Proud

Earlier this week, I was thinking about the word proud. How does it make you feel when you hear someone say, " I am proud of you"? I think we all have an inherent need to hear that someone is proud of us. As a child, you would probably seek your parents approval and hope that you would hear the words "I'm proud of you".  I know it would make me feel special to hear this phrase from my parents and teachers. Those 4 little words are something that I have tried to consciously tell my 4 little ones on a daily basis. I know that they need to hear this from me, and that it will make a lasting impression on them as they grow up. Which got me thinking...I wonder when the last time someone told A that they were proud of them. Maybe she has NEVER heard those words spoken to her. How incredibly sad! So, I decided to send her a text that simply said, " I just wanted you to know that I am so proud that you are my daughter. I love you"....with the help of google translate of course:) Our sweet, precious child immediately responded, " And I am so proud to have a good family. Have a good day. I love you". 

Later in the week, we were able to call her when our sweet friend was there to translate for us. She said that as A walked with her from the bus stop, she was telling her how I sent her that text to tell her I was proud of her, and that it made her so happy. I'm sure you can imagine how my heart filled with joy as I heard that those 4 little words truly meant so much to our daughter. I cannot wait to tell her every day, for the rest of her life, how proud we are that she is our daughter.

Which leads me to this little snippet I found a couple of weeks ago:

I hope that we, as a family, can show A each and every day that she is part of our "plan A". We love her and have sought after her and want her to be in our family every bit as much as we love and wanted our 4 little ones. Each one of our daughters is unique and precious and special. I hope and pray that she, along with our other 4 girls, will continue to see and know this and know how incredibly loved they are. Matthew 10:31 says, " Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows". What a sweet gift we can give our children by letting them know that we are proud of them!

To give a brief update, we are still waiting to officially here when our court date will be. We are expecting it to be the first week of September, but it could possibly be pushed out to the second week of September. We will know for sure one week from this coming Monday, August 26. At this time, we are planning to leave Labor Day week-end. We will update everyone as soon as we know our plans for sure. 

Thank you all for the continued prayers for our family!!