The Heartbreak Kid
Are
any of the rest of you feeling the post-Christmas low? Ick. Winter
definitely brings out my most bear-ish qualities: growling, slow
lumbering, the ability to hibernate for long periods of time. And
that’s on my GOOD days!
David and I expected adoption support to wane during these cold months. Which is completely understandable. I’m the girl that loses focus halfway through a hymn, then arrives at the end of the song wondering, “Did I actually sing all those verses?” Maintaining interest is difficult, particularly if you’re a scatterbrain like me.
We wanted to use the extra time and opportunity that this slower season has afforded us and breathe a little life back into our “Piece by Piece” fundraiser. I spoke briefly about this in an earlier post, the idea of giving pins instead of flowers for Valentine’s Day. After I wrote that, I wondered how we could make it happen without having to invest a HUGE amount of time into another project. Here’s what I came up with:
D-africa-dils. Pin-sies. Puzz-aleas. Okay, I couldn’t think of a great name for them, but I was so happy with the finished product! As you can see, there are 2 pins attached to each flower. And the leaf (which is made using the back of our business card-Genius, I know) says, “Offering Hope*Help*Peace on this day of Love.” They will be $10 a piece; send us an email/message on Facebook (and the check/moolah to us: The Gross Family, PO Box 87, Maugansville MD 21767) to let us know you are interested! To have them by Valentine’s Day, I will need your order as soon as possible. We’ll finish taking orders on Friday, February 1st (that’s in 3 weeks). And if you live locally, I will probably try to meet up with you to deliver them. Service with a smile!
I finished making a couple of these flowers and was feeling uber proud of myself. Then I stepped back and really looked at them. I could have smacked myself. The finished product resembles a broken heart. Crap, crap, crap! How could I have missed that?
The picture of a broken heart doesn’t exactly recall your fondest memories of love and life. Not for me either. How interesting then that I keep hearing the phrase, “Break my heart for what breaks Yours” within my circle of friends. It’s simply a line from a worship song meaning God’s pain should be ours. We should share the same hurt over sin, suffering, and injustice. But asking God to “break my heart" for what breaks His? Either that’s really beautiful or really stupid.
Because brokenness hurts. You may never heal to be the person you were before. I don’t know that any of us are ready to ask God for that kind of pain.
But also, brokenness can encourage movement and growth. In nature: A seed has to split wide open before a plant can emerge. In relationships: You must “break” away from your former life with your parents before starting a new life with a spouse. In biology: When a pregnant woman’s water breaks, you better get moving! New life is on the way.
These images of life’s breaks are so contradictory. Some are pain beyond compare and others are joy immeasurable. Some are both of those emotions at the same time (Hello-childbirth)! Whenever I think about our journey to adoption, that is exactly how I feel. Both pain and joy. Both broken and full.
We are humbled that God has given us the burden of adoption. He ruined us for Africa, really. It was a rocky road, but we finally arrived. And if our hearts hadn’t been broken along the way, there would have been no room for our daughter to grow. That’s the love we have to offer now: a love of experience and brokenness. Not an arrogant emotion, but one that is borne out of hope through life’s hardships. It is stripped down and raw, a tiny sprout reaching for the surface. Our love is strong little girl; we cannot wait to bring you home.
David and I expected adoption support to wane during these cold months. Which is completely understandable. I’m the girl that loses focus halfway through a hymn, then arrives at the end of the song wondering, “Did I actually sing all those verses?” Maintaining interest is difficult, particularly if you’re a scatterbrain like me.
We wanted to use the extra time and opportunity that this slower season has afforded us and breathe a little life back into our “Piece by Piece” fundraiser. I spoke briefly about this in an earlier post, the idea of giving pins instead of flowers for Valentine’s Day. After I wrote that, I wondered how we could make it happen without having to invest a HUGE amount of time into another project. Here’s what I came up with:
 |
| Happy Valentine's Day!! |
D-africa-dils. Pin-sies. Puzz-aleas. Okay, I couldn’t think of a great name for them, but I was so happy with the finished product! As you can see, there are 2 pins attached to each flower. And the leaf (which is made using the back of our business card-Genius, I know) says, “Offering Hope*Help*Peace on this day of Love.” They will be $10 a piece; send us an email/message on Facebook (and the check/moolah to us: The Gross Family, PO Box 87, Maugansville MD 21767) to let us know you are interested! To have them by Valentine’s Day, I will need your order as soon as possible. We’ll finish taking orders on Friday, February 1st (that’s in 3 weeks). And if you live locally, I will probably try to meet up with you to deliver them. Service with a smile!
 |
| This kind of cuteness cannot be ignored! Child not included with purchase. |
I finished making a couple of these flowers and was feeling uber proud of myself. Then I stepped back and really looked at them. I could have smacked myself. The finished product resembles a broken heart. Crap, crap, crap! How could I have missed that?
The picture of a broken heart doesn’t exactly recall your fondest memories of love and life. Not for me either. How interesting then that I keep hearing the phrase, “Break my heart for what breaks Yours” within my circle of friends. It’s simply a line from a worship song meaning God’s pain should be ours. We should share the same hurt over sin, suffering, and injustice. But asking God to “break my heart" for what breaks His? Either that’s really beautiful or really stupid.
Because brokenness hurts. You may never heal to be the person you were before. I don’t know that any of us are ready to ask God for that kind of pain.
But also, brokenness can encourage movement and growth. In nature: A seed has to split wide open before a plant can emerge. In relationships: You must “break” away from your former life with your parents before starting a new life with a spouse. In biology: When a pregnant woman’s water breaks, you better get moving! New life is on the way.
These images of life’s breaks are so contradictory. Some are pain beyond compare and others are joy immeasurable. Some are both of those emotions at the same time (Hello-childbirth)! Whenever I think about our journey to adoption, that is exactly how I feel. Both pain and joy. Both broken and full.
We are humbled that God has given us the burden of adoption. He ruined us for Africa, really. It was a rocky road, but we finally arrived. And if our hearts hadn’t been broken along the way, there would have been no room for our daughter to grow. That’s the love we have to offer now: a love of experience and brokenness. Not an arrogant emotion, but one that is borne out of hope through life’s hardships. It is stripped down and raw, a tiny sprout reaching for the surface. Our love is strong little girl; we cannot wait to bring you home.
 |
| I told you our love was growing! |
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