Love's Most Wondrous Story

So, my baby girl is 14 months old, and she's not a baby anymore.  It's amazing how fast she has learned to do things on her own, as well as sad how quickly the cuddly days are gone.  

On Sunday, during mandatory Anderson naptime, she threw every stuffed animal out of her crib in protest to being in bed when she wanted to be up playing.  And, at some point over the weekend, she learned to say "Uh-Uh" for all those times when I try to figure out what she wants, and she wants me to know that I have NOT figured it out.  She carries a little purse with her Bible in it on Sundays.  She follows the kids around all the time, and actually plays with them.  (They have this game where Maya and Max pretend she is the bad guy.  The kids zoom by into the other end of the house, and about 5 seconds later you can hear Nina toddling after them.  It's so very cute.)

She's still not able to do everything Bubba and Sissy do, but she wants to.  She does not know how to share.  :)  And she's having a hard time learning that Mommy and Daddy like to hold Maya and Maxwell sometimes, and that she can't make them stop just because she wants them to.  She likes to be the center of our attention, and is having a hard time learning that we love three children, not just one.  :)

But, what makes this time even more special, is that Nina has learned to show her love.  She gives hugs, she gives kisses, and she gives big, beautiful smiles.  I don't think there's anything better in the world that to see her leaning over to give me a kiss.  I'm so thankful the Lord has shown me what a special love exists between parents and their children.

He tells us in 1John 4:7, "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God."  It's hard to imagine that I wouldn't love my children as deeply as I do if I didn't know Jesus as my Savior and Lord.  I'm thankful He revealed to me what a sinful creature I was, and continue to be, and suffered for my sins so that I wouldn't have to.  Romans 5:8 says, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."  He showed such great love for me...even when I lived in sin and enjoyed that sin, He died for me.  He saved me from that life, and showed me how to live with Him as my guide.

I'm so very thankful for His love, as well as the love I now possess, and I pray I can show others how to receive it.