Sisters

Sisters. They bring out the best in you and they bring out the worst in you. Anyone who has a sister knows what I'm talking about. If not, let me just give you a glimpse of what I mean.
I have been blessed with 3 sisters. Ashleigh, my twin sister. Sarah, my younger sister and Monica, the youngest of us all. Anyone who has spent anytime with my sisters and I know that it's loud, crazy and  drama filled. Poor Doug handles it with ease. :) Most of our time together involves a lot of laughing. Usually at one of the ridiculous things our family has done. Like the time Sarah fell down stairs on her first day of college, books flying every where. Sorry Sarah, I still crack up about it. Or the time my mom fell outside and came crawling back in on her hands and knees, or the time Ashleigh slid right under the car on some ice. We fall a lot. It gives us great stories to laugh about later. But then there are times when that laughter stops and one of us gets, uh let's say.. Feisty.
Ashleigh and I were sitting in the dinning room talking, completely normal and friendly, then a comment was said, and the next thing I know is my hand is flying at her face. Yeah...I have no idea what came over me, but this rage came up in me and I couldn't help myself. I immediately felt bad (and sorta good) Sisters know exactly what buttons to press and it doesn't need to be a big button, the smallest thing can trigger ugliness, even for just a minute. It's a laughed about thing now, and we all know Ashleigh could take me in a second. ;)
Even when there are times of ugliness between sisters, there is also pure beauty. My sisters stopped everything they were doing and drove through the night, the day we lost Missy. We are all about 6-8 hrs from each other. They stayed the whole weekend and even one of them came back a couple weeks later to stay for several days and help with Mac. Sisters are good like that. Sisters are your best friends, they will laugh with you and at you, they will cry with you and they will occasionally take you down in a heart beat.

God is good

Oh man, God is so good. I cannot say that enough.
As we have been getting back in to the fostering world I have been reading a lot about other people's stories in foster care. I recently just read about a mom who has taken in 10 children over 4 years, who were "medically fragile" all ranging from abuse, to neglect and drug exposure. The stories are heart breaking and astounding. The trauma these babies have endured is devastating and the healing and restoration they received are amazing. It makes me think about Malachi and his story. That sweet beautiful 2 day old baby boy suffering so much in his short life. And yet defied all odds and thrived. I read his whole case history, all 500 pages of it. The amount of trauma he endured in the womb were astounding to say the least. He shouldn't be the boy he is today. I remember holding and praying over him as he had withdrawals, ranging from tremors to not sleeping because of tremoring to stomach issues. But you know what, he overcame it all and fast. He is a super energetic, spunky, thriving, normal toddler. Ah it brings me to tears. It makes me want to walk right into Malachi's room, wake him up and hold him.
Often people tell us how blessed Malachi is to have us, but really we are blessed to have him. we are better because of him. He is one amazing kid and there is just something special about him.
God is so so good.