words are my love language.

Sometimes I sit down with all the feelings in my heart - the joy, the resentments, the confusion, the fear, and the overwhelming sense of love, and I try to organise them into lists and piles and sections...'cause that's what I do with everything else in my life. But with my heart, it just doesn't seem to work.

The past year has brought some pretty rough times with it. Despite living in a country I love with a man I adore, teaching at a school that I wholeheartedly believe in, and being at a children's home with children who bring me endless amounts of joy....life has been distressingly hard. Twice in the space of 7 months, it has felt as though my whole world has come crashing down at my feet, full throttle. Both times my husband has unfortunately been out of town for the weekend. And both times God has sent me two of his most wonderful creations to pull me back up again in those first vital moments.

These two girls bring nothing but love, light, and truckloads of laughter. And both times that I have sat there in total disarray, they have come to my rescue, without reservation. The first time, I didn't even contact them - they heard the news, and they came of their own accord.

It's hard not to mother these two little ones - they are more than 7 years younger than me, and are at a totally different stage in their life to where I am. The way they ask wide-eyed questions about what life means, the way they pick up a book and read their favourite stories to me, the way they crawl into my lap to snuggle when they're sleepy, the way they hold my hand in busy crowds and when crossing the street, and the way they ask me to help them with their homework leads me to consider them, without a doubt, my babies. And yet, the moment that I am faced with a mountain to climb, they're at my side and holding my hand as if they were much older and wiser than their mere 23 years.

I have tried to thank these girls and to express my love through conversations, hugs, flowers, and love notes. And yet, I feel like none of these actions can do justice to the thankfulness and the love I have in my heart. So I'm using the greatest form of love language that I know - my words.

Life without these two would be much less full, exciting and loved. So, sweet girls, may you continue to spread your love to others, despite their age and stage, in the ways that you do. The way you come in to a difficult situation to just be there - to hold a hand without letting go, and then the ways that you bring the party on the good days, is something that I wish everyone could experience in their lifetime. We need a lot more people like you two in the world. Continue to shine bright, little ones.

God makes no mistakes; I'm so thankful he brought us together.