My friend, Stevie, who is in charge of our church's nursery, e-mailed me last week to let me know that the lesson yesterday would be "God made my beautiful feet." I so appreciated her sensitivity in letting me know about the lesson & also asking for any feedback I might have & inviting me to participate. I remember during my pregnancy being nervous about the inevitable hand & feet crafts I knew would come by the time Will hit preschool. To this day, I refuse to buy anything with a baby's footprint on it. It's not that I don't love the "traditional" baby handprint or footprint & it's not that I don't LOVE Will's unique prints - it was just the reconciling of my reality & accepting it that made it such a long process. Last Christmas, my mom's group did a craft involving our kids' handprints. I was so thankful for a friend's sensitivity in letting me know about it when she was planning it so that I could wrap my brain around it, accept reality, experience any emotions, & get excited about doing crafts with Will's handprint! And, I was & it turned out great. (Thankfully, my friend helped me with it so it turned out good - I think I had kind of shut my brain off as a coping method... I was grateful for the sewing assistance!)
Anyway, I thought I wouldn't have to deal with this sort of craft until Will hit school. I am so thankful for friends that have gently pushed me into them prior to school - so that I can deal with it, find out I enjoy them - it's not as difficult as I imagined - & I'm doing it with friends beside me - as opposed to doing it when he is in school & I'm alone.
I loved the story they did about the ways of serving Jesus with our feet & doing things to please Him with our feet (like obeying Mommy - a big one for us currently!) & the ways we make Jesus sad with our feet (running away from Mommy or kicking someone.) Will LOVED stomping with his new zancos on when we practiced different things we can do with our feet. His zancos definitely made the most noise in the class!
I loved the gentle way the teachers traced his feet & told him how beautiful his feet are - that they were designed by God just for him! I loved that these words were coming from someone else's mouth - I just sat back & photographed.
I did cry a little- but not because it was hard. Rather, I am so thankful for people that love my child & love his unique body. I am thankful for friends & Sunday School teachers that aren't afraid to celebrate Will's uniqueness.
I remember a few weeks after Will's birth when I realized that although God didn't exactly answer the way I thought I had prayed - He had answered our prayers. I had prayed, long before Will's diagnosis, that his hands & feet would serve God. I prayed that, in fact, during the week I read in my preggo book that the hands & feet were formed (week #5 -6 I think.)
He didn't form them like I prayed but He did give them purpose & He did answer my earlier prayer (the one I prayed for their purpose before I knew hands & feet could be formed differently - which is why I never thought to pray for the "formation" specifically until his diagnosis). They can serve Him. I continue to pray that he will use his unique hands & feet to serve God - to bring glad tidings of good things. Because in doing so, they are beautiful.
I am so blessed.
Thanks for letting me be a part of it, Stevie!
The shoe lineup
Matching shoes to their owners in Sunday School - wonder which ones are Will's?
Playing with Dada in the "wimming pool."
Will & his Honey on Saturday at the pool
Will swimming with Dada- remember, to hear you need to hit pause on the playlist at the bottom of the blog!
1 thoughts:
Aww, I am so glad that yall had a great anniversary! Thanks for sharing your story about Sunday school. You handle everything with such grace, it is really beautiful!
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