It was just over a year and a half ago that we stood in this same place – Clementine and I.
I wasn’t able to put her down because, even though she was 19 months old, she could not walk.
She could not stand.
She could not crawl. 
And even if I could have put her down physically, I could not have put her down emotionally. She was overwhelmed by all the busyness of this place – the sounds, the smells, the chaos – and setting her down, even for a quick picture, would have been impossible.
Just days out of the hospital for pneumonia, she was a sick, frail, frightened little girl.
But look at what the good Lord can do with 18 months and a nothing-special family.
Whether or not to bring Clementine on this trip for Magnolia was one of the hardest decisions we’ve had to make in parenting… not knowing how she’d respond to being away from home, back in China and what feelings or fears this might bring up for her.
Add to that the fact that she would also – on this potentially scary and, at the very least, schedule-destroying trip – be losing her baby status and gaining a new not-so-little sister?
Yikes.
But after much prayer we decided that keeping her close to mama during the crazy of adding to our family was our first and foremost priority. And beyond that, we’d simply have to trust.
And then we prayed a whole lot more.
Man, were our prayers were answered. This day, those moments, these pictures… all such a precious reminder of God’s unwavering faithfulness.
To be back in that same place, filled with overwhelming memories of how very fragile she was not too long ago, and then to see her – running, laughing, loving – well, I’m still in awe.
He brings dry bones to life.