Valentine's Reflections, Now and Then

We made pink frosted sugar cookies this week for Valentine’s Day.  Mmmmmm…  Not only are they yummy and beautiful, but they bring back so many memories of years gone by.  My mom made these for us when we were growing up, and I love to make them each year now for my family. 

 

Big Helper

(who probably got more frosting in her tummy than on her cookies)

 

As I savored my scrumptious treat, licking the deliciously pink frosting, I realized that we have now celebrated Valentine’s Day here in Niger for 3 years.  Wow!  As I looked back over some of my pictures from the last several years, I could barely believe how much the children had grown from year to year, and how much had changed in just 4 years.  Our location, culture, climate, day-to-day life experiences...  We've been stretched and grown more than I could ever have imagined possible.  Join me for a quick walk down memory lane. 

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Four years ago at this time of year, Jonathan and I were preparing to move to Niger.  Isaiah was 2, and Anna was about 10 months old.  I enjoyed reading through this entry that I had posted on Valentine’s Day that year.  Here's a few pictures of the Wee Bitty Bowdens back then.

 

A proud little boy with his freshly made Valentine's Day box.

Anna enjoying a gift from Grammi...  Forget the crackers - paper tastes way better! 

 

Continuing on, as I looked through my pictures from 2011, I was surprised to see that I hadn’t taken any pictures on Valentine’s that year.  Then I remembered why.  We were still in the throws of learning Hausa, adjusting to a new culture and climate, setting up house, and Jonathan had just begun teaching his first course in the Discipleship Bible School the month before.  Even though we’d been in Niger for over 7 months, we were still in transition.  I did find some pictures of the children that I took within a few days of it, though.  Here they are: 

 

Miss Anna (19 months old) discovered a can of cocoa drink mix, and enjoyed as much as she possibly could before Mommy found her. 

Who can blame her, though?  What girl doesn't love chocolate?!

 

Daddy's Helper - Jonathan built many shelves to help me make our then bare-bones house more homey.  The children loved helping whenever they could.  Precious memories.

 

Thinking of last year, Valentine’s Day of 2012, brings back really special memories for me.  My closest childhood friend, Mary Anderson, came to visit us for 3 weeks.  I was 7 months pregnant with Grace, and had nary an ounce of energy for celebrating a holiday.  Mary made the day shine, though, doing crafts with the children, making cookies, bringing candy from the States, and babysitting the children so Jonathan and I could go out to dinner together that evening.  Thank you for the memories, Mary!  We were thinking of you this Valentine's Day!

 

Mary with Her Little Helpers

(one of whom, I'm pretty sure, was snitching in the flour)

 

This year, our 3^rd year in Niger, brings with it another special guest.  Becca Cavari has been with our family for 5 weeks, and will be spending a total of 3 months with us.  She came to Niger to serve the Lord by blessing our family in any way she could, and, wow, has she been a blessing! 

 

 

We are all enjoying Becca’s time with us.  She has such a sweet, joyful, helpful spirit, and has been an incredible help to me.  Since Jonathan has been away from home more than ever before assisting with church planting in a previously unreached village, as another year of Bible School begins, as we host teams and missionaries who are traveling through Maradi, and as I home school the children, Becca’s assistance and companionship have been an incredible blessing.  If you are friends with me on Facebook, you have Becca to thank for most of the fun family pictures that you are now seeing! 
Like this sweet one of me and my Valentine...

 

 

  While Becca baked our sugar cookies with Isaiah and Anna, I made the frosting, and then we all enjoyed eating those yummy bits of heaven, made with many treasured ingredients.  

 

Frosting time!

 

Check out the "this-looks-so-yummy" tongue.  Priceless!

 

I couldn't help but put up this picture from last year, because, as you can see, the "this-looks-so-yummy" tongue is ever present when making sugar cookies.

 

My mom, ever so thoughtfully, sent a Valentine’s Day package from the States with cards and gifts for all of us.  How fun! 

