By the Numbers

The Lord is a keeper of time. He has been impressing this fact on my heart lately by bringing to mind significant numbers in my life.


The first number is 20. This fall it will be 20 years that Robert and I have been a couple. We began our relationship at the age of 16 and eventhough we went through a lot of rough times in those first few years of our relationship we always stayed together. This is one of the things in my life that I am most proud of. I can't imagine walking this journey with any other man. Even though we were not walking with the Lord at the time I know in my heart that He meant for us to be together.



The next number is 10. This is not only the number of years that we have been parents but it is also the number that signifies the number of years that it has been since the Lord took hold of my heart. I began my journey towards following Him when I was pregnant with Emma. And though my faith journey has grown and changed over the 10 year period I feel as though I have been on His path for 10 years.


13 and 7 are the next numbers. These are the numbers that I sometimes have the hardest time getting my head around. Thirteen is the age of my son James and eventhough I have only been his mom for almost four years and he was nine when he came home there is just something that won't let me believe that I am the parent of a teenager. He is a young 13 which helps a bit knowing that I still do have time and that he probably won't leave the nest at the typical age however it is sobering to know that in just a few short years he could. Seven is the age of my youngest child Ana. This sometimes gets me more than the 13 because it all seems to be going so fast. Ana joined our family at age 2 and it just doesn't seem possible that she could already be a busy 1st grader and come up with such funny sayings and be getting soooooo very tall.

Then there comes the number 5 which is the number of years since we started our wild ride of adopting four of our five children. It seems like the blink of an eye some days and other days it seems as though that these four treasures have been with us all along. I ponder sometimes what it would have been like to have them each from birth and it saddens me that I missed so much of their early lives. But it is also a reminder of just how precious each and every day has been since they have been with us. How much we have all grown and changed in the last five years. How many things I have learned about myself and what God has allowed me to walk through. There are so many things that I would have never experienced if they had not been here. Some amazing like riding roller coasters at Disneyland with my three sons. Ones that the girls didn't want anything to do with. Or seeing them all learn to swim this summer at the YMCA and then use the skills that they have learned to swim in the Pacific. How much more fun it is to have five than just one and the adventures that are so much more exciting when they can share them with one another. Then there are the not so fun things that I've learned like fighting with insurance companies to get my son Daniel to the doctors that he needs to go to. Or the fact that I could probably be a pharmacist with all the medications that I have dispensed over the last five years. Or the scary thought of having to learn how to feed Daniel with a feeding tube that will be put in later in the month...and praying that it will help him to grow. Even these not so fun things have been a blessing though. I have done things that I never dreamed I would and seen love grow in this unique family that I am helping to raise. I have laughed and cried and I know that I am not the same person that I was five short years ago and I'm glad for it!

These are the numbers that I have in my heart this week. As I ponder them I know for sure that there will be more significant numbers as the years pass. It helps me know my Lord more when I think about the numbers because I know that just as they are significant to me they are significant to Him. He is a keeper of the vast Kingdom Calendar and my numbers fit into His plan in just the right order. For that I am thankful.