hold.  At any time our plans could come to a stop with just one thing not being approved.  Even though the whole process only took 7 months (way shorter than most) it was a lot of sitting and waiting.  We knew the plans we wanted, we knew we wanted to visit family for the Holidays but we were unable to plan until everything had gone through.  I felt like Abby, always saying "and then what?"  But God only gave us one step at a time.

This is how life is!  If we could plan our whole lives we would never live!  We would always be looking forward to the next thing and forgetting what is now!  I find myself looking forward to November 12th.  I am so so so excited to go to America and see my family that I keep thinking "Ugh!  this week is dragging by!"  Instead I should be enjoying each day.  I should be living in the moment.  I should be getting excited that Melody has learned to zerbert and is very very close to her first tooth.  I should be taking the time to play with Abby and Lily rather than spending time worrying about how they will be on the plane.

My challenge for this week, for myself and for you, is to live in the moment!  I know it is cliché and you can find countless quotes saying this same thing but maybe that is for a reason!  Maybe its because we have such a hard time with it!  I know I do!