Settling in

I'm sitting in my bed, with the dog curled next to me...not on me, mind you, but close to me...with her head on the extra pillows on the empty side of my King Sized bed.  Gosh, but she looks so very comfy.  I love to watch her sleep, because only a dog sleeps like that...she's curled up, and then halfway on her back...to me, it looks downright uncomfortable, but she's snoring away...yes, SNORING...the dog SNORES...I thought that I'd get away from snoring when I moved to PA, but no...the dog snores too.  

But as I lay here, watching her sleep, it reminds of being a young mother, and watching Shayna sleep.  What most people don't know is that I was adopted, and Shayna was the first person that I had ever met that was blood related to me.  I was amazed by her in so many ways...in all the normal ways that new mothers are amazed by their children but for me, I think it was a little more intense.  I don't think that I slept a whole lot the first few days because I was so enamored of her.  She amazed me...even now, 18 and a half years later, this child still amazes me.  

She started talking...yes, said her first word "mama" at 6 months old, the next thing I knew, at 9 months old, she was running.  She totally skipped the crawling and walking.  She cruised along tables and sofas, and did this kind of elephant walk-type of crawl on her hands and feet, where her knees never came into contact with the floor.  She's been on the go ever since. 

This is the first year that I didn't have purchase back-to-school supplies and clothing, I won't have to purchase a Homecoming dress, or a Navy Ball dress, or a Prom dress, ever again.  In some ways, that's really kind of sad...but in others, it's really kind of liberating.  By the way, Shayna, if you're reading this, I just spent the money that I would have spent on a homecoming dress on my hair!  

Now, what I am hoping for this precious, devious, delightful, wacky daughter of mine, is that she find pure happiness in her life's path.  That she be able to be wiser than I was at her age, and that she would not settle in her relationships.  I pray that she will wait for the right man to be her husband, and make sure that he loves her for who she is, and not who he thinks she is.  It's not easy to love a Maiuzzo girl....we're a little head-strong, a lot scarastic, but we love with everything we have inside of us, and will give of ourselves until there is nothing left to give.  I pray that she knows her worth, that she is loved beyond belief by both her daddy and me.  I know he loves her, and I also know that he loves her more than even he, himself realizes.  She is a fortunate child, indeed, to be loved the way that she is, and not just by her parents, but by her other dad, and all 8 of her grandparents, and her many friends, and by my friends who also love her.  She is surrounded by love.  

So, I did my job in raising her well, as I did with her older siblings, to the best of my ability.  And as I look at their lives now, I think I did a GREAT job in raising them.  Thank you, Jesus for being beside me while I was raising them, and for allowing me to have the years with them that I have had.  You said that "children should be arrows in our quivers", well, my arrows have been shot out into the world, as is Your plan, and now, I just pray protection from You and the Angels over them, keep them safe, and allow them to see the consequences of their actions, both good and bad.  Thank you for giving them to me, into my care, and now, I'm giving them back to you.