Beauty in Difficulty

The most difficult and the most beautiful things have come out of these 6+ years with our girl.  The difficult things are never forgotten but its the beautiful that I want to remember.  It's the lovely that I want to treasure.  That's not to say that the beautiful cannot go along side the difficult because it certainly can, I have seen it firsthand.  I have a picture on my phone of Sophie Kate when she was so sick, in the PICU and on a ventilator with a smile on her face.  I sent it to Chad and he and I are the only ones to have ever seen it and I said, "Who smiles like that with a breathing tube down their throat? Who does that but this girl of ours?"  It was an extremely difficult time but a beautiful expression of her sweet spirit.

This Sunday I had the most lovely conversation with a lady who parked next to us in the handicap spot.  She had seen us around church and wanted to say "Hello."  She too had a special needs son who lived for 36 years.  We talked about our babies and I introduced her to mine and we connected in an instant.  It didn't matter our different ages or stages of life we were both mamas to these kids and we talked about the tough times and the lovely times...most definitely a divine appointment.

Different folks brought us dinner over the summer,  that in and of itself is lovely to me, but in one of the boxes we found this...

It is a note to Sophie Kate from one of her friends, complete with a picture of them in matching pink tutus...too sweet.  Sophie Kate also received her second invitation to a friend's birthday party last week.  The first one came years ago when she was in 3K.  How sweet of these girls to befriend SK in such a way...at their ages it speaks volumes of their character and their heart to look past the wheelchair, to look past the oxygen and know that Sophie Kate is someone worth getting to know.  I am privileged to watch these beautiful relationships begin to grow.

Romans 12:10, "Be devoted to one another in love.  Honor one another above yourselves."