Special day, busy weekend, and adoption update

8 years ago I got a call that rocked my world.  That moment plays like a slow motion movie.  The sound warbled.  The information came in bits and pieces.  The result still the same.

I remember the initial call came in as "Mom's been in an accident."  I am even embarrassed to admit but I thought that my mom would have been at fault.  I use to tease her about being an airhead.  She use to zip around in her convertible, playing music, with a smile on her face.  I could see her getting in a fender bender.  My first prayers were please don't let her have hurt someone.  My prayers were answered but not in the way I expected.  As more news came she had been hit by a car walking across the street with my adopted 8 year old brother. They were walking from the parking lot to the church for a special service.  She managed to push Chris out of the way.  She died at the scene or in the ambulance, the detail never seemed important to me.  She was 62.  The mother of 6 children, two of which were adopted.  The man who hit her just did not see her.  He was a father of 4.  About ten years older than she was.  He was changing stations on his radio and turning onto a busy street.  To this day I am so thankful for the God's grace in allowing me to forgive him immediately.  My sisters have had a harder time.  They were so angry with him.  That anger is so heavy.  Something my mom would have never wanted.  By the time I flew down and got to the house, it was too late.  But just seeing her recipe box open and the recipe of what she had been cooking out, the message she left on my machine that day, or the letter that she had thrown in the mail that morning...such gifts!  I will always miss her.  But she knows that.

The only child of mine she did not meet was Bella.  I know that she would have loved Bella, and Bella would ahve adored her.  She was fun, kind, and gentle.  So today we talked and prayed for Grammy.  We went to the beach before church.  Grammy loved the beach and Grammy loved little kids:)  So she would have loved how we celebrated her life.

So now onto a lighter subject.  We had so much fun at R and A's birthday party.  Bella loves these girls. Followed up by a Fasika celebration planned by this amazing mom.  By Saturday night, we were exhausted.  But you have to laugh at the way of a 4 year old.  This was Bella on the way to the Fasika celebration:

Two minutes later:

And maybe a minute later:

On the adoption front...we are home study approved, waiting for the hard copy so we can submit to CIS.  Yeah!!!!  I am loving CHI/Ywam.  I wish I could have gone to the Mom's night out that they had in WA.  But as you can see this weekend could not have fit in one more activity:)