 

Daddy reads Anna's card from Grammi to her.

 

Even Baby Gracie had her own card.

 

My sweet, resourceful husband gave me this beautiful bouquet of flowers that he gathered from around our yard.  This is no small feat as Niger is hardly known for its flowers!  But Jonathan, knowing that I LOVE flowers, made me this bouquet of desert blooms. 

 

I am so blessed.

 

The last 4 years have been an incredible journey for us, and they are only the beginning of a longer, unfolding life-story.  If you look back, you will see the same beautiful hand of God working in your life.  I love seeing how the Lord takes the situations, circumstances, people, and events in our lives and shapes them into something bigger, something different, and something more beautiful than we could ever have imagined.  Think about baking a cookie, like our Valentine’s Day cookies, for example – so many ingredients go into them.  Some sweet, some bitter, some salty,
some blah, some savory, some ugly, some beautiful. 

 

 

It’s then all mixed, jumbled, molded, reshaped, and lastly, put into the heat of the oven.  It comes out something new!  Our lives are often like this.  The Lord takes everything, working it together, the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, and makes something from seemingly nothing.  He adds His beauty, His love, and His grace.  Is there anything more beautiful than a life that has been carefully shaped by the hands of a loving Heavenly Father?  
 I don't think there is.      

 

 

 This week, before bedtime, the children were talking about heaven.  Isaiah said, slowly and thoughtfully, "I'm thankful that Jesus has bigger hands than us, and can hold us."  Anna piped up a minute later, adding, "And I think when we go to heaven,

we might find out just how big His hands are!"

 

What a delightful thought.  One day, we'll be able to stand in eternity and see just how big those hands are, and just how many times they were holding us.  Even though you may not be able to see what He is making yet in your life, my prayer is that you would be able to feel the tenderness and love with which the hands of Jesus are taking all of the "ingredients" in your life and forming, working, shaping, creating - something beautiful.

 

Happy Valentine's Day. 

Let your heart rest safely in the hands of Jesus.    

 

 

Grace's Other Mother

It has recently become apparent that Grace has another mother, and not the kind of mother you might think she’d have.  It’s our family cat, Marco, who recently lost a litter of kittens when she gave birth prematurely.   I have never seen a cat take to a baby like this one has to Grace.  At first, I thought it was my imagination, especially since Marco tends to be skittish and would prefer to remain unnoticed.  I have a rug in between my bed and Grace’s bed, and I began to notice that Marco could almost always be found fast asleep on the rug.  I figured:  #1 – it was because it is a very nice comfy rug, and #2 – it was beside MY bed.  Seeing how I hand-fed the little thing back to life when her own mother died, I’d like to believe she feels some maternal bond and connection that makes her want to be close to me. 

 

I was wrong.  She wasn’t sleeping there because of me.  I started noticing that Marco would get anxious whenever Grace cried.  She’d pace back and forth by the bed.  Then she’d begin meowing, and would generally run over to me, then back to the bed.  “No way,” I thought, “...that can’t be.  I’m just imagining this.”  Well, one day, I moved Grace’s bed to another place in my bedroom.  Guess who was sleeping beside her just minutes later?  Then Grace was moved to another ROOM, sharing a room with Isaiah and Anna.  Upon going in to check on her one night, I heard as I reached down into the dark to arrange her blanket, “Meooooow.”  Yup.  Marco, nestled in between the wall and Grace’s bed.  Now this action took serious commitment on Marco’s behalf.  Believe me - any cat that would risk its life to sleep in Isaiah and Anna’s room is a brave cat-soul if I ever saw one.  These decisions are not to be taken lightly, and I suppose Marco weighed the risks, and felt it was worth those risks to be with “her baby”. 



 

Since discovering Marco’s secret, I’ve enjoyed watching her watch over Grace.  I wonder if she'll still sit as close once Grace perfects her crawling and discovers cat tails!   :)