Wonderful

I had a realization the other day.  I was thinking about how Charlie has been more challenging of late - nothing major, but simple disobedience, or lack of quick obedience, pushing boundaries, arguing, that sort of thing.  I didn't notice it as much at the beginning.

But the beginning for us was kind of a strange time.  Over his first two months here, we celebrated his birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas; we had time off from school for Thanksgiving break and a looooong time off for Christmas break; we had visits from out-of-town grandparents and an aunt...  Life didn't return to "normal" until he was two months with us.  So now that we're settling in, it's normal, I think, for him to test and push back.

Normal maybe, but still not fun.

And it's so easy to focus on the tough times, the moments we are disappointed or frustrated or even disrespected.  It's exhausting and wearing, and when those "battles" (to use a favorite word of his) come, they seem like that's all it is - one big battle.  But then, from time to time, we step back and appreciate a moment like this:

The other night I was tucking Charlie in to bed.  He asked again about the adoption date (he can't seem to get the difference between months and years ;) ) as he climbed into bed.  As he prayed, he digressed from his usual prayer (thanking God for all the fun he had that day) to thank God for these "wonderful, wonderful... wonderful, wonderful" parents and said he couldn't wait to be adopted by the Wiggins family.

It really moved me.  Things are challenging and tough, but here and there we are blessed to get glimpses of the beauty of living out the gospel. 

Remind me of this on the next hard day.