TE AMO!

Hava just learned to say "Te Amo" -"I love you" in portuguese.  We couldn't be more proud!!!

and by the way....WE LOVE YOU!!!

Right now, there is not a lot we can blog about.  But, we do ask for your prayers at this particular time in our lives.

Kissing the "boo-boo"

Beginning tonight, we remember the extreme sacrifice that was made for us through a price of blood long ago.  Tonight starts the appointed time of Yom Kippur - or the Day of Atonement.

Earlier today, Hava said for the first time (and repeatedly) "Yeshua!"  (The hebrew name of Jesus - Salvation!)  I have to tell the whole story for you to feel where we're coming from.

Every night, we read to Hava from a children's bible in portuguese.  We always pray in Yeshua's name.  This afternoon, I was in her room with her, when I saw she went over to the dresser and picked up her bible.  She sat down beside me and started to flip through the pages.  The next thing I know, she is in the back of the bible, pointing at pictures of Yeshua and saying: "Shu-a...SHU-AH...YESHUA!!!"  It was a good thing I was sitting down, because otherwise, I think I might have fallen over backwards.  I called Al on the phone and she kept saying it repeatedly to him.  Then I called a close family friend and she continued to repeat His name.  As I was on the phone, she picked up her Minnie Mouse doll that her uncle and aunt gave her and sat the doll down beside her.  Hava picked up the bible again and showed it to Minnie, pointed at the bible and looked at Minnie and said: "YESHUA!"  (I guess she's already evangelizing!!!)

Immediately after that, she turned back to other pages in the bible.  When she saw the picture of Jonah and the great fish, she said: "Peixe!" ("Fish!") and made the sign for fish.  I was still on the phone and she turned back further.  There was a picture of Noah and his family kneeling and praying at an altar.  Hava immediately put the bible down and imitated what she saw - bowing and clasping her hands together!

So, tonight we read with her again - and decided to read the story of Yeshua's sacrifice.  As Al flipped the page, there was a picture of people kneeling at the foot of the execution stake and you could only see His feet with a nail through the ankles.  As soon as she saw it, Hava said: "Do-doi!" ("Boo-boo!")  Al said: "Yes, Yeshua had a boo-boo."  He flipped the page again and there was a depiction of Yeshua with the crown on His head and the nails through His wrists.  Hava again saw the nails and said: "Do-doi!"  She then leaned over the book and kissed Yeshua's boo-boo.  Again, good thing we were sitting!!!

I can't help but draw a divine connect-the-dots conclusion in my precious daughter's actions today.  So many times, we plead for His forgiveness.  We ask for His blessing.  We long for the answers.  But I'm not sure we actually "kiss the boo-boos."  When Hava is hurt, I know she knows my kissing her boo-boo doesn't make it go away.  But she wants my affection - to know I see her pain and the ugliness of the mark and still care for her.  It reminds me of when she was covered in mosquito bites on the amazon.  She looked terrible, but I think I might have even loved her more as I noticed people were not as drawn to her as they usually are by her natural beauty.

Just because she kissed Yeshua's boo-boo doesn't make it go away.  And I'm glad it doesn't. We need that sacrifice.  Now, I realize, as much as I need forgiveness for my sin - I need to love the scars.  I need to show my Savior that I not only need His sacrifice, but I love Him for it- through my actions, not just my words.  I need to be more concerned with loving what He has already done for me, than pinning it on some miraculous blessings He might throw my way.  Even if the sacrifice was all He did for me - THAT would be enough!  (Dayenu!)

To end on a lighter note, but just as important.  Here is Hava right after learning to say "Yeshua" today - dancing and singing about how He loves us.  Oh, how I love Him!