Liv

I read an article recently about how there is a indirect correlation between the amount of time that you spend on Facebook and the amount of happiness and satisfaction in your life - the more time on Facebook, the less happiness you experience.  One of the main points was this: everyone posts their pictures, stories, etc, at their very best.  We only see the tiny little window of perfect life posted in shiny color, and then we extrapolate to assume that everyone is living that perfect life all the time, while we plod away in our dull, every day, I have to make-lunches-clean-the-house-go-to-the-store lives.  We all know this isn't true, but apparently the more you look at it, the more unhappy you will become.

However, I thought more about this today and thought about the fact that we just need to be able to see these glimpses with the right eyes, and then we could actually increase our happiness by looking at Facebook.  Over the last months, since I have moved from Facebook reader to Facebook poster, I have often felt the urge to post when something great happens. It is not that I want to brag, or want anyone else to feel bad that they did not experience what I just did. I don't want to engender jealousy, and I definitely don't want anyone to be sad.  I just want to share the joy.  It's like when you bite into a super yummy dessert and you want everyone else at the table to take a bite and see just how amazing it is. Or you see a rainbow and you want to tell everyone to look up at the sky. Or the way that the males in my family always feel that I need to come into the living room where the TV is, stop whatever I am doing in the kitchen or elsewhere in the house, and "watch this AWESOME play."  We just want others to share in our joy, and for some of us at home with kids, or alone at work, or whatever, the easiest/only way to share that in the moment with a whole bunch of people might be to post it on Facebook.

The reason I was thinking about this was that I really wanted to post a picture of Liv on her first day of school today.  She looked absolutely beautiful in her uniform.  She is just truly a picture of loveliness, both inside and out, and I felt like my heart would burst looking at her as she headed out the door to her new school.  For those of you who know us, you know that this road has been long and hard for everyone involved, especially Liv, and to see her head out so bravely to this new part of her journey, ready to embrace what lies ahead, filled me with such pride.  Without complaint, she has given up her cute wardrobe for a uniform (but she still looks SOOOO cute!!!), read the Odyssey (and fully annotated it), spent a week this summer at Latin boot camp (yes, I said Latin boot camp), and left behind everything she has known since kindergarten to embark on this new journey.  She has been willing to pour herself immediately into new friendships, into new buildings, into new languages, into new everything, and she has done it with the same grace and beauty that she brings to everything she does.  However, like I said, it was not an easy road for her to get here. And there were sacrifices made by all involved.  We were supported so very strongly by so many dear friends, praying that God would show us the right place for our daughter to develop into the young woman that He wants her to be (and we are SOOO grateful to each of you!!).  We were given a wildly generous scholarship, so that we could send her there in the midst of a very expensive adoption.  We were prayed for and prayed for and prayed for.  We were encouraged, loved on, asked about, and loved on some more.  So this day was such a true gift, in every sense of the word. Just a gift, given to us by our dear Father in heaven.

When I was a kid and I would get a present for Christmas or my birthday that I really loved, I would immediately grab it, jump up and down, run around like crazy, yell and scream, hug my mom, hug my dad, clap my hands, and basically go nuts. (The truth is, I still do that, and if you'd like to see, feel free to give me a gift anytime - I love presents ;-).  I wanted everyone to see it - I wanted to call my friends and tell them about it.  It's the natural reaction, I think, to having something given to you that you find lovely - you just want to share it.  It's the reason we crazy Christians want to tell people about Jesus - we just want everyone to share Him.  So I think when people post super fun awesome things on Facebook, it's not because they want to brag, or make other people jealous, or show off what they have - I think it is just the modern day equivalent of running around your house, jumping up and down and showing everyone your present.  So today, I'd like to jump up and down and clap my hands and show you the amazing, incredible, indescribably wonderful daughter (who by the way now goes by Liv) that God gave us as a gift 14 years ago.  We are not bragging, because we did not make her. We are celebrating the one who gave her to us, the one who did make her, the one who continues to lavish her with love.  Please celebrate with us and share in our joy (and see how cute she looks in her uniform :-). We love you Livvy Grace.  More than you will ever know.