Sunday, February 15, 2009

A Varsha-Rachel Update

I've gotten several chances to hang out with my friend Martina's new daughter Varsha-Rachel since they got home and have been having lots of fun! I thought today I would tell you about it since I haven't been blogging much lately and because I'll do just about anything to avoid writing a paper for my class. (You want to write it for me? It's on Song of Songs 5-have at it!)

I expected that when I meet Varsha for the first time, well..I expected to cry like a baby. I really did. I expected to freak her out because "This new lady is weeping on me!" I had watched my friends struggle for nearly one year to get to this point and joined them in praying earnestly for her physical, spiritual, and mental health. And every time I would read their blog from India I would cry! So, the odds were pretty good I was gonna cry a river. So I planned it out in my head, I would be dignified-no slobbering! It did not go as planned.

I was sick with a cold but determined to get to meet her that day so after skipping church to rest up (I'm awful no?) and after taking more than the prescribed amount of aspirin I drove to the nursing home where I knew I could catch up with them. My timing, as it were, could not have been more perfect. I was parking as they were coming out! I had envisioned being able to come up to her and introduce myself, likely with tears in my eyes. Instead, after I opened my car door Martina saw me and pointed me out to Varsha, who then ran at me (I'm still in my car!) with a gigantic grin on her face, talking really fast in Marathi. I did not cry, I did not have the time! She was climbing around my car, showing me her teddy bear, pointing out her parents and our friends Marlow and Geneva, who she calls grandpa and grandma. She was so cute and such a whirlwind that it was all I could do to keep up.

Since then I have had the honor of teaching her some English words (push the button on, push the button off), discovering some of her hidden English knowledge (knows the numbers 1-10) and introducing her to playdough. It is universal, every kid tries to eat it the first time!

I ended up sleeping over at their house Friday night and got to watch her nighttime routine. Bath time, story time, things like that. But as Martina was reading the next story out of her children's bible to Varsha, the tears showed up. You see the story was taken mostly from Genesis 15 and 18, the Abrahamic covenant and the fulfillment of the promise to give Sarah a child. As they sat on the floor and read about how God promised that He would give Abraham so many children that he wouldn't be able to count them I realized that God was talking about Varsha. Thousands and thousands of years ago, God knew that while He was promising children to one Hebrew man and his wife, He was also promising that this little Indian girl would be adopted into this American family and be told of His love for her. I couldn't help but cry when I felt how good He is, how big He is, how complex He is, and how everything He does (including what might appear to be misfortune-a child likely being abandoned by her impoverished mother) is ultimately for good, for the glorification of HIM. What could possibly be better than Him, and how can we not just fall at His feet in worship? She eventually noticed my tears and explained to her mom in Marathi, that I was crying. I can't wait to explain to her in English why.

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