Becoming Moms... Adopted and Naturally

This week we have had our friend come visit from Texas.  She was a lifeline for me when we dropped everything, quit our jobs, and relocated from Kansas, 10 years ago.  She had children who were grown, a husband who was retiring (and changing types of work - now he travels all the time) and loved to love people.  So, we filled a small empty spot that had formed in her life... and she filled a spot in ours.  We had so many things in common - we both stayed home with our kids, loved to craft and sew (she is SO MUCH MORE ACCOMPLISHED than I am at all that), and both have hearts to serve and love Jesus.  Over the last 10 years she helped me see the end of the tunnel of grad school (that first go round was tough!) and reminded me that babies aren't babies forever.  She watched our sweet girl when her first sister came along (and that was at Christmas time!) and made personal quilts for each little one.  She has stuck with us through moves and moves and moves... and this week she came to visit here in North Carolina and stayed with us.  We had a night out (she babysat the girls for us so we could get to dinner and smile at each other over a dimly lit table!) and she trekked all over town seeing the sights with us.  The funny thing is, she has become like a mother to me, in some ways, and I am so grateful for her wise council, ready help, and eager encouragement.  So she goes home to Texas today, and I feel sad because we haven't formed those kind of bonds here yet, and she has a unique quality to love that I wish I could learn better - and I think I will - but only after years of practice at loving people.  This visit brought with it the hope of some exciting news for my friend - and who knows what the next year will hold - but now that she is going home, I am missing her already, knowing that one of my spiritual mothers is heading back to her nest.  I am praying, as I write this, that I will be that kind of a mother to my girls when they are grown - an encouragement, an easy laugh, and hugs and wisdom, all with the space allowed so that they can be who God wants them to be, and shining in the light of the love and acceptance we have for them.... mostly because of the ability to trust a Father (sovereign and all loving, perfect and heavenly) who loves them more than I do to care for them better than I ever could.