When I Get to Heaven

When I get to Heaven,

I will play the violin.

I’ll learn sign language with no effort

 -- and speak it fluently.

I'll have time and space to raise my favorite animals -- llamas.

(They won't even stink.)

I’ll sing and talk and write and read and play the piano

...all day.

And when I go to Heaven,

I’ll leave a lot of unpleasant things behind.

My body won’t feel old there.

I’ll never be tired.

My brain won’t lose names and dates and events.

I won't buy any more insurance in case of accident, flood, fire or violence.

Never again will I do housework or homework or follow a budget.

And I’ll no longer have to work to keep myself slim.

Over there,

my loved ones will have perfect bodies, too.

My nephew won't have diabetes.

My dad will have clear and complete vision.

And my niece, The Princess,

won’t have any more limitations caused by cerebral palsy.

She’ll be able to express herself

and everyone will understand what she’s saying.

She’ll breathe easily

and move smoothly.

She’ll have no more seizures

or surgeries.

We’ll dance together,

both of us on our feet,

for the first time.

When The Princess and I meet each other in Heaven,

it will be a wonderful, wonderful day.

But even better than all that...

When I get to Heaven,

I’ll hang out with the One Who’s loved me all these years,

every day of my life,

Who’s watched me and guided me through thick and thin,

hard times and happy.

The One Who now protects, comforts and guides me.

Every day.

I’ll sing with Him,

celebrate with Him,

and follow Him around.

He’ll give light wherever I go

and fill my heart with the eternal certainty that I am eternally loved.

By His goodness,

He’s given me a very good life to live here.

I am thankful for its blessings every day.

But when I get to Heaven,

it’ll be even better.

It will be glorious!

-- Reenie

Small, Dark and Handsome

16 years ago this spring,

I met a dark-haired, dark-eyed, terribly-handsome man,

and I loved him the moment I met him.

In those days, he was even shorter than I am,

and, I admit, quite immature,

but, in time, he overcame those challenges.

Now he towers over me by more-inches-than-I’ll-admit,

and is even more handsome than the day we met.

This special young man is my nephew,

my first and oldest,

and he was a thrice-given gift.

First, God gave him to his birthmother,

who realized that, as a single mom,

she couldn’t raise him as well as she’d want.

So, with a unique blend of love and heartache,

she gave him a second time...

by placing him for adoption with my brother and sister-in-law.

And, generously, on an ongoing basis,

my brother and sister-in-law give their son a third time...

by sharing him with me.

Four years after my oldest nephew,

another small, dark, handsome man joined our family.

He too was thrice-given --

by God, by his birthmom, and by his parents.

I am now the proud auntie of two handsome boys.

I lived for decades before they came to me,

but now I wonder how I could have felt life was complete without them.

My boys and I don’t share the same genetic history,

we have different racial backgrounds,

and my name is not on their birth certificates.

But I am their auntie,

and they are my boys.

I don’t do the hard work of training them,

feeding them,

or making sure their closets contain

pants long enough to cover their ever-growing legs.

But they are my boys.

They are not flesh-of-my-flesh

nor bone-of-my-bone...

but, irrevocably,

for good and for always,

no matter what,

they are my boys.

Nothing,

absolutely nothing,

will ever change that.

Every day,

I thank God for giving them.

Every day,

I’m grateful to my brother and sister-in-law for sharing them.

Today, I also want to say,

”Thank you, birthmoms.”

You made a choice.

For your sons' sake, you made a sacrifice.

Did you also know what a precious gift you were giving to us?

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you for giving me my boys.

To learn more about adoption,

and attend an upcoming seminar
presented by Steven Curtis Chapman
and Focus on the Family,
please see http://www.endthewait.ca/tour/

-- Reenie