My Messy House Made Me Smile

When's the last time you looked around at clutter and thanked God for it? Does your mess make you smile? I admit, normally I have to say no. Normally I think "ughh..didn't I just clean this? why is it like this AGAIN?" But tonight was different. Tonight after Hannah went to bed, I was going to clean up a little around the house. Instead, I sat down and watched a movie. I rented the movie "Facing the Giants" this weekend and hadn't watched it yet. It's due back tomorrow, so I put it in. If you haven't watched it, go rent it! It's a great movie. It's about football, and life, and faith. One of the major themes of the movie is "Nothing is Impossible with God". Over and over it's driven home. As the movie was ending, I sat and thought about my own "impossibles" that have become not only possible, but reality. I remember a time not too too long ago when the idea of adopting a child was "impossible". I looked around and in a moment of sentimentalness (is that a word?) saw some very ordinary things become powerful symbols of what God has done. While I normally wouldn't broadcast my somewhat disorganized house right smack-dab in the middle of the week (when it's typically in the MOST disaray), in the spirit of the moment, take a look around at what I saw tonight:

My office / Computer room: Speech folder for a little girl along with some of my schoolwork in the floor.

MY bedroom floor: A pair of little gir's new red shoes to be worn for the first time tomorrow

Kitchen / laundry closet: clean clothes that have yet to be put away

Kitchen: elementary school menu, free ice cream coupon from the public library, preschool art painting of mommy and daughter, and variety of magnets (including one from my wonderful adoption agency - Lifeline!)

The downstairs bathroom: a hair bow that I think I remember asking to be put up yesterday, but just discovered as I was taking this tour tonight.

One of the upstairs bathrooms: Hello Kitty toothbrush and kids' toothpaste with the top left off. hmm, might be suspicious - I wonder who did it?

The Living Room: a little girls' elaborate set-up for movie night 4 nights ago that she has embellished and added to each night. I like how the bathroom stool is serving as a footrest. I have NO idea what the pillow in the floor is for, but earlier in the day I observed it being placed there with great care as if that was THE place it belonged. :-)

Living room: princess pumpkin that's been sitting there since halloween and a very cold strawberry shortcake that was strategically placed next to the pumpkin this evening.

A little girl's bedroom: The culprit of most of the mess (And she can't even blame it on a sibling - YET!) and more importantly, the proof that nothing is impossible with God and He truly does more than we ask or imagine! I am so very blessed in life! And so tonight, as we inch towards Thanksgiving, I am incredibly thankful for the messes in my house, and for the little one who made them! And I am thankful for the ONE who made it all possible!